Beyond the Western Wall: Audacious Transformation of a Small Liberal Arts College

There are few higher education leaders past or present with the audacity to launch a presidency with an ultra-bold and challenging transformational vision as a primary strategy designed to totally reposition a fledging institution and employ strategic initiatives to bring about a vision with full integrity by inspiring people, bringing people together, garnering resources, and creating measurable results. These efforts had the effect of completely repositioning a small liberal arts institution into becoming one of the premier liberal arts institutions regionally and nationally. Widely recognized as an extraordinary and visionary leader, and recipient of the CASE (Council of Advancement and Support of Education) Chief Executive Award, and The Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest civilian award, Henry N. Tisdale did just that and presided over more than two decades of phenomenal transformation at Claflin University. In Beyond the Western Wall, Tisdale provides a detailed guide as to how to apply the transformational visioning process as a key institutional change strategy. Hence, it is a true guide to understanding visionary leadership, and how to bring about transformational change. Chapter by chapter, he digs deeply into the launching of a presidency, academic excellence by design, Student Success, Innovations, Fundraising, and Succession Planning. Throughout the book, the author emphasizes the importance of knowing how to launch an effective and sustainable presidency, how to deploy transformational vision as a key change strategy, how to lead effective dynamic strategic planning, team building, and teamwork, and he also accentuates the importance of the partnership between the president and the board of trustees. It begins by knowing how to engage in a substantive discussion about roles and responsibilities and continuously having the board revisit their partnership with the president and their roles as institutional leaders, fundraisers, fiduciaries, and strategic planners. In fact, he shows throughout the book how the president can work effectively to establish and sustain a valuable partnership with the board always being clear on roles and responsibilities. By including examples and speeches throughout the work, he demonstrates the vital role of presidents leading from the front in communicating, visioning, strategic planning, and setting the tone for campus civility. He also goes to great lengths to discuss the president’s role in team building which begins with assessing the current strengths and always keeping the team informed as to the status of the team building progress while showing appreciation for what has been done. Also, in the book he emphasizes his experience as a tenured faculty and a faculty champion as it relates to expectations, recognition, and rewards. His attention to and focus on student success is extraordinary and results in phenomenal success in retention and graduation rates. Ultimately, Beyond the Western Wall is as much a case study of the author’s work as it is a how-to-do-it manual for transformational change. It takes the reader from the launching of a presidency to succession planning for his predecessor. Throughout the book, the author has developed a powerful guide for higher education leaders and others who want to use transformational visioning to reposition an organization for sustained success.