Office Space: Stepping into a Leadership Role
CURRENTS Article Laurie Houck is new to her job as a vice president for development and alumni relations and reflects on what is most important in the first 100 days of a new job.

Communication Runs Through It
CURRENTS Article In this article, Tom S. Landrum, the senior vice president for external affairs at The University of Georgia, traces his career path in advancement from his first job in public relations more than 35 years ago to his appointment to the top advancement job in 2008 and discusses how his background in communications has affected his views on how development, alumni relations, and communications work together.

Managing Up
CURRENTS Article When institutional leaders lay out unrealistic fundraising expectations, it helps to educate them about the unique fundraising needs and approaches of your institution.

Odds and Ends: Breaking Through
CURRENTS Article In this interview with Vernice "FlyGirl" Armour, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. military's first black female combat pilot, she discusses her experience with creating a culture of teamwork and mutual respect, the challenges of keeping people who work for large organizations engaged, and how higher education can help veterans as well as be helped by their experience.

Tied but Not Bound
CURRENTS Article Alumni leaders who have worked for their alma mater and another institution (or two) offer insight on both experiences.

The Leadership Ladder
CURRENTS Article How will you acquire the skills necessary to be a leader in our profession or a leader on your current team? An alumni relations leader reflects on the experiences that prepared her for leadership.

Outlook: New Directions
CURRENTS Article As education and advancement leaders are exhorted to be more open, they fret about letting go of control. What leaders need to accept to succeed in today's social media landscape is that they are no longer in control (and probably never really were to the degree they thought).

Odds and Ends: Father Time
CURRENTS Article The author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People discusses time management, leadership, and leaving a legacy.

Career Path: The Perfect Fit
CURRENTS Article Sometimes a person outside of the field can make the best leader. That's what happened when a marketing professional became the head of the foundation of a large community college system.

Manager's Portfolio: Making a Management Transition
CURRENTS Article Even when you have management experience, you face new staff, a new campus culture, and new challenges when you move to a different institution. This article by an advancement professional in that situation shares his plan and offers some practical tips.

Career Path: Follow and Leader
CURRENTS Article The author took a sabbatical to raise money for a project close to her heart and learned some important lessons about how to be a good manager.

Manager's Portfolio: Leading by Questioning and Listening
CURRENTS Article Strategic questions can uncover need-to-know information for team motivation and performance

Managers Portfolio: I'm All Ears
CURRENTS Article Listening leadership means to guide yourself and others to positive results by enhanced sensing, interpreting, evaluating, storing, and responding to messages. Unfortunately, great listening is a rare management skill. To build a solid foundation for listening success, advancement managers should understand that listening is a primary communication activity; it’s an innate, learned, and improvable behavior; and that responsible and active listeners are productive listeners. Further, listening leaders constantly strive to improve their skills.

Manager's Portfolio: Hat Tricks
CURRENTS Article Successful chief advancement officers must play numerous campus roles--everything from motivator and manager to pace-setter and major gifts officer. The article identifies the seven characteristics these top professionals need to manage institution CEOs, board members, staff members across campus, and the internal advancement team.

Overarching Concerns
CURRENTS Article Just as the nature of higher education is changing, so too is the campus presidency. As advancement officers increasingly work closely with campus CEOs, they should be well informed about the demands and new challenges they face.

Closing Remarks: Lead Story
CURRENTS Article Campus leaders are the chief storytellers of their institutions. Telling stories—communicating core messages—helps them build trust, maintain integrity, model productive behavior, and set a tone for their campuses. To do so, they must ensure they’re heard amid the din of other communications, practice self-disclosure so others will be open with them, and maintain balance in their roles so their stories and messages convey a broad range of perspectives.

Closing Remarks: Looking for Leaders
CURRENTS Article Even though responsibility for creating an ethical advancement program starts at the top, too many senior leaders are silent about the importance of doing the right thing. This Closing Remarks column spells out basic principles to raise standards and create ethical organizations. The article is of interest to chief advancement officers as well as managers of alumni relations, development, marketing and communications, and advancement services.

AdvanceWork: Leadership Lessons
CURRENTS Article More guiding principles for advancement officers

Manager's Portfolio: The Leadership Paradox
CURRENTS Article Institutions want great leaders, but for leaders to be successful, their staff members must be good followers. Sevier lists four key responsibilities of exceptional followers: 1) Speak up when you feel the leader is making a mistake, but do so privately and professionally. 2) Support the leader's final decision. 3) Encourage the leader. 4) Defend the leader, and avoid engaging in public criticism.