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Leveraging Excellence

By Lee T. Todd Jr.

A few years ago, I was engaged in a conversation at a national conference with the president of one of America's premier research universities and an executive from a Fortune 100 company. The executive remarked that his company did not invest much in university-based research because it was inefficient and lacked accountability.

My presidential colleague spent the next five minutes citing statistics common to higher education, such as retention rates, research expenditures, and faculty citations.

As I watched the interaction, I noticed that, despite having a cordial discussion, they were not communicating effectively. Then it struck me: Higher education does not speak the same language as our stakeholders. . . .

Excerpted from the spring 2008 issue of The Presidency. To subscribe to the magazine, please call (301) 632-6757, or order online through ACE's bookstore.