More Reading for Academic Leaders

As follow up to my last post, I share three other (brief) essays I stumbled upon recently. If you aspire to academic leadership - or work with someone who does - these may be of interest.

First, The right kind of nothing. It's about leadership responsibility, control and (some times) the need to let go.

A brief excerpt:

Two qualities characterize an academic administrator. The first is a capacity to take responsibility. The second is a need for control. Your position on those two dimensions determines how effective you can be as a manager, and for how long.

The most successful administrators—the ones who accomplish the most and don't burn out—have an enormous sense of responsibility but a very small need for control.

Second, How Professors are Like Cats. (The comments are worth reading).

Third, Ten Red Flags for Innovation. Business Week's Stephan Lindegaard says...

There's no surefire way to guarantee success in innovation. (Here are) 10 helpful suggestions of common pitfalls to avoid.

Read about the red flags here.