I am excited to have joined UNMC College of Nursing as your dean. I appreciate your confidence in allowing me to lead you in the next exciting adventure for the college of nursing.
As I reflect on my onboarding process, it has been an extraordinary learning experience. I have learned many things about you, as you are learning about me. I am humbled to have been given this opportunity. Humility is a necessary characteristic when leading people. Oftentimes we think of humility as weakness, feeble, unwillingness to stand up, powerless.
This is by far not what I mean! According to C.S. Lewis, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.” Humility means acknowledging the needs of others before my own. Also, being able to address difficult and challenging situations requires the ability to portray a calm demeanor while contemplating a wise response. This is what it takes to help move people forward.
We have talented, experienced faculty and staff who are doing great things in our college, and I want to highlight these accomplishments and build on these successes. This does not happen by accident. It requires intentional planning, organization, structure, clear expectations, accountability, follow through and evaluation. My decision-making, as you are experiencing, is not reactive, emotional or impulsive. Instead, it is based on data that warrants and supports change. These changes may be uncomfortable, but to be the best, we must stretch, challenge ourselves, dare to be different, defy the norm and resist the status quo.
Remember the three attributes I shared with you during my interview. I called it WIT. This framework will guide how I derive my decisions on how we move forward in the college.
Let’s reflect on these three attributes.
The “W” stands for Wisdom. It will be important for me to exercise wisdom in engaging administration, faculty, staff, students, alums, donors and partners. Many confuse wisdom with knowledge. They are not the same. My definition of wisdom is, “the ability to take knowledge and employ it in an effective way to make sound, effective and prudent decisions.”
The “I” in WIT stands for Integrity. I define it as possessing a moral compass characterized by using ethical principles to exhibit honesty, trustworthiness and honorable character. Exhibiting integrity will be critical in my ability to develop trust and gain support. “Say what I do and do what I say” will be key to building good relationships. Bruce Lee said, “Knowledge will give you power, but character respect!”
And lastly, “T” in WIT stands for Transparency. We all know that information is power. I’ve seen those who have withheld information in order to gain an advantage over others. And I have seen those who have shared information in abundance to position people for success. My approach will be the latter. Transparency means operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see how and why decisions are made and organizational goals are pursued. It means to be straightforward, unambiguous, frank, open, candid, forthright, plain-spoken and honest. Creating a culture of transparency builds trust and signifies to everyone, internally and externally, that you are an organization of high ethical standards.
We have much work to do, and time is of the essence. Proverbs 3:5-6 says it well: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Continuing to build our research enterprise; expand our nurse-led practices; elevate our teaching scholarship; build and expand programs; mentor staff and faculty; refine our processes; evaluate our operations; enhance the learning environment for our students — to achieve any of these goals, we must work together. I am reminded of a quote by Michael Jordan: “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.”
Let’s be the people who make it happen!