Authentic Academic Leadership

The book explores how to build an approach to academic leadership based on your own personal values, convictions, and principles. Rather than trying to assert that only certain values (or even virtues) are essential for good leadership, the approach taken is to begin with who you really are, “your true self,” and then to build a leadership framework consistent with that identity that makes your institution or program stronger. We explore why hypocrisy is damaging to any form of leadership, but particularly so in higher education where values of scholarship and research are based on the confidence we have in others’ integrity. As a result, authenticity, even more than such commonly promoted “traits of leaders” as vision, courage, and compassion, becomes the core of effective leadership in the academy today. Through hypothetical case studies and thought experiments, the book challenges administrators to identify a small set of core values that truly define who they are as academic leaders and then to use those values as the basis for a philosophy of leadership that guides them through the turbulent changes occurring in higher education today.

In our current academic environment driven by endless goal setting, performance targets, and metrics, it is easy to lose sight of our missions and lose touch with ourselves as leaders. This refreshing look at our own core values and how we can use them to guide our decision-making and lead more effectively is a required read for leaders in higher education, from department chairs to presidents., Authentic Academic Leadership comes at an important time for leaders in higher education. Jeffrey Buller draws on relevant theories, concepts, and examples that will help many aspiring and current leaders think deeply about their reasons for pursuing academic leadership., I have always found Jeff’s books easy to read and full of information that is immediately applicable to my work and my scholarship. Jeff provides a good blend of theoretical and practical information, and this book is no exception. My perception is that more and more conversations about values are taking place in universities and colleges; if this is indeed the case, this book is most timely and will be a valuable resources for anyone interested in leadership in higher education!

JEFFREY L. BULLER is the director of Leadership and Professional Development at Florida Atlantic University and a senior partner in ATLAS Leadership Training. He holds a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of fifteen books on academic leadership and numerous articles, including nearly two hundred on higher education administration.