Lee G. Bolman - Reframing Academic Leadership

We conclude with an Epilogue (The Sacred Nature of Academic Leadership) that challenges higher education leaders to recognize and embrace the sacred nature and moral purpose of their work.

We have been helped by far more people than we will ever succeed in acknowledging, so we will name only a few who have been particularly significant for us. One is Terry Deal, whose ideas and influence are everywhere in this book – and elsewhere in our lives. Another is the late Chris Argyris, an extraordinary teacher and wonderful friend who was instrumental in both our decisions to make a career of studying organizations and leadership. Our first‐born son is named Chris, so no more need be said about the place that Chris Argyris holds in our hearts.

We continue to be thankful for everyone who helped us with the first edition, and to the many more who have taught, challenged, and inspired us in the years since. They include the bright students with whom we have tested many of our ideas and the many gifted and dedicated higher education leaders and faculty colleagues with whom we have worked at Babson College, Carnegie‐Mellon, Harvard, Princeton, Radcliffe, the University of Missouri–Kansas City, the University of Massachusetts–Boston, the former Wheelock College, and Yale. We have also learned from participants in many workshops, programs, and institutes across the world. We are particularly grateful to those we have taught over many years in summer programs under the auspices of the Harvard Institutes for Higher Education (HIHE). These talented academic leaders trusted us with their professional stories, some of which are the basis for case examples in this book. We also appreciate our HIHE faculty and staff colleagues, many of whom have become dear friends.

We are grateful for the friendship and colleagueship of Orlando Taylor, whose many leadership hats currently include strategic initiatives and research as VP at Fielding Graduate University and as the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Distinguished Fellow in the Office of Undergraduate STEM Education, as well as significant NSF‐funded grant projects to advance women in the STEM fields into leadership positions at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and at Tribal Colleges. Dr. Taylor has infused the central ideas in Reframing Academic Leadership into these important initiatives, and we have learned much from them. Joan adds appreciation for the amazing work of Dr. Kelly Mack and her teams at Project Kaleidoscope and AAC&U, and Dr. Camille McKayle and her colleagues and students at the University of the Virgin Islands.

Lee is ever grateful to the members of the Brookline Group – Dave Brown, Tim Hall, Todd Jick, Bill Kahn, Phil Mirvis, and Barry Oshry – who have provided 40 years of learning, inspiration, and camaraderie. Joan gives a special shout‐out to gal pals – Marcy Crary, Diane Kellogg, Judy Paradis, Ava Penman, and Sandy Renz – who are joys to be with and impressive forces in their efforts for a better world.

We have been hanging around Jossey‐Bass and now John Wiley & Sons for so long that they feel like family. We deeply thank all who have helped us along the way, especially David Brightman, our friend and editor for the first edition (now senior editor at Stylus Publishing), and now Pete Gaughan, Riley Harding, Jeanenne Ray, and Mackenzie Thompson, who worked with us to bring this second edition to fruition.

We dedicate this book to our family. Our two sons, Brad and Chris, are talented young men who enrich our lives. We love them, and we're so deeply proud of them both. Chris is a serial entrepreneur currently building Brightest ( https://www.brightest.io), a software and internet organization that aims to help nonprofit and other purpose‐led groups and organizations bring people together around their missions. His projects always wed technology and soul; and his love of learning, passion for social change, and artistry at work and in his music impress us. We await a new album of his music to drop soon. Brad deserves a special nod as the last in the roost. He was still at home through the daily ups, downs, and sideways of the first edition. Since then, he has finished college, guided debate teams to national championships, plunged into a doctoral program in the history of science, and worked on a dissertation about the use of dogs in experimental science and medicine. A committed scholar with plenty of awards and publications already under his belt – and undeniably a better writer than either of his parents, Brad is a continuing source of ideas and intellectual stimulation.

Lee's older children contribute their own brands of artistry, gifts, and grace to the family. Theater, music, teaching, writing, and our dance‐wizard of a grandchild, Foster, fill the lives of Shelley and Christine Woodberry. Scott Bolman is the jet‐setter as international lighting designer extraordinaire and theater faculty member. Lori Holwegner anchors part of our Arizona contingent and stays close to her talented daughter Jazmyne, who has finished college with honors and moved on to graduate school in digital media relations. Our other Arizonans, cartoonist Edward and his film‐making son James, amaze us on a regular basis.

Finally, we continue our tradition of giving a nod to some wayward canine who has served as a loyal distraction from writer's block. This book's award goes to the gorgeous, toy‐playing, love sponge of a Springer Spaniel, Charles Darwin, whose growing social media presence as the world's first #VirtualComfortDog during the trials of pandemic life surprised even us. Family life in all its richness is grand!

The two of us, like many others, stumbled unplanfully into academic life and later into academic administration. As children, neither of us imagined a university paycheck in our future. None of our parents were college graduates, and all were chronically puzzled about what we did and how it could qualify as real work. Elizabeth and John Gallos and Florence and Eldred Bolman are no longer with us, but we know they would have been tickled to see this joint venture and to see themselves saluted in it. We honor their encouragement and support – and love of learning that we hope we have passed along to our children – by proudly adding their names to our acknowledgments.

It was more than 40 years ago that we made our first attempt to write together. It resulted in an unpublished manuscript that may still lie buried in a file drawer somewhere. It is not accidental that we waited a long time before trying again. But we didn't give up. It was worth it for us, and we hope for you as well, to persist on both the first and second editions of this book and on Engagement: Transforming Difficult Relationships at Work . We're proud of what we've been able to do together in life and work, and we reconfirm our commitments to each other and to our shared interests. Onward!

Lee G. Bolman is retired as Marion Bloch/Missouri Chair in Leadership Emeritus at the Henry W. Bloch School of Management at the University of Missouri–Kansas City, where he also served as department chair and interim dean. He holds a BA in history and a PhD in organizational behavior from Yale University.

He has written numerous books on leadership and organizations with coauthor Terry Deal, including Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership (7th ed., 2021); Reframing the Path to School Leadership: A Guide for Principals and Teachers (3rd ed., 2018); How Great Leaders Think (2014); Leading with Soul: An Uncommon Journey of Spirit (3rd ed., 2001); The Wizard and the Warrior: Leading with Passion and Power (2006); Escape from Cluelessness: A Guide for the Organizationally Challenged (2000); Becoming a Teacher Leader (1994); and Modern Approaches to Understanding and Managing Organizations (1984). His books have been translated into more than 10 languages; and his publications also include numerous cases, chapters, and articles in scholarly and professional journals.