On October 12, RHB’s Aimee Hosemann and Rob Zinkan hosted a webinar, Strategic Planning That’s Truly Strategic, to share findings and critical lessons from RHB’s yearlong study of 108 current strategic plans across higher education. For additional resources, you can watch a recording of the webinar, download the executive summary of the research, purchase the full-report book…Read more
Tag: Executive Counsel
Webinar: Strategic Planning That’s Truly Strategic
Do you know whether your institution’s strategic plan priorities are visionary or hallucinatory? How can you tell the difference, especially given the disruption of normal operations during the last two years? During our October 12 webinar, RHB Vice President for Marketing Leadership Dr. Rob Zinkan and I shared insights about how strategic planning can be…Read more
10 Fears Stifling Innovation in Higher Education
As Lee Gardner noted in “The Barriers to Innovation” in The Chronicle of Higher Education ( 2019 ), “universities often flounder at innovation because they are not really meant to change.” The notion that institutions are inflexible is disconcerting at best. If innovation is considered impossible, no incentive exists to even imagine change. Nonetheless, outdated approaches and…Read more
The Marketing Maturity Model: Advantages and Limitations
Recently I have seen more examples emerge of institutions adopting a marketing maturity model. Jaime Hunt, Old Dominion University Vice President for University Communications and Chief Marketing Officer, discussed the topic over the summer with Jamie Ceman, Chapman University Vice President for Strategic Marketing and Communications, during an episode of the Confessions of the Higher…Read more
Design Thinking for Higher Ed
You may be too tired these days to think about innovation or new ideas. You may be exhausted from the upheaval of life in the past three years. You may be overworked because your colleagues have taken flight in the Great Resignation. You may be tired from trying to find and recruit their replacements. You…Read more
How a Horseshoe Can Remind Leaders About Our Institutional Why
Lately, as I continue hearing and reading stories about the Great Resignation, I find myself thinking a lot about a seven-foot-tall blue horse. Let me back up. Earlier this year, after boarding my homebound flight from Indianapolis and walking to my assigned seat, I found myself squeezing past a regulation NFL helmet, adorned with the…Read more
Inspiration, Reflection, Recharging: RHB’s Annual Summer Reading List
In higher education, when summer comes the work doesn’t stop. It takes a new seasonal shape. We hope you have been able to get away from work for a little while and spend time reconnecting with the people, activities and ideas that matter most to you. Even when you can’t travel, books can reliably take…Read more
How Digital Transformation Will Shape Higher Education Practices Post-Post-Pandemic
The pandemic helped us see that the digital transformation of everyday experiences is suitable for achieving what we may have previously regarded as possible primarily in-person. Face-to-face has taken on new meaning as we have identified the power for digital experiences.
Make a Real Statement about Diversity in Tenure-Track Faculty Job Ads
Many institutions are ramping up for the spring cycle of faculty hiring. It’s a time of excitement and overwhelm for everyone on all sides of the hiring equation. In a context in which a single tenure-track job ad can harvest 400 or more applicant packages, institutions are asking for greater volume in application materials as…Read more
Tough Times Last, Apparently: Four Ways to Outlast Them
I’ve heard it said many times (and I think it’s attributed to Robert Shuler, the famous TV pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in California): “Tough times don’t last, tough people do.” I think you may join me in raising an eyebrow at that optimism. Apparently, tough times do last. The COVID pandemic is closing in…Read more