Developing the Influential Manager: Experiences with Deans of Business Schools

The ability to make quantum leaps in changing organizations is becoming a survival need for both managers and their organizations. Managers are needed who can build networks to funnel diverse views upward from the lower levels where the need for change is often first detected. Describes how a multipart “Influence Development Programme” was devised and attended by 53 deans of business schools – it being recognized that to be effective, deans, as much as managers in business, need to be able to influence others both within and outside their work environment.