Comment by etempleton

I have found that most academics have zero interest in how the sausage is made. In fact, I would say there is a willful ignorance to understanding the intricacies and complexities of what it takes to run a University system and the precarious financial realities of most colleges and universities.

However, every once in a while an academic decides to take on administrative responsibilities to fix all of the things they perceive as broken or to show everyone how smart / right they are. Usually the first year for them is incredibly difficult for them and everyone around them and they make a true and terrible mess of it. At this point, after a full year, they usually know just enough to realize how little they know about running a college, managing people, or generally being a leader. They then react in one of three ways:

1. Resign from their admin job and go back to just teaching as if nothing happened

2. Become humble and begin actually collaborating with people and not blaming everyone for every thing that isn’t as they see it.

3. Double down and truly blow everything up until they are either fired or whatever it is they are running collapses in on itself.

This isn’t everyone. The faculty who transition best to leadership tend to be pretty humble to begin with.