Jim and I worked together throughout a time of tremendous change at Brandman University. We were on "very opposite sides of the table" when we first started working together; yet now we now joke about the days of me chasing him in the hallways to continue discussions that weren't going in the direction I needed for my team. It's important to recognize that indeed, today we can laugh about all that because Jim and I found a way to work together despite being focused on what initially appeared to be divergent goals. As leaders, we both came to recognize and respect the other team's perspectives and issues and that led to a working relationship that truly was positive. As an academic, I - admittedly - had very little patience for processes in the IT department that I felt were getting in the way of the work of instructors trying to serve students. Jim took the time to not just "hear" my concerns but to understand them; out of that understanding came modifications and new processes, designed by him, that had an exponentially positive impact on the empowerment of our faculty to expand their skills as relevant, 21st century educators far beyond the "lecture and test" pedagogy that we, as a university, had made the strategic decision to move beyond. We never could have achieved our goals of moving our courses to blended and/or fully online formats without Jim's leadership.

Jim and I worked together throughout a time of tremendous change at Brandman University. We were on "very opposite sides of the table" when we first started working together; yet now we now joke about the days of me chasing him in the hallways to continue discussions that weren't going in the direction I needed for my team. It's important to recognize that indeed, today we can laugh about all that because Jim and I found a way to work together despite being focused on what initially appeared to be divergent goals. As leaders, we both came to recognize and respect the other team's perspectives and issues and that led to a working relationship that truly was positive. As an academic, I - admittedly - had very little patience for processes in the IT department that I felt were getting in the way of the work of instructors trying to serve students. Jim took the time to not just "hear" my concerns but to understand them; out of that understanding came modifications and new processes, designed by him, that had an exponentially positive impact on the empowerment of our faculty to expand their skills as relevant, 21st century educators far beyond the "lecture and test" pedagogy that we, as a university, had made the strategic decision to move beyond. We never could have achieved our goals of moving our courses to blended and/or fully online formats without Jim's leadership.

Jim and I worked together throughout a time of tremendous change at Brandman University. We were on "very opposite sides of the table" when we first started working together; yet now we now joke about the days of me chasing him in the hallways to continue discussions that weren't going in the direction I needed for my team. It's important to recognize that indeed, today we can laugh about all that because Jim and I found a way to work together despite being focused on what initially appeared to be divergent goals. As leaders, we both came to recognize and respect the other team's perspectives and issues and that led to a working relationship that truly was positive. As an academic, I - admittedly - had very little patience for processes in the IT department that I felt were getting in the way of the work of instructors trying to serve students. Jim took the time to not just "hear" my concerns but to understand them; out of that understanding came modifications and new processes, designed by him, that had an exponentially positive impact on the empowerment of our faculty to expand their skills as relevant, 21st century educators far beyond the "lecture and test" pedagogy that we, as a university, had made the strategic decision to move beyond. We never could have achieved our goals of moving our courses to blended and/or fully online formats without Jim's leadership.