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Resilient Leadership: How to Navigate Stress and Chaos with Clarity and Purpose 

by Amit Mrig

In times of stress and chaos, leadership is often put to the ultimate test—and that is certainly an apt description of what’s happening in higher education these days. Faculty and staff are looking to their leaders for direction, stability, and reassurance at a time when leaders themselves are struggling to make sense of the flood of executive orders and guidance coming out of Washington, D.C.   Practicing resilient leadership provides the tools for navigating uncertainty with intention, clarity, and flexibility. There are a number of strategies that leaders can employ to not only guide their teams effectively but to also sustain their own well-being along the way.    Embracing the Difficult Realities As we react to unprecedented executive orders that are attacking higher education on any number of fronts, it can be easy to react with dismay, pessimism, or even denial. Neither reaction is helpful.  Jim Collins wrote about the “Stockdale Paradox,” in which he referenced the experiences of Admiral Stockdale, a prisoner of war (POW) in the Vietnam War. The Admiral had reflected on his impressions of those who survived and those who didn’t, and he shared that the survivors were those who embraced the very difficult and real circumstances […]

IngenioUs Leadership in Action: The Power of Unleashing Human Experience and Potential 

by Melissa Morriss-Olson, Ph.D.

“When doing what we most love transforms us into the best possible version of ourselves and hints at even greater future possibilities, the urge to explore becomes a feverish compulsion.” -Steven Kotler1   Leadership in higher education goes beyond operational management—it is about creating a culture that inspires every individual to unleash their full potential. Over five seasons of the IngenioUs podcast, I’ve interviewed over 100 college and university presidents, uncovering key themes that show how exceptional leaders shape environments where human experience and potential can truly flourish.  In this first article of a new blog series, I explore a foundational theme: the transformative power of leadership that prioritizes people and a human-centered culture.  The stories in my latest book Ingenious Leadership reveal a powerful truth: the most impactful leaders are those who embrace authenticity, cultivate emotional intelligence, foster inclusion, and develop others to achieve their full potential.      Embrace Your Story: Authenticity as Leadership Strength Mary Dana Hinton, President of Hollins University, exemplifies the transformative power of owning one’s narrative. Growing up in the American South, Hinton often felt marginalized. Initially, she believed she needed to conform to traditional leadership norms to succeed. However, her journey toward educational equity revealed […]

Three Self-Defeating Habits of Leaders

by Amit Mrig

One of the great gifts of working in higher education is that you get to work with leaders who are mission driven. Almost no leader I work with was motivated by climbing the ladder. They were motivated by their research, by working with students, by contributing to a purpose bigger than themselves. Over time, their desire to contribute and their skill have led them to opportunities to lead at higher levels. And in each of these roles, they bring with them their positive intentions, ready to make a difference.   Unfortunately, positive intent doesn’t by itself equate to positive impact. In fact, there are times when leaders’ best intentions — paradoxically — lead to worse results. How can this be? Very simply their desire to make a positive impact and contribution leads them to spend their time in ways that on the surface make sense, but that in the end actually work against them.   Here are the three most common behaviors I see that start from good intentions, but that end with a negative impact on the leader, their team and the task at hand:    1. Disproportionate Focus on Dissenters  Perhaps the most common pitfall I see is the one […]

Customer Service and Navigating the Enrollment Cliff: Strategic Insights for Institutional Leaders

by Heath Boice-Pardee

As we face the pressing reality of the enrollment cliff, it’s crucial for leaders in higher education to adapt and innovate. Recent closures of nearly ten institutions in New York State since June 2023—such as Cazenovia College, Medaille College, The College of St. Rose, and Wells College—underscore the fragility of smaller, private schools, but this trend is not likely to stay isolated and compels us to examine the reasons behind students’ migration and identify strategic opportunities to enhance retention, both from a grassroots vantage point and from a systemic, and institutional perspective.   Higher education leaders can focus on what they can control: cultivating an exceptional student experience that highlights the unique strengths and distinct identity of their institutions. While factors such as geographic location may be outside their influence, strategic actions can emphasize what makes their campuses stand out. Forbes highlights a significant shift in student preferences, with many choosing to relocate from colder climates to warmer regions and moving from smaller, regional institutions to larger public universities, drawn by the promise of enhanced resources and opportunities. This increased competition, coupled with shifting public opinion about the value of a higher education degree, presents challenges for smaller institutions. However, by […]

Many Faculty Misunderstand What Enhancing Customer Service Means in the Classroom, and You May, Too 

by Heath Boice-Pardee

As a senior administrator in higher education for decades, I spent a great deal of time creating programs and policies that would enhance the student experience. This seemed natural, and it was done in pursuit of boosting student satisfaction and retention. As an instructor, however, reconciling “student satisfaction” within my classroom was not as straightforward. My goal as an instructor was to provide information and build knowledge for students, despite the fact that sometimes the outcome was disappointing for both of us. Since students pay for classes, but not grades, there was never an expectation that students would be universally satisfied.  Enhancing the student experience and customer service on campus is often delegated to administrators and staff who develop policies, procedures, and programs for students that will act as guardrails at the edge of the enrollment cliff. However, many discussions over the years surrounding this important topic have often purposely steered away from the classroom— as though classrooms are shrouded under an invisibility cloak and are not up for discussion when it comes to customer service.  On one occasion, I was meeting with a mixture of administrators and faculty, and I shared my belief that we needed to examine our […]

We Gave 20 Provosts a Set of LEGO® Bricks to Play with. Here’s What Happened.  

by Amit Mrig

Last fall, Academic Impressions launched our inaugural summit for Provosts. Held for 20 participating Provosts, the summit’s focus was on how Provosts can lead in the face of increasing ambiguity and complexity, a topic for which there is a lot more “talk” than “walk.” We wanted to show Provosts that there are proven strategies for doing so, and in particular, for engaging their teams in hard conversations when stakes are high.   This is even more important because most senior teams avoid talking about the really hard topics—like allocating scarce resources, cutting programs, etc. At many of the institutions we work with, Deans are more likely to lobby the Provost privately rather than to voice candid opinions in team meetings. But not only does this pattern make it much harder for the Provost to make effective decisions, it also isolates decisions with the Provost and ensures that Deans can easily absolve themselves of any responsibility.  What’s more, when the hard issues are only raised in one-on-one meetings, Deans and Vice Provosts don’t get to see the whole picture. The underlying mental models and assumptions that drive decisions can’t be challenged. And it reinforces a zero-sum mindset where there are only winners […]

Are Students Customers? It Doesn’t Matter.

by Heath Boice-Pardee

For the last several years, there has been debate about whether students in higher education should be considered to be “customers.”  I have heard various arguments over the years against this viewpoint, including ideas against that point of view, like, “students aren’t customers, they don’t pay for grades.” As well as, in favor, “students are customers because they are paying for a service.” Recently, I read a thread on Reddit suggesting that some feel that college students aren’t customers, but actually the product of higher education. Still more posit that the products delivered in higher education are the experiences offered and degrees conferred. Either way, what is crystal-clear is that there isn’t consensus in this debate. But does it matter? The fact remains that debating this topic won’t solve the challenges of increasing student satisfaction, retention, and helping to mitigate the enrollment cliff—in fact, the debate likely exacerbates these issues. Today’s generation of students want to be attended to and cared for, and enhancing customer service is pivotal in this regard (Inside Higher Ed, 2023). This doesn’t mean that they want to be coddled—just valued and heard—regardless of whether or not we consider them to be customers. Perhaps this is most […]

The One Issue That’s Bigger than the Demographic Cliff

by Amit Mrig

At a workshop I ran recently, I asked the participants to answer the question, “What’s one thing I know about leadership?” when they were introducing themselves. One of the participants, a brilliant researcher who directs three different centers, stated very plainly: “In higher education, you are always promoted into a job for which you have no training.” His comment wasn’t delivered with any cynicism—he was at the training voluntarily for precisely that reason. He wanted to learn more about leadership.  Over the last three years, I’ve worked with more than 75 groups on various college campuses at all levels—from Chairs, all the way up to Presidents and their senior teams. And I find that this exact same phenomenon exists at every single level. There are only two differences: The higher up in the institution, the less likely leaders are to admit that they need help; and the consequences of ineffective leadership are exponentially greater—even greater than the demographic cliff.   Higher education is unique in this way—most other people-driven businesses invest heavily in leadership. Higher ed, instead, has been slow to see the value. Instead, we prefer to prioritize a narrow definition of success—with high-impact publications, grant development, starting new programs, […]

Faculty Success in Today’s Higher Education: Introduction to the Article Series

by Sarah Seigle Peatman

Over the last decade, faculty success efforts have gradually consolidated on many campuses to become more comprehensive. Increasingly, institutions are creating or expanding integrated divisions of Faculty Success or Faculty Advancement, whose mission is to support faculty holistically—including a focus on faculty affairs, teaching and learning support, faculty and department Chair leadership development, and faculty well-being. They are also critical players in cross-campus initiatives around things like faculty hiring and retention, academic diversity, equity, and inclusion, faculty climate, and promotion and tenure.  This broadening of the faculty success portfolio no doubt poses some challenges, as faculty success units are often leanly resourced. They must also find ways to tailor their services to the unique needs of various faculty groups across rank and tenure (junior faculty, mid-career faculty, senior faculty, career-track faculty or lecturers), academic discipline, and intersecting social identities (race/ethnicity, gender, age and generational difference, caregivers, etc.). But a more integrated, holistic approach also represents a recognition among university leaders that faculty are not a homogenous group, and we cannot treat them as such if we expect to retain them or to produce the student success and research productivity outcomes we are looking for. Faculty needs are more complex and […]

The Road to Adaptive Learning: Improving Comprehension, Easing Faculty Burden

by Courtney Yuen

If you’re currently using learning analytics, this article will show you how a more advanced implementation of this technology plays out. We’ll follow TAWC’s journey about how they got there. Data, data, data. We all know it’s valuable. In the classroom, it has the potential to improve student comprehension. It can also support faculty and reduce costs. If used in more advanced forms, it can even customize the learning experience to the preferences of each student. We all have data, but not everyone is using it in the same ways. According to a study by Ellucian, 61% of institutions currently have some kind of learning analytics program. However, very few have pushed it beyond its most basic functions and ventured into the world of adaptive learning. The American Women’s College (TAWC) at Bay Path University is one such trailblazer. TAWC builds their online courses in an adaptive platform that’s improving student comprehension, performance, and accessibility – and easing faculty burden at the same time. Their model is also saving students money. What’s adaptive learning? An adaptive system is built around a set of AI algorithms that process data drawn from tens of thousands of learner interactions. The computations that the system carries out […]

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