Principle-Centered Leadership

In this issue.

• ON STRATEGY: PRINCIPLE-CENTERED LEADERSHIP
• 50 WAYS YOUR ALUMNI CAN HELP
• THE US EDUCATION PIPELINE
• BY THE NUMBERS: FEWER FOREIGNERS ENROLLING IN US GRAD SCHOOLS
• BURTON WAS A VISIONARY

STAMATS WELCOMES BRIAN SCALES

Brian comes to Stamats with a combined eight years of experience in admissions and educational marketing and consulting. His enrollment career began in the graduate admissions office at Emerson College, where he played an instrumental role in incorporating web technology into enrollment strategy. He also played a significant part in managing print and web projects for both graduate and undergraduate admissions.

More recently, he has served as an educational marketing consultant with Stein Communications, serving higher education institutions and secondary schools across the country. He brings valued interactive expertise with knowledge of integrated marketing and speaks at regional and national conferences about topics related to interactive strategies, brand management, and integrated admissions marketing.
Brian will be working with our Cambridge office and supporting our clients in the Northeast.

If you would like to contact Brian directly, he can be reached at brian.scales@stamats.com or 404-897-3402.

ON STRATEGY: PRINCIPLE-CENTERED LEADERSHIP

Stephen Covey, in his Principle-Centered Leadership, outlines "principles" or qualities of today's effective leader (see below). With so many poorly conceived or impossible to execute books on leadership on the market, it is nice to visit, or perhaps revisit, something both solid and simple to comprehend.

1. They are continually learning
2. They are service-oriented
3. They radiate positive energy
4. They believe in other people
5. They lead balanced lives
6. They see life as an adventure
7. They are synergistic
8. They exercise for self-renewal

Of course, nurturing and living out these principles is a life-long commitment. And as good managers and leaders, we likely focus on the things we don't do well (we are, after all, fixers), rather than getting better at the things we are already good at.

I suspect that there is no leader alive who possesses all these leadership skills. In fact, I suspect that a good many good leaders probably have one or more serious deficiencies.

Rather than fret about what you don't have, I am reminded of the adage, "go with what you got." To compensate for one or more leadership deficiencies, surround yourself with people who have strengths where you have weaknesses. A friend insists that there are two kinds of people: cat people and dog people. Cat people are all about nurturing and keeping people happy. Dog people are all about results. I'm a dog person. But I'm smart enough to surround myself and listen to cat people.

NACAC 2004 - BOOTH 306

Stamats gives its clients the freedom from the worries of developing marketing solutions on their own. Make sure to visit us at booth #306 at NACAC to learn how.

While there, you can get your picture taken riding a Harley-Davidson™—a brand that, like us, knows a thing or two about giving the people the feeling of freedom.

50 WAYS YOUR ALUMNI CAN HELP

Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, periodically runs a nice feature on the back page of its alumni/friends publication. It's called, "50 Ways You Can Help Converse."

Some ideas for alumnae include:

• Keep your alumnae contact information up-to-date
• Encourage a talented young woman to visit the College (Converse is a women's college)
• Help Converse connect with individuals, corporations, and foundations capable of providing financial support
• Help with freshman move-in day
• Check out the Converse Web site
• Join the Converse Alumnae Network on Monstertrak.com
• Purchase student artwork to enjoy in your home or office
• Display your Converse diploma in your home or office
• E-mail your favorite Converse professor
• Participate in an alumnae travel program sponsored by the Alumnae Office

For a copy of the complete list, e-mail Brandy Huseman at brandy.huseman@stamats.com.

THE US EDUCATION PIPELINE

A bit of data reported in the May/June issue of Trusteeship (from the National Center for Education Statistics) neatly reveals the US education pipeline. For every 100 students in the US who begin 9th grade, 67 finish high school in four years; 38 go on to college; and only 22 percent earn an associate's degree and 18 percent earn a bachelor's degree.

BY THE NUMBERS: FEWER FOREIGNERS ENROLLING IN US GRAD SCHOOLS

According to the September 8 issue of USAToday, US graduate schools saw a 28 percent decline in applications from international students and an 18 percent drop in admissions. Of 126 institutions queried, 88 percent show a decrease in international students, while 12 percent show an increase.

Several factors likely contribute to the drop including:

• Changes to the visa application process after 9-11
• A perception that the US is less welcoming to international students
• Increased competition from universities abroad
• Increased quality of the graduate programs in the home country of students who historically traveled to the US to study

Key findings from the study:

• Applications from China, India, and Korea - the countries where the majority of international applications come from - dropped 45 percent, 28 percent, and 14 percent respectively
• The number of admitted students from China, India, and Korea dropped 34 percent, 19 percent, and 12 percent
• Engineering applications fell 36 percent; the number of admitted students dropped 24 percent
• Programs in the sciences reported application decreases averaging 20 percent

BURTON WAS A VISIONARY
by Eric Sickler, Principal Consultant

From the day we started kindergarten nearly four decades ago, Burton had his eyes on the prize. He wanted to be valedictorian of Corning High School's Class of 1979 long before I could even pronounce the word, let alone spell it. And each year as we dueled for the affection of our teachers, the approval of our classmates, top honors at science fairs and spelling bees, and the #1 spot on the class roster, Burton and I enjoyed a friendly, mutually productive, scholarly rivalry.

We were deep into fifth grade when it became obvious to both of us that I had become woefully near-sighted. Sitting in the back of the room together, Burton would drink in every last frame of the Technicolor filmstrip and quickly solve equations scrawled on the chalkboard at the front of the room while I squinted, squirmed, and jockeyed in my seat for a better angle. For the record, relocating to the front of the room simply wasn't an option; the cool fifth-graders always sat in the back row.

Sensing my angst one day, buddy Burton loaned me his glasses. My world instantly became a brighter, much more interesting, even exciting place. Cocked at just the right angle on my bushy blond head, I could see the front of Mr. Reynolds' classroom with a clarity that was nearly awe-inspiring. And so for a couple of weeks, Burton and I shared a pair of fairly fashionable horn-rimmed geek glasses…until my parents landed me a pair of my own. Think Drew Carey, only shorter.

My pal Burton had a double dose of vision. From the day we started our journey, he knew what he wanted, he kept his eyes on that prize, and he could clearly see everything he needed to see to get him there.

While I certainly gave him a run for his money, Burt did eventually graduate at the top of our class just as he had planned. His vision served him well and I can't help but wonder if my lack of vision (both kinds) contributed to my #2 finish on graduation day. Again for the record, he only beat me by a couple hundredths of a grade point, but don't worry, I'm entirely over it.

So What?
When a campus community engages in a planning process without the benefit of a clear, concise, inspired, inspiring, and shared vision, it runs a similar risk. The stakes are decidedly higher, though. Nothing stalls institutional momentum and compromises campus spirit like a failed planning initiative. Vision, at the outset, is essential. After all, the purpose of the plan is to achieve the vision.

Certainly it is possible to go through planning motions like creating a laundry list of institutional strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats; crafting a gaggle of well-intentioned goals and objectives like "increase international enrollment," "maximize operating efficiencies," or "serve the needs of our community;" and unveiling an implementation timeline for a series of tactical action plans. But in the end, if every person on your campus doesn't share a common awareness of what your school will look, smell, sound, feel, and taste like 10 or 20 years down the road, the plan is hollow and the planning process was no more than an exercise.

Do yourself and your institution a favor the next time someone suggests launching a new strategic, academic, marketing, enrollment, communication, staffing, or professional development planning initiative: demand a "visioning" initiative first.

Give everyone involved in your planning processes the benefit of clear, concise, inspired, inspiring, and widely shared visions. Doing so will spell the difference between squinting at the chalkboard from the back of the room and hoping you're solving the right problems or scoring big like my buddy Burton who now owns a couple of banks and lives in a house the size of Rhode Island.

If you're having difficulty moving your campus community toward a shared vision, do what I did. Borrow glasses from someone who can help get you started. My Stamats colleagues and I would love to hear from you.

You can contact Principal Consultant Eric Sickler by sending e-mail to eric.sickler@stamats.com or dialing (641) 627-5800. He lives in a smallish house and doesn't own a single bank.