“It is more difficult to lead a social sector institution. . .”

“It is more difficult to lead a social sector institution than a business. Social sector leaders often succeed when they go from the social sector to business. Business leaders often fail when they go from business to social sector. Why? Well, one reason is that in the business sector you have this wonderful thing called concentrated executive power, you can do something that my university presidents find amazing—you can make a decision. But if you run a university you deal with this fundamental reality called faculty, known, in my friend Bob Bergdoll’s phraseology, as dealing with a thousand points of no.

In the social sector, you need legislative leadership skills. In the business sector, you need executive skills. Legislative means you don’t have the power to make the decision happen, you have to create the conditions for the decisions to happen when you don’t have the power. And if you want to get people to follow when you don’t have the power over them, why should they follow you if you are ambitious first and foremost for yourself?”