Are We Making Full Use of the Leadership We Already Have?
I appreciated the invitation to join Higher Ed Pulse to continue exploring a topic I recently wrote about in Inside Higher Ed. While the role of the senior marketing and communications leader has become more strategic and more complex, the leadership pathway beyond the role has not evolved in lockstep.
The conversation goes beyond what comes next for a senior marcomm leader. It also raises a broader institutional question: Are we making full use of the leadership we already have?
I have the pleasure of working closely with chief marketing and communications officers as they evolve their divisions and build the organizational capability to advance institutional priorities. Many of these CMCOs do not see themselves simply as functional leaders. They see themselves as institutional leaders who bring a marketing and communications lens to the work.
That distinction matters.
The role can develop an unusually broad set of capabilities that are increasingly valuable at the enterprise level: navigating ambiguity, understanding diverse constituencies, building alignment across competing interests, connecting disparate parts of the institution, interpreting market forces, and advancing institutional reputation and revenue.
And yet the formal pathway beyond the role can remain remarkably unclear.
That does not mean every CMCO or vice president wants to become a president, move into a broader enterprise leadership role, or pursue something “bigger.” Nor should we assume that advancement always means moving upward. Some leaders are exactly where they want to be.
But for those who do see themselves contributing more broadly, the pathway can narrow before the full extent of their leadership potential is realized.
That is the part of this conversation I think deserves more attention.
When talented leaders cannot see how their leadership might continue to expand within an institution, it is not surprising that they begin considering other possibilities: another institution, consulting, the private sector, or some entirely different next chapter.
As those leaders consider what comes next, presidents and chancellors have a question of their own: Where else could this leader add value across the institution?
That means looking beyond the functional title and asking what broader institutional contributions a leader may be ready to make, what experiences would continue developing them, and how their perspective could add value beyond marketing and communications.
Higher education has tremendous leaders in these roles. Our institutions could benefit from finding more ways to tap into that leadership.
Here is the Higher Ed Pulse conversation, with thanks again to Mallory Willsea for the invitation and the great questions.
