There is really no roadmap for becoming a dean. Sure, most of us came up through academia, but I dare say none of us dreamed about taking on such a role as a 10-year-old child (or even a 30-year-old professor). At 10 years old I didn’t know what a dean was, and at 30 I was pretty certain I didn’t want to be one. We each have our own story about how we got to this place in our career, but we are united in the challenges we face in being the academic version of a chief executive.

I was appointed dean of the Wharton School on Feb. 26, 2020. The day is etched vividly in my memory. At the appointed hour, the news hit the airwaves and my life changed in an instant. As the first African American and first woman to be appointed dean at Wharton, there was considerable interest and publicity that marked the beginning of my deanship. Along with that attention came an inordinate amount of pressure to live up to the expectations of becoming the newest leader of an esteemed institution like the Wharton School, and the expectations of the many people and groups who had been waiting for this moment to manifest. It felt as if the world would literally be watching, and it was! My first day on the job included an interview on the most watched morning news program in the U.S., Good Morning America. Never before had a dean appointment at a business school felt so prominently on display, nor so important to a national dialogue.

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