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F&A Reimbursement, Risk, and the Illusion of Growth leadership operations

Since NIH released NOT-OD-25-068 in February of last year, I’ve been obsessed with indirect cost recovery. I’m not an economist, and I don’t have visibility into university balance sheets - they’re not transparently shared. But it’s hard not to notice that universities often talk about indirect cost...

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Capacity Is the Precondition for Innovation ideas leadership operations strategy

Peter Drucker's The Discipline of Innovation makes a case that has held up for four decades: innovation is not a matter of luck or temperament. It is a structured, systematic process rooted in observation, analysis, and disciplined execution. Drucker identifies seven sources of innovation opportunit...

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Killing Sacred Cows, Part 1: Staff Should Not Report to Faculty ideas leadership operations

This is the first in a series examining structures and assumptions in academic research that have gone unquestioned long enough to feel permanent. The last several years have stress-tested a lot of them. Some didn't hold. This one is worth naming directly.

I want to be clear up front: this is not a...

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Research Operations Need More Than Process Fixes approach leadership operations

There’s plenty to be said about the current volatility in federally funded research: unpredictable executive orders, shifting rules and compliance notices, and open threats of budget cuts or clawbacks. These developments are destabilizing and distracting.

Even without the recent noise from Washingt...

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