The Buddha’s notion of the middle way or middle path serves as the inspiration for Center Lane, a series exploring how leaders successfully persist through the highest of highs and lowest of lows while creating bold and affirming impact within the communities they serve.
Spontaneous Wisdom on a College Campus
As I stepped into the Mission Church at Santa Clara University a few months ago to honor the life of a popular, long-time campus leader who passed away recently, I found myself swept up in a vivid memory of this splendid Bay Area college campus, the oldest in California.
Reigniting Anticipation on Our Campuses: Have We Become Too Present?
Our cat, Dolly, sits peering through the window on a sunny day, tail wagging and eyes fixated on a particular spot outside. Dolly has something to look forward to. Do we?
Wisdom Workers: Crystalizing Our Intelligence As We Age
I have been thinking a lot lately about the advantages of aging. Are we brighter, more self-aware, and more stoic as we age? And do we pick up more wisdom along the way that somehow infuses us with a sense of fulfillment?
Podcast: Three Decades of Change Across Campuses
Join me and host Bill Kirst for Episode 46 of Coffee and Change as we imagine what it has been like to circumnavigate three decades of change in the hallowed halls of colleges and universities as they face the biggest change in the history of education.
Tone Setters: How Leaders Rely on Intuitive Intelligence
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the American college and university workforce has shrunk at least seven percent since the onslaught of Covid-19. And the 2020-21 academic year does not look any more promising.
Reading All Those Posted Signs: How to Invite Clarity in a VUCA World
I have a fixation with signs. You know, those placards, fliers, posters, banners, sandwich boards, and digital screens that present us with information we apparently need.
Collective Emotions at Work: Four Reasons Why Our Rituals Matter Now More Than Ever
I write this just a week after I attended a very special virtual retirement gathering for a longtime friend and colleague, an award-winning professor of broadcast journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. As we lifted our glasses, I found myself considering the importance of ritual.
The Upside of Impermanence: How Letting Go May Free Us Up
How does this historic Covid-19 moment free us to reinvent while letting go of programs, procedures, and strategies that no longer add impact?
Community Re-Imagined: Will University Leaders Thrive in a Telepresence World?
Academic and staff administrators surely value the narrative of community. Nothing beats the sense of place we feel when we stroll through a college campus.
The Bounce Effect: Four Resilience Skills University Administrators Need to Master During Troubled Times
Resilience: there is no better classroom than the one in which all of us are learning today — socially distanced, masked, and eager to shape a hopeful future.
Bright and Shiny: Fully Experiencing Your New Role on Campus
You may experience the full spectrum of sensations, from a high of euphoric “what could be” to a low of problems that were not addressed before you arrived.