Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/63428
From Editors the Leaders in the Classroom I've been a writer all my life. While I remember learning grammar and punctuation rules, I don't remember learning some of the other basic skills—how to organize an article so it flows smoothly from start to finish, when to use a modifier and when to leave the word stark, how to convey moods and emotions through simple sentences. Although I received a degree in journalism, I've always wondered if it's really possi- ble to teach the skill of writing. A professor can pass along the rules about answering the five key questions in the lead paragraph, but how can he teach his students style? That's how I used to feel about leadership. Doesn't the will to step forward and run a company, redirect its initiatives, and take it to a higher level have to be innate? Therefore, how can a business school instill in its students a desire to break from the ordi- nary and become truly accomplished leaders? The explanation is twofold. First, students proving that leadership can be taught, because critical thinking and decision making are skills that can be developed. And in today's complex and fragmented business world, everybody needs those skills. Both businesses and business schools are begin- ning to realize that very few individuals can be responsible for all phases of running a company, and that group leadership may be the answer to specific problems. In recent books, leadership experts have noted that true leaders are the ones who step forward and address a problem in the workplace—even if they are junior-level execu- tives without direct organizational power. If anyone can be a leader, then everyone should know how to lead; business and executives enrolled in business school have already discovered in themselves a pas- sion for leadership. It is because they want to raise their skills to the next level that they've signed up for business school in the first place. For them, learning the intricacies of accounting and organizational behavior are akin to a budding writer learning where to place a semicolon—it's an important skill, but it's just refining the talent that already exists. Second, and more important, educators are schools have to prepare all students for the inevitable time when they will step for- ward and assume leadership. Fortunately, as we see in this issue of BizEd, schools around the world are taking up the challenge of teaching leader- ship, offering concentrations, majors, and centers dedicated to the concept. Today's students are learning more than the equiv- alent of placing a comma; they're learning how to write the whole text on leadership. ■ z 4 BizEd SEPTEMEBER/OCTOBER 2002 BILL BASCOM