Howard Teibel’s latest feature, “A Voice, a Vote, and a Veto,” hits the pages of this month’s issue of NACUBO Business Officer Magazine. It’s an approach to shared governance you might not be hearing right now, not focusing on rules, regulations, or fiduciary responsibility, rather addressing the human dynamic of shared governance and how developing your institutional skill in collaboration fosters balance and growth across academic, administration and board leadership. Our conversation today se...
Jun 07, 2016•15 min•Ep. 150
Gerald Hector is Vice President for Finance and Administration at Ithaca College. In part one of our conversation last week , Gerald shared his insights on the importance of the CBO-CIO relationship, and we expected that to be the extent of our conversation. Then he surprised us with a fantastic pivot. In part two, we take on the power of storytelling in moving the institutional mission forward. From using metaphor to explain complex financial subjects, to his "Dollars & $ence" meetings, now...
May 31, 2016•26 min•Ep. 149
Gerald Hector is Vice President for Finance and Administration at Ithaca College. He serves as chief financial officer with administrative oversight to the offices of Auxiliary Services, Digital Instruction and Information Services, Facilities, and Business and Finance, as well as providing support and direction for all of the College's financial endeavors. But he started in technology, and in his work understanding the requirements of the role, he cultivated a set of skills unique to finance. T...
May 24, 2016•23 min•Ep. 148
This week we have the second of our live podcasts coming to you from the Western Association of College and University Business Officers Annual Conference in San Francisco. Howard Teibel is joined by the incoming WACUBO presidents in which they share their hopes and insights around the power of a diverse and inclusive association, along with living up to the pressure of the legacy of leaders that has come before. Our guests this week include… WACUBO president Jean Vock, currently associate dean ...
May 10, 2016•20 min•Ep. 147
Apr 26, 2016•23 min•Ep. 146
How do you get people to engage in a conversation around failure? According to our guest, “you can see in organizations where iteration and the failure that might come with it is accepted as something that can be positive, and something that can help us get to the destination we’re trying to get to.” Creating a culture of iteration, and adapting toward a state in which you see failure as growth is a challenge, but one worth taking. SVP of First American Education Finance Chad Wiedenhofer joins u...
Apr 19, 2016•23 min•Ep. 145
In just a few weeks, the Western Association of College and University Business Officers 2016 Annual Conference is set to convene in San Francisco, California. The program is full of incredible speakers and events kicking off Sunday, April 24 with a Keynote by former Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice, and a catalog of university presidents and business officers who are leading the charge for change in their institutions. You can find out more about the conference at wacubo.org . Ruth Johns...
Apr 12, 2016•24 min•Ep. 144
Risk mitigation is not new, says our guest. "But it's also not easy." And Janice Abraham should know. As CEO of United Educators, a premier risk management and liability insurance company in higher education, Abraham spends her days leading the charge in helping more than 1,300 academic institutions to think of both the upside and downside of all potential horizons. Within the context of academic structures, a robust discussion of risk today must include not just cooperation between academics an...
Apr 05, 2016•28 min•Ep. 143
At this year’s EACUBO Annual Workshop in Boston, Howard Teibel shared the stage with Bentley University President Gloria Larson in a conversation titled Building and Supporting your Leadership Team that centered on how leadership teams communicate their shared vision for success across the institution. This week, we have a follow-up conversation between President Larson and Howard Teibel in which they share their observations in a few key areas: Hear President Larson’s position on the opportunit...
Mar 29, 2016•29 min•Ep. 142
In late 2013, our guest, futurist Bryan Alexander, and colleagues crowd-sourced a new metaphor into our higher ed vernacular: The Queen Sacrifice . According to Alexander, The Queen Sacrifice is a strategy in which “a college or university sacrifices one of its most vital elements (faculty, academic offerings) to ward off financial woe.” The perils of a queen sacrifice are plenty, implying both a practical fissure in the institution, and a cultural one. When financial restructuring is on the tab...
Mar 22, 2016•23 min•Ep. 141
Want to condition yourself to do 100 push-ups a day? Then start with just one, and do it right after you use the restroom. Such is the advice from Stanford professor BJ Fogg in his TEDxTalk about using tiny habits to launch big change in your life. The same is true for organizational change. This week on the show, Gail Gregory joins Pete Wright to share the experience of UMass Lowell and their effort to transform the institution, one tiny initiative at a time. Gregory and UMass Lowell’s Lauren T...
Mar 14, 2016•18 min•Ep. 140
“I never used the words ‘strategic planning’…” Mark Heckler has served as president of Valparaiso University since 2008. In his tenure so far, the institution has achieved some notable wins: expanded facilities, expanded academic programs and a five-year campaign achieving the largest fundraising goal ever achieved by a Lutheran University. Today, Dr. Heckler is overseeing the implementation of the most expansive and comprehensive Strategic Plan in the University’s 150-year history. Today, he jo...
Mar 08, 2016•35 min•Ep. 139
When we talk about good customer service in higher education, what does that mean? Do your teams recoil at the word ‘customer’? Is there a shared interest in delivering quality service across the institution? If any of these questions are challenging for you to answer, don’t worry, you’re not alone. This week on Navigating Change, Howard Teibel shares his insights in working with teams to embrace service across the institution. What does it take to bring a service mindset to your team? How do yo...
Mar 01, 2016•15 min•Ep. 138
"People don’t have a problem with change. They have a problem with the uncertainty that the change — or the anticipation of the change — creates." Howard has returned from the NBOA Annual Meeting in Los Angeles and brings lessons learned from his time with business officers and leaders of independent schools. This year, the presentation focused on three key areas: Leading Change, Decision-Making, and Strategic Communication. The objective, to answer the question: where are you in your career and...
Feb 25, 2016•20 min•Ep. 137
University of Colorado at Boulder is launching the first new college on campus in over 53 years. This is the beginning of an exciting period for the institution, one of building, creating, and supporting growth through bold academic and administrative leadership. What does it take to bring teams together, especially after a period of uncertainty? This week on Navigating Change, we’re talking about making the transition to construction from deconstruction, and building an academic environment whe...
Feb 12, 2016•18 min•Ep. 136
Burck Smith is the CEO and founder of StraighterLine, an education company that works to solve a major hurdle for many students: cost. They do this by offering accredited courses online for a monthly fee with credits that are guaranteed to transfer within their network of transfer colleges. This week, we welcome Smith to the show to introduce us to the StraighterLine approach and outline why it’s a good fit in the broader higher education ecosystem. In our on-going conversation around the value ...
Feb 09, 2016•35 min•Ep. 135
According to a study released last Tuesday, only 14% of students who start out in the community college system actually make the leap to a 4-year college and graduate. That the transfer system boasts some leaks is not a surprise to those of us who’ve been working in the field, but that the leak is so significant is stunning. The reason we want to talk about this statistic this week on Navigating Change, and the transfer system in general, is that we’re seeing an increasing impact on the 4-year c...
Feb 01, 2016•14 min•Ep. 134
What does sustainability look like? That’s the question at hand on the show this week, as we navigate the waters of innovation and decision making through strategic use of data. Dr. Teresa Hardee, CFO and CBO at Delaware State University, joins us to share her institution’s story of breaking down silos, encouraging institution-wide participation, and creating a culture of transparency around the numbers. One of the unique elements of this transformation is DSU’s Data Transformation Team. This te...
Jan 26, 2016•27 min•Ep. 133
Dec 30, 2015•27 min•Ep. 132
This week’s conversation is inspired by two pieces in higher education circles. The first, by Beckie Supiano for the Chronicle, is targeted toward telling the story of college pricing and the overall education market to key constituent audiences. The second, from Daemen College President Gary Olson, attempts to address six common myths around private higher education. Both articles highlight the undercurrent in our industry today- that we have lost ownership of the conversation around higher edu...
Dec 30, 2015•22 min•Ep. 131
"Higher ed needs to eat its own dog food,” says Peter Kane, CEO of e-procurement firm Unimarket. This idea of dog-fooding, the concept that institutions practice extensively in their own operations what they teach in the classroom, has proved to be a challenge in higher education. When we run into internal operational challenges, can we honestly say that we’re as adaptable institutionally as we like to think we are? This week on the show, Unimarket CEO Peter Kane joins us to share his experience...
Dec 30, 2015•28 min•Ep. 130
This week on Navigating Change, we invite writer, speaker, and teacher, Bryan Alexander, to join us and talk about the ever changing world of higher education. As a futurist, Bryan navigates trends in the field of how technology transforms education. In Teibel’s work with leaders, we focus on shorter timeframes, helping to free those overwhelmed by the act of change to move into action. In our conversation today, we attempt to bridge the two: how do we help one another to narrow relevant trends ...
Dec 14, 2015•40 min•Ep. 129
Dec 02, 2015•29 min•Ep. 128
Arguably the most challenging part of any change process is rallying the support of the people around you to join you on your way. This week on the show, we present Howard Teibel’s model for approaching any population you’re trying to influence in a specific direction. No, this isn’t about re-programming or hypnosis, though that would certainly be easier, even if ethically challenged. This model is for you — the change agent — a method of reframing your audience, of refocusing your efforts, and ...
Dec 01, 2015•21 min•Ep. 127
Howard Teibel once again joins the ranks of presenters at the NBOA Annual Meeting 2016 in Las Angeles. This week on the show, we talk about the levers and pulleys of financial sustainability — tools of financial officers to make change toward financial sustainability, enrollment, and growth — that provide the seed for Howard’s deep dive session to come at the conference. Striking the balance between enrollment management, financial aid, diversity and fiscal sustainability drives the forward thin...
Nov 17, 2015•21 min•Ep. 126
When you’re on the outside, observing teams in action, you have the benefit of the unique perspective to offer insights that lead to real change. This is the benefit of the consultative model, and of teams engaging in external support to help lead change efforts. But what happens when you move from the outside in? How do you inspire the same to motivation to change in your teams once you, too, are part of the culture of the institution? This week on Navigating Change we’re talking to Christian R...
Nov 11, 2015•38 min•Ep. 125
This week on Navigating Change, we’re talking about the space between power and control on campus. It is somewhere between these two concepts that there exists a détente between well-meaning though protective faculty and campus leaders. As an ideal, each recognizes their own power and influence, and uses it to build a better community of learners. More often, power is wielded to protect turf and demonstrate authority at the expense of true progress. Today, Howard Teibel and Pete Wright discuss t...
Nov 03, 2015•30 min•Ep. 124
We’re back and settled into our post-EACUBO rhythm, so this week we thought we’d take a few minutes to reflect on lessons learned, lessons (hopefully!) taught, and leave you with some insights on the value of volunteer leadership. The big question: How do we engage the people we’re calling on as volunteers to marshal their energy, enthusiasm, and trust to get them to help us move our institutions forward? From boards to academic teams, this challenge cuts across leadership and calls on us to be ...
Oct 27, 2015•21 min•Ep. 123
This week on Navigating Change we're once again recording live from the Cheers Lounge at the EACUBO Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. Howard Teibel hosts a conversation this week with two esteemed guests: Gregg Goldman, SVP and CFO at The University of Arizona and Chair of NACUBO, and Dave Button, CBO at University of Regina in Saskatchewan and past president of CAUBO. Each brings a unique perspective on the state of CBO readiness for complexity in the coming year, and they uncover a series of fas...
Oct 20, 2015•17 min•Ep. 122
This week on Navigating Change we’re recording live from the Cheers Lounge at the EACUBO Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. Howard Teibel has gathered the regional presidents for a conversation on the state of higher ed after a day of learning in sessions. For our time, we take on how the regions are equipping their members to take back the dialog on the value of higher education in a media landscape that has not been so kind. Special thanks to WACUBO President Lynn Valenter, SACUBO President Ben C...
Oct 13, 2015•21 min•Ep. 121