Many teachers have known of (or been members of) departments in which all of the potentially successful chairs--after having proven themselves by running subunits or graduate programs--have decided to devote themselves solely to research or teaching, and to leave department administration to whoever is willing to do it or whoever can be talked…

Outstanding administrators tend to require less formal structure and depend more on interpersonal relationships. Leadership is as much a personal quality as a skill learned and based as much on life experience as on academic training. (Author/MSE)