Category: Blog

Leadership has always been an endeavor laden with challenges—both the good kind that enables you to grow, and the difficult kind that stretches you. This year will certainly be no exception and is likely to test leaders, both formal and informal, at all levels. Given this climate, how do you not get stuck just reacting instead of intentionally leading? How do you prepare for what you don’t know is coming?    It might feel like there’s too much happening to focus on how you show up as a leader, and that other things should take priority—but this is exactly the time to lead, and leadership is the way forward. Throughout the year, Academic Impressions will highlight essential skills for leading in the moment, no matter the circumstances. We’ll focus on such skills as knowing yourself as a leader, making decisions amid uncertainty, and managing disruption fatigue, to name a few. You may not be able to predict every challenge, but you can build the skills to navigate them—keeping yourself and your teams moving forward.     Learning how you show up—both in normal and times of stress Some of the biggest pitfalls that can trip you up as a leader might […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]