ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that some backgrounds, motivations, and dispositions which make the movement into deaning more feasible and smoother than others, and increase the probability of success for both the person becoming a dean and for the other people with whom a dean must work. The importance of academic leadership experience for a deanship seems to vary across discipline areas. Being an intentional dean requires having a level of confidence that affords one the ability to make independent decisions that might not be popular among other important players at the university. Search processes at the dean's level often become highly politicized activities with deans sometimes being selected for many of the wrong reasons. It should be pointed out that being an intentional candidate is not a requirement for becoming an intentional dean—nor does it assure that one will become an intentional dean.
