Sometimes the pure meaning of leadership gets lost in a myriad of definitions, theories, and treatises. How would I define basic leadership? Simply, the clearer the vision, the fewer the options, the easier the decision.
This past Monday, the news of the launch of the Jack Welch Management Institute (www.jwmi.com) at Chancellor University spread like wildfire across the globe. The following link to a Wall Street Journal article highlighting the Institute was what kicked off all the interest:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124562232014535347.html
The Jack Welch Mangement Institute at Chancellor University is the only online and on-campus MBA program that fully incorporates Jack Welch’s winning business practices and principles throughout the curriculum. Students who are accepted and enroll in JWMI will gain a full understanding of Jack’s philosophy on leadership development, candor, team building and more.
Also, the online aspect to the Institute has a truly global reach. Online education has evolved to become a truly effective and academically sound way for people to earn their degrees and build their careers while maintaining the work/life balance they need. Throuhg its online degree offering, The Jack Welch Management Institute has broad reach with content that really matters in today’s global economy.
These are exciting days at Chancellor University!
Has anyone heard of a monopoly in the Learning Management Software industry? Check this out — http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/05/07/bb
If you are in online learning at some level and believe in its inherent good, then you know how important it is to have leaders and key stakeholders within your school who share the same vision. I have found too often that there are numerous distractions that we all face in building online programs and, at times, those distractions cause some to lose sight of the goal.
What is important at the leadership level, whether your school has 100 or 10,000 online students, is for the key stakeholders and drivers of the mission to be visible and out in front and not out of sight. This is one of the most critical components to building a successful online education program.
So — what does General Patton and successful online education programs have in common? A consistent practice of “out in front” leadership. General George Patton is a classic example of out in front leadership. Old blood and guts George — his men loved him and his men hated him, often at the same time. Patton had a reputation for incurring the heaviest casualities in the opening hours of every conflict in which he engaged, and his troops new it. They also knew that he had the lowest casuality rates per engagement, because he was unafraid to commit his resources unsparingly and without regard to the lives that would be lost in so doing. He knew that to save the most men from death, he must be willing to endanger the most and yes, send some to their deaths. His troops also knew one other thing about their leader. That when he sent them into combat, no matter how savage, he General George Patton, would go with them — leading from out in front. A habit for which he was repeatedly subjected to criticism from his superiors.
Contrast this with General William Westmoreland during the Vietnam War. Clearly there were many reasons for the morale problems suffered by U.S. troops and no one cause can be singled out as overriding, but the fact that Westmoreland’s infantrymen lay in the muddy rice patties watching their buddies dying for a cause they did not understand, while he was back in Saigon dining on gourmet food served on fine china, served by G.I. attendants wearing starched waistcosts and white gloves, sent a wrong leadership message.
Patton’s response to his superiors when criticized for his exploits at the frontlines of battle was characteristically that, “he knew now way to lead from behind. We need more “George Pattons” in online educational leadership. Do you agree?
I thought it would be beneficial to post the presentation deck that I used during my speaking engagement at the recent TARGUSinfo Online Lead Quality Summit. I spoke in the general session to approximately 400 people from various verticals including education, automotive, and lead providers. I hope to have some video clips available soon.