Also, our society has become more of a fast food, quick fix variety. Few want to wait for anything. I am taking a Management Class this semester. In this class we discussed the differences between Leadership and Management. Management deals with keeping the status quo.
Leadership involves taking an organization where they want to go.
Leadership involves change and vision. In different situations each of these may be utilized depending on where you are. I am not sure of the content of your class but my experience has been that progress does not always move in a straight line. There are often setbacks and disappointments as any organization moves to a desired point. If you looked at some of the other so-called name programs over the same time frame, you would find that many of them were considerably ahead of us 40 years ago and that we have really closed the gap.