Creating Horizontal Lines

"I have had the privilege of working with Jim since the beginning of his deanship. I remember being immediately amazed at his natural leadership abilities, given that he had never served in this kind of role. I realized very quickly that I could work for him, that I could respect him, and that he had vision and leadership that I could get behind.

"Within the first couple of years, we forged a strong partnership, and he gave me more and more responsibility; I could see that he was trusting me as a key partner for what he wanted to achieve. He understood what I wanted to do to strengthen the College administrative functions and he supported my vision. He listened to what I had to say and empowered me to do it. He was never a micro-manager; he always encouraged me to have ideas and gave me the confidence to pursue them. He believed in me and ultimately trusted me. It was the kind of trust that I knew might happen once in a career; I knew this was precious and not to be taken lightly. The most formative years of my career have been spent working with him. I’ve learned so much and I have so much to be grateful to him for, mainly for giving me the opportunity to become the best version of myself as a leader and as a contributor to the College’s success.

"As a leader, Jim is value-based, always wanting to do the right thing even when it is difficult to do. I have never witnessed a harder-working dean. His energy, his vision, his heart for people, have all been an inspiration to me.

"He’s taught me the importance of seeing people for who they are and what they bring to the table, and for being open-minded to possibilities. He has made it OK for me to lead with values when often the larger environment encourages the opposite.

"Jim had high expectations because he has such a commitment to excellence. The challenges we overcame to achieve what we have were significant. But with each pursuit, I learned the most important thing: That every pursuit that benefits the lives of people (students, alumni, faculty, staff) is worth it. I have learned what I’m capable of and what kind of leader I am and want to continue to be during this time as his vice dean.

"I’ll share one particular personal memory: When Jim was appointed interim dean, his first day in the office was to be the day after Labor Day. I was scheduled to be out that day (first day of school for my kids) so I wrote him a long email explaining the logistics of accessing the office and how his assistant would be ready to welcome him, and I shared an organizational chart of the College so he would have some basic information for his orientation. I was nervous that I was not going to be there in person to engage my new boss on his first day and thought I should at least write the email so that he would know that I’m not neglecting my duties. But, I wrote this email and sent it at 2:00 a.m. And he responded right away, thanking me for the information and said that based on a 2:00 a.m. email exchange, he felt we would get along. He didn’t realize how much that little note was such a relief. I knew then that I would like working with him and hoped he would like working with me.

"There are ways in which the College is better because of him. When Jim started in 2011, we were more fractured and siloed as an organization. For decades, professional staff engaged in their own departments, but there was no strong College identity. In Jim’s first all-staff meeting, he introduced the concept of ‘horizontal lines.’ He said that organizational charts are vertical viewpoints and we stay siloed in vertical structures. He challenged us to create horizontal lines: to cross the boundaries of hierarchy and collaborate based on common goals. Throughout his deanship, he made difficult organizational structure changes, striving to make sense of the College’s functional operations. He invested in making staff feel connected to the whole by calling everyone together in annual meetings and retreats, and creating cross-functional projects like the development of the My Columbia College Journey competencies. He remained true to the belief that horizontal lines make us a stronger, more effective organization."

Susan Chang-Kim
Vice Dean and Chief Administration Officer