bodner089

Please forgive me for this “brief commercial message,” which I’m posting on both of my blogs. For the past couple of years, I have engaged in one of the most satisfying professional experiences of my life:   The exploration and pursuit of my encore career.   After “retiring” from university administration, I became a consultant and certified professional coach, while rebalancing the elements of my life to bring the renewed sense of purpose that may be the hallmark of the Baby Boomer generation. Now, in collaboration with my fellow coaching colleague, Yvonne Ulmer, I am pleased to announce a workshop for people who seek fresh opportunities in the second half of life.   From December 6-8, in St. Petersburg, Florida, Yvonne and I invite you to share in a three-day retreat, in which you can reflect, explore and begin designing your own encore experience. The retreat will be held at the Postcard Inn, on beautiful St. Petersburg Beach, beginning on Thursday e...

I’ve been asked to explain more about coaching and how it works, so here goes: Coaches serve clients as a “thought partner” or “trusted adviser,” by supporting them in an exploration of goals and options for achieving those goals. When I coach, I like to concentrate on identifying both individual strengths and strengths in the organization or leadership team, where appropriate. I encourage people to think about times they felt especially energized and committed to their work and what it was about them or the situation that contributed to success, so that they can consider those experiences in new contexts. I’ve found that the coaching process not only leads to identifying options and clarifying ideas, but it releases a lot of confident energy. Sometimes coaching clients also want to use me as more of a consultant, especially with regard to resolving a specific issue at work. I’m generally aware of which role I’m in, but I do try to be careful about doing too much “consulting,” when...

When I take tests or inventories, designed to identify individual strengths, a top strength always is that I am a “learner.” I do love learning new things, and perhaps as a result, I have very broad interests and (sometimes) a short attention span for the routine. My good fortune to work in academia allowed me to follow lots of different paths and to choose a “road less traveled,” when it suited me. In that context, I feel especially blessed to pursue an encore career, as a consultant, coach, and speaker. Getting to meet people from around the country, and occasionally from other parts of the world, is terrific. I enjoy visiting new places and learning the unique history of various institutions. After more than 36 years of association with branch campuses and, more broadly, programs for adult learners, I’ve had remarkable experiences and opportunities to learn. I suppose it is natural that a learner would enjoy sharing what he’s learned, and in the sense that I am still a teacher,...

Check out a piece in Inside Higher Education , titled “How will Mozilla’s open badges project affect higher education.” (http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/hack-higher-education/how-will-mozillas-open-badges-project-affect-higher-ed) The term “badges” refers to earned credentials that document specific competencies, similar to the way continuing education units sometimes offer completion certificates. The Cisco Certification, which was developed by Cisco, but delivered in partnership with educational institutions, is a closer example. Even as people consider the possibility of a Christensen-style disruption in higher education, most assume that established, accredited institutions will maintain their near-monopoly on credentialing what is learned. However, what if employers began to favor specific skills or knowledge sets over degrees? If other, reliable entities offer badges or certificates that meet the needs of important audiences, we might see a much less expensive option for ...

Although I remain committed to the development of branch campuses, for the past two years I also worked steadily to design an “encore career” for myself. In that time, I’ve worked as a consultant, become a certified professional coach, accepted several opportunities to facilitate planning meetings, and established a second blog, “Creating the Future,” at www.drcharlesbird.com/creatingthefuture. I’ve expanded my consulting role to include distance learning strategies, under the broader umbrella of programs for adult learners. Now, I am pleased to share that I created a company, Encore Dreams, LLC. You can see more information on the company and its services at www.encoredreams.com. That site is a single page, but it also links to my personal web site, www.drcharlesbird.com, and to “Creating the Future.” Through Encore Dreams, I offer transition coaching to individuals, as well as a Life Transitions Workshop. Both provide support to people as they study and reflect on the talents an...

I’ve taken a couple of months off from posting on this blog, as part of the transition to my “encore” career. One of the things I did over the summer was to attend a week long coach training program. I’m interested in executive coaching, in several respects, including working with individuals in transition to new jobs or to their own new career. All this led me to think about the challenges that many people face, when they accept a position as the chief administrator (CAO) of a branch campus. Some people, like me, have a regional or branch campus background, so they come into the CAO role with an understanding of the issues, politics, and so on. However, I’ve met many people whose first branch campus role is as a CAO. For example, he or she may have been a department chair or dean in a more traditional environment, although I’ve also known individuals who became CAO of a university branch, after years of service at a community college. All of these transitions bring challenges, an...

I have no idea how many people read this blog. From time to time someone will tell me that they read the posts and enjoy them, and when I go to the NABCA conference, there usually are some comments. So, at the risk of emulating a tree falling in the forest with no one around, I will share an announcement that is at least important to me: I will be leaving my current position in mid-June, and after completing some other “duties as assigned,” I will retire from Ohio University on December 31. I’m excited about reaching this point. What may not be apparent from the blog is the fact that I have not been working with our regional or branch campuses for the last three years, anyway. I had planned to take an early retirement in 2007, but agreed to stay on to lead development of a more aggressive distance learning program at the university. That work has gone extremely well and been a source of enormous satisfaction to me. I more or less had an opportunity to build my own team, and they are th...

I think it is time to change directions. In the disruptive environment that I believe higher education faces, an important question goes to how we can best position our institutions for success. The good news is that there are relatively new ways of thinking about organizations and organizational change that may be entirely consistent with the impact of technology, a higher proportion of adult learners, and concerns about the cost of traditional education. These new ways of thinking emerge from positive psychology, an approach that focuses on individual and organizational strengths, rather than deficits, with the goal of thriving or flourishing, not simply surviving or enduring. There are a number of topics I can explore here, but I want to start with something that is close to my own heart: The implication of the Baby Boomer Generation, as it moves past 60 and toward what we think of as "traditional" retirement age. Some of what I will share can be explored in greater d...