**6. Looking ahead**

As originally envisioned, the Leadership Proposal was difficult to implement because it called for members of the Dickinson community to contribute to a commonly agreed leadership vocabulary regarding projects that existed in various domains of the College. As explained in the narrative, some vocal members of the faculty rejected that idea before hearing any details. That represented a formidable sociopolitical barrier that calls for special efforts for finding common ground ([17], pp. 57–75).

In fairness to all, however, such an undertaking would have required a new organizational structure via which ideas would be shared; and more important, a new way of thinking among members at the College. Each of those steps called for system alteration via utilization of leverage points [10]. The author would go so far as to say that introducing new ways of thinking represents system transformation.

Based on two-years of experience summarized in the case study, the conceptual frameworks developed for this chapter, and leadership relevant systems insights, the author's position is that putting in place a leadership development program that builds on the strengths of a liberal arts experience and is open to all students cannot be launched via the encompassing top-down fashion included in the original Proposal.

Instead, next efforts must draw upon systems-thinking concepts [10, 14] to avoid traps and find opportunities for collaboration. Ironically, given the original rationale of the Leadership Proposal, such efforts require a hardnosed and pragmatic approach to project management [17]. As well the next iteration of the Plan must be operationally feasible and financially affordable.

From the outset, the next effort to launch a Plan must be smaller in scale and more bottom-up in nature. It must seek contributions from students, who should be encouraged, empowered, and enabled to play a role as project managers or participants. It must be fun for students and must result in outcomes that are demonstrable, worthwhile, and that elicit emotional reactions among observers. Efforts must result in a platform that can be sustained over time, so that ever more participants are attracted to outcomes of the Leadership Plan. Finally, it must attempt to address the multiple goals of the Challenge and the vision of co-originators Paull and Kovach.
