On Leadership

The first aspect that I think is vital to any leader, but especially a university leader, is the ability to listen. And to truly listen elicit information, you have to encounter the people with whom you work in a variety of settings. Formal meetings, informal get togethers, structured sessions, unstructured sessions, giving people a chance to talk without much of an agenda, at the same time you give people a chance to address a very specific agenda. So listening is absolutely key. And I think the greatest challenge a leader faces is figuring out when the listening has to stop, at least for the moment, or at least for that issue, and the acting has to be again. And what I see is that somewhat contradictory part of my leadership approach is that I will listen and I will listen carefully and I'll listen in every manner that I can, but the day will come when I will act, when I will make decisions; work with colleagues to make decisions.