Over the past several years, I've had the opportunity to review career ecosystems at institutions across the country. Some campuses were nationally recognized for their work. Others were just beginning to rethink how career preparation fit into their broader institutional strategy. Every institution looked different on the surface, yet one pattern kept appearing.
While developing The Career Design Blueprint™, I found myself asking the same question in meetings with presidents, provosts, vice presidents, career leaders, and faculty.
Who owns career strategy at your institution?
The room almost always gets quiet.
People don't avoid the question. They genuinely want to answer it. They begin thinking out loud.
"Career services..."
"Well... maybe Academic Affairs?"
"The provost probably has oversight."
"Actually, it depends on what you mean by career strategy."
Someone usually laughs.
Not because the question is funny.
Because everyone realizes they're trying to solve it together.
That moment became one of the most important observations behind The Career Design Blueprint™.
What the hesitation reveals
I've become convinced that the answer matters less than the conversation it creates.
The hesitation tells me whether the institution has ever had an explicit discussion about who is responsible for leading its career strategy. It reveals how decisions are made, how priorities are established, and whether career preparation is viewed as an institutional strategy or a collection of individual initiatives.
Those are very different conversations.
Many institutions have invested significant time and resources in career preparation. Faculty are redesigning courses. Career centers are building employer partnerships. Student affairs is expanding programming. Advancement is engaging alumni. Enrollment teams are talking about career outcomes with prospective students. Every area is contributing meaningful work.
The question is whether those efforts are moving toward the same institutional strategy.
Why this matters
Career strategy reaches across nearly every division of the institution. It influences curriculum, experiential learning, employer engagement, alumni relationships, workforce partnerships, student success, and increasingly, enrollment strategy.
When leadership has established clear authority for coordinating that work, decisions become easier to make. Priorities become easier to sustain. New initiatives have a place to connect rather than another lane to occupy.
When that authority is less defined, institutions often experience something different.
Projects move forward because individual leaders have strong relationships. Progress depends on personal influence more than institutional design. Decisions require more conversations, more coordination, and more consensus-building. Leadership transitions can slow momentum because so much knowledge and coordination lives with individuals rather than with the system itself.
None of those challenges appear on an organizational chart.
They emerge in the everyday work of leading an institution.
While developing the Career Design Blueprint™, I realized this question belonged at the very beginning. Before institutions can strengthen employer partnerships, redesign curriculum, or expand experiential learning, they need a way to understand how their system is designed. That's why Authority & Governance became the first of six domains.
Over the next several weeks, I'll walk through each of these domains and the questions that shaped them. Together, they create a picture of how prepared an institution is to build a truly connected career ecosystem.
One question to ask this week
If you'd like to understand your institution a little better, ask five senior leaders one simple question.
👉 Who owns career strategy at our institution?
Don't define the terms and don't suggest possible answers.
Simply ask the question and listen.
Notice how people answer, where they agree, where they hesitate.
Then compare what you heard.
The conversation itself may tell you more about your institution's governance than any strategic plan or reporting structure.
Final thoughts
Authority & Governance became the first domain of The Career Design Blueprint™ because I kept encountering this same moment across institutions. The campuses making sustained progress had usually answered this question long before they launched new initiatives. They had established who would convene people, make decisions, set priorities, and maintain momentum over time.
Everything else became easier because the foundation had already been built.
As more institutions complete the Career Ecosystem Readiness Assessment, I'm looking forward to sharing the patterns that continue to emerge. Until then, I encourage you to start with one simple question.
Who owns career strategy at your institution?
The answer—and perhaps even more importantly, the conversation that follows—may reveal where your institution is ready to grow next.
Until next time, keep asking good questions,
P.S. The Career Ecosystem Readiness Assessment isn't widely available yet, but the first cohort is completing it now. Watching institutional teams work through these questions together has reminded me that some of the most valuable insights emerge during the conversation, not just from the results.
