Offense and Defense: A Checklist for Launching Your Presidency
Remaining sensitive to the current climate has never been more important than it is now.
The success of a college presidency depends on the planning as well as the person. Well before beginning the search for a new president, an institution should plan for the type of leader it needs for its next chapter, how it will recruit them, and how it will support the leader’s success. In a previous article, we wrote about key steps colleges and universities can take before and after the selection of a new president, leading up to the official Day One. This includes creating a Transition Advisory Council (TAC) and identifying a professional advisor to facilitate the selected leader’s transition. Together, the advisor and TAC can play an ongoing role after a president takes office, if only as a constant source of information and moral support for the new leader.
For a newly selected president, it’s imperative to approach the transition planfully as well, working with new colleagues to get acclimated leading up to and following the first day on the job. We write this article for these individuals, with the hope that it will inform those around them who are integral to their success.
As former presidents, our best is advice is to simultaneously play offense and defense. You’ll have priorities and change initiatives you’ll want to pursue but be sensitive to the current zeitgeist and adapt to what’s happening in the moment on your campus and across academia. Remaining sensitive to the current climate has never been more important than it is now, as higher education experiences unprecedented disruption and uncertainty across multiple fronts. The ability to be attentive to change – or even anticipate it – and to adapt to that change will be critical to a new president’s success.
Play Offense
- Create your identity: A new role at a new institution is a great opportunity to build a new identity while, at times, shedding an old one. Presidents who come from a provost or dean seat need to pivot – relinquishing direct oversight of accreditation, curricula, and faculty to their provost, or inadvertently undermine that critical partnership. Former deans may be suspected of carrying disciplinary biases into the presidency and must pay close attention to their new institution-wide perspective. New presidents from outside higher education may need to work harder than traditional candidates to learn our industry’s traditions, lexicon, and processes. An internal hire may have a hard time being viewed as presidential among long-time colleagues in the short run. These particular learnings, based on the individual president’s path to the seat, augment all presidents’ transition issues, making for a unique set of challenges for each person and creating an even greater need for a thoughtful TAC and personal advisor.
- Leverage an advisor who’s been in the role: Seek out a former president as wise counsel. Lining up an experienced advisor even before officially starting is critical in order to set the right tone on Day One. The advisor can help map out strategy and priorities, and serve as a sounding board from a neutral position. In the current environment, the best advisor has lived through significant change events (e.g., led through Covid) as crises and existential threats are part and parcel of every presidency today.
- Assess and build your team with an eye toward their ability to handle pressure and uncertainty. Reconfiguring one’s cabinet and broader leadership team is part of any presidency. It is imperative that early on, you build a team that is capable and enthusiastic for the current times and future institutional needs. Along with assessing individuals for their competence and expertise in their functional areas, evaluate them for their resilience, adaptability, and ability to exhibit grace under pressure. We have learned that it is possible for a leader to be technically proficient but emotionally ill-equipped for the moment. Whether done informally or formally via leadership assessments, evaluate whether your team members are pressure-tested and can thrive in this highly ambiguous, volatile environment.Take time to consider team dynamics as well. Even with strong individual contributors, teams can be suboptimal or dysfunctional. New presidents often find it helpful to bring in outside help to review the team and its members and advise on changes if needed.
- Build personal relationships. Do a quick pulse check in your community. Knowing what’s really happening in classrooms, labs, and dorms requires engaging with people face to face, one-to-one or in small groups. And they need to get to know you. There is no better way to understand your constituents, build trust, and bank goodwill than meeting people in their daily lives. Communicate with them what you know, what you don’t know, and when you can follow up with more information. Understand how your community truly feels about key issues.
- Establish board relationships and set a collaborative tone. The best presidents request early and ongoing feedback from the board chair to establish trust and make necessary and timely course corrections. The president and board chair will establish a regular cadence of check-in meetings, with more lengthy information sharing during regular board meetings. They will also discuss meeting structures, roles, and perhaps even launch a board advisory process to assess board effectiveness. Beyond the chair, every president must spend time to establish relationships with each individual member of their board.
- Know what you’ll talk about. And what you won’t: Today’s presidents are pressed to comment on political and cultural issues often outside the campus walls, expected to represent the institutional viewpoint for public consumption (and critique). Working with the board and your team, determine what territory you’ll wander into and what matters you’ll refrain from addressing – and why. You shouldn’t comment on everything – prioritize expressing opinions on matters that concern your institutional values and mission and where you are aligned with the board. And if your institution does not have guidelines for commentary, consider developing them soon, with board consultation.
- Embrace cultural conditioning: All contemporary presidents – regardless of their experience or unique paths to the presidency – face time-sensitive matters requiring decisions upon their arrival. What makes this need for action challenging is understanding the impact of culture. Quick decisions can run headlong into the reality that acclimating to a new institution requires steeping oneself in the environment. And nothing can set a new president back faster than a cultural faux pas or tone-deaf comment, however well-intended. A new president must anticipate and seek close counsel from a personal advisor, the TAC, and trusted internal leaders on how to respect traditions and norms when impactful actions must be taken. Campus constituents will welcome thoughtful change from a new administration as long as it is informed by culture and respects what makes the institution special.
- Network and make friends: Recognizing that the presidency can be a lonely position (though one is rarely alone), the new president must seek out presidents and peers across academia who share similar experiences and with whom one can truly commune and commiserate. In our experience, having colleagues and friends in leadership positions outside of higher education is also illuminating – we learn a great deal from how executives in other sectors face their challenges. Find “friends” wherever they may be.
- Do not abandon vision. While the current environment is certainly filled with disruptive, even chaotic shifts in direction or context, it is vitally important not to be consumed by firefighting. As the saying goes, do not sacrifice the important for the urgent. While addressing emergencies is vital, retain a “this too shall pass” mentality, remembering that strategic vision will be necessary for your institution’s long-term success.
Play Defense
- Get crisis management and communications training. As former presidents, we can attest that no one ever prepared us for some of the crises we faced. It was baptism by fire but it need not be for you. Insist that one of the early investments in your onboarding is training in crisis management and communications. This may come from an external public relations or communications firm, and it is well worth the investment for when (not if) your first crisis happens. Consider including cabinet members and board leadership in media training as well.
- Conduct scenario planning. Today’s unprecedented times require planning for potential and present risk, including both fiscal and reputational risks. Work with your team to develop action plans for what-if scenarios: What will we do if we lose a large percentage of our international students? What steps will we take if our research funding is halved? Don’t overplan – you can only anticipate so much amid uncertainty – but have a good sense of how to move forward when the next curveball or full-blown catastrophe comes your way.
- Monitor the media. In an era of 24/7 news and ceaseless online commentary, know what’s being said about you and your institution, almost on a daily basis. Oftentimes presidents are caught off-guard by a media story or message board thread related to important institutional matters. Charge your PR team with setting up Google or other alerts to track online activity and sentiment. Monitoring certainly doesn’t mean acting upon or responding to everything said about you (you’ll also be judged on your ability to tune out the noise) but don’t be caught unaware by what’s percolating in the digital universe. Related to the item above, seek out communications training as part of your job transition.
- Nip crises in the bud and share the good news. Ward off major predicaments before they gain momentum. Know when a molehill is morphing into a mountain and be ready to address it with support from your team, your board, and your advisor. You won’t be able to prevent every crisis but you’ll develop muscles and strategies for dealing with each one. And nothing substitutes for risk mitigation better than a consistent flow of positive, genuine achievements shared and celebrated in your community.
Win the Game
At every turn, try to have some fun. College presidencies are some of the most challenging yet rewarding leadership positions, even today. Don’t forget why you took the job. Find time to meet with students, alumni, faculty, and staff. Visit classes. Find joy. Being a president is still a privilege to cherish.
