The Dean's List: Top Five Leadership Principles

Great leadership isn’t just about making tough decisions – it’s about embodying key qualities that inspire teams, drive organizations forward and create lasting impact. Sandeep Mazumder, PhD, the William E. Crenshaw Endowed Dean of the Hankamer School of Business, shares his top five essential traits that define exceptional leadership and ensure long-term success.   

5. Mission-focused 

Leaders should never lose sight of the “why” behind their work. If they do, they will get distracted by minor obstacles or the organization will start doing things it shouldn’t be. For us in higher education, we are in the business of educating men and women for their future careers, and to conduct research to further society’s knowledge.  

4. Open-minded 

Leaders will often have good ideas but will also often have ideas that need to be corrected or revised. Thus, it is important for a leader to have a team surrounding them that is willing to speak truth to them and for that leader, in turn, to receive that information with grace, realizing that such constructive dialogue helps sharpen one another.  

3. Others-centric 

Leadership is not about the leaders themselves. The leader is there to serve their team and constituents, and to undertake decisions in their best interests. This means they need to spend quality time with people in their organizations across all of the different functions. It is imperative for the leader to see how each individual person and role is vital to the success of the entire team.  

2. Patience  

Certain goals and initiatives a leader takes on can be achieved quickly, but certain other ones may take time. It’s important for a leader to have a long-term mindset, and to have the patience to overcome short-term obstacles that may stand between today and those long-term outcomes.  

1. Balance 

Being a leader of any organization – whether it’s in higher education, business or anywhere else – requires trying to maintain some sort of balance where possible, keeping in mind that this balance may vary across different seasons. For myself, I stay balanced when I am able to spend quality time with my family.  

The Armes Family Christian Leadership in Business Summit, held May 20-21 at the Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation, aims to empower Christian leaders in the business world, equipping men and women to be the light of the world, fulfill their calling as ambassadors of Christ and grow as servant leaders. Visit the Armes Summit webpage for more information and to register.