A few weeks ago, I wrote about how the disruption of 2020 has forced the development of new capacities, capabilities and constructs in higher ed. I compared the process to learning to write with your secondary hand. It’s difficult to write with your left hand if you’ve been writing with your right hand your entire…Read more
Tag: Executive Counsel
Becoming Ambidextrous
As an industry, higher education has been generally perceived as a huge ship that moved at a very slow pace. Nimbleness wasn’t a word we associated with higher ed; we thought change was nearly impossible. Whether it was processes or people who weighed institutions down, higher ed seemed not to be able to move swiftly.…Read more
Four Thoughts on Purposeful Change in Higher Education: Lessons from Moldy Raspberries
I had to throw out an entire pint of fresh raspberries this morning. I was bummed. I love fresh raspberries. But we’d waited too long. We didn’t eat them quickly enough. They responded as raspberries do; they got grey and moldy. I tried to pick out a handful of good ones to no avail. They…Read more
Don’t Underestimate Incrementalism, Even During COVID
Higher ed marketing leaders should indeed use this disruptive moment to imagine voraciously, but don’t overlook the significance of incremental, momentum-building change.
What Marketing Organizations Can Learn From Advancement
When helping an institution answer critical questions about marketing structure, staffing and systems as part of an organizational capability assessment, I often think back to my time as a unit-level chief development officer early in my career. Please join me for a brief trip down memory lane to explain. I recall that formative experience well;…Read more
Normal
“When we get back to Normal…” I recently saw someone flail their hands in front of their mouths after saying those words, as if trying to grasp the utterance out of the air before it could land in our midst, flaunting its elusiveness. That little moment illustrated for me the larger reality of This Moment.…Read more
What’s Your Next Big Thing? A Conversation with Higher Ed Marketing Guru Rick Bailey
RHB founder and principal Rick Bailey appeared on the IngenioUs podcast with host Dr. Melissa Morriss-Olson, provost emerita of Bay Path University, on July 27, 2020. · · · Transcript: Announcer: Hello and welcome to IngenioUs, the podcast where we talk about higher education, innovative practice and leading-edge thinking. Your host is Dr. Melissa Morriss-Olson.…Read more
Four Ways to Think About Trimming Your Budget
For a period of years, I sported a combover. I was resistant to losing those strands that separated me from baldness. One day, as soon as I sat down in the chair, the stylist grabbed a fistful of long hairs flowing from the right side of my scalp and made two quick scissor snips. It…Read more
What Does “Diversity” Mean?
This is a rough time to be in higher education or working alongside it, which means it is also the right time to keep doing the work. I am going to reflect on “diversity,” a word that covers a potentially massively large territory. All of that space may not be under your purview depending on…Read more
What Does Your Org Chart Say About Your Marketing Organization?
I’ve seen a lot of org charts. At RHB, we have the privilege of working with colleges and universities to help them maximize the effectiveness of their marketing function. As part of a recent Future-Ready Organizational Capability Assessment of marketing and communications at a large academic college at a public research university, we conducted a…Read more