It is the Relationship After All

Harvard Business Professor, Clayton Christensen, made news this past week by asserting that within the next couple of decades half of  America's colleges would be bankrupt.

Why?

Christensen believes the value represented by an on-line education will erode enrollment in the traditional four year universities;  in other words, their business pattern has been disrupted.

What perhaps was more interesting was what Christensen found could not be disrupted.     This from CNBC:

Fortunately, Christensen says that there is one thing that online education will not be able to replace. In his research, he found that most of the successful alumni who gave generous donations to their alma maters did so because a specific professor or coach inspired them.
Among all of these donors, "Their connection wasn't their discipline, it wasn't even the college," says Christensen. "It was an individual member of the faculty who had changed their lives."
"Maybe the most important thing that we add value to our students is the ability to change their lives," he explained. "It's not clear that that can be disrupted."

And there it is, the relationship is everything.  I remember that when I was trying to select a college my uncle, a college prof, gave me his excellent advice; that really the pedigree of the college didn't matter as much as the relationship the student could have with the faculty.

The same is true of the workplace.     You may work for a company with one of the best reputations, but if your boss and peers cannot conduct work with positive, nurturing relationships - that reputation is greatly diminished.  Conversely, you may work for a little known company - but if you have great working relationships - the world is a beautiful (and productive - and more than likely, profitable) place.

The responsibility for this falls to each of us.  Relationships, by their very nature, are reciprocal - meaning each of us has ownership.    It is a privilege to have the responsibility to start and nurture positive working relationships; own that privilege and utilize it to its full advantage.

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My book "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders" is available on Amazon Kindle.