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In a new episode of The Key, Inside Higher Ed’s news and analysis podcast, three leaders in higher education discuss how they keep purpose front of mind as they lead their organizations.
Speaking at IHE’s recent Student Success US conference at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Donde Plowman, chancellor of UT Knoxville; Harry Williams, former president of Delaware State University and current president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund; and Jonathan Koppell, president of Montclair State University, shared their experiences with IHE’s editor in chief, Sara Custer.
Though they lead different organizations, Plowman, Williams and Koppel describe similar challenges when it comes to effectively communicating difficult decisions, improving areas of student success and advocating for the value of a higher education.
“One thing I did at Delaware State that was very difficult was get legislation passed,” Williams recounts. “To have someone tell you when you say you’re going to do it, ‘This is crazy. It will never happen. We have never done this ever.’ Leadership is doing things that are difficult and hard.”
Meanwhile, Plowman notes the importance of nurturing talented and independent teams. “You can’t get there in four years in much of anything if you micromanage anything. That’s another aspect of leadership—the kind of people you hire and then let them go.”
Speaking about what colleges and universities should do to win back public confidence, Koppell urges institutions to “double down” on their public purpose and public missions.
“We’ve basked in our own virtue for 50 years and said:, ‘Well, we don’t have to explain anything. It’s self-evident how good we are. It’s self-evident how important we are.’ And that was a mistake. Now we have to be more assertive about the value of higher education and more assertive about our own commitments to the communities we serve,” he says.
Listen to this episode of The Key here, and click here to find out more about The Key.
