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EDITORIAL RICHARD STRAND, DPA

A quick look at the Cambridge Dictionary indicates: to What to do? In this edition, we beneft from the insights
visualize (a verb) is to “form a picture of … something in your of several who have individually and collectively made an
mind, in order to imagine or remember it;” on the other hand indelible impact on the feld of higher education—recognized
vision (a noun) implies “the ability to see…[an] imagined as experts in the industry and highly successful at their craf.
mental image of something.” In combination they ofer several insights.
Te intent of the theme for this edition of Leadership is to invite
readers to stand up, step back, and refect on the landscape • Sandy Shugart, President of Valencia College, suggests
around you—the ever changing and dynamic real estate that a great place to start is by simply being authentic and
represents the sand shifing beneath your feet, challenging your remaining a learner.
values, beliefs, assumptions, and actions; then to pick the right • Rufus Glasper, retired Chancellor of the Maricopa County
tools and select the proper path that will allow you and those Community Colleges and current President and CEO of
you lead to move forward. the League for Innovation, highlights the need for mentors;
It has been suggested that while “leadership” was essential people who know the way and can show the way, people who
to achieving many of the greatest accomplishments of the can legitimately challenge us to think outside the box in
past century, it may actually be critical to what has yet to be which we may fnd ourselves.
achieved in the decades ahead. Tis leap in signifcance is • Joan McArthur-Blair, past president of Nova Scotia
attributed to several factors, including: Community College and a life-long educator focused on
facilitating student success, invites us to appreciate “what is,”
• Globalization: we appear to be well beyond living in a world the beliefs, values, and actions of others and be resilient (not
where one part can be easily isolated from the actions of resistant) to the forces of change around us.
another, on any level, and with regard to almost any issue. Tere are other insights and words of wisdom to be found
• Heightened Expectations: the barriers (e.g., time, space, in this edition—Ken Steele, education futurist, focuses our
structure, and geography) and boundaries (e.g., gender, attention on the “perfect storm” impacting higher education;
race, religion, class, and culture) that may have separated Pommashea Noel-Bentley and Scott Blythe ofer a “Visionary
our expectations have steadily been challenged and leveled; Approach to Fundraising;” Lynda Wallace-Hulecki identifes
we see what exists and we desire more; the sense is that we some useful references in the “Literature of Leadership;” and
deserve better. a few of our own lend their ideas to the topic in “Voices of
• Market Forces: as boundaries and barriers devolve, outside Leadership.”
interests food in, ofering a new way, at a better price, in a A good friend of the Academy and life-long educator once
more focused and potentially user friendly fashion; we can remarked that, “Tis isn’t rocket science.” To wit, don’t let the
forestall what we fear for a time, but in the end persistence scale and scope of the topic itself overwhelm you. Stand-up,
outlasts resistance and practicality ofen prevails step-back, and refect on the landscape around you. Seek a
• Technology: the tools available to us change and transform way forward that empowers others to act and inspires the rest
at increasing speed; some we easily adapt to and adopt, to provide the best they have to ofer. Invest efort and energy
others we avoid until we are replaced. in building bridges to a better and brighter future; one that
best leverages lessons from the past, respects and appreciates
the increasingly diverse interests in the present, and calls us
forward from where we are to where we need to be.

LEADERSHIP Vol. 23.1 Spring/Summer 2017 3

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