News & Publications

Last week, I shared a story that illustrated the tricky balance between rules and relationships. In an era of risk and regulation, placing faith in relationships and trust can feel unpredictable, and in a leadership job, sometimes a bit irresponsible. However, leading...

As we enter the last few weeks of this semester at College, it is important for me to think about next year. Because I value and respect my students, I have held two significant surveys to work out what level of changes are needed in order to go into 2020...

I have been thinking of that quote, ‘If you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life.’ Attributed on the internet to Mark Twain, Marc Anthony and even Confucius, the quote obviously still has a lot of currency with people, even though we don’t know who...

Last week, I attended the University Colleges Australia conference in Sydney. One of the workshops I was involved in as a panel member was called Guiding a course of Responsibility and Respect in a context of Risk, Regulation and Renewal. We explored how we...

On Wednesday this week, I sat in a meeting that is now a quarterly ritual: the Investment Committee meeting. As a person who prides herself in her competence, the Investment Committee meeting makes me feel that I am in a room where others are speaking an entirely...

A couple of weeks ago, I shared the story of my third-grade teacher and her influence on my aspirations.  She predicted that I would be President of the United States. As I have written about previously, while her aspirations for me helped me leave home for...

When I was in the third grade, my teacher told the class that one day, I would be President of the United States. We were learning about the US political system, and Vincent Lee had asked her if she had ever taught a president before (she was in her first year...

I have named this blog, ‘Leading from the Side’ because it sums up my approach to leading a residential college full of young people, aged 17-22. I would argue that young people give very little credence to positional leadership, they aren’t going to follow just...

Recently, our Commerce faculty dinner featured two speakers who were both outstanding. One of them described himself by his Myers-Briggs Type and wondered how many Commerce students were the same type (it was INTJ for those wondering).  Some of my colleagues...

When I moved to Australia 30 years ago, I learned quickly that a trait I had learned growing up, being an affirming person, sat uncomfortably in Australia with some of my colleagues. I would go out of my way to affirm their teaching, their thinking or their...

In a recent post, , I tell the story of an important mentor in my life. Without her influence throughout university, I would not be who I am today, and she was just one of my mentors. I have been blessed with adults throughout my life, a little further down the road...