Leadership
The poetry of change
I first found this poem in a book called, Leading From Within – Poetry That Sustains the Courage to Lead. As the editors say it in their opening note, “Our invitation to these leaders was simple: take a moment away from the sharp-elbowed context in which you do your work, step outside the cycle of pressure…
Read MoreIt’s all in your mind-set
‘There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.” Jiddu Kishnamurti This quote seems to epitomize the idea of the growth mindset…
Read MoreRisk 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 MoreLeading with Heart
Walter Urban hired me to work at McMurry College (now University). It was my first job right out of law school. Walter was the Dean of Students and I was Associate Dean of Students. It was a great title, and first job and Walter was a wonderful supervisor and teacher. Walter wasn’t a career Student Affairs…
Read More