Oral history interview with David DeVries, November 23, 1998 and December 2, 1998
Subtitle: interview S-0010, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Millwood, Elizabeth A., interviewer; Southern Oral History Program; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project); University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library
Edition: Electronic ed.
Publisher: University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill
Published: 2007
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; Social psychologists; Research institutes; Administration; Planning; History; Leadership; Study and teaching; Executives; Training of; Intellectual property; Center for Creative Leadership; Smith Richardson Foundation
Other titles: Interview S-0010, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with David DeVries, November 23, 1998 and December 2, 1998; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: David DeVries earned a Ph.D. in psychology, motivated by a childhood in an immigrant family that positioned him as an outsider. He soon applied his expertise at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), an institution dedicated to leadership education and research. DeVries spent fifteen years at the Center, eventually rising to the position of executive vice-president. In this interview, he gives an organizational history of CCL, tracing it from its beginnings as a relatively loosely organized think tank to its arrival as an influential player in private sector leadership. The story of CCL seems to be one of competing impulses: researchers' creativity clashed with the need for streamlined business practices, the conservatism of CCL's funders sometimes stood in contrast with CCL's style, and even the success of certain ideas might stifle the drive to find new ones. But as creative and unrestrained as industrial psychologists like David Campbell were, the organization's leaders, including William C. Friday, who served as president from 1976-1996, were able to corral that creativity and build a successful organization. This interview offers a portrait of a unique organization and the ways in which business leaders resolve the tensions between creativity, profitability, and personality.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on May 6, 2008).

Interview participants: David DeVries, interviewee; Elizabeth Millwood, interviewer.

Duration: 01:57:58.

This electronic edition is part of the UNC-CH digital library, Documenting the American South.  It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.

Text encoded by Jennifer Joyner.  Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 152.9 kilobytes, 216 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series S, Center for Creative Leadership, interview S-0010, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Tower Associates. Original transcript: 33 p.

Funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this interview.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements:  Web browser with Javascript enabled and multimedia player.