One of the greatest challenges of being a college president, I would assume, is navigating so many different voices and needs. It’ s a complicated job. What is your general approach to problem solving?
Mandel: I would say I pretty much always adopt the same approach to all problems, which is to break the problem into small pieces and only try to solve, in the next day, what I can do next. I have found— and have said to many people on my staff over and over— that if you try to figure out how to get to the top of the mountain while you’ re standing at the bottom of the mountain, you often don’ t take a step. It can be pretty paralyzing when it’ s a really steep mountain. But all you really have to figure out is how to get to the next path, the next bend in the road … I really try to think about what the next thing is that we have to do in order to get to that long-term strategic goal.
Charlier: I appreciate you talking about how complicated the job is, but the truth is we’ re really lucky to be able to do this work. We really are. So my approach to problem-solving— and what I’ d recommend that students do— is recognize that we’ re not the smartest people in the room. I once knew someone who said, with great passion,“ You get no credit for doing this by yourself.” And I think that’ s absolutely true. So, we try to surround ourselves with people who have very different perspectives, be open to input, and really ask the hard questions. I think, for me, that’ s how we get to the best decision. And then the other piece is to always remember why we’ re here. It’ s our“ why.” For us at BCC, that’ s students. There are a lot of solutions to problems, but when we distill it down to what’ s best for students, it becomes pretty clear what we need to do.
Rogers-Adkinson: We lead pretty similarly from that“ student-first” perspective. That’ s always kind of my true north. I also tend to go toward the data. I’ m a data-driven kind of person. I think that comes out of my background in special education. You set goals, you measure them, you track them. So, when somebody brings an issue forward, I always ask,“ What’ s the impact on students if we do this, don’ t do this, or modify this? What will it change for them and their ability to meet the goals that they’ ve trusted us to help them achieve?”
Dr. Mandel, you said that you start at the bottom of the mountain, knowing you want to get to the top, and you focus on what’ s next. How do you determine what the top of the mountain is?
Mandel: Sometimes you know. Sometimes you don’ t. When you asked the question, you were specifically asking about how we each problem solve, and there have been some famous problems since I’ ve been president here. Covid is a good example. Where we had to go was obvious, right? We had to educate students despite the pandemic. So how do we figure out how to do that? I would agree with my colleagues that I sometimes think people have a view of leadership— maybe in the United States, maybe in the West more broadly— that one person who’ s the leader is supposed to have the answer, supposed to know where to go, supposed to know where the end of the road is. I actually don’ t think that’ s really what leadership is.( Turning to Charlier.) You alluded to this in your answer: I think that it’ s about finding the smart people in the room, or on the campus, or in the community, talking to them, and getting their ideas and their input. During Covid, one of the great resources I had were many alumni who are specialists in all kinds of medical fields. What did I know about immunology and epidemiology? Nothing. But they did. So you find those people, whatever the issue is, and you inform yourself. You learn. You proceed with curiosity. We teach lifelong learning, and so we practice that. Then, from there, you figure out how to build and steer forward. So, I don’ t think you always know where you’ re headed. Sometimes you do. But you don’ t always know.
Who are your sounding boards?
Rogers-Adkinson: One is my board chair. She and I are developing a really nice relationship. Actually, I think we bonded over Australian Shepherds. That was a good way to start our conversations together. I’ m also in a large cohort of 20“ new presidents” who are all state-school presidents with similar kinds of missions and visions for their institutions. The 20 of us kind of have our own little base camp together, in addition to some senior mentors through that program, as well. They’ re seasoned veterans who occasionally interrupt the newbies and say,“ Don’ t!” and then give us much better advice. It’ s really nice to be part of a cohort that’ s developing its leadership together.
Charlier: I think we have sounding boards at all sorts of different levels. There are topics where I’ ll go to a student leader and ask questions just to get a sense of how students are thinking about something. Other times it’ s colleagues within the institution. But when we have really serious issues to deal with ― and the material is sensitive— then I really want to go to someone who understands the complexity of the work that we do. Like Diana, I’ m very fortunate to have a great board chair that I can call and simply say,“ I just need to talk through something with you.” I’ m also part of a group of 15 community college presidents who are incredibly supportive of one another. And higher education is a really small world. For most of us, we have networks that stretch all across the country. You can simply pick up the phone and say,“ I’ m dealing with this.” If you’ re calling another college president, in most cases they’ ve dealt with it, too. Except Covid. Nobody had dealt with Covid. But almost every other problem isn’ t really all that unique. So, I tend to look toward people who really understand the complexity of the work and can help me process it. I’ m just very fortunate to have those kinds of networks.
Mandel: I’ m not sure I have much else to add. Obviously, in some ways it depends on the issue. There are times when talking with faculty is the first place I go, because it’ s a curricular issue or an educational issue. If I’ m building a building— that’ s not who I go talk to. Of course, the“ I” in that sentence is ridiculous, because“ I” certainly never build a building. I really try to figure out who the experts are in the area I’ m trying to learn about, think about, or
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