Strategy

Video Library from the 2016 MOR Leaders Conference: 1. Conference Opening Video 2. The Essence of Leadership – General Colin Powell 3. Digital Transformation — We Havent Seen Anything Yet – Andrew McAfee 4. Bruce Maas, University of Wisconsin-Madison 5. Len Peters, Yale University 6. Sue Workman, Case Western Reserve University 7. John Gohsman, Washington University in St. Louis […]

Bruce Maas, Vice Provost for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, at the University of Wisconsin, keynote video at the 2016 MOR Leaders Conference. Forces and Trends Part I and II. Video of Bruce Maas, University of Wisconsin-Madison, MOR Leaders Conference – Part 1 Video of Bruce Maas, University of Wisconsin-Madison, MOR Leaders Conference – […]

Len Peters, CIO and Associate Vice President at Yale University, keynote video for the 2016 MOR Leaders Conference. Video of Len Peters, Yale University, MOR Leaders Conference    

Steve Fleagle, University of Iowa, CIO and Director of Information Technology Services at the University of Iowa, keynote video for the 2016 MOR Leaders Conference. Video of Steve Fleagle, University of Iowa, MOR Leaders Conference  

John Gohsman, Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, Washington University in St. Louis keynote video for the 2016 MOR Leaders Conference. Video of John Gohsman, WashU, MOR Leaders Conference To learn more about the program the team at Wash U is working on, please visit: http://itservicesprogram.wustl.edu/

Last week, many of us participated in the 2016 MOR Leaders Conference, Reimagining IT as University Needs and Technology Evolve.  There we were encouraged to think about our university’s IT and what it could become.  And, we were asked to identify one idea that we each could take action on?  I want to take this […]

Today’s Tuesday Reading, Who I think about as “My Leader,” is an essay by Paula Torres, Senior Educational Design Technologist, Global Learning and Innovation, NYU Information Technology.  Her essay first appeared as a program reflection last year. The one person I think of when I think of leadership was not my manager, supervisor, or even […]

The important thing is not to stop questioning…  Never lose a holy curiosity.         – Albert Einstein During World War II when I was a young boy, we lived with my mother’s parents while my father worked about 100 miles away in an oil refinery and commuted back to our small town […]

Every one of us has, at one time or another, disappointed a colleague or friend.  No matter how hard you try, sometimes a deadline will be missed or a commitment not met.  Many of these misses don’t carry huge consequences – almost always some disappointment, sometimes inconvenience, and perhaps some loss of credibility.  And, some […]

Overcoming a Bad One The very first exercise we do in the MOR Leaders Programs is one on first impressions.  Sit or stand in a circle, take notes on the first impression you have of the individuals in your circle, add some notes about the first impression that you think you create, and share.  For […]

Not the grit you think of in “gritty from hard work in a grimy, greasy environment.”  But rather, it’s the grit that Angela Duckworth defines, in her 2013 TED Talk, “as the passion and perseverance for very long-term goals.”  In this view, grit is having stamina, it is sticking with your future, day in, day […]

Today’s Tuesday Reading – Use the 4Is, or expect our history to repeat itself – is an essay by Richard Knepper, Manager, Campus Bridging and Research Infrastructure, Research Technologies, University Information Technology, Indiana University.  His original essay first appeared as a program reflection last year.   At the beginning of this year I was coming off […]

The attached is part of a series of case studies supporting our clients as they recognize leading change is a campaign and engaging others in that process is critical as they move ideas forward in their environment.   Enjoy!  And thanks to Jim Willson from MSU for partnering with us on this write up. MSU-Case-Study-Building-Leadership-Community.pdf

You can find many lists of leadership competencies.  Some result from a careful examination of the work in a particular job family or from role descriptions.  Some come from discussions about what it takes to be a really good leader in a mid-level position at, say, an education institution.  Other lists are developed based on […]

Professor Bernard Roth is academic director and cofounder of Stanford’s d.school, the campus hub for innovators.  Students and faculty from engineering, medicine, business, law, humanities, sciences, and education come there to work together on some of the world’s most messy problems.  A part of that work encourages students to examine and take control of their lives.  In […]

Today’s Tuesday Reading, Giving Credit, is an essay by Anna Lynch, Manager, Online Instructional Design, eLearning Design & Services, and Julie Parmenter, Manager, Enterprise Decision Support Services, at Indiana University’s University Information Technology Services. Many of us at Indiana University attended the Information Technology Statewide Conference last fall where we heard CIO Brad Wheeler and IU […]

Got your attention, didn’t I?  In a recent HBR blog post, Bain & Company’s Michael Mankins answers with a strong very likely. Twenty years ago, new technologies like email and teleconferencing were key drivers in dramatically increasing productivity.  Information flowed faster, collaboration was easier.  However, by 2007 year-to-year growth in productivity was on the decline.  Yet, today, […]

Among the essential skills we expect leaders to have is giving and receiving feedback.  Everyone needs to know how they are doing, what they might improve, what they are particularly good at, etc.  Feedback focuses on the past, and in particular on what you did recently.  And, that’s important in providing guidance on how you […]

How to hold yourself accountable and help your staff do likewise. Merriam Webster’s on-line dictionary defines accountability as an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility for, or to account for one’s actions.  This definition does not speak to the issue of one’s success or less than that with regard to our actions.  Yet, as Connors […]

Last Sunday morning most of us experienced a disruptive event in our sleeping as we shifted our physical and mental clocks forward one hour to Daylight Saving Time.  This wasn’t all that unusual since most of us regularly disrupt our sleep.  And, in spite of our frequent claims – “I don’t need sleep,” “I can […]