“Jeff, what does Day 2 look like?”

That’s the first line of Jeff Bezos’ 2016 letter to shareholders, a question from a staff member at an all-hands meeting in which he describes a transformation that organizations can find themselves undertaking without careful and diligent attention. His response:

“Day 2 is stasis. Followed by irrelevance. Followed by excruciating, painful decline. Followed by death. And that is why it is always Day 1.”

We start our conversation on the podcast today, pivoting off of Bezos’ response and his drive to maintain the agility of Day 1 inside Amazon, with a question of our own: Where is higher ed? Is higher ed in Day 1 or Day 2?

There is power in exploring this question for ourselves and then finding ways to explore with others.

Jeff Bezos’ letter will take you just a few minutes to read, and it sets the stage for a broader discussion that is critical for us in higher ed to help move our institutions forward with courage.

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