My reasons for writing this.

When deciding on which people I wanted to approach for a letter of recommendation for my doctoral program there were several people that stood out. A previous supervisor that I trusted was my first choice. He was an academic and could give a good insight into my academic potential. Another person that stood out as an obvious choice was a person I will call the "Dean". The Dean holds an almost iconic status at my university and besides respecting him a great deal, I thought it would be a great boost to my application if he were to endorse my application. Having just completed a course with him I decided to schedule an appointment to discuss the matter while my name and face were fresh in his mind. It may be old fashioned in the age of Twitter, Facebook, teleconferencing to do this but I like to meet face to face when asking someone to do something for me. I made the appointment and spent the next days drafting a few questions outside of my request for a letter of recommendation.

On the day of our appointment I was greeted by the Dean in his usual cheerful way. I always find it refreshing, coming from a business background, when a person that is close to the top of an institution is so friendly and personable. We discussed his class and random topics of interest for a few minutes before I asked him about the recommendation. He was happy to recommend me for the program.

That bit of business out of the way I was able to open up the conversation with a few questions I had been thinking about. What was his favorite part of the job? What did he think of a specific topic in the news? What did he see as the most important or controversial topic in higher education? We talked about his answers and had a great conversation.

My final question was what he thought the most important skill a person in academic administration should have. His answer was so obvious that its' importance did not immediately sink in. It was simple. Writing was the most important thing. Read as much as possible, but write whenever you find an excuse. Write responses to articles, impressions about art or music, or stories about your life. It doesn't mater initially what you write about, but that you are writing about it.

My primary and secondary educations were not writing intensive and coming from a business background I was not expected to write anything of great detail or insight. My goal is to write more often on a variety of topics, but primarily about topics related to education policy and international education. I invite anyone to read and write constructive comments.