Leadership with conscience, compassion, and commitment.

I would like to thank the Northeastern University School of Pharmacy for the honor of being named the 2003 John W. Webb Visiting Professor. Before I prepared this lecture, never had I consecutively read the Harvey A. K. Whitney or John W. Webb speeches. Never before had I read Bill Zellmer’s essays organized by topic. Never before had I read three books in one weekend. Our busy worlds do not generally permit this kind of concentrated learning and reflection without a specific goal. The assignment of preparing for this lecture has been very fulfilling, a gift in itself for which I am sincerely grateful. All this reading of the theories, values, visions, strategies, and goals of many thought leaders in pharmacy and the corporate world has enabled me to reflect on leadership in general, but particularly within our profession. Those of you who know me probably expected me to discuss management strategies in a complex, matrixed, academic medical center or, perhaps, “managing up.” I have chosen a different, more basic topic for this speech, in part, because of the things I have read