Leadership & Planning

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Why Dr. Will Austin’s Team 2

The Benefits of Working with Dr. Austin’s Team 5

The People We Serve 6

Meet the Leadership & Planning Specialists’ Family 7

Keynote Topic Samples 9

Comprehensive Services Offered 14

Books 22

Testimonials 25

Our Process 27

Contact Us 28

Table of Contents

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EXPERIENCE• Over 20 years of senior leadership position experience in higher education• Fifteen years serving as college president for a single institution

o Annual revenue surplus every yearo Record Enrollment set 10+ timeso Doubling of graduation rates (to 40+%)o Remedial education down by 90%

• Community & college leader• Recognized leader in American higher education:

o Served on the AACC President’s Academy Executive Committee from 2012-2017 and as the national Chair of the PAEC in 2016 – the nation’s premier organization for community college presidential professional development

o Serves on the national Board of Directors of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC)

Chairs the AACC Commission on Economic and Workforce DevelopmentServes on the AACC Committee on Public Policy and Government RelationsServed on the AACC Committee on Community College Advancement

o Member of the Board of Directors for the American Association of University Administrators (AAUA)

Award winning college president, selected honors conferred:o The 2017 Association of Community College Trustees Northeast Region Chief Executive

Officer Awardo The 2016 American Association of University Administrators McInnis/Ryan Award for

Mid-Career Higher Education Leadership o The Mallinckrodt Baker Silver Tray award for volunteerismo The Boy Scouts “Good Scout” awardo The Warren-Sussex County NAACP President’s Award

Why Dr. Will Austin’sLeadership & Planning Specialists’ Team?

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AUTHORo Austin, W. (2009). Strategic planning for smart leadership: Rethinking your organization’s collective

future through a workbook-based, three-level model (2nd. Edition). Oklahoma City, OK: New Forums Press, Inc.

o Austin, W. “State of successions: Now is the time to focus on retaining and developing new leaders.” (2015, June/July). Community College Journal. Washington, DC: AACC, p. 16.

o Raines, S. & Austin W. (2009). Dollars & sense: A guide to financial security (2nd edition). Oklahoma City, OK: New Forums Press, Inc.

o Frederick, B., Austin, W., & Draper, L. (2002). “Implementing the marketing plan: From continuous research to promoting the brand.” In F. V. G. Cooley, (Ed.), 2002 Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education (pp. 53-58). Chicago, Illinois: American Marketing Association. ISBN#

o Austin, W. (2000). “Find me students!: Geodemographic marketing research: Unleashing enrollment growth potentials.” In F. V. G. Cooley, & C. Chandler (Eds.), 2000 Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education (pp. 58-66). Chicago, Illinois: American Marketing Association.

o Austin, W. “The provost and the president: When things don’t go well – four clues.” (p. 41). In Martin, J. & Samels, J. (2015). The Provost’s Handbook: The Role of the Chief Academic Officer. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN#

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OTHER HIGHER EDUCATION EXPERIENCE• Extensive experience in leading accreditation team visits, chairing numerous visits since 2005.• Experienced board facilitator, with frequent retreats, speeches, workshops, and services provided over the

past decade.• Dynamic speaker with a proven track record of success on multiple topics. Dr. Austin has spoken in

front of groups as large as 1,000 and as small as 10. Always with 100% enthusiasm regardless of topic or crowd size.

o As one moderator once quipped, “Dr. Austin has spoken on the same stage as the Dali Lama, Nobel Prize Winner Eli Wiesel, and movie star, Dwayne ‘The Rock” Johnson, -- just not on the same day.”

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THE BENEFITS OF WORKING WITH DR. AUSTIN’S TEAM

• Proven strategies and techniques that are completely transferable to your institution.

• Learn successful priorities from a leader with a proven track record.

• Be motivated and inspired by an award-winning leader.

• Develop organizational strategies that are customized to your needs and goals.

• Reach your true enrollment potentials – detailed market insights for better planning, media

strategy, inquiry and applicant pool development, conversion yields, and retention programs.

• Take command of your financial destiny.

• Learn to lead with authority & without fear.

• Transform your board and organization into a collaborative enterprise.

• Mediated and facilitated Board Retreats that emphasize mutual cooperation for student success.

• Specialized services for dealing with a faculty “No Confidence” vote and media relations.

• A variety consultative services that help you achieve your goals.

• Assisting you with successful presidential onboarding.

• Expert Witness Reports & testimony when things do not go as planned.

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The People We ServeOur clients are comprised of higher education institutions, college presidents, college vice-presidents, deans, Boards of Trustees, and even individuals in need of career guidance and mentorship.

We strive to provide a unique and fully customized relationship where the best strategy is created to match and realize your institutional goals. Sometimes this relationship begins at the grassroots level and other times it starts at the top of the organization.

Dr. Austin has facilitated strategic initiatives for colleges, universities, departments, and membership organizations.

We provide the following consultative services:1. Keynotes A. Convocations for Faculty B. In-Service Retreats for Staff2. Comprehensive Strategic Planning3. Board Retreats A. Board Self-Evaluations B. Presidential Evaluations4. Enrollment Management A. Marketing Consultation5. Board/CEO Relations A. Specializing in “No Confidence” Vote Consulting6. Presidential Onboarding/ Contracting7. Executive Coaching8. Expert Witness Reporting & Testimony

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Meet the Leadership & Planning Specialists’ Family

Dr. William Austin

Dr. William “Will” Austin has served as Warren County Community College’s president since 2003, when at the age of 33 he was appointed as NJ’s youngest president.

As president of Warren County Community College, Dr. Austin managed a 120% growth in enrollment, advancing enrollment and improving graduation outcomes for eight consecutive years, and setting another institutional enrollment record in Fall 2016. WCCC has been twice recognized as one of the fastest growing community colleges in the country

by Community College Week. He has initiated new campus construction leading to the doubling of the physical campus space; and has ended every fiscal year at WCCC with a revenue surplus during his tenure as president.

He has led the development of new academic programs, including the first new nursing program in the state of New Jersey in over two decades and the nationally acclaimed veterans program known as VIPER which has been featured and endorsed in media as diversified as FOX NEWS and PBS.

He presents extensively on leadership, presidential contracts, presidential onboarding, board retreats, board chair assessment, faculty “no confidence” votes, remedial education reform & renewal, veterans programs, the role of the faculty of the future, the community college Baccalaureate, & media crisis management and other topics.

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Dr. Lori Austin

Dr. Lori Austin is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Raritan Valley Community College. She served as co-coordinator of developmental mathematics at RVCC for six years. Prior to working at RVCC, Lori spent a decade teaching high school mathematics in southern and northern NJ.

She has a doctorate in Educational Leadership from Rowan University and was a member of the Community College Leadership Cohort. As part of her dissertation research she examined the current developmental math requirements at community colleges. Her research focused on a common remedial elementary algebra course required for all students seeking an associate’s degree. She determined that, for many students, these additional costly credits in remedial math do not provide students a better chance of success in college level math. She actively presents at national conferences (often with her spouse, Dr. William Austin) on the fairness of appropriate developmental math education. She is currently contracted to contribute a chapter on college placement in the monograph entitled, “Emerging Issues in Mathematics Pathways” for the Charles Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin, forthcoming in 2018.

Dan Hollis

Dan Hollis is the founder and sales trainer/coach for The Magic of Selling. He is also the author of The Magic of Selling: A Treasure Map to Bigger and Better Sales as well as an accomplished radio host. Dan previously spent over 29 years in outside sales primarily in media: print, radio, television and film. Dan now helps sales people sell more effectively sharing the enthusiasm and wisdom he has been blessed with. He has a very unique style and approach to teaching and has helped implement countless successful solutions. Dan has always possessed the ability to work with anyone: to teach, to listen, to motivate and to inspire. Salespeople who

have worked with Dan are now much more successful and confident when selling their products and services. At the core, Dan loves selling and loves to teach the art of selling. Helping others is truly his biggest reward.

We have an extensive network of additional recognized experts brought in on an as needed basis.

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KEYNOTE TOPIC SAMPLES

TRUE GRIT: Why Remedial Reforms & Pathways May Not Be the Promised Graduation Rate Elixirs A dynamic presentation that focuses on the need for remedial education reform. In a funny & thoughtful way, the presentation focuses on the never-ending cycle of minor reforms that lead to increased costs, administrative structures, and limited results. Successful cost-effective strategies are shared to demonstrate the potential of the current capacity of institutions and the students we serve.

Recent National & Statewide Public Presentations on this TopicA. April 2017 – American Association of Community College’s ConferenceB. June 2017 – Comcast NewsmakersC. July 2017 – African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey, “Empowerment Hour,” 920

The JerseyD. September 2017 – Association of Community College Trustees CongressE. Featured in Community College Daily article, “Cutting back on remediation yields success.” April

26, 2017.

“NO CONFIDENCE”: Responding to a Vote, the Courage & Conviction of Leaders & Trustees

Dr. Austin has developed the only known database of community college “no confidence” votes. He breaks down the statistics, survival indicators, successful media strategies, and tactics for leaders and stewards to overcome the vote and move the college forward to greater success.

Recent Presentations of this Topic A. July 2016 – Nova Southeastern University, Fischler Doctoral Student Summer Conference B. April 2017 – American Association of Community College’s Conference C. September 2017 – Association of Community College Trustees Congress D. Featured in Community College Daily article, “Surviving a vote of no confidence.” March 3, 2017.

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Learning Leadership: Theory was easy, survival was key, inspiring people changed me: No one succeeds 100% of the time or do they?

Dr. Austin shares his inspirational journey of leadership. In an honest, forthright discussion, he shares successes, mistakes, setbacks, and the road to leadership recovery and personal fulfillment. The perfect presentation for graduate students of leadership, aspiring administrators and anyone who wants to understand the highs and lows of the leadership journey.

The perfect presentation for students aspiring for a life in leadership.• 2016 – Keynote Address for Doctoral Student Summer Institute, Fort Lauderdale, FL• Presented as part of the Rowan University Doctoral Program’s Community College Leadership Cohort for the previous four cohorts (since 2014).

Faculty of the Future: The Original Model Revised a 21st Century Requirement for Sustainability?

In this presentation, Dr. Austin examines the historical roots of the modern faculty model. Demonstrating its strengths and weaknesses. He illustrates how the 100 year old contemporary model of limited faculty, exploited adjuncts, and administrators has become too far removed from the learning enterprise and is destined for failure as an unsustainable economic model.

Dr. Austin dares to go where others fear to tread. This examination of the contemporary higher education model illustrates its limitations and predicts the changes needed to ensure that higher education in this Century remains effective, relevant and viable.

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Predicted to Fail: What if Our Placement Strategies are wrong?

In this presentation, Dr. William Austin & Dr. Lori Austin challenge the research and assumptions that the corporate testing machine has used to disempower the intellectual autonomy that was once the highpoint of American higher education.

They dare to test the hypotheses and assumptions of the testing industry, using practical common sense as a guide to how this industry has undermined the decision making of our college faculty and administration.

Strategic Planning: Envisioning a Shared Future

Dr. Austin presents the need for collaborative cross-institutional strategic planning in higher education. This dynamic keynote takes the mundane, often unexciting topic of strategic planning, and brings it to life for the audience.

In addition to this keynote, we offer an array of additional services for direct “hands-on” strategic planning training & services:

Strategic Planning Services:1. Pre-planning Environmental Scan & Situation Analyses 2. Vision, Mission & Goal Renewal 3. Strategic Planning Seminar Weekend (Planner Training) 4. Strategic Planning Process (3-month duration of 5 on-site seminar

days) 5. Strategic Plan Final Document Authoring6. Consulting Hours for Strategic Plan Process

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When the Media Attacks: Staying Focused on Vision & Mission is the Critical Factor

This sobering presentation presents several “real world” examples of media overreach. While walking attendees through several “unfair” and inaccurate media accounts of his leadership, Dr. Austin shares strategies for dealing with biased news accounts that can begin harmless enough then take on new significance as they are recounted and retold in unedited internet accounts.

Dr. Austin has circumvented negative media accounts (from local newspaper accounts, to national stories in media as pronounced as FOX News, Boston Globe Editorials, etc.) and shares how he turned them into significant victories for his institution. Trust his guidance to do the same for you and your college.

It’s a Money Thing: Financial Literacy Made Easy

Millennials represent the largest demographic cohort in American history. They are educated, ethnically diverse, optimistic, and more economically active than any earlier generation. Yet, the most technologically savvy generation may just be on a collision course with financial ruin.

Millennials face financial challenges that threaten their economic success. They struggle with debt, with two-thirds already acquiring at least one source of long-term debt, such as student loans, home loans, or auto loans. Unfortunately, Millennials are accustomed to using credit cards in expensive ways, and they often resort to borrowing through alternative financial services, like pawnshops, rent-to-own loans, and payday loans. Millennials also have significantly low levels of savings, making them financially fragile.

Dr. Austin has developed a series of presentations, one for the everyday educator and one specifically for the Millennial student, in an effort to educate all of higher education in the single most important topic that is often absent from our curriculum.

This topic is great for institutional convocations, student orientations, or just as an addition to your annual student activity schedule.

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Find me students!: Geodemographic marketing research: Unleashing enrollment growth potentials

For over two decades Dr. Austin has improved his unique approach to enrollment marketing. Using a series of tested strategies, he has led institutions to numerous enrollment records, being noted as achieving unprecedented enrollment growth by Community College Week. His strategies have been published by the American Marketing Association.

This “classic” presentation provides new insights into how higher education can find, recruit, and retain students for maximum enrollment potential.

Higher Education Enrollment Training Specialist:Now more than ever before there is a need for businesses development guidance in academia. Dan Hollis has taken his wisdom and knowledge to institutions of higher learning and has made an immediate impact working with those responsible for college recruitment/enrollment. They are now having greater results working with recruiting students as well as with parents of students who are typically the ultimate decision makers.

Dan Hollis will share a variety of practical ideas, methods, innovations and tools for you to put into practice immediately.

A Day of Training is broken down into 2 parts:1. Business development training - working with the team on improving their business development

skills as well as to help them to not feel so over-burdened with all of their numerous responsibilities.2. Interviewing each team member and sharing that information with management – A

SWAT analysis. Plus:• Takeaways from the day; what they learned – what can be applied• With what they learned, what do they think they can change and/or apply so as to improve their

situation/career• Asking them how they define success• Explore why they got in this profession in the first place: Where they were, where they are now and

where they are heading• Ask them about how some people get through the door, but are not converted -- what they can do

to change that• Understand how “all in” they are with regards to their mission and what they do at the college (do

they take pride in it or do they feel like a bureaucrat pushing papers?)…and how do they change that if that’s the case?)

• The favorite parts about their career…least favorite

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COMPREHENSIVE SERVICES OFFEREDStrategic Planning

Even the best institutions do not hesitate to use a strategic planning consultant to help them identify their opportunities for growth. They recognize that a seasoned consultant can bring a fresh and independent perspective, as well as tools and methodologies to support smart forward-thinking decision making.

Added Value

Strategic Planning meetings run by the CEO or another senior executive usually turn into staff meetings. The right questions are never asked, the status-quo does not get challenged and the ‘group-think’ goes unchecked.

A professional Strategic Planning consultant brings experience, knowledge and a fresh, objective perspective – independent from culture, office politics, personal sensitivities, and ‘group think.’ Our highly qualified consultants facilitate the planning process and serve as a sounding board.

Here are the key things you can expect from our Strategic Planning Team:1. A Process – We provide an effective process to analyze and understand the organization, its competitive

position and methods for developing goals.2. Probing, Challenging Questions – To maintain the integrity of the strategic planning process and

prevent it from becoming a token effort, we ask tough questions. Answering these questions may sometimes be uncomfortable, but they shed light on the key reasons for any lack of performance.

3. Challenge of the Status-Quo – Your institution’s performance cannot be improved if the status-quo is never challenged and leaders are not willing to discuss and implement change.

4. Keeping What Works – Of course, your institution has its own strengths and traditions. We recognize these and focus on preserving and expanding successful elements.

5. Identifying What Doesn’t Work – We deliver objective information about weaknesses and what’s not working. Addressing weaknesses becomes an integral part of our strategic planning process.

6. Linking Strategy with Execution – The purpose of Strategic Planning is not to create a thick, impressive looking document that sits on the bookshelf, but to develop a detailed action plan for achieving “real world” goals and strategies that are ready for execution and celebration.

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Enrollment Marketing

There are many enrollment management consulting firms that sell you complex software, student information systems, and onerous data warehousing and analyses systems. The problem is that most of these are too complicated, expensive, and make the institution dependent upon the vendor.

Using a strategic approach, we provide results-oriented, best practice solutions that help you achieve your full enrollment potential. We offer objective, high-quality and cost-effective consulting services to help you improve both your enrollment and retention outcomes, with an emphasis on promoting success at every stage of the recruitment experience.

We apply institutionally-specific approaches to the assessment, design and implementation of state of the art practices in strategic enrollment branding, marketing & recruitment. We train your staff in state of the art corporate based techniques using psycho-social lifestyle segmentation data clusters that yield the richest consumer behavioral information for shopping, financial and technology preferences, media habits (online and offline) and so much more.

These powerful consumer segmentation insights enable your staff to:• Gain detailed insights for better market planning, media strategy, student recruitment, and retention

programs• Tailor messages and educational products that resonate with your desired students• Group similar segments together to maximize marketing efficiency and reach• Discover who your most likely future students are and where you can locate similar potential students

Your newly trained marketing force will craft advertising messaging to reach students based on virtually any media behavior: Television, Cable, Internet, Radio, Newspapers & Magazines.

We can assist your institution in achieving maximum return on your investment. Mastering these techniques requires a committed group of professionals dedicated to strategic planning, crafting effective communication plans, and learning the techniques of value added recruitment. Once trained, your staff owns the work, with no expensive perpetual updates required, beyond their imagination.

Our Services can be customized to meet your specific needs and often include:• Analysis of your institution’s desired enrollment goals, commitment to achieving your existing

enrollment goals, and helping identify other potential goals not previously considered.• Review of current branding and marketing practices, with suggested revisions that will align more

closely with our proven techniques.• Reviewing the existing Communication Plan for prospective students and recommending revisions that

will enhance your enrollment potential.

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Retreats

We offer a series of comprehensive programs to assist in the development of good-communications within the CEO-Board relationship. Our services are designed to serve as both a formal performance-evaluation system and as a safe technique to simply talk about what’s working and what’s not.

Board Retreat FacilitationThere are many good reasons to conduct a board retreat: to create or revisit the organization’s mission, vision, and strategic plan; clarify roles and responsibilities; orient new members; reconnect and re-energize a stagnant board; and/or address critical issues or opportunities, to name a few. However, bringing the entire board together in person can be a challenge. So, to get them to come—and really want to be there—we create a focused, meaningful, and enjoyable experiences for everyone.

While it’s not uncommon for a board member, staff member, or existing vendor to facilitate a retreat, having outside facilitation helps every participant fully engage in the retreat. An outside facilitator helps reduce bias or undue influence, can act fearlessly and may notice and address board issues or dynamics not obvious to participants.

For the retreat to be worthwhile, we create experiences and mini-plans so participants know their ideas and decisions will actually go somewhere after the event.

Presidential EvaluationsMost Board of Trustees’ evaluations of a president’s performance look backward, assuming that the challenges of the future will be pretty much the same as they’ve always been. Our process enlightens Board members to the fact that colleges and universities will face problems more daunting than the familiar conundrums of the past. As a result, each customized presidential evaluation—will focus on the leader’s capacity to enable the institution to adapt to a continually changing environment.

As institutions confront increased competition for students and financial support, rising public expectations for educational quality and effectiveness, and significant constraints on revenue from tuition and—in the case of public colleges and universities—from state sources.

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We provide a strong future orientation in our presidential-assessment models, our process can be summed as follows:

1. The evaluation first examines past performance as the key source of information on the president’s ability to lead change in an ambiguous and challenging future.

2. Our criteria include the kind of skills and attitudes conducive to engineering positive change in an academic setting, not just conventional leadership traits.

3. And, as every leader is, to varying degrees, incomplete, the evaluation is joined to a proactive presidential professional development plan that will assist the president in doing a job often vastly different from the one they were hired to do.

Board Self-EvaluationThe purpose of our board self-evaluation model includes identifying areas of board functioning that are working well and those that may need improvement. It is an opportunity for an open and candid discussion about board responsibilities, as well as the trustees’ interests and desires. Board self-evaluations provide the opportunity to reflect on one’s own performance and engagement in ongoing improvement. Exploring board and trustee responsibilities fosters communication and leads to more cohesive board teams and improved Board/CEO relations.

Research regarding trustees serving on boards that conduct regular self-evaluations show:

• An increased appreciation for and understanding of their fellow trustees • Board meetings run more smoothly and members receive better information • The establishment of a set of priorities that guide board agendas and workshops• More time is spent on policy, goals and accomplishments

The outcomes of our board self-evaluations include:

1. A summary of what the board does well and its accomplishments for the prior year

2. A better understanding of what is needed from each trustee and the CEO to be an effective board and board/CEO team

3. An assessment of progress on the prior year’s goals and identification of what needs to be completed

4. Goals and tasks for the coming year related to board performance and its leadership toward target objective achievement

5. A specialized instrument for the Board Chair, that measures chair effectiveness to help create the best “first among equals” steward possible

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“No Confidence” Vote Consulting

Dr. Austin maintains a nationally recognized database on votes of “no confidence” for community colleges. His database and advice was featured in the recent Community College Daily article, “Surviving a vote of no confidence,” in March 2017. He is a frequent guest speaker to trustees, presidents, and other administrators on the topic.

About half of all presidents who receive no-confidence votes do not survive them. While their departures are not usually noted as a direct result of no-confidence votes, the impact of the votes are evident in the timing. Although male presidents’ likelihood of receiving a “no confidence” vote is greater; one can be 99.5% confident that the data provide sufficient evidence to conclude that a male who gets a vote of “no confidence” has a higher percentage of survival than a female who gets a vote of “no confidence” during the past five years. Surviving the vote takes several strategies implemented in unison:

1. Media & Public Relations. Dr. Austin holds press credentials and has been host of a monthly radio show on WRNJ 104.7 FM, 92.7 FM, & 1510 AM for over a decade. He understands the media, their need for stories, and their disregard for the impact that sensationalism to sell stories has on the positive, yet unpopular change leaders are implementing to ensure the sustainability of your college.

2. Board/CEO Education & Relationship Building. Most Board members are not accustomed to the “no confidence” vote in higher education. Educating them can be your key to building a stronger, more focused relationship. They need to understand what the vote means and does not mean. Misinformation is the enemy, we can provide the education required to continue the change agenda.

3. Mediation. After the vote, you need to survive and flourish to keep the improvements going. Dr. Austin has had training in both common mediation (think contract) and Amish mediation (think consensus).

If you experience such a vote, whether or not it is justified, the sense of dysfunction and anger is overwhelming.

These votes are designed to bring a lot of anxiety and discord to your campus. • Stay calm, embarrassment and over reaction makes a bad situation far worse.• Don’t manage the event alone. Get immediate seasoned & informed professional guidance.• We can be on location anywhere in the USA quickly to address the situation and begin turning

your potential problem into a unique opportunity to look good - under pressure.• Together we will devise a way out that places you in the best light possible.• Remember, every crisis is an opportunity (if handled correctly).

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Presidential Onboarding/Contracting

Colleges often struggle to compete for high quality senior administrative leaders, especially presidents. Tight budgets and increased public accountability compound the challenge; since recruiting, selecting, and relocating candidates requires a significant investment. Many boards and new presidents are so enamored with one another on the 1st day that they fail to realize that this is really an expensive and complicated business transaction.

Onboarding the new president with a series of activities can make all the difference between a failed presidency and a successful long-term Board/CEO relationship. Institutions work long and tedious hours during the recruitment and selection process to get the best talent, then too often boards assume these highly qualified and accomplished individuals require little support to be successful.

You can avoid this conundrum by adopting a systematic onboarding process to welcome and integrate the newly appointed president. Effective onboarding provides a systemic introduction to the campus culture, unwritten norms, shared governance roles, and the importance of establishing trust based relationships. The return on the investment in onboarding is that it contributes to a clearer vision, often reducing misunderstandings that can become so severe that they end in another costly rehiring process, or worse.

Our system will provide the following services to the Board and new President:• Three onboarding focused retreat sessions (3-months, 6-months & 1-year)1. In depth consensus review and collective interpretation of the contract (3-months)2. Review of interpersonal dynamics to date (3-months)3. “Dr. Austin’s Rules” review – 65+ ways presidents go wrong in the 1st year (3-months)4. Review of internal governance practices (6-months)5. Review of presidential expectations and how well they are being met (6-months)6. Honoring traditions and legacies while influencing organizational change (6-months)7. Presidential Appraisal – Year One in review (1-year)8. Presidential goal setting (annual, short-term, long-term) (1-year)9. Board/CEO Relations 101 & specific policy implementation review (1-year)

Systemic presidential onboarding proactively addresses important details and information up front versus dealing with time-consuming problems and course corrections in the future. Onboarding provides a positive and strategic experience for the new president, the Board and ultimately, the institution.

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Executive Coaching

We work together to determine what issues you want to address and how to create the best solutions for you as a leader. Weekly sessions are geared toward your specific needs.

Executive coaching helps you develop the skills and strategies to increase your impact and enhance your value to the organization. Every leader faces moments when the talents and capacities that made them successful in the past are no longer adequate. Every president faces the moment they are utterly alone. Often this calls for both new skills and new ways of thinking. It also takes the careful listening ear of a seasoned professional.Our coaching process is tailored to your needs, challenges and objectives. At the start of each engagement, we work together to set goals, identify measures of success and build a customized development plan for getting you there.

Through a one-on-one, confidential relationship with a supportive leadership expert, new presidents can build awareness of their strengths and weaknesses and develop new strategies, outlooks and skills so they can tackle challenges that they have not faced before in their respective career. Coaching provides a rare and valuable opportunity to gain fresh insights and experiment with new ways of thinking and acting that can take you to the next level of performance.

Here’s how it works:

• Initial Consultation: We discuss your goals and what is achievable to ensure that all coaching is tailored for you.

• First Coaching Session: These sessions are done over the phone. We partner together to determine what obstacles you face in reaching your goals—being more effective at work, advancing further and faster, making the most of your employees’ talents, dealing with difficult cultures and people, and other challenges you face every day. You are in charge of the agenda for each session.

• Regular Coaching Sessions: Each session is based upon what you are ready to explore, and what ideas you feel like investigating further. We support your commitment to your personal and professional development. We discuss how willing and ready you are to acknowledge where you are stuck, and how open you are to other ways of seeing the world. Be ready to accept feedback and to try out new behaviors. Be ready to develop parts of yourself that may have been overlooked or neglected in the past.

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Expert Witness Reporting & Testimony

It can be a challenge to identify and select an expert witness when preparing for a trial, but providing expert witness testimony is a critical step if you want to win your case. However, not just any expert witness will do. Not only do you need someone who is competent, qualified and knowledgeable in the higher education field; it’s also important that this person is able to communicate effectively, and has both credibility and composure in depositions and on the witness stand.

You need an expert witness, who is not only a knowledge expert, but someone who understands what the client is going through, their concerns, fears, anxiety and doubts. Dr. Austin is that confident, compassionate, dedicated expert and researcher with an emphasis on attention to detail who can prepare your outstanding & accurate Expert Witness Report and then back it up under the intense pressure of depositions and on the witness stand.

Leadership & Planning Specialists provide a cost-effective, highly qualified expert witness and subject matter expert to law firms, insurance companies, corporations, governmental entities and more.

After we have had a chance to review all your documents and reconstruct what happened there are three distinct questions that we answer for our clients:

1. The most obvious is, what did you find that was done wrong and favors the client?2. What wasn’t found in the documents that should have been there? What questions in the interrogatories

were not asked/requested that will make materials not previously thought of, available? 3. What gives us concern (heart-burn) about the case after reviewing the documents, depositions and

interrogatories?

The third question is often most important because it gives the client an assurance as to potential problem areas we see with the case. If we discover items that are detrimental to our client, they can get prepared. It is better to be aware of issues in advance, and not be embarrassed or surprised at a trial. Assuming that opposing council has done a good job in hiring their expert, the detrimental and questionable information likely will be discovered.

Optimizing the use of our expert services can be extremely beneficial to the outcome of a case. From expert witness testimony, to litigation support, we strive to benefit a case early on in preparation for settlement negotiations. When it is determined early in the case that an expert is needed, we work to strengthen your case and preparation from day one, and stay committed to your needs throughout the process until the final adjudication.

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BOOKSA first-rate nuts-’n-bolts how-to guide to strategic planning! Over a decade in print and used as a graduate text in many of our nation’s universities.

Strategic Planning for Smart Leadership reviews relevant planning, management, and leadership literature to create the context for a three level planning system within the theoretical framework of contemporary leadership, planning, human resource development, and systems thinking. It is designed to provide institutions that enter the planning process with no idea of where it might take them achievable ideals of where their planning process should lead them.

Designed as a “how-to” tool for strategic planning at all levels of the organization. This proven book provides step-by-step strategies and practices for developing an institutional strategic plan, implementing the effort through departmental planning, and realizing the goals of the plan through the development of teams and personal/professional planning. Strategic Planning for Smart Leadership simplifies the work of strategic planning for the everyday practitioner, manager, or leader.

Paperback: 336 pagesPublisher: New Forums Press (2008, 2nd Edition)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 1581071523ISBN-13: 978-1581071528

The Basics Step-by-Simple Step Planning Section: The Triadic Planning Process

1. Introduction & Overview 10. Strategic Organizational Planning Workbook

2. Strategic Planning in the New Economy 11. Strategic Departmental Plan Workbook

3. The Importance of Organizational Structure: Why Heterarchy?

12. Strategic Personal Planning Workbook

4. The Art of Triadic Strategic Planning (Institutional, Departmental, & Personal)

5. Completing the Entire Process In Less than One Year Advancing the Organization

6. Achieving Empowerment: The Essential Nature of Teams & The Culture of Shared Responsibility

13. Leading the Process: Beyond the “Hero-Myth” toward the Inspirational Agenda

7. Strategic Planning as a Means of Continuous Improvement 14. Rewarding Success

8. Creating the Learning Centered Systems that Ensure Organizational Success

15. Conclusion: Forgetting Past Practice: Anyone and Everyone Leads Our Future: The Emergence of Sagacious Conductors

9. Developing Data to Assess Effectiveness, Performance Improvement & Organizational Success

CONTENT

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A comprehensive financial literacy education resource for young adults ranging in age from 17 to 25 was almost non-existent -- until now. In a fun, interesting, and relevant workbook format, each chapter of Dollars & Sense contains to-the-point instructional text and practical worksheets and examples. This ‘hands-on’ application allows the student to become better acclimated to the realities of managing his or her own personal finances as well as serve as a resource for obtaining information and assistance. Additionally, the book can become a permanent fixture of a student's library, as a means of reference long after it is first read and the worksheets completed. Dollars & Sense fills an obvious curriculum gap in schools, colleges, and universities throughout the nation. It serves as a teaching and discussion resource for parents and

educators, many of whom may still be perplexed by financial literacy themselves.

• Paperback: 132 pages• Publisher: New Forums Press (February 28, 2009, 2nd Edition)• ISBN-10: 1581071566• ISBN-13: 978-1581071566

When it comes to essential topics like leadership strategies, professionals all across America were looking for relevant, cutting edge, "real world" solutions to help them succeed. Real World Leadership Strategies That Work, part of Insight Publishing's Power Learning Series, showcases the strategies, insights and inspiration from 13 experts whose client list reads like a "who's who" in American business. So, dig in and start applying the lessons from these dynamic professionals.

• Paperback: 286 pages• Publisher: Insight Publishing (February 2004)• ISBN-13: 978-1885640574

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Understanding how to effectively sell to your prospects and customers is one of the most important, yet least understood concepts for sales professionals today. This is reason number one why I decided to write this book. I also wanted to share my decades of sales experience with you in the hopes that it will help you be that much more successful in your career. Remember, people BUY from people they like, that they TRUST. You build that trust a number of ways and they are all explored in this book. If you adopt the information inside, the sky is the limit. – Dan Hollis, July 2008

• Paperback: 104 pages• Publisher: The Magic of Selling (July 2008)• ISBN: 978-0-9891399-1-5 (soft cover)• ISBN: 978-0-9891399-0-8 (hard cover)

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TESTMONIALSStrategic Planning

As a new community college president with decades of previous administrative experience, I realized that my new college had prior challenges and previous decisions that led us to stray from our core strengths and we were suffering the effects of being stretched without a defined plan to support our future ambitions. We needed to clarify what we wanted to achieve in the future, create a shared vision, and engage the entire campus community. Our start point was a formal Board Retreat in the Fall and we spent our Spring semester working through Dr. Will Austin’s strategic planning process to set a course for our future success.

Having worked with consulting firms in the past, I realize that there exists a wide spectrum of approaches ranging from those that want to “move in”, learn the culture and tell us how to run the college, to those that provide a generic template for a strategic planning process that gave no consideration to the specifics of our community and needs. Dr. Austin emerged as the ideal middle ground to these consulting extremes. There was substantive and focused energy learning about our college and constituency. His manner with people and personalities within the culture of our college community, led to an incredibly successful, and unifying map of our future. His planning process was engaging, systematic, genuine and provided a tried and true model that guided our efforts every step of the way.

The strategic plan and its development process is truly a defining moment for our college and certainly my tenure as president. It helped us to make many critical determinations about our future, focusing upon our core strengths and maximizing our success in these well-defined areas. Will Austin personally led the process while always reminding us that the organization was ours to run and the decisions were ours to make. His planning meetings were always consistently well designed and helped us maintain a sense of purpose throughout. With Dr. Austin, we found a partner that managed the process to our specific needs, supplemented our weaknesses and treated the process with the personal care and attention we would expect from such a relationship. -- Mike Gorman, President, Salem Community College

Recently, we utilized Dr. Will Austin’s Smart Leader Strategic Planning process. He served as our professional facilitator in a six-month strategic planning process. It was a perfect fit for our organization and its many constituent groups. He provides a solid theoretical approach that is applied in a very 'real world' down-to-earth manner. The program does an excellent job of providing a defined framework for the planning process without turning it into a mechanistic exercise that is theoretical without practical application. The framework helped us make sure that we were identifying and analyzing the key issues; but it did not do our thinking for us. I felt the emphasis on the development of specific objectives and action plans are the keys to ensuring that strategic

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Board RetreatsI want to share with you that Dr. Will Austin facilitated our recent community college board retreat and did an incredible job working to get everyone on the same page. He has an incredible ability to get right to the heart of the matter and make simple sense of the most complex and involved issues. In addition, he provided me with individual coaching and guidance that has raised my sense of awareness after my first year as the college president.

During the retreat, he facilitated numerous topics, but focused in on my 1st Year Presidential Evaluation. His process made me feel empowered through its commitment to confidentiality and integrity. He coordinated a fair and impartial process to distribute and tabulate quantitative and qualitative data from trustees. His process included a summary report of findings prepared and presented to the board through the chair with our written recommendations and goals for my future years as president as well as constructive comments that can help me better understand my Board and our relationship.

His goal setting process during the retreat helped to set the stage for strategic improvements and the establishment of action based performance goals. The entire day long retreat provided the board and I an opportunity to engage in a constructive future directed dialog on how to close the "gaps" between expectations and performance, define a base line for future assessment, and set a timeline for the next evaluation cycle. Unlike other consultants, who are too far removed from the presidency, he walked my Board through the challenges and proper expectations for their leader. He educated them on the best practices of Board culture and made me feel more comfortable throughout the experience. -- Dr. Yves Salomon-Fernandez, President, Cumberland County College

planning isn't just an interesting exercise that subsequently collects dust on a bookshelf. I know the Strategic Plan we produced will make a major difference in the performance of our efforts to support all community colleges in New Jersey.

I am pleased to recommend the strategic planning services of Dr. Will Austin. He provides a thoughtful approach to the planning process; and a sensitivity to the specific needs of the organization. While he was flexible with this approach, Will held us to task in producing a meaningful and executable plan that would improve the association’s position in the face of dramatic changes in our sector.Will promised that what seemed complex would simplify into a plan that would strengthen our organization, be accepted by our stakeholders, and be able to be implemented; he delivered. Will was able to demonstrate to the team how strategic planning leads to actual plans, plans that have a positive impact on our association. -- Dr. Lawrence Nespoli, President, New Jersey Council of County Colleges

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Our Leadership & Planning Specialists strive to follow our mission based “Values.” Three of our fundamental values are as follows: To ‘Learn It’, which means to check our egos at the door and to be proudly humble in order to focus our attention on your needs and wants. ‘Think It’, which means being passionate about every issue and concern you have, so we can make your organization better; and, to ‘Advance It’, which inspires us to seize each and every opportunity to learn, develop, and improve with you. With these core values in mind, we enter into each new relationship, and each new project, not only with the expertise we have to offer, and the passion for what we do, but also with open ears and minds, ready to learn about your goals.

DiscoveryOur process begins with no pressure conversations. It’s important to us to meet, ask questions, and develop a greater understanding of the strategic goals of our client partners.

1. Our Vice-President for Business Development, Dan Hollis will reach out to you personally to conduct a preliminary intake of your needs. The initial engagement process often begins with a “Keynote” seminar at a college convocation, in-service or a Senior Staff or Board Retreat.

2. A teleconference will then be scheduled with Dr. Austin to determine if the institution’s needs and wants are a match to the talents and services our firm provides. The partner client and Dr. Austin will go through a comprehensive dialog and discovery to determine if the Leadership & Planning Specialists have the correct match of talent to meet your needs. We only offer our contracts to clients we think we can help; our skills, values, and strategies are only effective with the right match.

Planning1. Dr. Austin will provide Dan Hollis with a customized fully planned consulting proposal if a match exists

with our client partner.2. VP Hollis will contact the client to review Dr. Austin’s proposal of services and to acquire feedback and

the institution’s desire to act.

Engagement & Execution1. VP Hollis will prepare and deliver the engagement contract, tax and insurance documents to our

partner client.2. Dr. Austin or other specialists will perform the agreed upon services for the client, while continuously

analyzing the situation for the strategic realization of the institution’s worthy goals.

OUR PROCESS

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CONTACT US

Main Company Contact

Dan Hollis

Vice-President of Business Development

Phone: 973-479-4735

Email: dan@themagicofselling.net

Billing/Mailing Address

Dr. William Austin

4 Pembrook Court

Great Meadows, NJ 07838