LEADERSHIP & CULTURE

Safe Space For Collaborative Support

Effective collaboration between presidents and boards is crucial now more than ever. With challenges like AI, free speech, budget pressures, and political interference, the relationship between university presidents and their boards is pivotal. Presidents need a safe space, candid culture, strategic support, and understanding from their boards, while boards require transparency, prioritization, and education from presidents. This mutual support system is essential for navigating the complex landscape of higher education today.

🦁 Leadership Insight »

Everyone needs support and a safe space. The question is: who’s going to cultivate it? Will it be you, or will you wait until someone creates it?

We recommend a proactive approach using the SET formula. It’s simple, efficient, and powerful. Give it a try.

 🎯 Cabinet Conversation »

• Survey (=): Begin by quickly assessing the current situation. For example, how would you rate your relationship with your board on a scale of 1-10?
• Eliminate (-): Remove blocks and release the brakes. For example, what’s one* friction you can eliminate to improve your rating by 1-3 points?
• Transform (+): Introduce necessary enhancements to foster growth. For example, what’s one* thing you can do to improve your rating by 1-3 points?

** Don’t be tempted to create a list of actions. Focus on ONE simple, high-impact action that you can take.

P.S. ~ We suggest running the SET formula up and down the chain. The actionable insight can be transformative.

PRESENTED BY LEAD YOUR STORY

Digital Fluency & Brand Unlocked

Today’s workforce requires more than just writing papers to communicate. It requires digital fluency from graduates —the skillful application of digital technologies to discover, evaluate, problem-solve, and communicate effectively.

By communicating effectively, we mean the ability to communicate and tell stories through various mediums, including videos, audio, and compelling visuals.

Employers expect these skills, but many students don’t have them. And it’s no wonder, as many institutions are now becoming more digitally fluent. They have yet to adopt a media-first approach that maximizes the ability to communicate effectively in the market.

📢 For example, public perception of the value of college is at an all-time low. At the same time, data shows that degrees remain relevant and valuable. This disconnect is in part due to a failure to communicate.

By not being “digitally fluent,” many institutions are missing the opportunity to build and maintain direct relationships with prospective students, current students, and alumni. The natural result is losing control of the narrative, becoming disconnected from market demands, and becoming increasingly less relevant.

Becoming digitally fluent and adapting to a media-first world is a lot easier when you accept that EC=MC (Every company is a media company)

⭐️ EC=MC means your institution isn’t just responsible for educating students. You’re now responsible for communicating your story, informing and inspiring students about the value of your brand, and answering an existential question.

Why Chose You?

🎓 Institutions have had a good answer for a long time —we offer degrees that give you access and mobility. In short, individual institutions could rest on the durable “brand” promise of higher education.

📉Today, that advantage has disappeared. Each institution is called on to justify its existence and to fight it out in the marketplace.

The only and best way to do this is to become digitally fluent, media first, and build a culture that empowers telling your brand story. This sounds daunting, but the upside is building an enduring brand people love and adore.

And I can’t say this enough—never underestimate the power of BRAND. Institutions with a strong brand didn’t see enrollment fall off a cliff during the pandemic, and they will also not be crushed by the pending budget crisis.

Brand is Your Unstoppable Unfair Advantage.

But what is brand? It’s an often misunderstood esoteric concept. For our purposes, it’s more productive to measure it than define it.

🧪At Lead Your Story, we have a three-way test to measure the power and impact of a brand.

1. Do Customers Buy High? People pay more for brands. A simple $5 t-shirt becomes $200 with the right brand logo. Think Harvard vs Public College. The price gap between a replaceable generic commodity and your brand is a proxy for measuring your brand power.
2. Do Customers Stay and Pay? People don’t buy brands once; they keep buying repeatedly. Think, persistence, multiple degrees, and legacy admissions. If your students don’t stay and continue to pay, this again is a proxy for having a poor brand.
3. Do Customers Yell and Tell? Great brands spread like wildfire, not from marketing but from customers telling others about them. Think loyal students wearing merch, referring others, sending their kids, and proudly being an ambassadors of the brand. Again, if your students don’t yell and tell, this is a proxy for having a poor brand.

It’s beyond the scope of this article to discuss how to improve your brand, but I’ll give you the quick and dirty: Improve your product, and customers will buy high. Improve the experience, and customers will stay and pay. Improve the community, and customers will yell and tell.

⚡️ BRAND = A great product with an exceptional experience and supportive community that fosters belonging.

P.S. ~ We call students customers because it’s important to understand that we must CUSTOMIZE our product, experience, and community to their needs.

Brought to you by Lead Your Story – a higher-ed communications firm that helps leaders grow enrollment, reduce equity gaps, and drive student success.

 🎯 Cabinet Conversation »

• How would you rate your brand on a scale of 1-10 across each category (product, experience, community)?
• How might you improve the product to get more students to buy high?
• How might you improve the experience to get more students to stay and pay?
• How might you improve the community to get more students to yell and tell?

** Buy High and Stay and Pay are not the goals, but students’ willingness to do so is a proxy for the perceived value of your brand. It also correlates with a student’s discretionary effort to enroll and persist at your institution.

Go deeper »

• The New Landscape of Digital Literacy Report
• Digital literacies, social media, and undergraduate learning: what do students think they need to know?
• Expanding Digital Curriculum: How colleges are embedding high-tech skills to prepare students for tomorrow’s jobs
• An assessment of the interplay between literacy and digital Technology in Higher Education