I have spent a significant portion of my career exploring the unique and often puzzling ecosystem of university administration. When I spoke with James Walton, President of Collaborative Brain Trust, on my podcast, Coaching in Higher Education, our conversation quickly took a fascinating turn toward the business side of our field and a truth that […]
Category: Blog
Meeting VUCA with VUCA: A New Playbook for the Agile Academic Leader
The pace of change on our campuses has increased drastically. In fact, we are now at a point where we are navigating a reality that can no longer be ignored – which requires drastic adaptations. In episode 2 of my podcast, Coaching in Higher Education, I sat down for a compelling conversation with my friend […]
Beyond the Guild: Navigating Identity Shift in Academic Leadership
Academic leadership presents a unique conundrum. In the premiere episode of Coaching in Higher Education, I spoke with my friend and colleague, Dr. Kavita Pandit, about this very issue and dove deep into the complex world of the “faculty-leader,” a journey that often begins not with a desire for management, but with a deep-seated allegiance […]
Shifting Mindset: The Power of Assumptions
I’ve been thinking a lot about mindset. Not only was this the topic of a recent blog post and a fantastic conversation with my friend and colleague, Nozomi Morgan on LinkedIn Live. What I also realized is how – and how much – my own mindset has changed over the last three years, significantly enhancing […]
Leaders and Managers Revisited
It is no secret that I like to draw a clear (if somewhat graduated) delineation between management and leadership. In a previous piece on the topic, I summarized the difference as follows: Leaders and Managers tell and – under the best of circumstances – demonstrate what to do and how to do it. Leaders, on the other hand, model […]
Where Does Change Live?
As I continue my journey through the world of Agile and how its principles and values can transform higher education institutions, I have realized that it is time to revise a few of my initial thoughts on the topic. One that most recently popped up during an enlightening conversation with a former university provost was […]
Leadership, Culture, and Climate in Higher Education
I’d like to use this post to bring attention to an important piece authored by Eileen Hoenigman Meyer based on thought leadership by James Bernthal. What strikes me is that the article not only addresses the fundamental, yet mostly overlooked, difference between organizational culture and its climate, where the latter denotes a snapshot of the […]
Out With the Bullies!
I’ve been meaning to share this excellent resource by Kim Scott, the author of Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity and Radical Respect: How To Work Together Better, as it is highly applicable to what ails much of higher education leadership. In my experience, being bullied in some form is, unfortunately, […]
No, You Are Not Hiring Leaders
I often hear people talking about hiring someone into a leadership position. And I have a problem with that. Granted, I may be splitting semantic hairs here, but it bears repeating that leadership is not positional; management is. Let me explain. As I have written elsewhere, management is, first and foremost, about telling people what […]
We Are All Millennials Now
Entitled. Needy. Spoiled. Seeking instant gratification. – Sound familiar? Well, think again… Setting the Stage To be honest, I didn’t quite know what to expect from a book about Millennials. The idea of embracing a specific leadership approach targeted at a specific age group of employees did pique my interest, of course. But perhaps it […]