Oliver Seale’s in-depth study into the nature of deanship in South Africa has recently been published. Entitled Deanship in the Global South: Bridging Troubled Waters is about the deans’ lived reality, as they try to balance the demands of both the academe from which they emerge, and the administration to whom they now need to account. Their lack of preparation and inadequate support points to the need for a more strategic, integrated approach to leadership development within their critical bridging roles between the academe and administration.