Michael M. Crow

Q: What most notably stands out about your leadership style or what is an example of leadership success you can share with our readers?

Every day presents a new opportunity — seize it. Drop yesterday’s baggage and focus forward.

Leadership is about looking ahead while staying committed to your guiding principles. At ASU, we have developed a Charter that we rigorously follow, focused on inclusion, excellence, research of public value and taking responsibility for the communities we serve.

My focus since I arrived at ASU in 2002 has been on the design of a new kind of university, focused on access and student success, using every tool and technology at our disposal to make that happen. The work on this front continues through collaboration, innovation and perseverance. Arizona is a unique place that offers extraordinary opportunity. My mantra is very simple: “Never give up.” Keep working.

Q: What impact has any disruptions of the past 18 months had on you as a leader?

We live in a world that is evolving rapidly in complexity and through technology, which means change is inevitable. The key to success is the ability to adapt.

Leaders have a fundamental responsibility to determine what is important, bring their teams together to find how to address the issues we face, absorb that input, and then act decisively. That process applies regardless of what circumstances we face.

Disruption has always been part of the human condition. The only difference today is the speed at which it is happening. It increases the urgency to look ahead, innovate and explore all contingencies to keep our efforts on track. Whether it is a global health crisis or the introduction of new technology like AI, ASU will respond with agility, creativity and commitment to service. We have a culture that is based on the ability to adjust and thrive no matter what curve balls the universe throws at us.

Q: What do you feel we can be doing as a business community to empower economic growth here?

This is an important question for Arizona’s business community because it is the place where self-interest and the public interest come together. A bridge between those two interests is Arizona’s public universities, which have demonstrated the collective ability to produce substantive outcomes for our state and its economy with only a fraction of the funding that systems in other states receive. We are talking about billions of dollars of direct, indirect and induced growth and impact, but, rather than work together to set ambitious goals and invest in educational and human capital development, we continue to miss an opportunity that states like Texas and Florida have not.

Businesses are looking for talent and people are looking for jobs and careers that will enable them to thrive. We know that the social benefits of increasing college degree attainment include increased earning and tax payments, reduced unemployment, better health outcomes, decreased use of social support services and higher civic engagement.

There is mutual interest and the potential for mutual benefit. Arizona’s universities need the business community to work with us to help make our case. We need marching orders. And we need investment to manifest the 21st century workforce, systems and technologies to position our state as a competitive leader.

Q: What is new and notable for your company’s near future that will impact our economy?

We have many notable efforts underway related to water, energy and space exploration challenges, among others, that stand to have a significant impact on the Arizona economy. However, two major initiatives are especially critical to Arizona’s future.

The first is our work to establish Arizona as a hub for semiconductor manufacturing, essentially creating an emerging and critical industry for our state. These collaborative endeavors, with local, state, national and global partners, are imperative to fortifying our state’s economic prosperity and global competitiveness, and our national security.

The second is ASU Health, a comprehensive, interdisciplinary ecosystem designed to produce better health outcomes for all Arizonans. By establishing a new School of Medicine and Advanced Medical Engineering, a School of Technology for Public Health, and a Health Observatory at ASU, ASU aims to redesign health care, produce new kinds of health professionals and evolve the patient experience.