Using the Five Paths to Leadership® Self-Assessment with Your Students

As students move through higher education and into the workforce, it is more important than ever for them to develop an understanding of who they are as leaders. Help your students deepen their self-awareness, apply what they’ve learned in and out of the classroom to interviews and their future employment, and develop the skills to communicate effectively about their leadership strengths and areas for improvement using the Five Paths to Leadership® Self-Assessment.   Join us to learn more about how this assessment can benefit your students, from classrooms to student employment to extracurricular activities! You’ll hear from Academic Impressions practitioners and partners who have applied the Five Paths to Leadership® to a student context. You’ll also receive a toolkit and case studies to help guide your work with students around the assessment.  

How Customer Service Can Save Your Institution from the Enrollment Cliff

As the enrollment cliff looms, institutional leaders must act with urgency and innovation. With over ten institutions in New York State closing since mid-2023, including The College of Saint Rose and Wells College, the message is clear: no institution is immune. Join us for a critical webcast exploring how senior leaders can strategically differentiate their institutions and prioritize retention through exceptional customer service. This session, designed specifically for presidents and senior leadership teams, will focus on practical strategies to enhance student belonging and retention by improving the overall student experience. We will discuss how leaders can harness the power of exceptional customer service to make students feel valued, supported, and engaged. From creating personalized connections to addressing micro-inconveniences on campus, these approaches will help transform student satisfaction into long-term loyalty. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain actionable insights and start building a more resilient future for your institution. Register now for free! Are you interested in diving deeper into how institutional leaders can help use service excellence to address the enrollment cliff? Read more from Heath Boice-Pardee in his recent article, Customer Service and Navigating the Enrollment Cliff: Strategic Insights for Institutional Leaders. 

Setting Boundaries 

During your early career, you may feel pressure to make career decisions that don’t align with your personal or professional goals. Being able to set and maintain your boundaries and knowing when to be more flexible with them can help you achieve your ideal career trajectory without sacrificing too much. In this session, we’ll discuss how to set your boundaries based on your personal and professional goals, and how to maintain those boundaries while balancing competing priorities. 

Strategic Growth in Higher Education: The Role of Data and Artificial Intelligence

Come join us to learn about the immense power of artificial intelligence and how it can be harnessed to your school’s advantage. If you’re looking to make informed decisions about which academic programs to stop, start, or grow, this event is for you. Specifically, you’ll explore how artificial intelligence can help you to: 

Polishing Your Professional Persona 

Who you are as a person and who you are as a professional can be similar but not exactly the same. As you navigate different organizations, you’ll encounter a wide range of professional norms and standards, and you’ll have to decide how you can fit in with your organizational culture and how you may want to make different choices. In this session, we’ll explore what you want your professional persona to be, and how you can make choices that support developing and maintaining that persona.   We recommend coming to this session having taken a personal assessment to better understand your leadership style. One option to take ahead of time is Academic Impressions’ Five Paths to Leadership℠ self-assessment. You could also attend the debrief session in August or September to deepen your self-awareness.

Creating a Personal Leadership Philosophy 

Your leadership philosophy encompasses your core values and beliefs that frame how you make decisions. Although you may not see yourself as a leader in your early career, building your leadership philosophy from the start of your professional life can help set you up to make intentional choices about your career trajectory. In this session, you’ll examine your personal leadership style, along with your values and goals, to come up with what you want from your journey as a leader and a professional.   We recommend coming to this session having taken a personal assessment to better understand your leadership style. One option to take ahead of time is Academic Impressions’ Five Paths to Leadership℠ self-assessment. You could also attend the debrief session in August or September to deepen your self-awareness.  

Advocating for Yourself and Managing Up

In your early career, you may not have a lot of power to enact changes or drive the direction of your projects. However, knowing how to advocate for what you need in your professional life and managing your relationship with your supervisor can help you better achieve your goals. In this session, we’ll walk through how to work with your manager effectively and champion your interests diplomatically.

Initiative and Professional Curiosity

Your early career is a time for a great deal of learning, and you often encounter so many new things that it can be overwhelming. Professionals who learn quickly where they can take initiative and build a sense of curiosity in their work really stand out in their organizations. In this session, we’ll explore how you can build your sense of initiative even with limited knowledge.  

Time Management and Flexibility

In your early career, you don’t always have a lot of control over your schedule, and you may not get direction on how to manage a long-term project. Professionals who are open to working with the schedules of others while also advocating for their needs and setting their own schedules can develop reputations as team players and top performers. In this session, we’ll discuss how you can manage your time in an environment where you don’t always have choices over what you work on.  

Seeing the Big Picture: A Conversation about One President’s Visionary Approach to Leadership

Visionary leadership in higher education is essential for driving innovation, creating inclusive culture, and advancing the institutional mission. Unfortunately, there are many reasons why we often focus on the urgent and immediate rather than the big picture—like entrenched traditions, complex governance structures, budget constraints, short-term pressures, resistance to change, external influences, and the need to balance diverse stakeholder interests. Join us for an interactive discussion with President Shari McMahan of Eastern Washington University to hear how she has developed a visionary approach to leadership along with the lessons she’s learned in the process. This one-hour discussion offers a space to engage in open dialogue, ask questions, and learn from one another in a supportive and inclusive environment. Explore how you can cultivate visionary leadership in higher education, navigate challenges, and leverage your unique strengths to drive positive change and innovation within your institution. President McMahan will share strategies and personal lessons learned for how to: Ultimately, you’ll walk away with a renewed commitment to yourself, your values, and the importance of leading consistently.