Finding Time, Keeping Quiet
Risk Management
It was about twenty years ago that I first sat down with a colleague who had the title of Risk Manager. Our new Risk Manager wanted us to make sure every musical act, any magician, well, anyone we invited to campus through our various programs, had insurance. It was a new idea, and an added…
Read MoreThe Empty Truth
Three months into my job as Dean of Students at SMU, I was invited to welcome a group of students to campus. It was on a Friday evening at the start of a 24-hour retreat before classes started. It was a mixed group of students. Returning students were there to welcome new students to the…
Read MoreLeadership Dance, Leadership Yoga
Both the Leadership Dance and Leadership Yoga workshops came about in the same way. I was teaching undergraduate courses in leadership at Trinity University and taking ballroom dance lessons or yoga teacher training. (Not at the same time – yoga teacher training came first). But in both situations, I began to see new ways to…
Read MoreBureaucracy ‘R’ Us
Would you be surprised to learn that I haven’t been able to find a single positive quote on the topic of bureaucracy? Probably not. Franz Kafka’s “Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy” may be my favorite. And I certainly have done my share of railing about red tape,…
Read MoreCreating Community
Last week I wrote that creating community is leadership work. This week, I’d like to share some of my experiences as a leader working to create community in organizations. Colleges and universities are complicated places with multiple systems of governance. Divisions have completely different values and reward systems. There are departments with widely varied purposes and…
Read MoreLeading for Community
October is a month of community for me. Two reunions, two very different groups of people, both important to me. Res Life First up was the annual gathering of the group known on Facebook as Walker Tower 9th Floor 1975. One of the unusual elements of this group is its homogeneity. 95% of us are…
Read MoreCuriosity is a Leadership Skill
“How did you get where you are?” It’s a question I have often heard over the course of my career – especially once I became a vice president. There are many ways to answer such a question and a helpful answer depends on what the questioner really wants to explore. Some questions are about credentials.…
Read MoreListening to Learn
“The servant leader seeks to identify the will of a group and helps to clarify that will. He or she listens receptively to what is being said and unsaid. Listening also encompasses hearing one’s own inner voice. Listening, coupled with periods of reflection, is essential to the growth and well-being of the servant leader.” Larry…
Read MoreThe Gifts of Fall
My first fall on campus Based on everything I know now, I can safely say I did everything wrong during my first semester of college. Well, I didn’t go home every weekend since home was 500 miles away. However, since both of my grandmothers lived within an hour’s drive, I did leave campus more than…
Read More