CASE III Annual Conference - Opening Session Keynote
Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr.
Nashville, Tennessee
February 4, 2007
Thank you. I am very honored to have been asked to speak to the CASE Region Three conference. I did notice, however, on the program that right after my remarks you have scheduled a "SuperBowl Party."
This will be a first for me. I have spoken in front of lunches and held them up. I have spoken in front of dinners and held them up. But I have never held up a SuperBowl party before! And while orators from the South have a tendency to go on for a while, you should feel comforted by the fact that I spent the last 28 years of my life in Wisconsin. I am therefore still using my cryptic Lutheran formats and not my more loquacious Southern Baptist ones. In short, I will try and stick to the schedule.
Let me return to my initial comment -- I am indeed honored to be asked to address this important and very vital audience. I value the role that each of you plays in communicating the right message to the right audience in order to achieve the goals of your institution. And so, when I say that it is an honor to be with you today -- I mean just that. It is an honor to be with those who craft and carry such important messages. Of course, as a former utility executive, it's an honor to speak with any group that isn't booing -- or isn't booing just yet!
I want to discuss several rather broad themes today. In my first set of observations, I would like to discuss some of the key differences I have seen between the private sector and higher education -- and there are many! Specifically, I want to focus on the issues of pace and pressure, accountability, and leadership.
You will hear the term, "in my former life," as I make these comparisons. I have promised my staff, that I would use that line for one year and then I would retire it. My one-year anniversary in my "new life" is this Tuesday, so today is probably the last time anyone will hear me use the expression, "in my former life."
My second broad observation comes under the heading of "we've got to stop patting ourselves on the back." This refers to what I perceive as a need to shift our messaging from what is too-often a self-congratulatory tone to one that demonstrates our relevance.
My third observation relates to an opportunity that exists to connect our supporters more closely to our institutions in some intriguing and different ways. It is my view that no one is better situated to make this connection happen than the folks right here in this room.
And finally, I will spend just a few minutes putting all these observations into a larger framework. I do want to talk very briefly about the global forces driving higher education and why we badly need some fundamental changes. After all that, you should be more than ready to flee to the Super Bowl.
OK -- First observation: key differences. Although I've served on a number of higher education boards, it has been a real learning experience to actually move from the private sector to higher education. As I have said to various groups, my first six months on the job were "interesting" -- a term normally used to describe ugly babies. At times last year, it felt as though I was being force-fed from a fire hose. I was getting lots and lots of information. For a while, I was even beginning to suspect a little obfuscation by inundation -- which, of course, is a favorite academic approach!
But I spent a great deal of time listening and asking questions. And as I learned about the University System of Georgia -- a $5 billion enterprise with 35 degree-granting institutions, 38,000 employees and 260,000 students -- I discovered a large, unwieldy and sometimes overly complex organization. A super-sized nuclear aircraft carrier comes to mind. I also discovered that there are some fundamental and profound differences between the private sector and higher education.
One key issue is that of pace. And related to this is pressure. In higher education the decision cycles can often be long -- unnecessarily long. And there doesn't seem to exist the same sense of urgency or pressure to reach a decision and then quickly move to action that one finds in the private sector. I assure you that there is nothing like a quarterly analysts conference or an annual shareholders meeting to focus one's efforts and impart a sense of urgency!
Now I realize in this crowd -- with the pace and pressure for publications deadlines, news cycles and fundraising -- many of you may be thinking, "I can relate to pressure!" I also understand that in your roles, you inhabit a somewhat different universe than the academy as a whole. But the point is valid for most of the academy.
In higher education I do note a slower pace and a lot less pressure. There is this tendency to study and refine, study and refine, study and refine to perfection as opposed to using data to establish the probability of success and then moving forward, even if all the details have not been finalized. Some may call this a "shoot first and ask questions later" mentality -- and there may be some truth to that. But sometimes in higher education we have the "ready, aim...aim...aim...aim...tell me again why we are aiming" mentality. In reality, however, increasing expectations from our customers and others are not allowing us that second option... not now and certainly not in the future.
Another point of difference is that of accountability. I find very little single point accountability in higher education. For example, the academy -- particularly at the campus level -- has a culture that encourages people to believe every individual has the right to participate in the decision-making process. One of the messages I've been sending is that while input is critical to good decision-making, only those who will be held accountable for decisions have the right to make the decision. For some, this is an unwelcome change in thinking and operating.
In fact, I have had an interesting -- there's that word again -- dialogue with a system wide organization of professors. We have discussed accountability and my personal conviction on single-point accountability. And, so far, I've only received two letters from their national organization pointing out to me the folly of my ways! I could get a third after this speech, however.
I know that you here understand this issue. You have been working at a high level of accountability for a long time. You have donors, alumni, media and others who demand accountability from you, often on a daily basis. And, moving forward, your insights and skills will be needed to create a new sense of accountability throughout the academy.
The third observation on differences is that of leadership. I find the academic view of leadership very different and candidly puzzling! I see a clear lack of widespread aspiration to be a leader in higher education. In the commercial world, just about everybody wants to be in charge. Again, this is not so much an issue in the areas of advancement and communications, where there is a healthy mix of individuals from a wide variety of professional backgrounds and jobs.
But within the academy, people tend to view leadership as simply administrative management, which in turn is equated with becoming a bureaucrat. And flowing from that lack of a strong aspiration to lead is a lack of understanding of the true power of leadership -- the power to shape and manage futures. As a consequence, I've noticed that in the University System of Georgia, this also contributes to a failure to appreciate the need to think and act as a System. I see a great deal of thinking that runs along the lines of: "You have a problem. You should fix it. There's a hole in your end of the boat." Not enough people realize that we are all in the same boat.
I do see opportunity here in all three areas to make some changes that will help to generate increased understanding of and support for our mission. We must increase the pace of our activity. We must set more rigorous and measurable goals and objectives. We must provide single-point accountability for our actions and decisions. And, we must create an in-depth leadership culture. We are embarked on all of these fronts at the University System of Georgia.
My second major observation was about self-congratulations, which is code really for hubris. We really need to stop patting ourselves on the back in public. It's very easy to get wrapped up in all the national rankings. We all do it. It's higher education's version of the Oscars. The PR is all the same. There is an introductory throwaway line about how we can't take these rankings seriously. Then we demonstrate that we do by bragging about them. I would suggest that to our customers and our constituents, these self-congratulations all-too-often fall flat. Our communications must shift from a self-congratulatory tone to one that demonstrates our relevance to society. As the little old lady in the Wendy's ads once said, "Where's the beef"
We need to stop bragging about our national rankings and SAT scores of our students. These are by-products that we are allowing to become a focus! Instead, we need to show how we are transforming individual lives and communities...how we educate students...how we provide technology for the workplace...how we provide community and economic development. How are we meeting society's needs -- not our own -- that must be the message.
And, you are the gatekeepers of this message. Frankly, we need your leadership -- backed up by some solid marketing and communications research -- to inform institutional presidents and boards that it's time to end the rankings arms race. Instead -- shift the message -- show relevance to the community in direct ways.
Which brings me to my last observation: creating new connections. Demonstrating relevance is important because we need to identify new resource areas in order to better fulfill our unique missions of teaching, research and service. We need more resources. I agree with that notion.
But, one difference between the private and public sector I wanted to save until now to mention is a mindset about resources and how to get them. In the private sector you worked from an expectation that budgets were flat or would decrease -- always -- every year -- in good times as well as bad times. I've noticed in higher education a mentality that looks at funding as an entitlement -- and one that just about always increases.
But the reality for some time has been more uncertainty about the long-term future of higher education funding -- particularly state funding for public colleges and universities. Many of you have experienced first-hand the contraction of funding in recent years. We must learn to do more with less. Industry has learned -- now we must.
At every institution there will be a core of "true believers" who are always ready to "do more with less." But it's much harder to motivate the entire workforce to do more with less. It's difficult to change this culture because no one sees it in his or her self-interest to cut budgets, cut travel, cut training and cut programs.
In the private sector, I had great leeway in creating incentives that made greater efficiency in everyone's self-interest. But it's not clear that we have the ability in the public sector to easily create these sorts of employee incentives. Those of you working in private institutions will find this a much easier exercise.
At this point you may also be wondering why I am bugging you about efficiencies and incentives -- that's not your job. Remember my point about "There's a hole in your end of the boat?" Well, we are in the same boat.
I believe those in the areas of advancement, development and communications are in a unique position to help create a new sense of connection. I'm referring to new connections between the academy, the efficiency of our back office operations and our corporate partners, donors and alumni. There does exist the opportunity to bring these together in ways that can promote greater productivity on our campuses and build a unique new approach to our existing relationships.
This calls for creativity -- and I know that is your strong suit. Or at least that's what you've done a good job in selling to your bosses! So here's an idea for you to pick over: can the private sector be engaged in a new way that would provide incentives to higher education to be more productive? Can advancement connect the private sector to our academic mission in new ways that promote accountability and establish greater relevance?
And, there is yet another area in which advancement can and must forge new connections. That is with our internal audiences. We do a good job of communicating to external audiences such as students, alumni, and donors. But we may be overlooking a key group -- our communications to internal audiences.
As I have said to internal groups within the University System of Georgia, we must do a much better job of communicating to faculty, for example, on the need for professors to help us demonstrate relevance to our external audiences. We simply can't keep saying to our funding partners, "We're bright, we're smart and we're good looking. Pay us what we deserve because they are making more in the state next door." Guess what -- nobody cares!
However, you can get people to care. You can help presidents engage faculty and staff in telling a new story -- one less self-congratulatory and more connected to our customers through results.
So first, create awareness within the academy of the necessity of telling a different story. Then tell that story to our external audiences. Use your results to help build the external case for what we do -- and how we serve. And then you can use that increased understanding, awareness, and support to generate additional resources for your institution.
For public institutions, increased public understanding and awareness also gives our legislative funding partners cover and political capital to provide increased resources. If people believe we are 1) productive, 2) using funds wisely, and 3) relevant then they will provide more resources. Advancement -- through marketing, communications, and other efforts -- can create a self-sustaining, energizing loop.
Now, finally, why is all of this critical? Why must you succeed? After all survival is not mandatory. Let's go global for an answer.
Here is the major problem: the role of higher education has changed, and not everybody has noticed. Higher education's role has changed because of forces that have converged to force this change. These forces include technology, globalization and the drive in other countries to educate a competitive workforce -- leading, of course, to the reshaped earth made famous in Tom Friedman's book, "The World is Flat."
These forces are moving to create a world in which individuals must be educated -- highly educated -- but even more critically, a world where individuals must know how to learn and in the process, adapt to changing environments. This, then, crystallizes the general challenge: to ensure that higher education prepares individuals to succeed in this flat world.
But it is not enough to understand the challenge; we must have the correct interpretation of the challenge. Thus, in today's world, our challenge in higher education is to educate a much higher percentage of our population to a much higher level than in the past. This is the only way we will remain globally competitive. We are no longer preparing just an educated elite. While the U.S. has long enjoyed a well-deserved reputation for its higher education system, today other nations have taken note and are educating more of their citizens to more advanced levels. India and China are prime examples.
If there is one theme I might suggest for us to keep in the forefront as we work together to shape the messaging required to inform our customers it is this: Tom Friedman noted in his book that in India, Bill Gates is a rock star, an icon. In India, Bill Gates is Brittany Spears. In the United State, Brittany Spears is Brittany Spears -- and that is our problem. When people aspire to be Brittany Spears or sports stars, that is a limited field.
But when people aspire to be Bill Gates, the chances of success -- if prepared by education -- are unlimited. Our communications must shape a new perception of success in this new world -- one that helps our customers hold a self-image more attuned to Bill Gates than Brittany Spears or the latest football icon one injury away from a truncated career. And going further, our communications must help our customers connect the dots between being Bill Gates and higher education being the vehicle to get you to that point.
Let me end by noting once again that those of you in this room have a crucial role. You must work with your presidents and others on your campuses and in your communities to create a new sense of pace, of urgency, and of accountability. You must shape a message that your institution is prepared and ready to lead -- to provide leadership and educate leaders for today and tomorrow.
You must help your campuses move from a fixation on rankings to a focus on results. You must use your creativity to demonstrate our relevance! You must help connect your internal and external audiences in unique ways that will help create a new level of understanding of the role of higher education in meeting global challenges. If you do this, the resources will come.
But first, you have a well-deserved SuperBowl party to attend! And I don't want to keep you from that and from enjoying a well planned and, I hope, energizing CASE III conference. Thank you for all you do to shape the message and send the messages. I appreciate what you have done and what you will do in our shared efforts to "Create A More Educated Nation." It has been an honor to meet with you today. Now, go have some fun! Work hard, play safely.