Excerpts from Lee Higdon’s writings

“Although we are working particularly hard in this economic climate to make our programs [at the College of Charleston] more practical, we will continue to do what we have done for over 230 years — teach our students how to learn. That, after all, is the most beneficial preparation for professional life in a volatile world.”
Opinion piece in The Greenville (S.C.) News, December 23, 2001

“My wife and I joined the Peace Corps in the ’60s teaching school in Malawi, Africa, for two years. What I realize now more than 30 years later is that my M.B.A. gave me my skills, but the Peace Corps gave me my soul. It also made my options unlimited, and through it I discovered that intersection of practicality and idealism that is so hard to find in the conventional workplace… Along with being trained in the concrete business demands of leadership, communication and innovation, we also learned the fundamental values for success: how to learn, listen and adapt.”
Opinion piece in The (Charleston) Post and Courier, May 21, 2002

“…the most important thing you can do now to increase your marketability is to take a broad-based, challenging, and varied curriculum, and adhere to the highest standards in your studies and activities. By not limiting yourself, you’ll better develop your critical thinking skills and creative approaches to problem solving.”
Preparing for a Tough Job Market: An Open Letter to Students
The Tampa Tribune, April 5, 2004

“Salomon Brothers was a tough place. It’s a meritocracy. There is always the attitude of ‘what have you done for me lately.’ … I found myself wanting to make more of a contribution, have a true community around me.”
Quoted in The Post and Courier, January 5, 2002

“…entrepreneurship doesn’t necessarily denote just an adherence to capitalism, or some single-minded pursuit of personal gain. Instead, ‘true’ entrepreneurship is a process: a series of actions, motivated by a certain mindset, resulting in the creation of value. Given this definition, what, if any, relationship exists between entrepreneurship and a liberal education?

“As educators, we can agree that the means by which our students learn may differ. But the end result we seek is always the same: to instill in our students a way of thinking creatively, analyzing critically, and questioning independently — all in the hopes of finding a better life. So if entrepreneurship is a process of innovation motivated by a particular way of thinking, and the desired result of a liberal education is the development of a creative and analytical approach, then the two concepts actually spring from the same mindset. The question then becomes: how can each serve the other in higher education?”
Presentation to the American Association of Colleges and Universities, January 26, 2005