Celebrating The One-Year Anniversary of Start The Week With Wisdom with Michael Crow

This is the one-year anniversary of Start The Week With Wisdom and to celebrate we have our original guest, ASU President Michael Crow, back in the hot seat.  When we first spoke to President Crow last year about what it was like to lead, he used a metaphor equating leading to sailing.  He talked about how you had to adjust for the different winds.  After a year of gale force winds, President Crow says it’s been a constant adaptation of the ship.  He says his crew is always present and engaged and that his senior crew now meets every day.  He noted the detailed accuracy we can have when we put our minds to it.  Furthermore, he says the last year has also taught him to wait as long as possible to make a decision; understand as much as you can first.

When asked about upending the establishment, President Crow says it’s not about replacing, it’s about adding to.  He says we need more universities devoted to social outcomes as markers for success.  We need more universities driven by technology that can meet students where they are.   The technologies and opportunities we have been phenomenal, yet we’re outperformed by other countries in education.  President Crow says we need to embrace technology, to change our indicators of success, and to stop thinking we can do it by ourselves.

When it comes to returning next fall, President Crow says he aims to use the constitution as an aspirational document.  He says we need to be accountable for our objectives and that it’s not all about the discussion but about the actual performance of the institution.  Institutions tend to follow the rewards or incentives, but President Crow says we need to throw out the notion of operating as a public agency and embrace operating as a public enterprise.  More enterprise behavior would give chancellors more meaning behind their titles.

When asked what has surprised him most about the last year, President Crow says it’s been the media searching for clicks and not doing a good job of keeping us informed but instead perpetuating fear.  President Crow says there are good things out there too to report on, especially when it comes to students.

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