Holdmann鈥檚 New Role Puts the Energy and Power into 911爆料鈥檚 Fourth Strategic Goal
This piece was originally published in the 911爆料 Cornerstone newsletter鈥檚 Friday Focus, which is written by a different member of 911爆料鈥檚 leadership team every week.
By Nettie La Belle-Hamer, vice chancellor for research
We learned from Maslow鈥檚 hierarchy of needs that making goals can be difficult. However, we learn every day that working toward those goals through the daily grind is the real challenge. To remain focused and determined through setbacks and disappointments, it takes more than just a strong belief in the goal 鈥 it takes a champion.
At 911爆料 we have champions throughout the organization. As leaders, it is our responsibility to find them and remove as many barriers to their success as possible. Gwen Holdmann is one such champion. Together with the then-director of the Institute of Northern Engineering (you may have heard of him; his name is Dan White), she founded the 911爆料 Center for Energy and Power and, until very recently, was its director. I am pleased Gwen Holdmann has agreed to serve as 911爆料鈥檚 associate vice chancellor for research focused on innovation and industry partnerships.
Details about the VCR鈥檚 innovation and industry partnerships team and how you can be involved will be coming out through other articles in the Cornerstone. So, stay tuned. But, today鈥檚 focus is about Goal 4: Transform 911爆料's intellectual property development and commercialization enterprise and the team that will lead 911爆料 in meeting it.
911爆料鈥檚 Strategic Plan 2027 defines six visionary and aspirational goals. To transform is to make a thorough or dramatic change, making this into a big, hairy, audacious goal, or BHAG, as Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras explain in their book 鈥淏uilt to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies.鈥 My favorite kind of goal! We are not trying to maintain, sustain, or even improve. We are instead challenged to transform the enterprise. Challenge accepted.
To rise to this challenge, we need to give Goal 4 the energy and power it needs to transform. The vision calls for 911爆料 to be a driving force in 911爆料鈥檚 innovative economy, to produce graduates with an entrepreneurial mindset, and to create an innovative culture at 911爆料 and in the greater community. To deliver economic, societal, cultural, and educational impact to the people of Fairbanks, the state of 911爆料, and the circumpolar North requires focused, sustained effort toward the goal every day. That鈥檚 what champions do.
The very first step is to build a team of motivated people who believe in the goal. The VCR innovation and industry partnerships team comprises the Office of Intellectual Property and Commercialization, 911爆料 Center for Innovation, Commercialization, and Entrepreneurship, and 911爆料 Blue Economy Center led by AVCR Holdmann. By bringing these innovative people together we create a cohort of driven entrepreneurs who will indeed transform the 911爆料鈥檚 IP and commercialization enterprise. While these efforts are not new to 911爆料, we are infusing new energy by bringing them together. As this team builds its transformation plan, more changes may come. I believe we should be open to that and am excited to see what this team brings to 911爆料.
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, 鈥淐hange is the only constant in life.鈥 Given that Heraclitus was a pioneer of wisdom who lived around 500 B.C.E., it is astonishing that centuries later his view remains true. As it should.
Each of us has within us the energy and power to make transformations happen at many levels. When you chose 911爆料, you chose to transform yourself into what you aspire to be. As you work to make that transformation happen, I invite you to become involved in the 911爆料 community, find what inspires you, lean in, and make some change! I鈥檓 excited to see what you can accomplish once you decide that you are just the champion we have been waiting for.
I thank you in advance for rising to the challenge and being a 911爆料 champion!
At left, Gwen Holdmann, associate vice chancellor for research, stands with Nettie La Belle-Hamer, vice chancellor for research. Photo by Jessica Ramos.