I served as the dean of the Richard Ivey School of Business in Canada for five years in the 1990s. Like many other deans, I had not sought the position or had it as a career goal. Rather I was approached by the search committee and asked whether I would be willing to serve. I had only a couple of months to do some planning and to put in place the key members of our leadership team.

While being a business school dean shares many elements with other leadership roles, there are unique things about being a leader in an academic institution and, in particular, being a dean in a business school. A business school in a university has quite a complex set of knowledgeable and demanding stakeholders. In taking on the role, I had little relevant codified knowledge and experience to draw on other than my own casual observations and experience as a faculty member. It would have been a Godsend to have been able to benefit from Peter Lorange's thinking and experience as president of IMD.

Peter has been very successful in moving what was a good European business school in the early 1990s to one that is now widely regarded as one of the best in the world, particularly in the area of executive education. With very little growth in faculty numbers, he and the IMD team of faculty and staff have tripled the volume and quintupled the profitability of the institution.