Relationships

At least with my family, preparation for Thanksgiving dinner began several weeks ago as decisions were made about where we would gather and who would prepare and bring what food to share.  It’s always a wonderful time to get as many family members as can come together to express our thanks for another year and […]

Are you listening? Hearing and listening.  We hear when sound waves reach our ears and are converted into neural signals by the inner ear.  We choose to listen when we intentionally let those neural signals impact us.  This is why we can sit in a busy place totally immersed in our reading or in a […]

Last week, during the closing session’s CIO Panel at one of the MOR Leaders Programs, every CIO on the panel commented on the importance of trust.  Earlier in the session in a similar vein, I had noted that followers want leaders who are credible, trustworthy, leaders who do what they say they will do.  Max […]

Every organization has hidden leaders.  They’re everywhere.  They consistently step up to deal with client problems, with intractable issues, with extra effort to meet an unusual request from a key client, etc.  We often don’t think of such individuals as leaders, after all they don’t have a positional title that would signify that they are […]

How to Get Up to Speed in Your New Leadership Role  Today’s Tuesday Reading is the Harvard Business Review Whiteboard Session (video) “How to Get Up to Speed in Your New Leadership Role” featuring Michael Watkins.  Watkins is President of Genesis Advisors, a leadership consultancy that supports companies and leaders coping with transition.  He is […]

Ingredients:  A challenging topic, participants, rules and processes for conducting the conversation, (if the number of participants is large), and a “container.” Today, we live in an age where the “art” and “practice” of having a conversation, a discourse, on a challenging, perhaps very complicated and controversial, subject has become dim.  We don’t take the time for face-to-face interactions on either […]

Today’s Tuesday Reading, It Began with Curiosity, is an essay by Jill Purdy, Director of Finance at the University of Nebraska-Kearney.  [She may be reached at [email protected].]Her essay first appeared as a program reflection earlier this year. When my father had a heart attack five years ago, he was flown to Sanford Heart Institute in Sioux […]

Sue Workman, Vice President of University Technology, at Case Western Reserve University, keynote video at the 2017 MOR Leaders Conference.  Video of 2017 MOR Leaders Conference keynote, Sue Workman, Case Western Reserve University 2017 MOR Leaders Conference keynote, Sue Workman, Case Western Reserve University

Anne Margulies, Vice President and University CIO, at Harvard University, keynote video at the 2017 MOR Leaders Conference.  Video of 2017 MOR Leaders Conference keynote, Anne Margulies, Harvard University 2017 MOR Leaders Conference keynote, Anne Margulies, Harvard University

Mark Askren, Vice President for IT and CIO, at the University of Nebraska, keynote video at the 2017 MOR Leaders Conference.  Video of 2017 MOR Leaders Conference keynote, Mark Askren, University of Nebraska Mark Askren 2017 MOR Leaders Conference

Today’s Tuesday Reading, The Measurement of a Leader, is an essay by Jeff Sherrill, Assistant Director for Information Technology, College of Business Administration, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.  The essay first appeared as a program reflection earlier this year. Last year, I read the memoirs of Union General and later President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant.  I was really […]

We have all grown up in a give and take world.  Remember the times when you were small and were either willing to share your toys and stuffed animals with your older/younger siblings, or wanted to accumulate as many of them as possible whether you were playing with them or not, or were willing to […]

Once MOR begins a leadership journey with someone, we never leave their side.  Or, put another way, they keep us with them.  Perhaps that’s why our organizational client retention rate this year was 100%.  Video of MOR minute with John Gohsman MOR minute with John Gohsman Our clients’ trust is incredibly important to us.  We […]

Before the winter break, I spent some time considering who would make a great example of leadership for my reflection. I kept coming back to the idea of describing my friend David, who was once a colleague of mine at another university. Over the years, we’ve kept in touch on a regular basis, and kept […]

Last week’s Tuesday Reading, Toxic Staff Members, provided a set of steps a leader might take if she or he has a toxic staff member.  In outline form the advice was: Face, not ignore, the situation. Collect specifics about the behavior. Be direct in your feedback. Develop, with him or her, an improvement plan. Be extremely […]

There are informal leaders in every organization.  These are the people in the organization who, without formal title or authority, get things done, and done well, show others how to do them, and have a large network interconnecting many people in a variety of teams and organizations across the entire organization.  Often we do not […]

Leaders in Higher Education walk a tightrope every day.  Financial pressures have sustained while expectations and demands for return on investment have continued to increase. The pace of change has accelerated and will not stop.  Market conditions have spurred new innovation and competition at the edges, some of which might be considered unwelcome. Meanwhile, as […]

Practicing What We Preach This past August the MOR team gathered to build relationships, develop our skill sets and think about the future. Our objectives were simple: connect, align, upgrade, enjoy. This was a week of rich discussion, numerous perspectives, and lots of great ideas.  It was an easy collaboration. For an organization that is […]

SCARF  ::  A User’s Guide The focus of the past two issues of the Tuesday Reading has been on neuroscience and change.  Today’s essay continues this theme, providing some practical suggestions as to how you can employ SCARF to better understand yourself and to manage and lead others. The work of David Rock and others has […]

Today’s Tuesday Reading, “Plusing Up” and the Princess Doll, is an essay by Jerry Wood, Director of Information Technology, for Intercollegiate Athletics at the University of Michigan.  The essay first appeared as a program reflection earlier this year.   One of my biggest professional passions is providing great customer service.  I think it’s an art […]