Nickerson prepares faculty to be leaders

Jackson Nickerson, Frahm Family Professor of Organization & Strategy, has developed a series of training seminars to help business school faculty develop leadership skills. Developed in conjunction with the AACSB International, Leading in the Academic Enterprise® (LAE) is providing training that many business school deans say is needed for faculty who are asked to take on leadership roles.

Nickerson who is also a Brookings Non-resident Senior Scholar in Government Studies and Associate Dean and Director of Brookings Executive Education, developed the training series after extensive interviews with business school deans and administrators, and a survey of more than 400 experienced and new deans.

In an article in the current issue of BizEd, Nickerson outlines the areas identified in the survey where faculty require training before taking on leadership roles:

• ability to lead organizational change
• ability to think strategically and solve problems creatively
• ability to develop new leaders and communicate effectively

“These themes appeared whether their schools were public or private; large or small; in Europe, the U.S., or anywhere in the world,” according to Nickerson.

Too often faculty are thrown into the deep end of the pool and expected to swim or sink in the turbulent waters of leadership—an expensive way to develop new leaders.

—Survey Response

Leading in the Academic Enterprise® (LAE), the three-part series developed by Nickerson and offered by AACSB International, was launched in the summer of 2014. Nickerson says the need for effective leaders within academia is crucial at this time and attainable.

“Perhaps the most important lesson we learned from our research is that while many academics do not have the skills to lead successfully in challenging environments, this does not mean they cannot develop them. Our interviewees agreed that schools that invest in training, mentoring, and development are likely to see great returns, both for their leaders and the larger academic enterprise.”

Link to article.