Principles That Guide My Leadership
Guiding with Foresight, Integrity, and Purpose
At a Tet Festival in Minnesota, I greeted a young Vietnamese boy. Moments like this remind me why leadership matters: to serve across generations, cultures, and futures.
- In leadership, character is not tested when it’s easy—it’s tested when it’s storming. My principles were forged through decades of navigating complex institutions and polarized environments—whether in Congress, corporate boardrooms, or as president of two universities.
- Just as my Strategic Compass outlines the moral clarity and foresight that guide my decision-making, this page distills the values that shape how I lead teams, engage communities, and align institutions with enduring public purpose.
🧱 Strategic Discipline
Mission First
- Mission, not ideology, guides every decision I make. I ask: will this serve the institution’s long-term public purpose?
- Example: When the CU Board’s political composition changed and sought new leadership, I remained focused on institutional stability. The Board unanimously adopted the strategic plan I led and named me President Emeritus.
Agree and Align on a Shared Vision
- Effective leadership means engaging diverse voices to build consensus on direction. Shared vision precedes shared success.
- Example: At UND and CU, I led inclusive planning efforts with hundreds of stakeholders, resulting in strategic plans with lasting buy-in.
Less Is More
- The essence of strategy is deciding what not to do. Focus enables impact.
- Example: Both UND and CU focused their plans around a limited number of priorities—ensuring clarity, alignment, and execution.
Measure What Matters
- What gets measured gets done. Transparency in outcomes builds momentum and accountability.
- Example: Every strategic initiative had trackable metrics to ensure progress.
Lead Before the Storm Breaks
- Real leadership isn’t reactive—it’s anticipatory.
- Example: When COVID began spreading, CU moved online a day before our first confirmed case—not because consensus had formed, but because clarity had. Acting early kept our community safer and our institution strong.
⚙️ Execution with Accountability
Align, Empower, and Deliver
- I align leadership teams to strategy, empower bold action, and insist on measurable results.
- Example: I tied leadership performance to strategic priorities and reviewed progress systemwide.
Clarity in Disruption
- In times of crisis, communication builds trust.
- Example: I called every university president in Colorado and the Governor before publicly announcing CU’s shift to remote learning, aligning our message statewide.
Clear Ownership Drives Results
- If everyone is responsible, no one is. Assigning clear accountability enables delivery.
- Example: Every strategic initiative had a designated cabinet or campus leader.
🌍 Inclusive Leadership for Impact
Innovation Expands Opportunity
- Technology, innovation, and research are essential to affordability and competitiveness.
- Example: I prioritized online learning, launched one of GW’s first MOOCs, and advanced CU and UND’s research profiles—including expanded partnerships with aerospace firms through CU’s National Security Advisory Group and establishing an uncrewed research institute at UND.
Geoeconomic Statecraft Begins at Home
- Global competitiveness starts with local alignment across academia, industry, and government.
- Example: CU and UND were chosen to partner with the U.S. Space Force. At GW, we trained Army officers to better engage with civilian government.
Lifting as We Climb
- As a first-generation college graduate, I’m committed to expanding opportunity for those who follow.
- Example: My wife Debbie and I endowed scholarships at every university I’ve served. I’ve championed supports for rural, underrepresented, and first-generation students.
🪞 Integrity, Humility, and Unity
Own Mistakes Openly
- Leadership isn’t about being infallible—it’s about being accountable.
- Example: After using the term “Trail of Tears” in a public forum without understanding its deep pain, I apologized publicly within the hour and used the moment to deepen my support for Native communities.
Bridge Builder by Principle
- I lead by coalition, not division. E Pluribus Unum—out of many, one.
- Example: In Congress, I co-led legislation with 20 Democrats and earned co-sponsorship from over half the Democratic caucus. In higher education, I’ve advanced multidisciplinary, cross-campus partnerships that broaden impact.
These principles reflect not only how I lead, but why I lead: to move institutions and communities forward with purpose, clarity, and trust.
✨ Favorite Quotes
“Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.” Martin Luther King Jr.
"Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence." Sheryl Sandberg
"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give." Winston Churchill
"The essence of America—that which really unites us—is not ethnicity, or nationality, or religion. It is an idea—and what an idea it is: that you can come from humble circumstances and do great things." Condoleezza Rice
“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” Theodore Roosevelt
💬 Comments from Team
- These were some of the public, on-record comments shared by my team during my final Board of Regents meeting at CU—reflections I cherish for what they say about how we worked together.
- “Asked questions we needed to ask.”
- “Nothing ever falls through the cracks.”
- “Thank you for pushing me to be the best person and leader I can be.”
- “Capacity to work unlike I have ever seen before; kept us moving.”
- “Incredibly kind, helpful, and gracious.”
- “Pleasure to work with you and for you.”
- “Helped move the university forward.”