Whether intentionally or not, you can help set the institution s tone for the day, the week or the year by your actions. If you are friendly and positive and spend time greeting people, it should make a difference. People want to work at and support a place where the future is positive and the working and learning environment cheerful. If your words or actions set a negative tone, however, or if you complain too much about the University, the faculty or other elements of the community, your negativity will be contagious and will make your school a less comfortable place to work and stay. Your words will be repeated and will have a far broader audience than you intended.
Actions can speak as well.
If you return from a University budget or policy meeting and put your fist through the wall, for example, staff members will deduce certain things about the outcome of the meeting. The fact that people now take you more seriously by reason of your position presents a tremendous opportunity. As Dean Tom Read has pointed out, a dean is uniquely situated to do something good for someone else virtually every day. A timely thank you note or a well done can matter a lot when it comes from your office. Personal notes to speakers, alumni leaders, faculty members, staff members and students are a way to tell people that you, and through you the law school community, value their contributions.