In this 7th and final podcast episode, Dr. Ricardo Azziz addresses this set of questions regarding leading existential change in higher education.

1. We have talked about the 7 competencies for higher education leaders from the book. What are some other common challenges, BSC (Big Scary Change) leaders can expect.?

2. You note on page 293 that there is no perfect BSC leader. You go on to write that many of the 7 competencies aren’t often found in traditional college leaders and that the industry is moving toward more non-traditional higher education leadership. You document that with a reference to recent data that indicates about one-third of higher education leaders come from outside the industry.
Is this an indictment of how the industry has selected leadership or more of a market migration toward different leadership skills?

3. Much of the chapter on ‘Supporting Leaders through BSC’ focuses on the reality that the college leader search process is generally flawed because it is still more focused on traditional academic leaders. In your experience, is it reasonable to expect that type of candidate to leader the needed BSC required at many colleges?

4. Scenario: a college needs a new leader. The board recognizes their college has serious financial challenges and the new leader they choose must be able to lead significant change. However, like most boards, they are not yet prepared to look at the type of BSC in mergers, closures, or other major institutional restructuring referenced in your book.

This group calls you in for guidance. What would that guidance be?

Chapter 15: Can Leading BSC be learned?

5. Let me just let you answer that question. Can Leading BSC be learned?

6. Final word: You and your co-authors wrote this book to address a need. Briefly describe the need you saw and what current college leaders should take from this book when they make the decision that BSC is an absolute need.

Leading Existential Change in Higher Ed: mergers, closures and other major institutional restructuring.

This is the 6th in a series of 7 podcasts reviweing this book. In this podcast, Dr. Ricardo Azziz discusses the topic of:

Achieving BSC leadership:
• Facing resistance and opposition
• Athletics

Here are the questions he answers.

1. Northeastern and Mills College are the merger case study colleges. There was much emotion from the Mills students, faculty and trustees. You write: that the emotional investment of stakeholders in a college or university’s identity can often impede necessary strategic restructuring. I have often teased that when a college changes the font on its business card, someone will protest. A merger is always going to generate both objective and subjective push-back. What are the ways a BSC leader can prepare for those in advance?

2. Outcomes: Of the merger between Northeastern University and Mills was that those students who needed 8 credits or fewer to graduate, were offered a special six week term to complete their degrees. Are there other examples you can share that merging colleges used to get that merger to the finish line?

3. Change or resistance to change is firmly embedded in higher education culture. The old adage that “culture eats change for breakfast” applies – particularly to college faculty. You have a summary box on page 206 titled ‘Challenges to Advancing BSC in higher education. Let’s talk about a few.
a. Incrementalism as the usual approach to change.
b. The sunk cost and established brand of existing programs
c. The impact of shared governance (and tenure) on decision making

4. ON page 214, you write about ‘who is the opposition?” to mergers, closures, and major restructuring. So, who is the opposition?

Athletics
5. Arguably, many colleges are better known for their athletic programs than for their academics. The team nickname, mascot, and college colors are an integral part of the college’s identity. Talk about mergers where athletic teams are mostly retained and then like the two Georgia colleges in this sections case study – when the athletics departments are merged into one.

6. Youth sports are embedded into American culture. Parents, sometimes with delusion, envision their children becoming skilled enough to earn a college athletic scholarship. So, the elimination of a single college sports program (through merger or closure) impacts student-athletes academic and athletic pursuits. With BSC, what guidance would you provide college leaders in recognizing the athletic culture in our country – and its importance?

In this 5th of 7 podcast episodes, Dr. Ricardo Azziz reviews aspects of leadership courage.

The basis of the podcast series is his new book: Leading Existential Change in Higher Ed: mergers, closures, and other major institutional restructuring.

Here are the questions Dr. Azziz answers in this podcast.

1. The 2017 closure of St. Josephs in Rensselaer IN is the case study for this chapter. First, Let's talk about the lessons learned. The first one is. The need for governing boards to understand and accept the hard and sometimes ugly truth. There are colleges, probably many that cannot and will not survive.

2. The importance for big scary change leaders to engage directly- With faculty, staff, students, and community. They really didn’t do this at St. Josephs.

3. There is considerable presidential turnover in higher education. Ensuring financial due diligence is something both veteran and new college presidents should complete. What has been your experience and challenges with college leaders struggling to engage and apply financial due diligence?

4. The importance of creating the right amount of urgency. We have talked about this before. Mergers in higher education cannot be slow-moving processes.

5. The last bullet point lesson learned is the need for extraordinary courage. Expand on that, please.

6. Go back to the first ‘lesson learned’ one you have is the importance of always keeping student welfare front and center. The book Requiem for a College. It was written by Jonathan Nichols who was a faculty member present during the lead up and closure announcement. It addressed in emotional detail the human impact of a closure.

Talk about that in the context of when a college leadership team should share that their financial health is not good with their stakeholders. We know that waiting too long negatively impacts students, faculty, and staff.

7. My contribution to this book is a section entitled: ‘The Roots of Courage are in the data.’ The essence of the section is that it is the data in the form of comparisons and trends is key in helping to sell mergers and even closures. How challenging is it for college leaders to use data to sell their decision?