Because of the ongoing turmoil at West Virginia University, the subject of appointing directors to the university's governing board has been a much-discussed topic. Let's take a moment to consider the right people for the job.
When selecting a board member-- and this applies to every organization -- the candidate must have a common interest or commonality of purpose with regard to the institution. If not, why bother?
While this requirement seems simple enough, it never fails that two undesirable types of people pass the commonality test--the proverbial "yes" man and the parasite. Even the most diligent screening process cannot always weed out these people.
Sitting on a board can have an intoxicating influence on even the most well-intentioned people. Directors find that the title of board member does afford them status in their communities, and at some point they might become "yes" men or women so as not to jeopardize losing their directorships. No director that I am aware of was ever fired for toadying.
Other well-intentioned people have compromised their fiduciary duty by doing business with the very institution they are appointed to oversee. Most often, these business arrangements begin as symbiotic relationships with all parties benefiting. When greed sets in, the relationship turns parasitic.
The faculty has expressed that the governing board should have more faculty representatives. This sounds wonderful in theory. But the reality of the campus is that professors rarely know what goes on outside of the buildings they teach in.
Professors also specialize in their field of learning. So who do you pick? The botanist who studies aphid damage? The physicist who looks for dark matter? The historian who debates the cause of the Civil War? Or do we consider the education professor who knows everything about running a classroom but precious little about running a school? Would a professor of proctology even stand a chance?
For the faculty's sake, they should speak collectively through their elected senate rather than through one or more board members. And the faculty senate should have stronger powers, especially so with regard to the presidential selection process. If a presidential candidate can't win the hearts of the faculty senate during his or her interview, then the candidate has no business applying for the job.
There are probably 100 million people on this planet who know who Pat White and Kevin Pittsnogle are. Ten times that many know who Jerry West is. In terms of dollars and cents, WVU's athletic program is not a huge budget item. But in terms of publicity, athletics brings WVU its most attention.
Candidates for the Board of Governors need to be serious about athletics -- and just as serious about demanding a scandal-free athletic program. The football stadium may be named in honor of Milan Puskar, but it will always be remembered as the house that Don Nehlen built. Coach Nehlen was a winner, but let us not forget that he was respected for his integrity from coast to coast.
The Health Science Center is an important part of WVU, and the board needs a few members who are up to speed on modern medicine. While drug company representatives don't get much respect, I will tell you for a fact that they know everything that goes on in the medical community.
I am not recommending a drug pusher for the board. So don't choke.
I point this out, however, because WVU needs to consider people in the medical field who get around and also are knowledgeable of the financial side of the medical business. This is definitely the area where WVU has to think outside the box for recruiting board members.
When Netscape developed JavaScript in 1995, I remarked that java scripts had been around for years. When questioned about my observation, I quipped that boards of directors were in the habit of using the chairman's report as coffee cup coasters to protect their mahogany conference tables.
Bad jokes aside, a board member must be involved and not consider the board meeting a coffee klatch.
A board member's responsibility can be compared somewhat to that of a juror's. When the door is closed, people trust them to make the right decision. Sometimes, those decisions are incredibly unpopular, while at other times they are routine. But all individual decisions made on behalf of a community test a person's resolve, conscience and ethics.
From personal experience, I have seen the damage that self-serving directors can do. I have also seen the good work that responsible directors can do. The final test for selecting a board member is this simple: Picking from the former guarantees a train wreck, while picking from the latter guarantees success.
Showing posts with label board of governors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label board of governors. Show all posts
Friday, June 20, 2008
Friday, October 6, 2006
The Importance of Being Herb
Former WVU President E. Gordon Gee was recently featured on page one of the Wall Street Journal. He now serves as Chancellor of Vanderbilt University, the fourth university which he has led since leaving Morgantown. The list also includes the University of Colorado, The Ohio State University, and Brown University.
The WSJ article critiques Mr. Gee’s generous salary and perks. And it also balances criticism of his compensation with praise for his outstanding fundraising ability. Vanderbilt’s endowment has grown from $2 billion to $3.2 billion during Mr. Gee’s tenure. That feat alone would make Commodore Vanderbilt proud of his namesake school.
Gordon Gee’s prominence is not new, however. The national media discovered him while he was president of WVU. Burger King ran a television ad campaign called "Where’s Herb?" Herb was promoted as the only American who had not eaten a BK Whopper and viewers were offered a cash reward if they spotted Herb in public.
As luck would have it, the actor who portrayed the fictional Herb was a dead ringer for Gordon Gee. It wasn’t long before Mr. Gee was seeing strangers point at him and exclaim, "There’s Herb!"
"Herb" is again newsworthy just as David C. Hardesty has announced that he will step down as WVU’s President. The university has formed a presidential search committee and I think it’s rather certain that the committee will receive two lists of candidates from which to pick. So then, this is a good time to consider the candidates who hope to steward West Virginia’s flagship institution of higher learning.
First of all, the committee will hire a professional headhunter. I always believed that headhunters and headhunting firms were nothing more than glorified realtors. After all is said and done, they provide you with a handful of listings in your price range and then ask for their fee. The headhunter’s list will be populated by professionals from academia-Herbs, if you will-and will contain most of the frontrunners for the job.
The second list, what I call the "out-of-work brothers-in-law slate", will be provided by state politicians and other power brokers who believe that patronage is the pathway to employment. Patronage and nepotism have justified their existence, so pardon them if they know no better.
Sometime in March 2007, both lists of names will be commingled and the resumes will be thoroughly shuffled. This is an important step in the selection process because it guarantees that some candidates will appear to be outstanding in comparison to others in their peer group. The selection system then works as predicted, and is considered a success because most search committees never ask the all-important question, "As compared to whom?"
The search committee can avoid this trap by first identifying the needs of WVU before it even accepts a resume. The job description drives the process, not the other way around. Since the search committee is probably now defining the job description, let me offer my thoughts.
The next WVU president will face two major tasks. First, faculty and staff salaries need to be raised significantly to insure that the university not only retains, but also attracts, the best personnel. As WVU grows to 30,000 enrolled students, faculty and staff will also grow. And second, the university’s growth and expansion needs to be financed by a method other than further burdening the already debt-laden student body. Both of these goals can be mutually accomplished without compromise.
The candidate that WVU should be looking for can be best-described as the next Peter Ueberroth. Ueberroth, you’ll recall, organized the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles; the event made a profit of nearly $300 million. He proved that a public enterprise could be of world-class quality without complaint while still being operated efficiently.
To the search committee, I say this: Forget List #1 and List #2. Go find the next Peter Ueberroth. He’s out there, but his resume isn’t on file with academic headhunters and he’s surely not an out-of-work brother-in-law!
I have always said that David Hardesty is the best president that West Virginia University will ever have. He was born for the job. Even so, he had his detractors during the selection process. Those who preferred List #1 said he lacked academic credentials. Those who preferred List #2 said he would use the job as a springboard for politics. Fortunately, the previous search committee ignored all of that claptrap.
Leading West Virginia University, the university where greatness is learned, is an honor and a privilege. I wish the search committee well in its quest to find the candidate who is worthy of the title.
The WSJ article critiques Mr. Gee’s generous salary and perks. And it also balances criticism of his compensation with praise for his outstanding fundraising ability. Vanderbilt’s endowment has grown from $2 billion to $3.2 billion during Mr. Gee’s tenure. That feat alone would make Commodore Vanderbilt proud of his namesake school.
Gordon Gee’s prominence is not new, however. The national media discovered him while he was president of WVU. Burger King ran a television ad campaign called "Where’s Herb?" Herb was promoted as the only American who had not eaten a BK Whopper and viewers were offered a cash reward if they spotted Herb in public.
As luck would have it, the actor who portrayed the fictional Herb was a dead ringer for Gordon Gee. It wasn’t long before Mr. Gee was seeing strangers point at him and exclaim, "There’s Herb!"
"Herb" is again newsworthy just as David C. Hardesty has announced that he will step down as WVU’s President. The university has formed a presidential search committee and I think it’s rather certain that the committee will receive two lists of candidates from which to pick. So then, this is a good time to consider the candidates who hope to steward West Virginia’s flagship institution of higher learning.
First of all, the committee will hire a professional headhunter. I always believed that headhunters and headhunting firms were nothing more than glorified realtors. After all is said and done, they provide you with a handful of listings in your price range and then ask for their fee. The headhunter’s list will be populated by professionals from academia-Herbs, if you will-and will contain most of the frontrunners for the job.
The second list, what I call the "out-of-work brothers-in-law slate", will be provided by state politicians and other power brokers who believe that patronage is the pathway to employment. Patronage and nepotism have justified their existence, so pardon them if they know no better.
Sometime in March 2007, both lists of names will be commingled and the resumes will be thoroughly shuffled. This is an important step in the selection process because it guarantees that some candidates will appear to be outstanding in comparison to others in their peer group. The selection system then works as predicted, and is considered a success because most search committees never ask the all-important question, "As compared to whom?"
The search committee can avoid this trap by first identifying the needs of WVU before it even accepts a resume. The job description drives the process, not the other way around. Since the search committee is probably now defining the job description, let me offer my thoughts.
The next WVU president will face two major tasks. First, faculty and staff salaries need to be raised significantly to insure that the university not only retains, but also attracts, the best personnel. As WVU grows to 30,000 enrolled students, faculty and staff will also grow. And second, the university’s growth and expansion needs to be financed by a method other than further burdening the already debt-laden student body. Both of these goals can be mutually accomplished without compromise.
The candidate that WVU should be looking for can be best-described as the next Peter Ueberroth. Ueberroth, you’ll recall, organized the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles; the event made a profit of nearly $300 million. He proved that a public enterprise could be of world-class quality without complaint while still being operated efficiently.
To the search committee, I say this: Forget List #1 and List #2. Go find the next Peter Ueberroth. He’s out there, but his resume isn’t on file with academic headhunters and he’s surely not an out-of-work brother-in-law!
I have always said that David Hardesty is the best president that West Virginia University will ever have. He was born for the job. Even so, he had his detractors during the selection process. Those who preferred List #1 said he lacked academic credentials. Those who preferred List #2 said he would use the job as a springboard for politics. Fortunately, the previous search committee ignored all of that claptrap.
Leading West Virginia University, the university where greatness is learned, is an honor and a privilege. I wish the search committee well in its quest to find the candidate who is worthy of the title.
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