Tom, this is one of my main problems with "leadership training", nothing is said but buzzwords are repeated.
Par example, our beloved Dean. (Since I'm getting emails I'm assuming the launch is harder than it used to be).
First off, holding things "in tension" is the biggest buzzword cop-out to have emerged from Duke, and it probably doesn't come from Duke, but boy does it piss me off. The problem with saying we need to hold things in tension is that it is like saying we need to build a house. Saying it has little to do with actually doing it. It may even be negative because people think they have done something when the lot is still empty.
Tradition and innovation mean nothing on their own and holding a tension between generalized understandings of tradition and innovation is like tying air and water together.
Enough of my analogies. On the website, I do appreciate all of the links to Wesley's works, but hopefully this gives you a more concrete understanding of why I dislike leadership stuff. If only old Deano could be more concrete himself (another buzzword, I admit, but a far more useful one).
