TRUE LEADERSHIP is having conversations that lead people to their own source of their own power. I think it’s a matter of meeting people where they are and finding what motivates them, finding what their needs are, and seeing how you can meet them and how the organization can meet them. It’s an opportunity to have a conversation with the person about career pivots and how can we as an institution benefit from the things that you’ve not been allowed to contribute [previously].
I may have an opinion, and I can share that if that would be helpful, but I want you to feel the ownership. If this is in your space, you should be the one who gets 51% of the vote.
This, in some instances, led to people teaching new courses or going in a different direction with their scholarship and feeling that they had the institutional imprimatur and encouragement to do that. I’m most proud of some of the relationships that I’ve developed over time with faculty that have led to great programming and ideas impacting students and the community.
How a leader shows up to the workplace affects how others feel about their purpose and place in the organization. I became very intentional over the years, in group settings, to be aware of how I’m showing up and how it could impact others.
“True leadership is having conversations that lead people to their own source of their own power.”
Academic leaders are responsible for mediating between a lot of different groups. Really, it’s translational work. It’s rooted in language and culture. I think a successful dean has to be able to put themselves in each of those different groups and embody that language.
[I want to] impart that it is OK to be human in these roles. It’s a great opportunity being a law school dean, to prompt conversations, but it doesn’t mean that you have the answer.
I think it’s incumbent on a good academic leader to really have love for everyone, for all of their people.
I show up to this work every day with an open heart and an open mind, no matter what happened yesterday, no matter what has happened in the past. I hope that I will be seen and remembered as a leader who treated people fairly in the moment.
This is adapted from “Leading With Humanity With Jacob Rooksby,” an interview by Your Leadership Podcast, 2026.