President Michael Roth & the Future of Wesleyan

Come, raise the song for Wesleyana,
Till night and echo send it back

Wesleyan in Middletown, CT is the place I've called my home for the past four years, and what a journey it has been. President Michael Roth, a graduate of Wesleyan, shared his first year as President with my freshman year in 2007-2008.  My dad always recalls the move-in day that August of 2007 and how the President was right there moving the wide-eyed freshman into their Fauver dorm rooms. My dad, not easy to impress, was taken back by such a sincere action. There isn't many colleges where the President is so visible and outgoing. You'll find Roth at the football, basketball, hockey, and baseball games being our most vocal supporter - you'll find him lecturing in his Past on Film class, and he writes a great blog. He's energetic about Wesleyan and knows what a Wesleyan liberal arts education is all about: 1) Boldness 2) Rigor and 3) Practical Idealism. He has a vision for Wesleyan's success that will catapult it into the next decade.

President Roth graduated from Wesleyan in 1979, received a Phd. from Princeton in 1983 and taught at Scripps College in California from 1983-1995. He went to work at the J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles, which is an art institute from 1995-2000. He then served as the President of the California College of the Arts in San Francisco from 2000-2007. While President, CCA doubled its endowment and number of applications to the school, he also changed the name of the school (it was previously known as the California College of Arts and Crafts). His accomplishments at CCA allowed his resume to find its way to his alma mater, Wesleyan, which was in the search for a new President. Coming full circle, he now calls Middletown his home once again.

He came back to Wes and things were a little out of align. In the late '80s Wesleyan's endowment was nearly the size of its Little Three counterparts Amherst and Williams. Now the endowment sits at about half of Amherst's and Williams'. In other words, we have some catching up to do. Now we can argue about how that happened and what we should do, but that's a conversation for another day.

In the context of Strategies of Leadership, I'm more interested in Roth's vision, beliefs, and management style.

Roth came in and Wesleyan was out of line administratively. He asked professors to write a two page request for what priorities they'd like to see get pushed forward and he'd choose only three of the priorities. Questions ensued as you'd expect, because Prof. A's priorities might not have the chance to get funding. In the past, everybody's request received some type of attention. That's not the way it was going to happen under Roth.

We've talked in the past about how great leaders create a "culture of discipline." It may be viewed as tyranny, but it isn't. All great leaders need to use sound judgment and make decisions for their organization. The President of a college is the CEO. The President has his people (the deans and other assistants) to help him make certain choices, but in the end the President needs to use his authoritative power to quell any debates. President Roth had to set the tone from the start that not everybody's interests were going to be able to be honored. Elvin Lim talks about how the great Presidents of the United States were the ones who went above and beyond their powers outlined in the Constitution to make decisions. They used their Presidential prerogative to make decisions.

President Roth discussed that he may not be well versed on certain issues, but that's why he has people beneath him to help him make sound decisions on certain issues. That sound judgment is based on a consistent vision for your organization. A leader needs to be willing to step up to the plate and make decisions. Leaders need to make their followers understand that not everyone will win and Roth claimed that no organization can be successful unless it's aligned. Building a culture of discipline for your organization is so vital: create a "stop doing list" and unplug anything extraneous that is going on. One of the most important feats for a leader to accomplish is to get everyone on the same page.

Tagging along this idea is accepting leadership as if it's a responsibility. Once again, this is something Coach Whalen and Kennedy Odede spoke about in their classes with us. Roth discussed that a leader can't ever say that's not my job.

There have been countless amounts of times where leaders shove responsibility away from themselves and are looked at as weak leaders. And they are! One of the reasons why leadership is so hard is because people are afraid of taking it on. When in charge a leader must always accept responsibility no matter if they committed the wrong or not.

For example, the latest Beta incident caused a big stir on campus. Roth did not write or sign the e-mail that was initially sent out. The e-mail wreaked havoc on campus and Roth took the reigns and accepted responsibility. Remember our "Looking Through the Window and Into the Mirror" concept? Level 5 Leaders take the blame when things go wrong, but shower praise upon the people under them when things go right.

Roth talked about finding the right people - undertones of getting the right people on the bus and in the proper seats, and the wrong people off the bus. There are several people who did not ideologically fit into Roth's plans and schemes and they had to part ways. Sometimes, people realize that and leave, other times the leader may have to fire that individual who does not want to jump on the bandwagon. We've talked about how in the past, great Level 5 CEOs at Walgreens and other companies have had to even fire family members who were simply holding the company back.

Gotta do what you gotta do...

Great leaders understand that any employee is a reflection of the company and the leader at the helm. This is your track record that you're trying to protect - your earnings - your profit - and most importantly your reputation as a leader! And if there's people who aren't on the same page, then action must be taken.

I think many times in unsuccessful rebuilding efforts a coach or principal or CEO fail to diverge from what was done in the past. They don't cut ties with people who are holding the company back, which prolongs the culture of losing. Roth also talked about his right hand man Andy Tanaka who was Roth's driver initially. Roth saw that Andy had much more ability than the role he was in. A Wesleyan Freeman Scholar graduate, Tanaka is in Roth's ear constantly in a perfect role assisting Roth in his decision making. Roth also commented that it's important to hire people who share similar career goals and visions. People should have a track record of accomplishment and who shows sound judgment in what they believe in. All of these code of ethics and vision statements can be made, but without the right people in the right seats your company, organization, or team will not succeed.

Finally, Roth noted that what Wesleyan was built on - the receiving of a quality liberal arts education - is really still the main goal above all else.

Jim Collins talks about the Hedgehog Concept, which is for a leader to realize 1) what you can be the best in the world at, 2) what drives your economic engine, and 3) what you are deeply passionate about. Wesleyan can be the best in the world at giving people a unique liberal arts education. Today, especially after the recession, many parents believe that their children need a more "applicable" major that better suits their kid to enter the workforce, such as in accounting, business management, or teaching instead of an economics, government, or psychology degree. Now you can easily be an accountant if you're an economics major, you can easily become a lawyer if you're a government major, and you can easily become a teacher with a psychology degree. What makes a Wesleyan liberal arts education great is when we show people the diversity of successful people that have come out of Middletown to do great things in Hollywood, politics, media, in hospitals, law, and with their own companies (it's like in The Social Network when Larry Summers says: "Harvard undergraduates believe that inventing a job is better than finding a job," well that goes for Wesleyan too).

How to drive your economic engine? This is the endowment. Generating "sustained and robust cash flow" is how Jim Collins describes it. The President is the CEO and one of his main jobs is to try and extract money from alumni. Part of what goes into how much alumni give back is the memories they recall from their four years at school. That can be with fraternities, athletics, the arts, guest speakers who came to campus, concerts, and of course their academics. Part of the liberal arts education is doing all of these things in addition to the actual classroom studies. A liberal arts education gives its students the opportunity to explore and find themselves. This is important because I think that all of these pieces - fraternities, athletics, the arts, etc. are what goes into the minds of students and how they'll look back on their times at Wesleyan - maybe not so much what they learned in their philosophy class. At the same time, what they learned in the classroom and what they learned out of it on athletic fields or in performance halls is what will contribute to them becoming a great businessperson, doctor, or educator. This success the student built will be directly attributed to their education at Wesleyan, which means more funds coming from the pockets of alumni.

Lastly, stimulating passion. What is your organization deeply passionate about? Wesleyan is unique in that it's probably the most socially aware school in the NESCAC. Wesleyan's financial aid office is one of the most generous in America. Wesleyan needs to continue to find students who want to pursue a liberal arts education no matter their background. Roth agreed with this sentiment in that even during the recession, financial aid did not fall. Wesleyan is passionate about providing a very open ended liberal arts education. It wants its students to explore, be challenged, and promote critical thinking skills. A liberal arts education is a good example of helping people find what they are passionate about. The liberal arts is not about perfect sciences and accounting. A Wesleyan liberal arts education ignites passion in its students and allows its students to discover what makes them passionate. Leaders understand what they are passionate about and they evoke this same quality from their leaders. Kennedy Odede is passionate about spreading hope for women and better standards of living in his country, and he is igniting the same sentiment amongst his fellow Kenyans.

I hope you can see the parallels that we have drawn throughout the semester. Leadership in the context of business, politics, education, real life social movements, and personal experiences. Leadership is all around you and at Wesleyan it is extremely high. With President Roth leading the way into the next decade, cheering us on at football games, teaching classes, and raising money for that ever important endowment, Wesleyan is headed in the right direction.

Our song is for the dear old college!
Join hands and praise you while we can!
Time ne’er shall shake our deep devotion,
Our deathless love for Wesleyan!