When selecting someone for a position of leadership, you may want to know what that person is like, what their background is and why their background may influence the decisions they will make in the future.
Bluffton’s 10th president, Dr. Jane Wood. Photo courtesy Bluffton University
Dr. Jane Wood, future Bluffton president, has multiple degrees in the field of English, specifically in English literature.
With this in mind, how will her background in English literature help her with tasks for the future?
I was able to spend some time getting to know Dr. Lamar Nisly, interim vice president and dean of academic affairs, as he had some insightful information on how a background in English can help someone to fulfill a leadership role.
“I think that it’s helpful if for leaders to be able to live with complexity, to recognize that there’s more than one answer that can be good and to be able to live with that while also looking at the evidence of where things are deriving or coming from,” said Nisly. “I think that a background in literature certainly can help to have an openness to that sense of perplexity and even so far as mystery and wonder. There’s stuff that we don’t fully understand, and it’s okay to acknowledge that.”
Dr. Lamar Nisly, interim vice president for academics, is also an English professor and speaks to the ways a background in literature prepares one for leadership. Photo by Colten McCabe
This openness of literature can help someone to realize that not all things have one definitive answer. This in turn helps to look at things from multiple angles.
Another thing literature can help to do is to teach people how to understand others’ problems and to help share feelings with one another.
“I also think that encountering literature helps us in terms of thinking about and being empathetic to people in different areas,” said Nisly. “There have been studies that have shown that one of the ways to develop empathy for others is to read fiction because you’re entering somebody else’s life.“
Although having a degree in English can help to improve certain leadership qualities, it is not the only instance of improvement when dealing with different types of degrees.
“I don’t think that English is the only place that this happens,” said Nisly. “I think that there are certainly other degrees-advanced degrees-which help prepare people to be in leadership positions. I would say that there are clearly some ways that my preparation in literature has had an impact and I would say Dr. Wood’s is likely also to have this preparation.”
So, how has this preparation helped Wood when it comes to dealing with people?
“There’s been talk about how they’ve noticed that Dr. Wood has been connecting with students, and I would say that it not only grows out of who she is but I would say that it also grows out of her background—that she has this sense of how to engage with, to be empathetic, to connect with people from lots of different backgrounds,” said Nisly.
Connecting with the people around you plays a big role when considering a leadership role.
Even though empathy is also a large piece, the way in which empathy is shown can also play a huge role. For Wood, empathy is shared through storytelling.
“I sensed already that she likes stories; she likes to tell and help us to understand ourselves through the story about ourselves,” said Nisly. “I think that it does naturally grow out of narrative fiction—seeing literature and seeing how we can understand the stories that we are a part of.”
While also taking into consideration of how a background in English can help prepare someone for a leadership type role, everyone at Bluffton is excited to see how Wood will use that background for the future.
“As I said before, that’s one of the things that I’m certainly intrigued by; how she’s going to help to tell Bluffton’s story as related to the future.”
Editor’s note: Colten McCabe is a double major in English and writing.
