What if?

Leading with Hope, Joy, and a Sense of Possibility

In her recent book Leading from the Margins: College Leadership from Unexpected Places, Mary Dana Hinton, the president of Hollins University and one of higher education’s most insightful thought leaders, notes the challenges of guiding a university in these times: competing demands of diverse constituents, a broken economic model, and a loss of public trust. And yet . . . her book is a book of hope, exploring how each of us can best lead authentically by connecting to the time and place we are serving. The final chapter of her book, in fact, is entitled “What If?” It issues a clarion call for all of us to consider the possibilities available to leaders in higher education today. As Hinton writes, “What if we act as God’s partner and choose to explore, wonder, love, and question together as leaders?”

I recently had the privilege of joining Mary Hinton and a small group of facilitators—mostly current or retired presidents and their spouses—in helping lead a Mission and Vocation Seminar sponsored by the Council of Independent Colleges. I love this seminar (my husband Alan and I went through it ourselves in 2017) because of its very intentional focus on discernment, alignment, and calling in relation to college leadership. The seminar eschews “how to” readings and instead focuses on literature, poetry, history, and biography to help participants reflect on the inner life that is so very critical to the external demands of a presidency.

No matter how many times I go through the readings, I am always stopped in my tracks by Wendell Berry’s poem “The Real Work” with the line, “The impeded stream is the one that sings.” Or Martin Luther King, Jr.’s reminder in “A Great Street Sweeper” that “if it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures.”

Surely the present time requires leaders of higher education to be at their very best, bringing all we have to help our institutions live long and strong and serve our students well. Budgets, fundraising, strategic planning, and all their many attendant issues have their place in our wheelhouse, of course. But so does a deep understanding of saga, mission, friendship, community, even joy. Mary Hinton articulates this as the need for leaders to manage their institutions, and to manage themselves, with clear vision, specific goals, and an active learning agenda.

One of the participants in this year’s Vocation and Mission Seminar remarked in one of our sessions that we are “called to substance” (a reflection inspired by Thomas Merton’s line that “we are warmed by the fire, not by the smoke of the fire”). Mary Hinton says we are stewards of “but one moment in time in a storied and important legacy” and reminds us to consider “what binds our institution over time and across people.”

If we are fortunate enough to connect with our institution in a deep and meaningful way, the answer to Hinton’s “what if?” is limitless. My own story as a first-generation college student from a Texas family of modest means that prioritized education and faith over everything else connects me to Texas Lutheran University in ways that make the hardest days shimmer with hope and possibility. My understanding of this place as a faith-centered institution with a long history of survival amidst plentiful challenges informs my perspective of dealing with today’s challenges. The embrace of this community—rooted not in consistent agreement but in respect and collaboration—bolsters me and connects me to a higher purpose. The alignment I have with this place makes its mission my mission, and its story my story. And in that context, for whatever ways I can advance our mission of empowering a diverse student body through liberal arts and professional programs to create a more just world, I am profoundly grateful.