Creating Us - A podcast for Texas Tech University System & beyond
A learning and development podcast focused on bringing the Texas Tech University System Values Based Culture to life.
Creating Us - A podcast for Texas Tech University System & beyond
The Leader Fast Lane - Episode 11 - with Midwestern State University President Stacy Haynie
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Join me as I speak with Midwestern State University Texas President Dr. Stacy Haynie. We talk about leaders needing to be willing to take punches, how to make difficult, weighty decisions, taking risks, MSU Texas's values of community and people-centeredness, learning from failure, the importance of showing up and being curious, and that control and trust are not friends as a leader. Dr. Haynie is an amazing leader. Take a listen!
Hello, and welcome to the Leader Fast Late, the podcast where accomplished leaders from across higher education, public service, and beyond share real stories, practical principles, and hard-earned lessons listeners can apply immediately. No buzzwords, no shortcuts, just real leaders sharing real lessons you can apply right away. I'm Lane Mears, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Leader and Culture Development at the Texas Tech University System. Today I am joined by Midwestern State University, Texas President Stacy Haney. A native of Henrietta, Texas, Dr. Haney serves as the 13th President of Midwestern State University. She earned two degrees from MSU, Texas, a bachelor's degree in theater and a master's degree in political science. She received a PhD in political science from the University of North Texas. Dr. Haney is an accomplished scholar and leader in higher education with more than 35 years of experience. She previously served as the J. W. Anison Jr. Family Alumni Professor at Louisiana State University. Dr. Haney served LSU in numerous administrative roles, including Department Chair, Associate and Interim Dean of the Graduate School, Vice Provost for Academics and Planning, Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Executive Vice President and Provost. Dr. Haney currently serves on the Shepherd Military Affairs Committee and the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce Executive Board. Dr. Haney studies judicial politics with emphasis on comparative appellate court decision making. Her most recent book, Does Privilege Prevail? Litigation in High Courts Across the Globe explores the decision-making of the High Courts of Australia, Canada, Great Britain, India, the Philippines, and South Africa from 1970 to 2000, analyzing who wins and why. Throughout her career, Dr. Haney has been devoted to providing students with the best possible educational opportunities and supporting them throughout their education to graduation. She credits Midwestern State University for providing the academic foundation she needs to pursue her goals. It's great to have you on the podcast, Dr. Haney.
SPEAKER_00Lane, it is such a pleasure to be here today.
SPEAKER_03Thank you very much. I'm looking forward to this conversation.
SPEAKER_00Me too.
SPEAKER_03As we start, can you tell us a little bit about your background and leadership journey?
SPEAKER_00So I, as you noted, I was born in Henrietta, Texas, County Seat of Clay, and grew up there and worked on my grandfather's dairy farm. He also grew wheat and cotton. And I was sent to that cotton patch at eight to chop the cotton. And I was driving the tractor like a pro by the age of 10. And my roots run deep in the red dirt of North Texas, but I did not want to be a farmer. And fortunately, I loved school. I loved everything about being a student. And tried to think, okay, what is a job occupation that you can just be paid to learn your whole life? Well, it turns out if you're a faculty member, that you get to do research and learn your entire life. And then you get to share that with amazing and brilliant students. So I um love that, loved every still love um research and and teaching, but I am grateful to um LSU for providing me some opportunities. And I um I enjoyed all of them. I I wouldn't say that I was the the individual with the hand up saying, ooh, ooh, ooh, me, me. But I um was given opportunities. Um and I, again, there were and always have been and always will be people in the room infinitely smarter than I could ever hope to be. But they would be hard pressed to outwork me. And I think that helped me both as uh in in leadership opportunities, but also provided those opportunities because if you wanted a workhorse, right, ask a busy person and then just enjoy that opportunity. And uh so I again, I think it was just that that ethic you learn on a farm of working really, really hard and what that means, and and uh being able to appreciate the the fruits of those efforts and the the same thing for any leadership opportunity I've had.
SPEAKER_03Thank you very much for telling us that journey. Um I've I'm new to West Texas, um from North Texas, but but a city boy. Um But no, I've met lots of people here in Lubbock and in San Angelo and elsewhere who who have similar backgrounds grew up um on a farm and and and have mentioned the same thing that it really uh instills the strong work ethic and um that pays dividends throughout life. Um and so pair that with uh a strong mind and and you can you can take the world but well and and I will say it also gives you perspective, right?
SPEAKER_00So if you're in a two-hour-long faculty meeting and faculty are this is hard work. Okay, let's talk chopping the weeds from cotton plants in 114 degree heat, then we're talking hard work. This is a joy. So let's uh be excited that we are able to do this work and accomplish great things. So yeah, it provides really great perspective. I'm very grateful to my father, my grandfather for that opportunity.
SPEAKER_03As you as you well know, um the Texas Tech University system and the universities in it, like MSU Texas, uh, have prioritized values and principles to guide how the universities operate, uh, how they engage with with faculty, students, and staff, and how they go about the whole mission of the university. What principles would you say have guided you as a leader?
SPEAKER_00I um I would love to think that I have some grand philosophy that's guided me. I think it's pretty simple to, again, as we just talked about, to work really hard. But I think also to um to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you and soak up everything that you can from them. And I think for me as a leader, your job is to block and tackle for those individuals, get out of their way when they're telling you, okay, this you say is the goal. Well, here is the obstacle. Okay, well, my job is to block and tackle for you and to move that obstacle so you can head down the field for that touchdown.
SPEAKER_03I love that. Obviously, we're in football country. Yes, indeed.
SPEAKER_00Friday night lights. Yeah. But but I think it's true. And that also means that it's incumbent upon you to have the right people in the job.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_00And that's not always easy. Um, but I think you've got to make sure that you have aligned the person with the right talents and passion with the job that that they have in front of them so that they can be successful and then support them.
SPEAKER_03Right. Excellent. I'm um I appreciate that answer. For for uh someone, whether it be at one of the universities or or others beyond uh the Texas Tech University system who may be newly in a leadership role, what advice would you have for that new leader?
SPEAKER_00You know, this is um I I think it's important as a leader that you're able to take a punch. And I will um, because that comes with the privilege of being a leader. People are often upset with something, and you're the leader, so you're gonna get to take the punch, and you have to appreciate that and uh not make it personal. And I'll tell you a story. I had a when I was department chair, one of the first leadership positions I had, and I got an email from a colleague, and it was in all caps with all these exclamation points, you know, screaming at me through the email. And I turned around and responded in kind, which one should never do that, as we know. Don't answer the emails that way. So that was lesson number one. But I mean, within 30 seconds, he was in my office. Like, what are you doing? That was you were sending this really awful email. And I'm like, Well, yeah, you you sent one screaming at me. I wasn't upset with you. I'm like, I'm pretty sure that that wasn't about you. And I'm like, it said Stacy, and then all caps with exclamations. He's like, Well, no, no, I'm not upset with you. I just I'm concerned about this. And it was a huge lesson for me. But it wasn't personal, it wasn't about me, but I was in the position that this individual said, You're you need to address this, you've got to help, you've got to, and whether you can or can't do anything about it, it's important. So, fast forward um a few years later when I'm the vice provost and uh ended up being responsible for recruiting the freshman class and didn't know anything about it at all, and had a really, really strong director of uh admissions at the time. And I got a call from a faculty member, and this director had sent again a rather nasty email to the faculty member. So called her in to talk to her about it, and she said, Well, did you see the email he sent to me? And I'm like, Yeah, it was obnoxious. It was really rude and condescending, and it would have made me really angry too. But we don't get to send those emails as leaders. And when I was growing up, there was the um and the uh Regent Sweat gave me a blow-up buzz of the clown doll. And I said, you know, when I was growing up, there was this inflated buzz of the clown doll, and it had sand in the bottom of it. And the the thing was you would punch this buzz of the clown, and he would come down, and every time he came back up, he was still smiling. And that's what we get to do as leaders.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And you just got a punch, and whether you deserved it or not, you're the leader in that position, and you've got to come up smiling. Listen to that punch because sometimes that they're right, and you have to be ready for that too. But that to me has been one of the lessons I've learned is that it is a privilege to be taking the criticisms, to be taking the concerns, because those are people who are committed and care. And maybe they don't understand the problem fully, and that's okay too. But it's your job to continue to smile and share why it is you're making the choices you are.
SPEAKER_03That resonates with me. I was a young leader in East Africa working for this nonprofit and uh got an email from somebody at the home office in DC that was a bit pointed. And I was, again, a new leader, and I sent a pointed email back and within minutes got a call from my supervisor, said, You can't do that. You know, I understand the sentiment, but as the leader, your words carry significant weight. And that was a mind shift for for for me that that we do carry a mantle and we do carry influence positively and negatively, right? That are different from when we're a team member as opposed to the team leader. And so we need to be very responsible with how we handle our emotions, especially with uh something like email.
SPEAKER_00Well, and the other thing is to pick up a phone or walk down the hallway and have a conversation. Because the other thing is you may not have even intended it to be a harsh email, but but they're already concerned about whatever the issue is. So the response often is not going to be sufficient where a conversation can be much more productive.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03And on your point about taking a punch as a leader, um, I I was working at an embassy um many years ago, and we had a leader. The the ambassador was upset with us as USAID and what we were doing. And so the leader came and talked to us and said, I'm gonna tell the ambassador that she's got the wrong view about this. And then the the our leader went in and totally threw us under the bus. And it was uh it was a pivotal moment for us that that he wasn't willing to take a punch, he wanted to pass the punch on, and that broke the relationship. We never did trust that leader anymore.
SPEAKER_00That's a really good other side of this. And it is your responsibility as a leader to again take take the responsibility for whatever ends up happening. If you're the leader, um, that doesn't mean that you're gonna make an excuse and not own what it is, but you you are responsible. The buck does definitely stop with you.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. A wise person, I think he was, I think it was from my my first guest on the podcast said that, you know, um share accolades, accept responsibility.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. All the successes are genuinely a part of a team, but any failures you need done personally.
SPEAKER_03It's tough. It's tough, but it's part of the role. And it's that's the way you build trust with your team. I'm gonna move into uh the topic of leadership and decision making. When you stepped into the role as president of MSU Texas, you faced some significant budgetary challenges. And I understand you had made some very difficult decisions right away to address those challenges. How did you or how do you go about making such difficult and weighty decisions?
SPEAKER_00Well, and I want to say um that we had had some turnover in this office, and I was appreciative that um the interim leaders, and then we had a president here who was here for a shorter period of time, did not make a lot of really big decisions that I would have had to leave, live with, but that also meant things were kicked down the road, right? That can got kicked down the road. So um, you know, I think you try to educate yourself as much as you can, gather as much data as you can, and I I think then you have to make a decision. You know, the old adage of not making a decision is a way to make a decision. It's a really bad way to do it. Um, so you can also have paralysis by analysis and take forever, and nobody ever decides anything, and then you just keep doing what you're doing, which is obviously not working, or you wouldn't have to be making hard calls. Um, and and then what I shared with our team here is we're gonna have this institution in a better place. I may not be standing, but this institution will be in a better place. We will make the right decisions for the right reasons in the best interest of this organization. And if we have those guiding principles, at the end of the day, we're gonna be in a better place and make hard calls, and we did. And I'm proud of the campus collectively. Um, now there's also the adage never let a good crisis go to waste. And we did not. Um, so we we made calls that in the best of times would be infinitely harder. But when you are in the midst of that really challenging situation, it can also be an opportunity for you to make braver calls, to make those choices that people are like, oh, that's awful. But yeah, I understand. We have to make those decisions that are going to position us for better success. And so it's incumbent on you, first of all, to make a decision. And then again, if you end up making the wrong call, that's okay too. You own that and you pivot. You know, I had a just a phenomenal um leader over our online education at uh LSU, Sasha Thagaberry, just phenomenal. And one of the things I learned from her was pivoting. And she would come in and say, okay, we're going to adopt this software and we're going to do blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I go, okay. Two days later, okay, that's not working. We're moving and we're doing blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. She had like, there's no allegiance to we've always done it this way, or no allegiance to we made this call, so we have to stick with this. It's like, that's not working. We need to pivot quickly. So I think that's the other piece of this is make those decisions. Don't be so paralyzed that you aren't doing anything. But also, if you make the call that didn't work out, you own that and and pivot from it to a better place.
SPEAKER_03And and the fruit is evident. Uh, I know that you know, no university is ever in a in a perfect position, but um all the reports I hear and what I see is that is that MSU Texas is in a is in a very good place, and it's largely a result of some of those difficult calls. Uh it made me think uh, as you were talking, um many years ago, I was mentoring a young Foreign Service officer at one of the places where I worked, and and he was very driven by wanting to be liked and accepted by those around him. And as young, or I won't say young, I'd say new leaders, that can be a temptation as well, maybe a little bit of an imposter syndrome or insecurity about the role. And so aiming to be liked, um, and which can make those tough decisions more difficult because those do have implications, and there are often people who are upset with the outcome of those decisions. My guidance to the the guy that I was mentoring was aim to be respected more than being liked. And that was a shift in his mindset that um, you know, you you shouldn't be respected and feared necessarily. You can be respected and liked, but you've got to have that respect, you know, making the difficult decisions and being professional. And I think that plays into being a new leader as well.
SPEAKER_00No, I agree. And when when I came, we weren't doing evaluations at MSU on leadership, which we I'd always had those as dean. And when I was provost at LSU, we started doing them at that level. So I went first and uh got the the feedback. And some of the the team around me were taking it personal. Some of the things that were said, you know, anonymity um can uh ride side saddle with some uh harsh uh criticism. And but some of that was very fair, and some of it they were like, oh my gosh. And I'm like, I I'm shocked, I have an anger more people than this. We made really hard calls. So I will take this every day. This is important and critical feedback that we need to listen to and respond to. But if you're expecting anybody to love you, and quite frankly, if everybody does love you, you probably have not made many hard calls.
SPEAKER_03Right. 100%. Well, on this topic of difficult decisions, and and I'm sure there was uh time pressure and lots of pressure in the midst of those decisions, but what's your default leadership instinct under pressure?
SPEAKER_00Um you know, again, I think it's to to make a call that's gonna move the organization forward. And if it's if it's not the right call, okay, let's stop, let's course correct, fail forward, right, as they say. But um, you need to be moving an organization forward. And you know, the the again old adage of the only constant is change. And if you're afraid to change anything, yeah, then it's highly unlikely you're gonna move anything, much less move it forward in a good way. So I for me, it's let's get together. We know we've got to make a call, let's have a plan, let's let's be strategic. What are the goals? Is this gonna lead us to that goal? So be thoughtful and strategic about it, but make the call and move down the road.
SPEAKER_03This may not be a fair question, but do you have a sense of like when you're making that tough call, is it you're 51% sure this is the right decision? You're 80%. Do you have a sense of what's the what's the teetering factor for you?
SPEAKER_00Uh that's a really good question. I think for some decisions, it's pretty easy to me. And especially if I'm I'm pretty data driven. So if if you set the data in front of me, and I can see that this decision is going, you have, you know, three options. One of which is keep doing what you're doing, and that's going to continue to have this negative result. We can make this call, and we know that it can change things marginally. And so maybe it's not quite as negative. Or we can make this call, and the probability is maybe it's a little bit higher risk, but that's going to get us where we need to go faster and more efficiently. I can feel really confident about making that call with a little bit more risk. So maybe that says something about my willingness to take some risk. But there are times when you make that call and it's not optional. You've you've got to make a call and you're holding your breath for a while till you see that it was the right call. And especially because it's involving the most precious resource that is entrusted to us, right? The I was listening to a Garth Brooks song um this weekend. Um, we are entrusted with the promise of the promised land with those students. That is an awesome responsibility. So there are times where I would say if I don't feel like there's a much higher probability of success than not, then I am not going to make a call that a team may all be saying, here's what we need to do. Right. Um, but again, if you've built the right team, you should all be on the same place and have greater confidence. So I if you arm yourself with data relevant to you, you've got a strategic plan. And I I would say most of the time I feel a higher probability of comfort around a decision. But there are some you make, especially if it's involving a personnel decision, that those are the the most difficult ones.
SPEAKER_03Sure, the human factor. Absolutely. Shifting to the topic of character values and self-awareness, um, MSU Texas has identified the following as its five core values people-centered, community, integrity, visionary, and connections. Can you talk a little bit about these and how you see them being lived out on campus?
SPEAKER_00So obviously, as somebody who grew up here, you know, who went to school here, who is forever grateful to um this institution and the uh the foundation it provided me from which I could jump. I especially the community and people-centered resonates with me personally, because these are my peeps. Um, this is my community. But I also see that at this university because many of our faculty and staff are graduates, or their parents were graduates, or their children are graduates. Many of our students come from, you know, I'll run into a student, where are you from? Oh, you know, you may not have heard holiday. Play them in football. Of course I know holiday. Um, so I I think that really resonates. And I think we are really focused on building a place and a space where students and our faculty and staff know that they are valued and that they belong. So that really resonates with me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, I've I've been so impressed. We're we're in the midst of uh Lead the Stampede student leader development program this spring at MSU Texas. And the first session, we talk about the leader compass from the Texas State University system, but also the MSU Texas values and go over them and talk to the students about do they understand them, do they see them being lived out on campus? And man, the room just brightened. They felt like they could name them all, they could give examples of how they've seen it lived out. And it was really powerful to see how that lane.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, our students are amazing. And you know, people will say, Oh, this generation, you know, so worried about I'm like, have you met them? They are incredible. Our future is in incredibly talented hands. We're gonna be just fine.
SPEAKER_03Yep, I a hundred percent agree. I'm gonna move on to to failure, growth, and resilience for the topic. Do you have a failure that has shaped you more than any success?
SPEAKER_00Um yeah, so when I graduated from Midwestern, I was a uh speech, theater, and sophomore English teacher at Harshee High School. And um I was not a very good one. And I uh was teaching sophomore grammar and we were studying action verbs, and the students were to circle the action verb in the sentence, and I will remember to this day the sentence was Mary jogs every morning at seven o'clock. Where's the action verb? The action, Mary jogs every morning at seven o'clock. And I had a student who had circled o'clock, and I thought, you gotta be kidding me. So I called her up to to the desk and I said, You circled o'clock. Uh-huh. That's the action verb in this sentence. Uh-huh. Okay, well, I don't know how you o'clock. So o'clock for me. What? Well, I mean, if it's the action verb, I want to see o'clock because I don't know what that is. So o'clock for me. Well, I mean, I I I can o'clock, so don't circle it for the action verb. And I just stepped back and thought, this is not my calling. I am not good at this. I don't feel like I'm having the impact that I would. In fact, I've I've run into a couple of students I taught here in the community. I apologize to them profusely. Um, but it it made me think, okay, I'm not very good at this. I need to find something else that I feel like I'm making a difference and that I'm having a positive impact. And so I I quit teaching, went back to um get my PhD, and it was um and started the master's program here at MSU, and it was always with the goal to be a faculty member here. It just took me 33 years and another title, but I did it. So patience is a is a virtue. But that was recognizing I'm not doing a very good job of this. And it's not that I'm not capable, but I don't think this is what I'm intended to be. And I was young, but I was uh smart enough to realize I'm not very good. The other thing that I I will say um was a mistake, but it was it was one of those, you know, when you talk about making a decision, and okay, that that didn't work, um, helped me to think through why. But we built uh an interdisciplinary initiative at LSU, and it was called Collaborative Academic Programs. And right, it was about building interdisciplinary degree programs and academic paths. So maybe the student is in mass communications, but we can build an interdisciplinary program that would include biology. So maybe you're gonna communicate difficult things around STEM or somebody who is in art, but maybe we're gonna build in the ability to create websites with it too. So you could kind of build this sandbox. Um, and we're really excited about this, but you know, the again adage of culture eats strategy for lunch. And there is a culture and a system built and incentives built around silo degree programs, and so that failed. Massive failure. Uh, well, not massive because we had invested a lot of resources in it, but it didn't mean we couldn't accomplish those goals. We had an interdisciplinary degree program. So, how do we use the structure already there? Right, all of the incentive structures already built. How do we pull courses and build things for students in that program? And were we able to achieve that visionary uh goal we had? No. But were we able to provide opportunities for faculty and students to do creative things? Yes. Um, so thinking through what you have and trying to leverage that in a way that makes sense, not that you're not building toward the really innovative spaces, but sometimes that can be problematic. And maybe if we had been more thoughtful initially about how we build this and building the necessary support and understanding what we needed to block and tackle, we could have had greater success. But but I learned a lot from that failure.
SPEAKER_03I that's a it's a great example. And I've been in a position, a similar position uh where we, as a big team and in uh another poster I had developed a new uh cross-sectoral strategy to accomplish these larger country goals. Uh but we didn't have the structure. We had the asiloed structures just like you're uh explaining. And those uh were the determining factor for us being able to try to achieve this integrated strategy. And so I admire that that you all found ways to use the existing structure to learn from that to accomplish similar objectives. I don't think we I don't think we got there. I think it was just a massive fail that we just uh went back to the drawing board again the next year. But that's important that structural the structure structures can inhibit um uh overall objectives. And so at times if you can't change the structures, you may need to change the objectives. Speaking of objectives, um one of MSU Texas's objectives is to offer professional development opportunities and leadership training programs for students, faculty, and staff. So that's one of your one of your goals. Why is this important?
SPEAKER_00You know, when we were building our strategic plan, we, you know, the the first of our major goals is to educate. That's the mission. That's why we we are uh here, it is the purpose. Um, but we also the second goal is to support. And initially, right, that's typically we're gonna support the scholarly and creative endeavors of faculty. That's the typical higher ed um goal. And the conversations around that wanted a bigger, bolder adventure for the campus. And I am so proud. And it was one of those conversations where people were no and yes, and uh that just you're so proud of as a leader of a team that because you had this really intense debate, we got to a better space where we need to be supporting the professional and leadership development of our faculty, our staff, and our students. And I'm so proud of that goal because we want our students to come here and have this amazing. I can only speak for myself, right? That I came here again, I parked the tractor and came to register. And just the experience over these four years was transformative for me. But we want to be intentional about building in those opportunities for professional and leadership growth for our students. So we're so excited about leading the stampede, which will lead to the next opportunity, the next opportunity for our students to be those leaders you need. For our faculty and staff, we want them to see their entire professional career here. Well, people need to be able to stretch new muscles and to have opportunities and to be able to say, wait, I I have an idea. And this could be something that could be game-changing or this could be helpful. Okay, well, how do we make sure that that people have agency and understand that you have a role and a scope here? We don't want to limit you. We want you to have that again, that place and space for you to belong. So it was important for us to offer a path for growth that people can come here and see a career. And we're a big enough organization that wherever you start, we've got a space over here, a space over here, or a space over here, whether you're on a faculty or a staff track. And um, and those things have to work collectively, and you've got to have student leaders, or you're dead in the water. So having that intentional and then across the campus, thinking through how do we build support for that. So yeah, it's been it's been exciting. And then to see it happening, to see people on campus taking on new roles and just blossoming.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that is exciting. I last time we were on campus, we we met with several people on your team, and then we met with Leslie from Alumni Relations. And 44 years she's worked at. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And she knows everybody on this campus. I by now she will probably know every student. She knows everybody in the community, everyone who's ever graduated from here. She is, she is a phenomenal asset and an utterly lovely and delightful human being.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. That was very evident in the 15 minutes we chatted with her. But it but her story is not unique. I mean, we we've met so many people there who've who've been there 20, 30 plus years because it is not only a place where people can grow and are invested in, but it but it's got a community uh and it's it feels like home for a lot of people. And as someone that my career has been four years, four years, four years in a new place every time. Uh it's great that what you're what you and your predecessors have built there at MSU Texas. Getting to more of your personal perspective and wisdom, what's one habit that's made the biggest difference in your leadership personal habit?
SPEAKER_00For me, it's showing up. Your presence as a leader is important, and among the most valuable things you have is your time. And I uh I'm very fortunate. Um, Betsy Tucker, again, somebody who's been here for several decades, is is my partner here. And she tries to save me from myself. But I want to be at every community event. I want to be at every event on this campus. I want to be at, and you know, I can't be everywhere. And sometimes Betsy will say, okay, you have three things that you I know, but I could go to this one a little early, I'll swing by the other. And um, but I I find those absolutely invaluable because you have those opportunities to connect and learn from people. And so I think that's one habit is showing up. But secondly, I being genuinely curious. Um, and I think this podcast shows, Lane, your curiosity. Your entire professional career is nothing but curious. I'm curious about all of it. Um, but but getting to know, being curious about your faculty, being curious about your staff. Like, how did you get to this position? What are your goals? Getting to learn your community, your community leaders, and getting to know your students. There's just such great joy. And how did I always am always fascinated and learn again a habit of trying to listen? And uh again, I'm a theater major, so sometimes that can be difficult for me, but um, but I had a student who had uh come from Nevada and I said, Oh my gosh, how did you get to us from there? And she said, Well, you know, I was on uh Instagram and I saw your post about being the number one most beautiful campus in the state of Texas, which we were voted that. Thank you very much about travel.org. And so I then just kind of went down this rabbit hole looking at your campus. And then I applied, and because we had changed and um the way we were admitting people within 24 hours, she knew that she was provisionally admitted, and she was on our campus within 10 days amazing as a student because of an Instagram post. Oh my gosh. Now that taught me something about how we need to think about, first of all, it confirmed our decision on the provisional admit strategy. So that was that was good to know. But but secondly, that social media and the way these students consume information is something we have to be very mindful about. And but it was just the most delightful thing, like, oh my gosh, an Instagram post and now you're here. Literally within two weeks, she moved and was on our campus. Um, and again, that was also part of a community where from the first interaction she had with people on our campus, she felt a sense of belonging here. So I think trying to be present for as many things as you can and just listening to people, people are just fascinating to me. And I'm always amazed that people can end up in leadership roles. And you know, you'll hear, well, they don't really like people, they don't like going to functions and having to be at the receptions and mingling. It's like, what? I to me, that's the the best part of this job is that you I I mean, I the fact that I am allowed to even have this conversation with you or to be a part of the economic development group for this city, or to be, I I still just find that. I'm I get to serve on the hospital board. Oh my gosh, to get to learn what's happening in those spaces is just such a joy and such a treat. And again, going back to that, you know, farm girl driving that tractor, just curious.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And uh that's and wanting to learn.
SPEAKER_03We met also with uh met with your athletic director, Kyle uh Williams, when we were there, and and uh he said that it it's that you're often at the sporting events. And it's known that you're at the sporting events because you're very an eager fan.
SPEAKER_00Okay, okay, Lane. Yes, I I have this awful screech, and the other morning I was walking the lake and the soccer team was out there, and one of the soccer players was imitating my screech. Hey, Pressy, and imitating it. It was pretty funny. But, you know, it's a sorry, not sorry, because that's on them. I mean, it's not my fault that they make that, you know, second overtime bucket that wins the game, and I scream as a result. That's on them. I can't control that.
SPEAKER_03I mean, I'm, you know, probably they're he he was joking, and just as it's he was he followed that up with saying how fantastic it is, and for the athletes and for the university that you're so invested in in the athletics and across the university, obviously, but from his perspective that you show up, like you've said, and that um and you're such a supporter. Uh, it really, it really he, you know, he he made it sound that it's you know something that the whole department appreciates.
SPEAKER_00Well, but it's also one of the the joys of the job in this leadership position, because you're getting to know these students who all have their own individual incredible talents and dreams and goals. And you get to be there and learn about this. And I I still am convinced offsides is a faux penalty that they just put out there, but getting to learn those things, right? But then yesterday we were hosting our newly tenured and uh promoted faculty members, and I was asking them, tell me about your most exciting research project. Oh my gosh, Lane, my mind was blown. And I and I always tell them, I'm not gonna, I don't understand what you're doing, but I will repeat it with such enthusiasm, just so you know I'll get it wrong, but it will be told with such excitement because you get to learn across this incredible spectrum of brilliance. And then our staff who are just a joy, just I I I just can't even. So getting, I mean, how can you not just be excited every day to come to work? I pinch myself every day. And and I am sitting in this office where I'm talking to you, and I was the student worker for President Barker in this office. And now I am on the other side of that. So I tell our student worker, you know, hang around long enough, they'll make Like president. But I again, that is the value and the uh promise of higher education. And to get to be a part of that every day is just such a joy.
SPEAKER_03Yep. I should note that MSU Texas is currently the national champion in soccer.
SPEAKER_00Oh, wait, what? Oh, that would mean we were number one. Wait, in all 214 men's soccer teams, we came out. What was that number? Oh, yeah. That would be number one. Oh my gosh, you think that uh you should have heard me screaming there? It was insane. It was just, it was just fabulous. As as I've shared with the campus, people like us do things like this.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. We can do great things.
SPEAKER_03That's awesome. Um, okay, a couple light but insightful questions. What's one book that you think every leader should read?
SPEAKER_00You know, we as a uh our chamber sponsored um a series for leaders in um in our community on Will Ghadara's uh unreasonable hospitality. And it's about the remarkable power of giving people more than they expect. And that focuses on empowering every member of an organization to have an agency to affect change in a positive way. So they take this restaurant and bring it to be the number one restaurant in the entire world. So for our campus, we're looking at how can, I mean, when we talk about helping students, faculty, staff find their place in their space, how can we be unreasonable in that and be intentional about it and know that that is the goal every day. And I could walk you through a number of different um ways we're doing that, but it was really inspiring for our team who got to be a part of that to think through, um, you know, as they say, people may not remember what you've said, but they'll remember how you made them feel. And I don't necessarily remember all of the history with uh Harry Hewitt, but I know how Harry Hewitt made me feel as a student. He was my history professor here, and Dr. Hewitt was amazing. Um, we need to be thoughtful about those things. So I I love the book. It's and it's also, if you you know enjoy anything about restaurants, it's also fascinating just in terms of how you do that. But for any organization, what are you doing that is above and beyond?
SPEAKER_03I've seen that book on some of the tables or desks and and bookshelves of people on uh there. And it it's one that I've I've written down, and I'm gonna intend to maybe read that on my Easter travels across the family. There you go.
SPEAKER_00It's a good read. It's a good read.
SPEAKER_03What's the best compliment you've ever received as a leader?
SPEAKER_00Um you know, when I was so I retired from LSU to come here, so I've failed retirement, obviously. Um, but one of the faculty members came up to me and he said, you know, I didn't always agree with your decisions, but I did understand why you made them. And I thought, I'll take that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You're never gonna, as we talked about at the beginning, you will never have everybody agree with your decisions. You're rarely going to have 100% consensus across an organization this large. But if people at least have an understanding of why and communication is key, that's the corollary to that. Um, I think that is is really, really important. So I I think that um making sure that you are attentive to that is credible. So that was one of the compliments. Um, I I could give you more of the complaints and concerns. I could have a laundry list of those. But I thought, okay, that's a backhanded compliment in a way, but I'll take it.
SPEAKER_03But it communicates respect and understanding and and appreciation for you know sharing the reasoning. So that's that's great. Um, well, we're right up near the end of our time. I want to ask if you have any last words of advice or tips for listeners across the system.
SPEAKER_00This was a bit of a mantra for me um when I arrived here. But I um I tend to love the weeds, um, I especially when you're trying to make decisions. And sometimes I'm wanting to understand all of the data and I want to understand how is every penny, and you are not going to be able, as a leader, to have all the information all the time. So again, make sure you're surrounding yourself with individuals who are incredibly talented, and then you have to trust them. And as somebody who enjoys control, control and trust are not friends. And you have to learn to trust and let go of some control. And that's hard for me, but I think it's absolutely imperative for a leader that you build a team around you in which you have trust. And then you have to release some control.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03That makes me think of the book Um Team of Rivals about Lincoln. Yes. And him forming this cabinet made up predominantly of people who were his political enemies because he wanted that honest input. And he did build trust, and they became some of his greatest supporters and friends through that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And again, I think people need to trust that you are going to provide them that control, they'll have responsibility. Ultimately, that will stop with you. Um, but they will trust back to the conversation we had earlier, not going to throw you under a bus. Um, if we're all working toward the same end and we have some challenges, but you cannot, especially in a in any leadership role, have complete control of everything. You have to have some trust there. And control and trust are not friends. So if you're gonna try to do both, that's not gonna be a pathway for success.
SPEAKER_03That'll be a difficult dance.
SPEAKER_00A difficult dance, I like that.
SPEAKER_03Well, President Haney, thank you so much for joining me. It's been so great to hear your leadership journey and get practical takeaways that we can all incorporate in leading our teams. To those listening, thank you for joining me on the Leader Fast Lane. If today's conversation sparked a moment of reflection or a lane change in how you think about leadership, take a minute to share this episode with someone you lead or learn from. Join me next time when I will be joined by Kirby Hokutt, Athletic Director for the Texas Tech University. You can find more episodes wherever you get your podcasts. Until next time, keep leading with purpose, integrity, and clarity, especially when it's hard.
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