Building and leveraging your leader amplification system

Beige gets a bad rap from brand consultants, but when you’re stressed, it’s hard to think clearly: you need to return to neutral first.

The Advanced Academic Leadership Framework provides a comprehensive competency model designed specifically for senior academic leaders operating at institutional levels, including deans, provosts, institute directors and university presidents. Recognizing that academic leadership operates within unique constraints –shared governance, faculty autonomy, distributed expertise, and the dual mission of advancing knowledge while educating future generations – this framework addresses the distinct blend of skills required beyond traditional business executive development. The framework comprises seven interconnected competency areas organized around internal and external leadership dimensions. Its foundation centers on 'Develop Your Inner Leader,' emphasizing self-awareness, emotional intelligence, energy management, and the navigation of tensions between scholarly identity and administrative responsibilities. Six external-facing domains surround this core: developing and implementing strategy within collaborative governance structures; designing effective organizations that balance centralization with academic autonomy; framing and solving complex problems unique to academic contexts; building high-performing teams while managing peer-to-supervisor transitions; influencing within institutions through relationship-building and negotiation; and engaging external stakeholders with cultural intelligence across global contexts. The note addresses the contemporary challenges of higher education, including digital transformation, AI integration, funding constraints and evolving accountability demands. Each competency area provides practical guidance on navigating tensions inherent to academia, such as balancing research excellence with teaching quality, managing long time horizons while remaining adaptable, and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration across disciplinary silos. A companion self-assessment tool enables leaders to evaluate current capabilities and prioritize development areas. This framework serves academic leaders seeking to drive institutional impact while preserving scholarly values and collaborative culture essential to academic excellence.

Forget everything you’ve heard about genius CEOs, intuition, and heroic decision-making – use Jensen Huang’s radical leadership as a blueprint to succeed in the AI era.

Forget everything you’ve heard about genius CEOs, intuition, and heroic decision-making, says Susanne May – use Jensen Huang’s radical leadership of Nvidia as a blueprint to succeed in the AI era.

Why the way you leave a company can shape your legacy as much as your tenure. Explore how to successfully exit a business.

HR leadership will require a balance of frontline experience and a business-first outlook, argues Pandora CHRO Byron Clayton

If you’re known as a solid executor and a safe pair of hands but can’t see an exciting future for yourself in the organization, you may be overly risk-averse.

If you’re known as a solid executor and a safe pair of hands but can’t see an exciting  future for yourself in the organization, you may be overly risk-averse. Answer the questions below to see if this applies to you and check out the tips on leav...

Michael Skapinker argues that performance, not age, should decide when older leaders step aside, challenging assumptions about succession and leadership longevity.

The operating theater is an emotionally and cognitively demanding arena where anesthesiologists and surgeons operate under time pressure, uncertainty, and responsibility. Team interactions in such settings frequently reveal humor, irony, or cynici...