Tenure Isn't Enough: Expanding Your Academic Influence Beyond Academia

Can your tenure truly secure your future? Discover why that job security might be an illusion and what you can do about it. 

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@drsheenahoward | Power Your Research

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

I want you to be in a position where you understand that your academic credentials have value outside of higher ed and, if you have the tools to be able to get consistent speaking engagements, to get consulting work and charge more to be out here understanding how to coach people and leverage your academic credentials so that your job is an option, because that is true security. I don't want my work to be stuck behind an academic paywall. I want to leave a legacy, I want to reach my potential and I want to change lives. This podcast, power your Research, is my attempt to help the smartest people in the world do that very thing. My hope is that you use the lessons I share to make more money than what your higher ed job can ever pay you. I've done it, my clients have done it, and so can you. You I've done it, my clients have done it, and so can you. My hope is that you'll apply what you learn here and one day join the Power your Research program, where you can work with me one-on-one. I try not to pay too much attention to all of the bad things that are happening in the world. I happened to see this article recently about a number of colleges and universities shutting down, and I particularly think that small, private liberal arts universities that are very regional are at risk of financial troubles. And you know, this article, which I'm actually reading now, says why did six colleges shut down over the past 12 months and this is a recent article, it's 2022 in Benzinga Financial News and Data, and, as I look at this, they go over why these colleges have shut down. Now, some of the colleges on this list are Becker College, concordia College in New York, judson College, lincoln College, marymount California University, ohio Valley University, you know, and the list goes on and on and on. While I don't want to get into why these universities shut down, the bottom line is you shut down when you don't have enough money right, when you don't have enough butts in seats and you can't pay your bills. And so why I think this is important is because it's one of the foundations of why I created the Power, your Research program. I see us going down a road in the future where it's very, very important for particularly tenured professors, but really anyone with an advanced degree that wants to kind of be in this higher ed space. It's really important for you to have entrepreneurship skills to remind yourself that you need to be valuable in the marketplace in case the higher ed job does not work out, particularly for my tenured professors. And here's why because when you're tenured, that means that you've been at your university for a period of time. It means that you're not really out on the job market applying for regular jobs. You have a sense of security. You've made tenure and you feel secure in where you are and you've probably decided to make it work where you.

Speaker 1: 3:28

Why I bring this up? It's because these are the concerns I had when I decided to take this brand building thing seriously. Now I've been building my brand for over a decade. I've always wanted my work to be accessible to everybody. I've always wanted to use my research to help people outside of academe. Hey, everyone, real quick.

Speaker 1: 4:05

I don't run any ads on this podcast, so I have to rely on word of mouth. If this podcast has helped you in any way, please share it with a friend and follow me, dr Sheena Howard, on LinkedIn, where I give more free content on building your brand as an academic. If you tell me you came to my LinkedIn from the podcast, I'll make sure I accept your request. I really started taking this seriously when I saw tenured professors being laid off and when I keep reading news about colleges and universities shutting down because your tenure is not going to save you, your tenure is not going to allow you to keep your job if your program or department shuts down. And so I I want you to be in a position where you understand that your academic credentials have value outside of higher ed and if you have the tools to be able to get consistent speaking engagements, to get consulting work and charge more to be out here, understanding how to coach people and leverage your academic credentials so that your job is an option, because that is true security. Tenure you do have a sense of security, but when your academic job can be an option because you have money coming in from your brand, that is true security. So if something were to happen to your university or your department or program, you are okay, you still have money coming in to your household.

Speaker 1: 5:31

So at the Power, your Research program, I don't tell any of my clients, hey, abandon your higher ed job. I tell them to make sure that you have enough money triple what your university is paying you so that if you decide to leave higher ed or you lose your higher ed job, you will be okay because you already are making more money off of your brand than what the university is paying you anyway. And I think this is really important because I do see a scenario and I feel like the scenario is here already and you can really capitalize on where we are in our society. I see kind of a two-tiered system of people with PhDs who have leveraged their brand and who are living the life of their dreams, using all of their talents and their passions to go out here and change people's lives and make money.

Speaker 1: 6:22

And then I see people who have PhDs, who even have tenure, or who don't have tenure but have PhDs and thought they would be able to get a tenure track job but couldn't who are struggling. I see these two types of people and the one person has developed entrepreneurship skills to build their brand and be secure and the other person was relying on this system to go through the tenure process, to rely on higher ed to make a life for themselves, and that is becoming increasingly more difficult. Getting a tenure track job is almost like trying to go to the NFL, you know. I hope this helps to put things in perspective and let me know in the comments what you feel about colleges shutting down and the stability of higher ed. Again, my name is Dr Sheena Howard. I'm the founder of Power, your Research, you.