Overnight, the administration started referring to itself as Executive Leadership. The word ‘administration’ was struck from all messaging [3]. Then, the coup de grace: Employees were the newspeak for Faculty and Staff.  

Titles have defined roles in the hierarchy since Kings and Queens protected Peasants in exchange for loyalty and servitude.  

Corporate CEOs learned from royalty. They adopted wording, labels, and symbols that are “the corporate equivalent of titles, robes, crests, crowns, thrones, and even palaces. To think like a royal, a savvy leader manages these tools for optimal impact” [1]. Just as royalty would go amongst the masses (occasionally), business leaders would go amongst the workers (at company picnics). Allowing employees to participate with leaders in different ways is a tool that savvy leaders manage for optimal impact. 

Royalty influenced corporations, and corporations influenced universities. Universities adopted corporate operations in the 1980s. For a time, administrators remained administrators, and non-administrators remained team members (shared governance remained in place, sort of [2]). When new hierarchy titles did come, they came fast.

At my university, the administration started referring to itself as Executive Leadership overnight. The word ‘administration’ was struck from all messaging [3]. The newspeak for Administrators was Leaders. Then, the coup de grace: Employees were the newspeak for Faculty and Staff.  

The new wording and titles, designed to drive a new narrative of what a university is, were crystalized in a social media post from my university—shown at left. The telling line was: “… opportunities for employees to participate with university leaders …” 

At least the powers in the C-Suites are being completely honest and have dropped all pretense that the rest of us are considered essential players on a team. The corporatization of universities was never about a team. It’s about leaders and employees. If you’re not a leader, you’re just another employee. 

However, leadership is willing to mingle with unwell employees by offering ‘many opportunities to participate with them in different ways.’ Kiss the ring, share a picnic table, or have your yoga mats close to one another.      

AL 2024-0712

Jean-Michael Basquiat, Untitled (Crown), 1982.

Notes and References

[1] Walsh, N., How Great Managers and Monarchs Lead Their Kingdoms,  Forbes, 2023,  https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2023/06/14/how-great-managers-and-monarchs-lead-their-kingdoms/. More quotes: “As business leaders, you are royalty to employees …”; “Power is centralized in the monarch and courtiers, just as it’s concentrated in the CEO and executive team.”

[2] Since the corporatization of universities, some administrators have come to see shared governance as a hinderance: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrosowsky/2023/10/01/the-enemy-within-former-college-presidents-offer-warnings/?sh=51ed5cb21929. A rebuttal can be found here: https://joshuadolezal.substack.com/p/university-administrators-have-forgotten. Shared governance differs from a monarchy model of management [1]. When universities adopt corporatized operation models with hierarchy titles, it’s no surprise that shared governance becomes viewed as a hindrance to executive leaders making rapid changes they deem necessary. Kings and Queens can dissolve parliament, so why can’t executive leaders dissolve shared governance?

[3] This happened after McKinsey and Co. presented their final report for budget restructuring (my university had hired them as consultants). The McKinsey playbook on ‘how to transform higher education institutions’ is heavy on the title of Leadership replacing the terms administration and management: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/education/our-insights/how-to-transform-higher-education-institutions-for-the-long-term . It also provides strategies to promote narratives that leadership can use to restructure universities. An example: “Create a sense of urgency for bold action. Share stories about how other institutions respond to the moment to inspire action.” Words, labels, and stories to clear the path. Speak the newspeak to help people fall into roles. 

After the Fact

Shortly after I finished the essay above, I received an email with the header below:

My university leadership teamed up with PerkSpot, a third-party company that provides coupons from companies they work with. They also track data from those who use the coupons because, well, you know, consumer data is valuable. 

The rationale for university leaders teaming with a coupon company is simple: Corporate leadership knows full well that its employees prefer perks to cost-of-living raises (see, for example, https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahmarder/incentives-jobs-offered-instead-of-raises). It’s not a stretch to think that PerkSpot gives something back to university leadership in exchange (because, well, you know, consumer data is valuable).  

Initially, I felt insulted to be offered coupons from my university’s leadership. But insult turned to amusement. I found it deliciously ironic that a message proclaiming how much leadership cares for employee health was followed by an email with the subject line “Treat yourself to 3 lbs of wings.”After all, what says we care more than 3 lbs of chicken wings about your health? 

AL 2024-1002