At Hyatt-Fennell Executive Search, we believe that the higher education community is at its strongest when its leaders are willing to think out loud with one another. That belief is the heartbeat of our Let’s Talk Series — a space where we celebrate the wisdom, experience, and insight that lives within our community and invite its leaders to share what they have learned, observed, and come to believe through years of service at the highest levels of academic leadership. Each installment, we pose a single question worth sitting with — not because there is one right answer, but because the conversation itself has value.
This week, we are asking something deeply personal — a question that gets to the very heart of why so many of you chose this work in the first place. Presidential leadership is demanding, complex, and at times all-consuming. But beneath the strategic plans, the budget cycles, and the board meetings lives something more enduring: the mark you leave on an institution and the people within it.
So here is our question for this installment:
How will you define the legacy of your presidency? What matters most to you — and what doesn’t?
Perhaps it is the students whose trajectories changed because of a program you championed. The culture you cultivated. The team you built and believed in. Or maybe it is knowing what you chose not to chase — the metrics that looked good on paper but never moved the needle on what truly counted. Legacy is as much about discernment as it is about achievement.
We invite you to share your thoughts in the comments below. Your perspective has the power to inspire the leaders around you — and that is exactly what this community is here for.
