Movin’ On Up – My Career Path

From CIO to AVP: 6 Months Into a Non-Lateral Move

In September of 2019, I started as the Associate Vice President for Academic Technology at Cal State Northridge (CSUN). In this role, I’m responsible for a bit of a mix of areas, but they include instructional technology, accessibility, data & analytics, and user support services (help desk and classroom support). My previous 2 jobs had been as a Chief Information Officer, in charge of all of IT. Even the job before that, I was essentially the CIO of a law school. So I’ve had the full portfolio under my purview in the past. This was a significant non-lateral move for me. I’m 6 months in now.

I was very purposeful in this transition away from the CIO role. Yes, I had worked hard to get to be a CIO. But I wanted to get back to the west coast, and a lot of major opportunities are at large state institutions. Certainly, the majority of small liberal arts colleges are on the east coast. But I didn’t have a background at other kinds of institutions, much less large public ones specifically. And obviously becoming a CIO at a 35,000 student institution from a 2,200 student one wasn’t going to happen. So I made an intentional move from CIO to AVP.

It’s been…interesting, in a lot of ways.

First, over the years, my management style had evolved into a very hands off one. This felt a necessity as a CIO. I’m still an AVP (there are two AVPs in IT here at CSUN) so it’s not as if I’m in the weeds everyday, but I am more involved in daily operations on a personal level than I was before. I delegated a lot as a CIO. Maybe that was just my style, or was the culture of the institution. Maybe others in the same jobs would have been more involved. Maybe my style was even “wrong.” Whatever the reason, my style has become what it is, and I find myself questioning whether it is 100% appropriate here at CSUN. I will say that there is a bit more of a culture of involvement and hands-on management here at CSUN, from what I’ve been able to discern. In all honesty, I’m not 100% sure how to modify my style just yet.

Second, I’ve been reminded that my place in the department is different than before, in completely respectful and proper ways. I’m not in charge. I’m also not acting as if I am, but I have sent off a few messages bringing up matters that might be of higher-level concern, and been told, again in a respectful way, that that’s the purview of someone else and that that’s the end of the conversation. There was a security issue, for instance, where I suggested to the interim CIO that we might want to act more aggressively than was indicated by others. I was told that’s someone else’s call.

That’s perfectly fine, of course. But it didn’t end my unease about the decision, to be honest. But…it’s not my call. So I just swallowed the pill and moved on.

Third, and this is the positive one, I can really focus in on key things that I care a lot about. I have at least some experience with each of the areas I lead/manage, and extensive knowledge in some of them. I can really dig in and sink my teeth into the issues they are facing, and have in-depth conversations about solutions. This was not always the case as a CIO, where the breadth of responsibilities was much broader. I was weak in some areas. I was very open about it, and asked lots of questions so that I could make sound decisions, but I was never going to become a networking expert or be able to do ETLs from a SQL database.

So I’m 6 months in, and the obvious question is “what next?” What will I do next to be a more effective manager and leader? How do I keep moving forward?

I think the first thing is to take a hard look at my management style. One of my directors is still new and getting up to speed so I’m working a lot with her, but overall I need to decide if I want to be more hands-on with decisions and strategy. There is definitely a craving for certain things from various people in the group, and because it is a more focused team I need to recognize that I need to respond to those needs in a different (and faster) way than I might have in the past. I need to be less contemplative (though no less intentional and careful, of course). I also need to adjust my communication styles. CSUN is very email averse, it seems. If I were CIO, I could change that culture, at least in the division (not that I want to, just saying I could). But that’s not the situation now. I need to meet more often with people (I’m doing a lot more walking now). Please know that I wasn’t “Mr. Email” before, but the sentiment against sending a lot of messages is quite strong here.

Those are just my initial thoughts. Still cogitating.

the name of the game is change

When we had our first child, something we heard over and over was “the only constant is change.”

While that has certainly played out as truth as our son has grown and our daughter has joined the ranks, it’s pretty apropos for a lot of situations right now in my life. Nothing more so than in my transition to Muhlenberg College. There are the obvious aspects – literally packing up and moving across the country – but speaking purely from the job side, I’m working hard at taking all of my notions and existing ideas, throwing them in a box, and turning it completely upside down. Then I’m taking every idea I can from books and mentors and piling them on top, then I’m mixing them all together using some kind of metaphorical salad tongs (okay, I don’t see the value of that metaphor, but I liked the imagery). Then I’m slowly spreading it all out on a giant canvas in my mind.

What I am not doing is trying to put them into any kind of structure or together like pieces of a puzzle.

The challenge before me, I think, is to be comfortable with the prospect of change. How much change, in what direction, in respect to what – I don’t know that. But there will be change. And I have to make myself comfortable with knowing that there will be change yet simultaneously trying not to think too much about what that change will look like. I must prepare the tools, but not build anything.

I might be completely wrong on all of this, but what seems to be the most important thing as I look at this transition is to avoid any preconceived notions of what I will see, what I will do, or what I think I might perhaps possibly have to consider doing if the conditions are right. I want to go there with a truly open mind, yet also armed to the teeth with every tool possible. As a picture of Muhlenberg takes shape, I will slowly fit the pieces that are lying all over the place – all those ideas and theories and “how I’ve done things before” – to that culture until it makes sense. I will reshape an entirely new version of myself as a leader and manager that fits the culture.

I’m not saying that I will be purely subject to the existing aspects of Muhlenberg. I won’t just conform to what is already there. I am and always will be a set of principles and ideals that uniquely combine into the person I am. That person will find different connections between what I learn at Muhlenberg and that big pile of ideas than someone else would. The leader that emerges will be one that is considerate of the new surroundings yet will still be distinctly “me.” And I won’t spend forever fitting those pieces, either – to just wade through the waters for too long is a disservice to the college and simply doing a bad job as manager. It’s also not the kind of person I am.

Wish me luck…