On the Road Again

I traveled a lot as dean prior to the pandemic. Some of that travel was designed to raise funds for our key initiatives, but the biggest part of my job is to understand how the world is changing so we can shape the development of the curriculum and college to meet emerging needs and remain relevant. This requires that I meet with people who are inventing the future so that we prepare students to compete in that world rather than the world as it used to be.

It is startling how insular most large organizations become. Universities are no exception. They think-“our situation is unique and we have a lot of smart people here so we can figure this out on our own. We don’t need outsiders.” Such arrogance is the road to death in business and individual careers. It is way better to remain humble, engage with the outside world in an effort to learn something new and develop a network of outside experts who can give you a fresh take on what’s going on.

The pandemic made this more difficult to do and frankly my own learning suffered as a result. The podcast helped me explore some new ideas and trends but it was not the same as immersing myself in the outside world. So I’m looking forward to getting back on the road in earnest this week and engaging with some folks in south Florida who are helping to shape the future. I plan to listen to a little Willie Nelson on the drive down and come back with a few new ideas for my team to consider. I know they love it when I do that.

Knights at Full Strength

Maybe it’s because the Lightning are making another run for the Stanley Cup, but I feel like the last 15 months, we have been in penalty-killing mode.  For those of you unfamiliar with hockey, the team is playing down a player because of a penalty.  As a result,  you play intense defense until the penalty ends in the hope of preventing the team with the advantage from scoring.  This usually lasts two to four minutes.  It seems like an eternity, but if the opposition doesn’t score, you have successfully “killed the penalty,” and the announcer will tell the crowd that your team has returned to full strength. 

This will happen in the college Wednesday when our resident PA announcer— Tiffany Hughes will let out a deafening, “Woo Hoo!” at 8 a.m. sharp as everyone returns to campus. I am told there will be balloons. But the important point is that we will be at full strength and ready to go back on offense—reestablishing the culture of engagement and the many impromptu face-to-face moments that have defined us over the past few years.

So I ask each of you to take a few minutes to get reacquainted with the colleagues you have missed. Share a few pandemic survival stories, check out IB’s fancy new classroom and Keith’s business of hip hop display on the first floor of BA-1, and then come say “hi” to Tina and the rest of us in the dean’s office. When you are done, you can head over to BA-2 to see our new College of Business Hall of Fame display and marvel at Lonny’s almost full head of hair while complaining about traffic and parking. Some things just never change.

We are so excited to have you back.  It is long past time that we all charge on!

Business Cooking 101

Chris Leo is our most daring faculty member on video.  Who can forget his “golden ticket “  introduction to the IB competition.  Click here to relive the moment. Spring 2019 IB Competition – YouTube

Last week he emailed me the following….

OK, so I’ve been trying to think about ways to develop some “fresh” content for my class and I’ve been experimenting with a new series that I’m calling, “Business Cooking 101.” These cooking videos are less than 15 minutes and provide students with (1) a recipe and (2) a business theory/concept. If it blows up, I want to invite “guest” faculty (like Ron Piccolo, Marshall [Schminke], Carolyn Messiah, etc.) to cook with me AND share a short lecture on a popular business topic of their choosing.

What do you think? Is this crazy or am I on to something?

Well readers, what do you think?  Is this crazy or should we get cooking?  Watch the video and vote below…

So You Don’t Want to Return to the Office?

There have been numerous articles over the last month or two about the number of people who say they don’t want to return to the office. They say they would rather work from home. Some estimates put this has high as 40 percent of the workforce. The reasons offered for this are many: lingering fear of the virus, childcare problems, work-family balance, greater productivity at home to name a few.

Not all work is at the office. Some people work “in the field,” and daycare is a problem for many right now. But I think the primary source of the “I would rather work from home movement” is a lack of engagement at work. It’s possible to be physically at work, but mentally checked out. Gallup figures suggest that only about a third of people are fully engaged at work. These are people who are highly involved, enthusiastic and committed to their work.

When an employee tells me they would rather work at home or a student tells me they prefer a Zoom attendance option to showing up for class, I have to admit that the first thing I hear is “I have other priorities. It would be great if you could just fit me in when it’s convenient for me.” I’m also thinking: “We need to find this person something to get excited about.” If I have even 20 percent of my people telling me this, I’m thinking: “We got a culture problem.”

It is said that the Pandemic has exposed a lot of things, an engagement problem is certainly one of them. Some organizations will change their culture in an effort to coax more people back to the office. Many employees will change jobs either through voluntarily turnover or mandatory separation. I suspect we are going to have a couple of years of shakeout. Let’s all work to make sure everyone ends up in a place they can be excited about whether it is with our organization or someplace else.