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LEADERSHIP AS SERVICE LEADERSHIP AS SERVICE A New Model for Higher Education in a New Century KENT A. FARNSWORTH Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Farnsworth, Kent Allen. Leadership as service : a new model for higher education in a new century / by Kent A. Farnsworth. p. cm. — (Ace/praeger series on higher education) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–275–99092–3 (alk. paper) 1. College administrators—United States. 2. Education, Higher— United States—Administration. 3. Educational leadership—United States. I. Title. LB2341.F35 2007 378.1'11—dc22 2006032831 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright © 2007 by Kent A. Farnsworth All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2006032831 ISBN 10: 0–275–99092–3 ISBN 13: 978–0–275–99092–3 First published in 2007 Praeger Publishers, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.praeger.com Printed in the United States of America The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Copyright Acknowledgments The author and the publisher gratefully acknowledge permission for use of the following: Lao Tzu’s verse from The Way of Life, copyright 1944 by Witter Bynner; renewed © 1972 by Dorothy Chauvenet and Paul Horgan. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Extracts from Ben Shahn, The Shape of Content, reprinted by permission of the publisher from The Shape of Content by Ben Shahn, pp. 113-114, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, Copyright © 1957 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, renewed 1985 by Bernarda B. Shahn. Extracts from Arthur Levine, “Worlds Apart: Disconnects Between Students and Their Colleges,” Declining by Degrees, eds. Richard H. Hersh and John Merrow (New York: Palgrave Macmillan) 2005, pp. 158, 164. This book is dedicated to my father, Dean Farnsworth, for a lifetime of Leadership as Service, and to my mentors in Educational Leadership, Charles McClain, Michael Crawford, and James Tatum. CONTENTS Preface ix Acknowledgments xv Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Chapter 4. Chapter 5. Chapter 6. Chapter 7. Chapter 8. Chapter 9. Chapter 10. Chapter 11. Chapter 12. Chapter 13. Chapter 14. The Need for New Leadership 1 Leadership as a Quest to Serve 15 Lessons from the Wisdom Traditions 25 Shaping a Syncretic Leadership 33 Shaping the Vision 41 Hearing Every Voice 51 Renewing the Social Contract 59 Empowering Toward Service 71 Redesigning Higher Education 81 Trust and Consensus during Change 91 Organizing for Service 103 Leading as Learning 115 Barriers to Leadership as Service 123 Leadership for a New Century 133 Bibliography 143 Index 149 PREFACE For forms of government let fools contest: Whate’er is best administr’d is best. —Alexander Pope W hen I first learned that I had been selected to preside over a college, a good friend and mentor gave me a copy of James Fisher’s Power of the Presidency, commenting that, “There is no good preparation for being ultimately responsible—but this can help.” I read it carefully and have reread it a number of times since, passing copies along to colleagues who were newly appointed to presidencies. After 19 years in office, I still found Fisher’s description of the challenges facing college presidents insightful, and his advice generally sage and useful. During my early years, I was reassured by his observation that my mentor was right—prac