Leading Across the Arc of Time

Commitment and Change in Higher Education

How short-term college and university leaders, overwhelmed by the tyranny of the urgent, compromise the success and future of their institutions.

Amid mounting institutional pressures and a rapidly changing higher education landscape, leadership churn at colleges and universities represents a major roadblock to institutional success. In Leading across the Arc of Time, college president Mark L. Putnam presents a vital road map for navigating the complex dynamics of managing colleges and universities amid continuous change. This insightful work reveals the paradoxes of higher education—where innovation collides with tradition and where the pace of societal demand outstrips the capacity for institutional response.

Institutional stability requires a focus on long-term trends rather than short-term solutions and temporary interventions. Putnam articulates a vision for adaptive leadership grounded in a profound understanding of historical patterns and organizational theory. The book challenges administrators, trustees, and policymakers to embrace the slow, often frustrating process of assimilation as the pathway to meaningful change. The future of higher education depends not on rapid transformation but on thoughtful, incremental adaptation.

Putnam seeks to disrupt the current pattern of churning in leadership, planning, and decision-making that plagues many institutions and to break through the rigidities of conventional wisdom and conformity that confine leadership action. For those committed to the future of academic institutions, this book is an indispensable guide that equips leaders with the insights and creative solutions to guide their institutions with foresight and wisdom.

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