Embracing the Unknown

These are brief, mini-essays from a number of distinguished higher education leaders, published in Business Officer. They make quick reads between phone calls: "Acknowledging the critical need to examine the multifaceted nature of the global economic crisis and its effect on our world from myriad angles—and explore below the tip of the iceberg—NACUBO has invited leaders in higher education and finance to write about these turbulent, changing times. The following essays present a range of perspectives—historical, endowment-focused, community college, student, and more—on the issues higher education is currently contending with, including some solutions for these and future challenges."

The Next Big Thing: Crisis and Transformation in American Higher Education

On Inside Higher Ed's "Blog U," the latest post is titled The Next Big Thing: Crisis and Transformation in American Higher Education, which concludes: "It is good to attend crisis conferences, seminars, and meetings on the next big thing. We all need to worry about the global transformation of higher education, but it is even more important for each institution to stay closely focused on the performance that produces high quality and high productivity measured against a clear and precise understanding of the marketplace for its mission. . . . When the moment passes, the publicity dies down, and the pundits turn to other crises, the college and university winners will be those who paid attention to the fundamentals all along." We might add that the winners will be the institutions which have used integrated, comprehensive planning to align the campus with its mission and vision.

What then is the optimal behavior of institutions suffering through the peaks and valleys of these serial crises? Some common sense guidelines may be helpful. The primary imperative surprises none of us: Pay attention to the fundamentals, all of which speak to the competitive performance of institutions within their sector and subsector of the higher education industry.

a. Enroll students.

b. Graduate students.

c. Focus on revenue.

d. Track expenses precisely.

e. Measure faculty, staff, and student performance.

f. Understand the difference between core activity and enhancements.

g. Do the core activities first and do them well.

Leadership and Futuring: Making Visions Happen

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Leadership and Futuring: Making Visions Happen by John R. Hoyle. This book "is about prompting leaders to “think out of the box” and learn how to take people where they have never been before. It is about developing effective leadership skills and strategies that help leaders design corporate futures through visioning and persuading others to share that vision." Reviewed in Planning for Higher Education by Aswan Hamza.

What Is Your Institution's 'Brand'?

Stand Out is from Business Officer by Douglas Vaira.

Some view branding as smoke and mirrors, a lot of hooey, the stuff of corporate boardroom flip charts, or nothing more than the New Coke. Employees are as likely as customers to express skepticism about branding initiatives. Yet, within higher education, brand development is garnering greater curiosity as competition grows for new students and top-notch faculty and as relations with campus constituents and the wider community propel institutional leaders to rethink mission and communication strategies.

The pursuits of several institutions to rediscover their fundamental nature - that thing that makes them tick—demonstrate the essence of branding and its potential impact on current and would-be campus stakeholders.