COLLEGE OF EDUCATION & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Texas A&M University

John Hoyle, Seeker of Leadership, Excellence...and Good Bull

10/27/06

Courtesy Tura King, University Relations

John Hoyle would be the first to say he's full of it - "good bull," that is.

But he may not admit what others who know him would say - namely that Hoyle, the author of the "Good Bull" book series that chronicles Aggie lore, also epitomizes the core values of Texas A&M University: excellence, loyalty, integrity, leadership, respect and selfless service.

As a freshman at Texas A&M, Hoyle was gifted with the Aggie Spirit, and it was a perfect fit with his fun-loving personality. He passes that spirit on to others in the stories he tells from those days, such as this one from one of his "Good Bull" books:

"My fish year was spent in J ramp in Hart Hall. It was not air-conditioned and the windows were left open most of the year. One spring night my suite-mate, Lupe Fraga - a fine second and third baseman, good student and now a distinguished member of the Board of Regents - was sawing logs on his bunk next to his window.

"For some unknown reason emanating from my 18-year-old mind, I filled a bucket of water and through his screened window gave him the classic 'Aggie drown out'. I reasoned that it was his fault for being in the water's path!

"Lupe acted as if he never knew the performer of this wet deed, but to this day I know he understood "Measure for Measure" - learned in his Shakespeare class. After a long corps trip to Dallas my 'old lady' (old Aggie term for roommate) and I returned to our room ready for some sleep. As I opened the door a wall of water knocked us to the floor. I remember my shower shoes floating at eye level.

"Fifty-four years have come and gone and to this day Lupe denies any responsibility for that dastardly deed. He merely laughs and says 'I don't remember that!'  Good bull, indeed!"

Aside from writing about the past, Hoyle also writes and talks about the future -and especially about the future leaders of our country. In fact, he specializes in "futuring"-the science of using trend analysis, scenario activities and computer-driven data sets to develop future scenarios on almost any topic. He has taught a futuring course at Texas A&M since 1975.

His book titled "Leadership and Futuring: Making Visions Happen" was recently updated and a new edition published. In the book, Hoyle, a professor in the Department of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development, challenges school administrators to "think outside the box."

He proposes they do this by investigating the critical links between successful leadership and visioning for the future. He also encourages them to recognize vision, motivation, flexibility and remaining open to invention and opportunity as fundamental characteristics of effective leaders.
 
Beyond talking about leadership and the challenges of the future, Hoyle practices what he preaches by working closely with school districts and community leaders to bring about needed changes in education so that each child will have new opportunities to be a success.

He teaches students in his graduate classes to think ahead to 25 years in the future and predict what education will be like at that time. He also teaches them there are no limits on the future and they must be ready to meet all its challenges.

One unexpected result of Hoyle's approach to teaching happened in 2004. He was selected one of the most exceptional living scholars - a "living legend" - in the field of educational leadership in a survey of academics in education conducted by the University of South Florida at Tampa.

The survey asked education academics to name the person they believed most fit the term "living legend" beyond the use of publications and citations - the traditional markers of academic excellence.

As a result, Hoyle and the three others named were not only full-fledged scholars who have significantly influenced national trends and policies but also they were selected for their leadership roles within school districts and the communities.

Among the reasons the respondents gave for their choice of a "living legend" were "significant and broad impact on scholarship and the field," "national spheres of influence," "bridges the practitioner community of school administrators with colleagues in the academy" and "mentoring and multi-authoring systems."

Grounded in the past with an eye on the future, Hoyle has not lost sight of what is important today.

When Mark Musumba, a graduate student in agricultural economics and a native of Mutundwe, Uganda, came to Texas A&M, he found a home away from home in the Corps of Cadets - and in the church that Hoyle and his wife attend. When Musumba learned his father was dying in Uganda, his greatest wish was to see his father one more time.  With the help of Hoyle and the United Campus Ministry (UCM) and many others, a benefit 5K run was organized to help fund the trip home.

Hoyle's latest research project is to visit the colleges of education at the major universities across the country and look at their programs and their graduate students. These universities are the benchmark schools, the ones other colleges and universities measure themselves against.
 
Hoyle wants to follow some of those graduate students and find where they are now and see what effect their education at these benchmark schools has had on improving education in the classrooms where it counts the most.

He's asking what works and what doesn't so he can bring about improvements at the most basic level of education, and that would indeed be, as he would phrase it, "good bull."

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