In our increasingly mobile and overly simplified culture, reductionism is so fervently practiced, presumably to fit into our smaller screens and even smaller windows of attention; we have created all-purpose code words for everything we want to say. I’m not referencing the acronyms that giddily plague our language—OMG, BTW, and LOL, nor their more tenured…
As a brand consultant I routinely advise clients not to ask their new company name to work too hard, carry too much water. The first rule of naming is, “First, Do No Harm—nil nocere.” Then I read the original Hippocratic oath, that’s not even in the original oath; not only that, there’s something in there…
The annual compensation survey for college presidents is out again: http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/07/pf/college/highest-paid-college-presidents/ This generally sets off some discreet campus murmuring and a significant surge in the use of personal email accounts on university servers. More than 36 university presidents make more than a million dollars. This is, however, not a problem to focus on. There is…
Change, change agents and catalysts for change—these are all good things right? The government is paralyzed by inertia, all religions as well: higher education, the auto industry, Catholicism. That’s bad right? Once people said, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” “Slow and steady wins the race.” “Stay the course.” Now it seems an amazing…
Leaders in colleges and universities have to promote the category. University leadership is obliged to reclaim proprietorship of the category rules of engagement, what is the true nature of the “value” debate in higher education? The notion of campus-based, in-person instruction as superior to online education is not in question. It’s by all educated accounts…
For some clients “a branding initiative” can take the form of family counseling, or more broadly institutional therapy. And that’s okay, it’s just worth recognizing that as painful and squishy as a “branding initiative” sounds to many of your constituents, it’s easier to sell than institutional therapy. As a branding consultancy, my firm is generally…
How do you distinguish your college or university when everyone keeps telling you, “Really it is no different from your competitors?” Is Frosted Flakes really all that different from Wheaties, Raisin Bran or Life cereal? Yes. Spend some time on any campus and you can feel the difference. My daughter attends Haverford, which is just down the road from Villanova, a short…
If you were an adult in business in the early ‘90s, someone in your office was going on and on about the all-changing new “information superhighway.” That person was almost always obnoxious. Not only because they were redundant and right, but because they were talking about something that was not only a mystery, but almost…
