HRW Higher Ground

John discusses the importance and impact of leading with kindness, courtesy, and poise – grace.

John discusses the impact of leadership fatigue on leader and team, strategies to reduce fatigue and minimize the fallout, and organizational values around leader and team wellness.

What truly sets exceptional leaders apart? In this episode, John dives into 11 critical personality traits every leader must cultivate to inspire trust, lead with confidence, and drive results. Whether you're a seasoned executive or an emerging team lead, discover how to sharpen your leadership mindset and elevate your impact.

John discusses the impact of a leader’s or teammate’s ego upon an objective, distinguishing between healthy and unhealthy ego, and discussing the ways a dangerous ego manifests itself.  To frame the issue, John discusses the role ego played in the thinking of one of the most infamous spies in American history.     Media Links:   USA v. Robert Philip Hanssen: Affidavit in Support of Criminal Compla...

Higher Ground is back!  John talks about:  A pause from all things digital, including social media and the show, and the decision to continue Higher Ground;  The amazing NACUA 2023 Annual Conference;  The psychology of revenge; and  The impact of revenge and cancel mindset on team performance.  Media Links:   https://www.instyle.com/celebrity/celebrities-who-dont-use-social-media https://www.daily...

John reflects back on leadership and life perspective lessons learned after nearly two years of the pandemic and while we are still not out of the woods. 

John discusses big picture Clery Act compliance thinking and leadership with Melinda Latas, Director of Systemwide Clery and Campus Safety Compliance for the Cal State University system.  Melinda has extensive knowledge and experience managing Clery compliance issues; has worked in student affairs; and holds a law degree from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, an M.A. in Higher Educa...

John discusses some psychological factors and indicators of unhealthy drama, and provides suggestions on strategies to mitigate the impact of unhealthy drama on your workplace, school, team, or project.

Drama left unchecked in an organization can be lethal to survival of team, mission, individual, or all of those.  John discusses the instinctive human drive toward drama and its dangerous impact on collaboration against the backdrop of literature, history, and Guns N Roses’ debut album Appetite for Destruction.  WARNING:  Although the episode contains no profanity, it does contain a gritty discuss...

John Graff and returning guest Scott Schneider kick off the season by catching up on music, the realities of trial work, stand up comedy, UFC, and maintaining one’s own identity in a demanding career.  They also dive deep on why the recent U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, a Taliban Twitter post, an over-reliance on social media, and a recent poll on the American political divide from the Universi...

HRW's John Graff, Scott Roberts, and members of the SUNY ARRIVE Center team, Joseph Storch, Roma Shah, and Morgan Clifford, discuss the development and use of the Sexual and Interpersonal Violence Prevention and Response Course (SPARC). This program assists colleges and universities in training students in the prevention of sexual, interpersonal and related violence through interactive measur...

Life for young adults was already complicated before the pandemic.  Cell phones, tablets, video gaming systems, streaming videos, and helicopter – no, snowplow – parents removing character building adversity from the paths of their children.  Then the pandemic hit, requiring an internal grit to work through it – the type of grit usually developed as a result of having to deal with the same adversi...

In our second episode of the year, John talks about the many difficult challenges facing higher ed leadership in 2021.  The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, social justice and political issues, and the pressure of social media watching it all.  John comments on the critical necessity of leadership optimism tempered with realism, resilience, and risk taking focused on re-orienting toward the common goal...

Happy New Year! John and Erinn welcome HRW colleagues Pete Moser, Kathleen Berney and Mark Macchi for an important discussion on COVID-19 vaccine rollout updates, the state of the law on mandatory vaccinations, and things employers absolutely need to be thinking about while deciding whether to mandate vaccines.  Though this may be a higher ed podcast, the mandatory vaccine issue applies to every b...

John, Erinn, and Scott welcome The Wall Street Journal reporter Melissa Korn, co-author of the book Unacceptable: Privilege, Deceit & the Making of the College Admissions ScandaI, for an in-depth look at how criminal intent, cracks in the college recruiting and admissions process, parenting styles, egos, and entitlement all intersected to create the perfect storm for a near perfect scam. Durin...

John and Scott welcome Joe Storch and Elizabeth Brady for a discussion of SUNY’s innovative collaboration with Ramapo College to develop a highly efficient approach to training Clery Act campus security authorities.  Joe and Elizabeth talk about the big contribution RAPID aims to make in the Clery compliance realm, it’s very low cost – FREE – and its customization features. We also talk about SUNY...

In this special pre-holiday season solo episode, John breaks down Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidance on Thanksgiving travel and gatherings in light of a surge in college and university student travel this week.  John points out some behavioral realities as compared to CDC recommendations, and discusses what non-compliance while on holiday means for higher ed going forward.  He also talks ab...

John, and Scott welcome Sarah Brown, Senior Reporter at The Chronicle of Higher Education ( https://bit.ly/3nEw1gq ) for some decompression after a long, long year in higher ed world. A ton of good laughs, a little musical deep dive, and of course, some higher ed chat. Sarah talks about her lifelong connection to higher ed, how she landed on covering higher ed for The Chronicle , and some of the b...

Political strategist and public relations expert John Ashford of The Hawthorn Group in Alexandria, Virginia joins John and Scott for some post-election analysis and discussion about how the election outcome will impact higher ed going forward.  John Ashford helps us understand what Biden administration priorities for the education industry look like,  where the traditional four-year school fits –...

In this second of a two-part episode, John breaks down the U.S. Department of Education’s new Clery Act compliance guidance. Recall that in Part 1, John discussed the context for the announcement – the developments leading up to the Department’s drastic reversal of its longstanding guidance.  Referencing that context in Part 2, John analyzes the new guidance, discusses what it means, and suggests...

On October 9, 2020, the Department of Education released brief guidance rescinding the 2016 edition of its Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting a.k.a. the Clery Handbook. The Department’s announcement constitutes a drastic shift in its own interpretation of the role the Clery Handbook and Department guidance should play in Clery compliance and enforcement. In this first of a two-part...

COVID-19, social and political tension, Department of Education Investigations, and a little more on Jerry Falwell.  John Graff, Scott Schneider, and special guest Josh Nolan of Bricker & Eckler LLP break down recent news about Department of Education investigations into campus free speech, an Executive Order about diversity trainings of federal contractors, and a Department of Justice lawsuit...

At no time in U.S. history has higher ed faced so many simultaneous challenges as it does now. Race relations, social issues, the free speech debate, scandal, law enforcement challenges, Department of Education enforcement, a new Title IX regulation, and COVID-19. Higher education has been confronted with enterprise-wide threats due the coronavirus pandemic, which have become significantly more co...

HRW's John Graff sits down with fellow higher education attorneys Courtney Bullard (Institutional Compliance Solutions) and Scott Schneider (Husch Blackwell) for a dynamic discussion about the pending Title IX regulations. 

HRW's John Graff chats with Peter Moser, his colleague at HRW who specializes in employment law. They cover the impact of coronavirus on crisis management and employment law. Video podcast available at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k1UbTRQlIk