Dean Blount & Kellogg's next 7 years

Just got back from a lunchtime presentation by Dean Sally Blount, on her plans and thoughts on what the future held in store for Kellogg.  I didn't take any notes, but from memory, here are my takeaways:

The new building is coming.  It will be an ambitious undertaking, planning to cost ~$300M, with a target opening in Fall of 2016.

Kellogg's administration is undergoing a marked restructuring.  As such, there are multiple senior management positions currently being recruited.  One will manage all MBA programs, one which manages all career services, and another will manage all executive education ... all roles will report directly to the Dean.  This is a marked change from now, where the full-time MBA program operates more or less separately from the part-time MBA program, and the career services are rather silo'ed as well.  Basically, how it seems to me is the matrix (as far as reporting structure goes) is being rotated on its side.

Explicitly added as a reason behind the restructuring is the Dean will be spending a lot of her time on fundraising.  A LOT.  Therefore, it is particularly important for her to have a strong team of senior management.

Kellogg is starting the process of undertaking a number of strategic initiatives.  For some reason, this always plays second fiddle to the building, but I feel this area is notably more important.  Unfortunately, the timeline for this will extend 5-7 years as well, but Dean Blount gave her perspective on several topics here.

• Improving/expanding Kellogg's core competencies, which she sees as:
• Providing the best education for students
• Creating the best environment for top professors to conduct research
• Improving [my add here: sorely needed] alumni engagement
• Leveraging corporate partnerships
• Kellogg's unique culture, and how it can be managed to continue to be and grow as a competitive advantage
• Having a truly global presence; as it is unlikely in the next few decades Chicago will be a top 10 city globally (unfortunate but probably true), determining the best way for Kellogg to have a presence in those cities
• Consistent, meaningful, and compelling Kellogg branding

Here are my thoughts:

I've been reserving judgement about the Dean so far, and this was a great opportunity to see her in action, up close and personal.  Here are my thoughts coming away from the session:

• She is clearly passionate about her job, and this passion comes across when she speaks.  This also makes her seem very genuine.  This is a great plus. 
• It is particularly difficult for a woman to be a good public speaker in what is still the man's world of business, academia, and particularly business academia.  She is undoubtedly smart, but as the face of Kellogg I hope her style improves to sound more cogent and confident.  I hope I will have the opportunity to take speech coaching in the future, as if even the Dean of a top business school can use improvement (things like vocal intonation, sentence structure & flow) then I have a long way to go.
• She has a tendency to make bold pronouncements, which follows along her passionate style. There were several times during the talk she looked to, referenced and apologized to the PR manager who was standing by, for treading on dangerous ground in relation to what is public knowledge.
• She is looking to place bold bets on the future of business research and education in order to ensure Kellogg remains a leader of business education.  I imagine this fact, along with her style, probably places her radically at odds with a large portion of what still remains a conservative (some might say stodgy) and risk-averse world of academia.  I would be willing to bet that between floors 2-7 of Jacobs, she is an extremely polarizing figure.
• She referenced the glory days of Dean Don Jacobs, and clearly hungers for Kellogg to be back on the cutting edge, as it was when she attended Kellogg for her PhD.  This is likely the driving force for her need to shake things up.  Whether or not she will succeed, it is far too early to tell, but I certainly am rooting for her.