This week, we welcome Gloria Flores to the show, co-founder and President of Pluralistic Networks. In her work, Gloria is committed to developing innovative ways for people to learn to collaborate, to listen, to build trust, and to build value for each other. Gloria has collaborated with Dr. Fernando Flores for many years, and her work is inspired by their many collaborations. Of particular interest to her is the creation of learning environments that will enable people to develop what many desc...
Aug 22, 2017•33 min•Ep. 180
This week on Navigating Change, Berkeley Professor Ricardo San Martin joins us in a conversation about teaching. What does transformational teaching look like and what does it mean to present that teacher as learner. How can we empower students to explore with each and build a sense of their own ownership in the learning process? Professor San Martin’s own transformation comes at the forefront of the science he teaches. As a visiting lecturer at the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Techn...
Aug 08, 2017•32 min•Ep. 179
Dr. Daniel Greenstein serves as director of Education, Postsecondary Success in the United States Program, for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Before joining the foundation, Greenstein was Vice Provost for Academic Planning and Programs at the University of California Office of the President. In his current capacity, he oversees work to substantially increase the number of students who acquire a post-secondary degree or certificate. Dr. Greenstein frames the conversation for us around the...
Jul 25, 2017•44 min•Ep. 178
Howard Teibel has joined the line-up of presenters at this year's Administrative Management Institute at Cornell University. This week on the show, Howard shares the inspiration for his presentation, Creating a Culture of Innovation & Creativity . Using examples of the work of animation studio Pixar under the leadership of Ed Catmull, attendees will learn to design a process that encourages people to think differently about organizational problem solving while generating a high level of enth...
Jul 11, 2017•11 min•Ep. 177
This week on the show Howard Teibel sits down again with University of La Verne President Devorah Lieberman. Today, President Lieberman shares insights into the planning process with background on the University’s 2020 plan, forecasting 30-year career demand, and driving toward sustainability while maintaining agility. Beyond theory, La Verne is demonstrating their promise of innovation through two programs designed to meet the needs of its community. The first increases access to education that...
Jun 27, 2017•16 min•Ep. 176
“Jeff, what does Day 2 look like?” That’s the first line of Jeff Bezos’ 2016 letter to shareholders, a question from a staff member at an all-hands meeting in which he describes a transformation that organizations can find themselves undertaking without careful and diligent attention. His response: “Day 2 is stasis. Followed by irrelevance. Followed by excruciating, painful decline. Followed by death. And that is why it is always Day 1.” We start our conversation on the podcast today, pivoting o...
Jun 13, 2017•17 min•Ep. 175
We’re talking about mood today. Now, a discussion of mood may sound strange for you and your academic or administrative team to be paying attention to. It’s far from strange and we’re going to make the case that being receptive to your mood and those of your team is foundational to drive productivity and success for your organization. This conversation is inspired by the work of Fernando Flores and writings of Gloria Flores in her book, Learning to Learn and the Navigation of Moods: The Meta-Ski...
May 30, 2017•13 min•Ep. 174
One of the realities of complex human organizations is that culture is emergent , that we put teams and departments and structures in place and then we hope. Whatever sort of campus culture that comes out of that cocktail is what we’re stuck with. Our guests today are here to demonstrate that culture can be crafted, developed, and encouraged when approached with intention . Jennifer Williams serves as director of campus climate, and Katy Rees as associate VP for finance and administrative servic...
May 09, 2017•21 min•Ep. 173
This week on the show Howard Teibel sits down with University of La Verne President Devorah Lieberman. Her tenure at La Verne and her approach to leadership is defined by a guiding principle: that students select a major not based solely on their interest in a specific discipline, but in a mission, a guiding cause that reflects the mark they want to make in the world. President Lieberman joins Howard to share how this principle has come to reflect not just the encouragement she offers her studen...
Apr 11, 2017•13 min•Ep. 172
This week on the show, founder and principal of rpkGROUP, Rick Staisloff, joins Howard Teibel for a conversation on leadership from the outside in. As seasoned consultants to higher education, the two address how to affect the way leadership sees themselves, the contingencies forcing change. According to Staisloff, if colleges want to be truly innovative, they need to start by educating their own leaders about the business model. How can this first step serve to improve the types of investments ...
Mar 21, 2017•32 min•Ep. 171
“The biggest mistake we make is that we think the best subject matter experts will be the best teachers,” says our guest, Elliott Masie. He’s head of the Masie Center, a think tank focused on how organizations can support learning and knowledge in the workforce and he leads the Learning Consortium of over 200 global organizations cooperating on the evolution of learning strategies. This is how our conversation begins today, but certainly not where it ends. This is a conversation about adaptation...
Mar 07, 2017•28 min•Ep. 170
Friend of the show Jeff Shields is back to talk about building monumental change in independent schools as a preview of the 2017 NBOA Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. As President and CEO of NBOA, Jeff’s charter is to lift business officers beyond the baseline expectations of their roles and help them become change agents and true leaders in their schools. This week on the show, Jeff offers insight into one of the key learning opportunities to that end for independent school business officers, ...
Feb 21, 2017•24 min•Ep. 169
You never know where good ideas are going to come from. We take it as axiomatic that inspiration comes from synchronicity, and too often we leave it at that, relegating the best ideas to the whimsy of luck. This week on the show we’re challenging this commonly held wisdom thanks to our work with key partner, University of Colorado, in developing a process to cultivate synchronicity, to bring the right people together, and drive a change in culture that celebrates the incubation of great ideas. T...
Feb 14, 2017•21 min•Ep. 168
Howard Teibel recently sat down with noted educator and prolific writer Dr. Bill Massy talk about our changing perception of universities as complex human systems. The advanced modeling work that Dr. Massy has over his distinguished career has helped institutions around the world to better understand pedagogical performance improvement and the relationship of that work to administration and leadership through sound operational models. The mix of tradition, culture, rules, norms, finance, pedagog...
Jan 31, 2017•33 min•Ep. 167
Today on the show we present a conversation on one of the toughest components of managing an exceptional team: letting go of those who no longer perform to expectations. Dr. Robert Johnson, Dean of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, joins us to talk about the personal skill of letting people go, the importance of clarity and honesty in communication, and building support for these hard decisions not just on your team, but across the institution. About Dean Robert L. Johnson, MD — Rutgers New Jer...
Jan 17, 2017•15 min•Ep. 166
Larry Levine, who serves University of Colorado as associate vice chancellor and CIO, joins us today to tell a story that will help drive our conversation on building exceptional teams. It’s a metaphor that helps to frame change in an organization through our relationship with our teams and our collective momentum. It starts on a boat and ends with a visceral and familiar experience we all share when working in underperforming units. Links & Notes About Larry Levine...
Dec 20, 2016•14 min•Ep. 165
Succession planning — the way most of us do it — doesn’t work. Face it: the last thing that today’s leaders want to do is plan their exit while they’re still 100% invested in doing today’s work. And that’s why this topic is so important: it is precisely because it is unpalatable that we hide from it, dodge it, look the other way. The opportunity is to think of our work in a holistic way and from day one, be thinking about how you would turn over or share your work with others. Today on the show ...
Dec 06, 2016•21 min•Ep. 164
This week, we’re talking plainly about a subject that most leaders typically bury in metaphor. You might be organizing seats on your bus, or trying to put the right tools in your shed. Whatever the creative euphemism, you’re talking about your people. Most leaders focus on finding the right people for their team, but that’s only step one. Having the courage to move people on when the organization’s needs no longer pair with theirs is another thing entirely. Sometimes people need encouragement or...
Nov 15, 2016•17 min•Ep. 163
The Public-Private Partnership is proving to be one of the more compelling solutions to complex financing challenges on campus, and if you’re not up to speed, you should start asking questions. This week on the show, Marcus Grimm joins us from Benchmark Construction to help us do just that, and tell us the story of Millersville University and their pledge to build robust new residential facilities without impacting their debt capacity. But this story is just a preview. On December 1, Howard Teib...
Nov 10, 2016•15 min•Ep. 162
Professor Brad Allenby maps the changes in higher education to grand revolutions of European history, that of the Glorious British Revolution of 1688 or the French Revolution leading to the Reign of Terror. As a faculty member at Arizona State University, Dr. Allenby has seen first hand the pressure building in the classroom and beyond it. Schools are facing challenges to their economic models, just as faculty are facing pedagogical challenges in the classroom. This week on Navigating Change , D...
Nov 01, 2016•26 min•Ep. 161
Over the last two episodes we’ve discussed two major functions of strategic thinking. In the first, we shared insights around uncovering your key message. In part two, we focused on how to get the attention of your audience with headlining your vision. This week, we’ll focus on the key factors to bring strategic thinking to your work that asks the big questions. Strategic thinking is not linear or delivering on daily work. It’s about peering around corners, across horizons, and uncovering trends...
Oct 18, 2016•16 min•Ep. 160
We make split second decisions based on the headlines we see every day. Will we read the next email that hits the inbox? Will we take the time to read the next project plan in the pile? The answer depends on the power — and the persuasiveness — of the headline. In our change workshops, we’ve seen headlines move mountains, messages that engage teams to pivot and take action with a focus on the long game, beyond the crises of today. In part two of our three-part conversation on strategic communica...
Oct 11, 2016•14 min•Ep. 159
Many of us, whether we recognize it or not, are doing an ineffective job at communicating strategically. If part of your day-to-day role is to move people and projects forward through influence, this week's conversation is for you. It starts with a deceivingly simple premise: your teams care less about what you want to do, than why you want to do it.In part one of a three-part conversation we dive into what it means to be a strategic communicator. Do you have a clear understanding of your own en...
Sep 27, 2016•15 min•Ep. 158
Dr. Lori Bergen is the founding dean of the College of Media, Communication and Information at University of Colorado. A veteran journalist turned academic, she’s president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, and serves on the national advisory board of the Poynter Institute. Prior to CU, she served as dean of the J. William and Mary Diederich College of Communication at Marquette University. Dr. Bergen joins us this week to share the story of University of Col...
Sep 13, 2016•35 min•Ep. 157
Boomers. Gen-Xers. Millennials. With three generations in the workforce, institutional leaders are standing in the middle of an ideological stew. Members of each bring with them their own belief systems, their own value of work and change, their own appreciation of mission. Sometimes, these belief systems come into conflict with one another. But when smart leaders authentically invest in understanding the nature of their workforce, when they are able to approach younger staff in a way that chall...
Aug 30, 2016•34 min•Ep. 156
Great leaders know the importance of visuals to move groups to action. This week on the show we’d like to introduce you to an expert in the art and technique of telling a story quickly, powerfully, and artistically. Karyn Knight Detering is an artist and visual communicator and founder of Ideas Take Shape, a graphic facilitation company dedicated to helping her clients find creative ways to communicate their ideas and concepts. Her expertise is two-fold: she’s an artist, but also an improvisor, ...
Aug 16, 2016•18 min•Ep. 155
Scott Carlson is an award winning senior writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education, where he has been contributing to our field since 1999 across a range of issues: college management and finance, the cost and value of higher ed, planning, sustainability and so much more. Today, Scott joins us to talk about his feature, “Should Everyone Go to College,” published in the Chronicle of Higher Education May 1 which has sparked some valuable discussion challenging deeply held cultural beliefs aroun...
Aug 02, 2016•39 min•Ep. 154
Most new engagements begin with an idea. Leadership presents an objective and the team gets to work. Whether it’s a strategy retreat or a new team-building program, the most common march is one of people moving, celebrating activity, without a pause to ask the question: will this approach achieve the results we’re looking to achieve? This week on the show, Howard Teibel shares a few common missteps in project management that can derail initiatives and offers three steps toward meeting collective...
Jul 19, 2016•21 min•Ep. 153
Our guest today is passionate about education. That, of course, could be said of any of us working in institutions across the country. Amy Laitinen doesn’t exercise her passion for education in the classroom, however. She fights for quality and transparency in Washington as director for higher education at New America. Today on the show, Amy joins us to share her perspective on policy in higher ed, and the role of policy in fostering innovation and quality. There’s a gap, to be sure, and today w...
Jul 05, 2016•35 min•Ep. 152
How do we transform our institutions and learning models to meet the needs of tomorrow’s students? What does “student success” mean to the academic mission of tomorrow’s institutions? How do we better adapt the college experience to address complexity and transparency? José Bowen currently serves as the 11th president of Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland, and he joins us on the show today to help map the winding road toward student success. Along the way we learn a deceivingly valuable less...
Jun 21, 2016•28 min•Ep. 151
