This year, I am celebrating 13 years as President and CEO of Des Moines University, a 125-year-old health sciences university in the heart of the Midwest. Thirteen years reflects the fortitude that comes with weathering the storms and enduring, sometimes against the odds.

Most new presidents start with a genuine campus welcome and considerable excitement for what lays ahead. The reality of a “honeymoon phase” exists in most situations. If you are lucky, it can last a few months up to a few years, depending on the dynamics of the organization and the expectations set by the Board of Trustees for the new leader. Some new presidents may arrive with a mandate to be the change agent, and in those instances, the honeymoon phase can be short-lived. Whereas an expectation from a board may be to drive the organization into a better/future state, the campus community will never be ready for change, no matter how much you try to convince them that there is a better way. The key to navigating the storms and setting a path for longevity and success starts first with the way the board and president coalesce around the mission and vision for the university. This is then followed by cultivating relationships and empowering individuals to step up to lead and, finally, doing it in a manner that celebrates core values and guiding principles of a leadership philosophy that must start with mutual respect, accountability, and compassion.

The Board/President Relationship

In 2006, the Association of Governing Boards Task Force on the State of the Presidency in American Higher Education defined integral leadership as a president exerting “a presence that is purposeful and consultative, deliberative yet decisive, and capable of course corrections as new challenges emerge. Integral leadership succeeds in fulfilling the multiple, disparate strands of presidential responsibility and conceives of these responsibilities as parts of a coherent whole. Leadership of this sort links the president, the faculty, and the board together in a well-functioning partnership purposefully devoted to a well-defined, broadly affirmed institutional vision.” (“The Leadership Imperative,” AGB 2006)

This idea of “integral leadership” was embraced early on in my tenure as President/CEO of Des Moines University. It became the basis of how I worked to build rapport with my board to coalesce around a collective vision for the future of the university. I relied on the wisdom of the Association of Governing Boards and materials provided often, as there was comfort in knowing that a novice in the role had a place to go for good advice on best practices. That was the best decision I made as a new president because I found the loneliness and isolation in the role stifling.

  ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT for Board and President success: Consider this the most vital relationship to build and nurture, being open and honest in all communications, and never leaving them blindsided. Trust is the ultimate outcome.   

I often described my orientation to the role of president as a period spanning several years prior to my actual appointment to the role. It means I was preparing myself for the leadership role in higher education by learning from individuals in those roles from the various other organizations I served. I was essentially “taking notes” and learning how to be a president by, sometimes, learning what “not to do.” Describing myself as a “sponge” soaking up the pearls of wisdom and the sometimes-failed strategies of previous leaders helped me form a mindset of what best defined success in the role. What became clear to me along the way was the vital relationship that was established between the board and the president. The board being the boss, and ultimately responsible for hiring and firing the president, became the clear dynamic that needed to be nurtured first. So, learning the definition of integral leadership and the power that comes from that as articulated by AGB gave me the platform upon which to begin building relationships.

In the first few years, I worked tirelessly on my relationship with the board, primarily spending considerable time with the Chairman and other members of the Executive Committee. My first official report to the board within the first six months was to do a “deep dive” into the inner workings of the organization, assessing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. I was honest in sharing my findings, while offering recommended strategies on how I saw us getting to a future state. Being open and honest and never leaving them blindsided was the approach. The more we talked, and I shared my own personal challenges in the role, the more they welcomed and supported the ideas I had to share. As time moved on, they began to give me the latitude to make needed changes and trust that I would do the right things. When things did not go as well, they were the first to hear it. I vowed to keep them informed and brought them along with me in my journey of discovery and strife as I learned of the challenges within the organization.

ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT for Board and President success: Consider this the most vital relationship to build and nurture, being open and honest in all communications, and never leaving them blindsided. Trust is the ultimate outcome.

Effective Leadership Teams

Every president inherits an organizational structure that may have existed for years. It is important to assess the people in various roles as you begin your tenure, but it is equally important to be patient and strategic in deciding the best time to make organizational changes. Some decisions may be obvious within the first few weeks of arrival on the job, whereas other dynamics may not be revealed until you have lived within the environment for some period. Determining who is competent in their role, who is accountable, and who respects the new leader are all aspects of the assessment. It is essential that you understand first the roles and responsibilities of team members, then quickly assess the gaps and opportunity for change. The people you inherit are typically concerned about how well they measure up and worry about whether the new leader will make changes or whether they will be retained in their roles. This “delicate dance” of whether the right people are in the right roles are some of the early decision points for a new leader. Ultimately, it is about building an effective team that can deliver on the vision set for the organization.

When I arrived at Des Moines University, I made a conscious decision to change the structure given my own personal style of being an engaged leader. I valued the dynamics and synergies which come from all working together, united, to strive for organizational effectiveness. Team dynamics were an important variable for me, and I really wanted to strive for a collaborative supportive environment for my team. I changed the name of the President’s Cabinet to an Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and expanded the membership to include every key function area of the organization, including academics, student services, human resources, development/alumni affairs, marketing/communication, research, information technology, and facilities/buildings/grounds. I felt all these units were essential ingredients to the success of the overall operation, and I needed them all at the table to make sure we worked collaboratively as members of one university, one TEAM.

The value of the team is reflected in the principle many called the “Butler Way”. The term was used following the Butler University basketball team’s success in the NCAA College Basketball season in 2006-2007. Defying the odds, this team had an extraordinary run and fascinating success that year. The Butler Way was associated with the five principles of Butler Basketball that were listed as follows: humility, passion, unity, servanthood, and thankfulness.

I used the basic principles of the Butler Way in describing my expectations of how DMU’s Executive Leadership team should function, again, using the analogy of an organization that defies the odds and achieves despite obstacles placed before them. In the Effective Leadership team (ELT Way) at DMU, the idea was that everyone has a role to play. We are not all good at everything, but we optimize the impact by relying on the strengths of each member, which minimizes the weaknesses. We strive for excellence in all that we do, and we operate as ONE. It is not about the individual, but about the team, and in the broadest sense, the team encompasses the entire organization. And in all that we do, we take the time to acknowledge the effort and show people how much we appreciate what they do.

 ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT for Forming Effective Teams: Set clear expectations for roles and responsibilities, then empower people to step up to lead in their respective areas while ascribing to basic, agreed-upon covenants of team dynamics.   

The ELT Way became the rallying cry for how I began to value team dynamics. As people come and go and roles change and evolve, it is often difficult to maintain the essence of the value we place on these dynamics. Creating an ELT Covenant was the way to preserve the message, and at DMU we committed to these five basic guiding principles: respect for team members, accept responsibility, communicate, collaborate, and be visionary.

ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT for Forming Effective Teams: Set clear expectations for roles and responsibilities, then empower people to step up to lead in their respective areas while ascribing to basic, agreed-upon covenants of team dynamics.

Personal Leadership Philosophy

Over the years, I have honed my skills and sharpened my approach to leadership, articulating a philosophy that comes closest to “servant leadership.”

As a young child, I was always the one helping everyone else, from tutoring my classmates in elementary school just because I wanted everyone to understand to being the sounding board for all my friends through high school and college. I was that “go-to” person.

As an administrator, I became the VOR (a.k.a. the Voice of Reason) because I found it more fulfilling to help others understand….and I seemed to be able to see the forest and each distinct tree, then communicate to others what we needed to do and how they played a role in getting us there.

My philosophy of leadership takes into consideration my own personal dynamics in terms of how I see people and treat people. The approach that comes closest to my philosophy is servant leadership.

 ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT for a Philosophy of Leadership: Remember it’s not about YOU—it’s about the people and the organization you have come to serve.   

The phrase “servant leadership” was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader, an essay that he first published in 1970. In that essay, he said:

"The servant-leader is servant first…It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first. The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served.”

My own personal philosophy therefore informs my approach to leadership and how I lead the team. I find value in lifting the people I serve while I lift the organization to achieve great things. I’m here to serve—not to BE served.

I firmly believe that organizations that ascribe to this basic principle can achieve the most.

ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT for a Philosophy of Leadership: Remember it’s not about YOU—it’s about the people and the organization you have come to serve.

Ending with my Favorite Quote

In the words of leadership expert William Arthur Ward, “We must be silent before we can listen. We must listen before we can learn. We must learn before we can prepare. We must prepare before we can serve. We must serve before we can lead."

The essential ingredients for success in transforming your organizations begin with integral leadership between a board and its president, followed by a deliberate effort to select talented team members, then empowering them to lead by following basic principles of mutual respect, accountability, and compassion. We are all here to serve, not to be served. This is how we inspire teams to greatness and drive meaningful change in higher education.