216 Strategic Leadership
project will make a difference both in itself and in the synergies that it will create
to fulfill the institution’s larger vision.
Charitable giving depends on many things, including good ideas, reliable infor-
mation, personal relationships, and a well-organized staff, as well as a motivated
group of volunteers. But it is also driven by the values that people claim and the
causes in which they believe. The pride and loyalty of friends, trustees, and former
students are strategic assets that have to be galvanized into personal financial sup-
port and a commitment to secure contributions from others. When an organiza-
tion integrates its story and vision into a persuasive strategic argument, it creates a
powerful source of motivation. An elegant strategy can inspire generosity, both by
persuading the mind and lifting the spirit. It represents a form of personal address
to all those who participate in the organization’s narrative of identity and believe
in the values on which it rests. It calls on them to take responsibility for the well-
being of an organization that has been entwined in their lives and that serves
vital human needs. Knowing and telling the story are among the central tasks of
strategic leadership in the advancement work of colleges and universities.
Strategy as Conceptual and Integrative Leadership
I have argued that there is more to a strategy process than meets the eye. Even
when it may not be conscious of its own depths and possibilities, strategic think-
ing embraces immediate concerns but reaches beyond them. As it deals with
specific issues and decisions, strategy also carries presuppositions, forges connec-
tions, and builds a foundation for action that has wide significance as a form of
leadership. We have traced these dimensions of leadership in the establishment
of a contextual mind-set for considering academic decisions and as integrated
forms of reflection that fuse the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of issues.
At critical points we also have found that strategy becomes leadership as it offers
unifying conceptual perspectives that provide resources for the development of
educational programs and practices.
Strategy as leadership also creates a disposition to connect decision making
to action, because it reveals the systemic relationships among various projects
and programs. The cycles of connection tie various academic and administrative
strategies and actions to one another, showing patterns of interdependence that
operational thinking alone does not perceive. Through the goals that define
strategic initiatives, a sense of possibility is given form, and motivation is made
concrete. As information is made transparent and hard choices appear in every
priority, strategy becomes credible. For all those reasons, it is appropriate to des-
ignate strategy an applied discipline of reciprocal leadership. If it is to fulfill this
demanding possibility, it must be able not only to make decisions, but to execute
them. So now we turn to the agenda for the implementation of strategy.