Academic Leadership Day by Day by Jeffrey L. Buller

Author:Jeffrey L. Buller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2010-09-13T04:00:00+00:00

January 6

Listen to an opposing view.

The strength of higher education doesn’t derive from a uniformity of outlook or opinion. It’s found in the diversity of views, methods, and intellectual approaches that we encounter across disciplines, academic units, and entire institutions. We benefit from defending our perspectives to others when we’re justified and from modifying our views when new evidence or argumentation warrants a reappraisal. In our administrative responsibilities as in our academic pursuits, often multiple paths lead to a common goal. Even more important, there are also multiple goals that may be appropriate at a particular stage in an institution’s development. Today, therefore, identify someone whose perceptions are distinctly different from your own. Talk with this person constructively about his or her point of view. Your goal for this activity is not to persuade the other person to change his or her mind but rather to understand more completely this person’s perspectives and priorities. Don’t resort to argument or debate. Don’t even spend a great deal of time defending your own point of view. Rather, use the conversation as an opportunity to gain insight into a different way of looking at a situation. You may well find that even if your own views remain the same, they become more nuanced, complex, or balanced because of this exchange.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.