I’ve been using the term “ONE Mendoza” with increasing frequency. It reflects our desire to be a single college team with a unified purpose, aligned objectives and a common culture. There are two images that come to my mind when I think of ONE Mendoza.

The first is simpler and focuses on how our faculty, staff and students make up departments, functions and programs that are the Mendoza College of Business. Imagine looking down over a triangular pyramid with its three vertical sides rising up from the ground to meet at the apex. Metaphorically, each face is the primary “home” for each of our core internal constituencies, but there are three edges where the faces meet and a central apex where all three faces converge. 

To extend that metaphor, I envision these edges and apex are where much of our work actually happens and, when done well, we reach the peak (pun intended) of our mission as a college:

The second is a slightly more detailed and functionally centric organization graphic. It aims to show the relationship between an expanded list of internal and external core constituencies (the circles):

• Faculty
• Staff
• Students
• Student Prospects
• Alumni
• The Global Public

… and our functional groupings (the rectangles):

• Marketing & Brand Strategy
• Graduate Enrollment
• Graduate Career & Alumni Engagement
• Student Experience (Graduate & Undergraduate)
• Research
• Strategy & Planning
• College Operations

… in relation to the student journey and each other. It’s not a perfect representation but it’s helpful in what it communicates simply about who we are as an organization and how our work is associated with our constituents.

Since Dean Cremers announced organizational changes this summer we’ve been hard at work bringing that ONE Mendoza vision to life. We’ve drawn special inspiration from the new Strategic Framework for the University, where this opportunity can also be seen through a College lens:

“Becoming the Notre Dame the world needs will require the University to become better at thinking as an institution.”

We can practice thinking as an institution by first thinking as a College (beyond our immediate program, team or work function). Thinking as a College means moving toward a more unified, collaborative and organized way to achieve our goals. That has implications for almost every aspect of our daily work experience, including the tools that we use, the questions we ask ourselves and the way we help each other realize success.

I’ll devote time to these topics (and enlist the help of others) in future Mendoza Exchange entries. In the meantime, I would like to leave you with a reflection:

Have you ever been a part of a championship team? Or a team that did something very hard?

What did it look like? (From inside the team and from the outside?)

What did it feel like? (How would you describe the energy and emotion?)

What did it sound like? (What did you say to each other?)

Discuss this with your immediate team and your fellow Mendoza teammates. Share your experiences and reflect on how we can become a ONE Mendoza championship team.

Gratefully,

Rob

Rob Kelly
Chief Operating Executive