This paper discusses how deans make successful transitions to leadership positions. It focuses on six areas: the typical stages of adult development; the rites of passage of new deans; how academics are socialized into administration; the keys for successful entry into the role of dean; what beginning academic leaders need to know; and what strategies new deans employ in order to begin establishing their professional identities. The paper discusses stages of transition into the new deanship: (1) engagement (the professorial plateau); (2) separation (the ending of an era), which includes disengagement, disidentification, disenchantment and disorientation; (3) transition (the valley of despair); (4) incorporation (the new beginning); and re-engagement/renewal (the stage of success). Factors influencing dean transition include the new dean's origin, experience, gender, ethnicity, and family. The paper concludes with eight tips on transitions. (Contains 70 references.) (SM)