Category: Wisdom
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Cesar Chavez once observed, “The job of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.” At first, the sentence feels familiar, almost predictable, as if it belongs in a leadership handbook or a Ted talk. But the longer you sit with it, the more it reveals…
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Most people assume harm requires force. We think damage comes from fists, objects, or physical impact. But the truth is that some of the deepest injuries people carry are not the kind that ever bruise the skin. They come from language that is careless, selfish, resentful, or cruel to bring people down on purpose. I…
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Every now and then, a moment arrives that shows you exactly why culture matters. Last night in Detroit, Western Michigan won the MAC Football Championship for the first time since 2016, and I could not be more proud. It was only the fourth time in a century. It felt like the culmination of something I…
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It is Saturday night, which means it is time for a movie story worth visiting. In 1979, when I was four years old, Monty Python released Life of Brian, a sharp, absurd, and wildly clever satire about the political and cultural tensions of ancient Judea. The film was not created to provoke outrage. It was designed…
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This reflection began yesterday with a phone conversation between myself and a colleague who once also served as both a provost and a dean. We compared notes gathered over years of leading teams, mentoring rising leaders, and managing the complicated personalities that appear in every institution. The similarities in our experiences were unmistakable. The behaviors,…
Cloaking Inequity 