Key points:
- There’s high turnover in today’s higher-ed leadership–an alarming trend given all that higher ed is facing
- Using the right tools of leadership and management in the right circumstance makes all the difference in order to create lasting change
- See related article: Can higher ed solve its 7 wicked problems?
Surveying the long tenures and transformational impact of higher education leaders like Freeman Hrabowski, Michael Crow, Paul LeBlanc, Richard Levin and Pat McGuire surfaces a daunting reality.
Those individuals’ time in the presidencies have been measured in decades. Instituting and solidifying lasting change at most colleges and universities is not an overnight phenomenon.
Yet, thanks to mounting pressures from a variety of stakeholders, the average college president lasts less than six years, according to American Council on Education’s (ACE) recently released American College President Study. That’s down from nearly nine years in 2006.
The turnover is at a time when more institutions are facing more profound crises and, in some cases, existential challenges than in recent memory.
In today’s volatile postsecondary arena, what does it take to not only survive but also thrive, to last long enough in a presidency, and successfully transform an institution to better serve its students?
Michael is a co-founder and distinguished fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute. He currently serves as Chairman of the Clayton Christensen Institute and works as a senior strategist at Guild Education.
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