Leo Lambert

49 // � e Legacies of Elon’s Leaders

Leo Lambert

PHOTO BY ASHLEY BARNAS

As Elon’s eighth president, Leo Lambert’s accomplishments are as innumerable as the bricks on Elon’s campus. Lambert became president in January 1999 after being invited to work at Elon. Frankly, he said, he didn’t know a lot about the university when he fi rst from institution. But Elon seemed like a really great match and he decided to “put his hat into the ring.” This is the only college presidency he’s applied for in his life, and Lambert said he feels very fortunate to be here.

One of his major achievements includes the creation of the Elon University School of Law in fall 2006. He oversaw the change of mascot from Fighting Christian to Phoenix. Among other structures on campus, Rhodes Stadium, Belk Library, Ernest A. Koury Sr. Business Center and Lindner Hall, the fi rst LEED Gold certifi ed building on campus, were built during his tenure. The Martha and Spencer Love School of Business received AACSB International accreditation and the School of Communications as accredited by the ACEJMC. Elon joined the Southern Conference to improve its position in Division I athletics.

In terms of leadership, Lambert said he thinks he excels in bringing people with different skills into an organization.

“Probably where I’ve contributed best here is trying to create a vision of what Elon could be and trying to inspire other people to believe in that vision,” Lambert said. “And I’m very fortunate to have a lot of good people who work with me and report to me that are really good at execution of plans that enables me to then focus on kind of the big picture of the institution.”

Lambert said a president’s most important job is to “articulate the mission, the vision and the values of the institution and not so much get involved in the hands-on, day-to-day implementation, which needs to be left to others.”

To be successful in his job, Lambert said he needs to know enough detail and remain connected with the pulse of the campus. As university president, he has to be a member of the community and be involved in it, and he needs to keep his head on the long term and on the big picture agenda.

There are many different kinds of effective leaders, Lambert said, so each one has to fi nd a style or approach that is genuine for himself or herself.

“People can sense when someone is being disingenuous or not their true self,” he said. “Leaders should fi rst and foremost be authentic.”

Trustworthiness and stamina are two crucial characteristics a leader needs to have, Lambert said. People will not follow a leader they don’t

trust. And stamina is needed to work hard and stay up late nights and get things done.

“You can’t afford to be grumpy,” Lambert said. “You’ve got to be somebody who is pleasant to be around and maintains an excellent sense of humor, which cannot be underestimated, I think, in terms of its importance.”

When it comes to leaders he admires, Lambert turns to the historical biographies he enjoys reading – David McCullough’s books about Harry Truman and John Adams, for example

“I think when you study any leader in detail, whether it’s Winston Churchill or Nelson Mandela, you are going to fi nd there is a common thread of great people persevering through adversity,” Lambert said.

Lambert traveled to South Africa during Winter Term 2010 and saw Desmond Tutu with the Elon students on the trip. Though he had met Tutu before, Lambert studied and read about Mandela’s life before he went.

“That is the story of someone persevering against all odds through adversity to provide brilliant transformational leadership for a whole nation,” Lambert said. “And I think the same is true of so many fi gures in American history as well, that leadership does not come easily. It is oftentimes a crucible experience. You oftentimes experience failure, and sometimes failure after failure after failure. And I think the test of a good leader is one who is willing to persevere and stick to principle.”

Isabella Cannon used in her commencement speech a phrase that Lambert fi nds to be one of his favorites. At the age of 96 and a half, Cannon delivered her speech and shared with Elon graduates her bumper sticker saying: “Think globally, act locally.”

“While it seems almost a cliché these days, I think it captures what we want to see happen through an Elon education,” Lambert said.

When Elon students are out in the community serving the common good, they are thinking on a global scale – one house built or one tree planted is something done locally that will have an impact on the global good.

“You will leave Elon someday, but Elon will never leave you,” is another bumper sticker phrase much like Cannon’s, and Lambert delivers it to students every year at convocation and commencement. With that phrase, he is reminding students that no matter where they go in life, the lessons they learned and the people who touched their lives at Elon will always be with them. Elon students are taking what they learned at a small private institution in North Carolina and delivering the fruits of that education everywhere they go.

Story By Ashley Barnas

THE FORCE BEHIND ‘LONG LIVE ELON’PHOTO BY ASHLEY BARNAS

GET TO KNOWLeo Lambert

Arrived at Elon in 1999

Undergraduate: State University of New York, College of Arts and Sciences at Geneseo, B.A. in English

Graduate: The University of Vermont, Master’s of Education

Doctoral: Syracuse University, Doctor of Philosophy

� e Legacies of Elon’s Leaders // 50