Mushy Principles
Mission
To help our clients meet their goals for growth, quality, and efficiency. To provide assistance in a way that leads to self-sufficiency and a superior educational product in the marketplace.
In 2009, InterEd's leaders made the decision to devote a substantial portion of the company's resources to the provision of pro bono guidance to institutions that want to build the best possible adult-centered and professional programs. We offer this guidance as Executive Briefings on this website. We also offer supporting materials and interactive guidance when requested by executives of such programs.
We made this decision for three reasons.
We see a harmful imbalance between the nature and quality of supply and the type of demand in higher education. To serve the nation well, all institutional types (public, independent, for-profit) need to address substantial shortcomings in how they have responded, or failed to respond, to the rapidly changing needs of the students and markets they serve.
Second, these failures to adapt on the part of education providers are overshadowed by the failures of federal and regional departments and agencies to apply intelligent regulation in the public interest. Where we would hope to see intelligent guidance, and incentives to efficiency and service, we see regulations based more on habit and ideologically driven bias. InterEd's independence from these departments and agencies make it possible for us to be clear and direct when issuing warnings of the potential for misuse and abuse of powers at the hands of the regulators.
Third, at any given time, InterEd can provide material assistance to no more than a few percent of the one-thousand or more colleges and universities that might benefit from our direct services. Given this limitation, we see a duty to provide limited assistance to all interested institutions while providing more detailed help to a few. Additionally, many schools want to do everything they can for themselves before bringing in outside assistance. We respect this desire.
Criteria For Accepting Clients
"One ought, everyday at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, speak a few reasonable words." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
We have three decision-criteria for accepting new clients.
Enjoyable Relationship - In our experience, exceptional progress flows naturally from enjoyable, constructive relationships. Enjoyment, "fun" if you will, is first on our list because we see it as a necessary condition to a productive relationship. It is a practical recognition of how good work gets done. It is also a clear statement of our values as a company.
Distinctive Contribution – Our business is built around distinctive, sometimes exclusive, contributions to our clients' success. If another firm can do what we propose and can do it as well or better than we can do it, we would prefer that they get the business.
Half of distinctive value rests on our ability to deliver.
The other half rests on the client's ability to benefit.
In addition to us being the firm-of-choice for our prospective client, we must be convinced that our prospective client will benefit appropriately from our work. No one will be happy if you are not in a position to apply our guidance, services, and products.
Financial Soundness – Prior to accepting any engagement, we consider whether our services make financial sense — for us and for our client.
For our client, we must project an appropriate return-on-investment.
For us, we must see an appropriate margin.
For clients who have doubts about the potential ROI pursuant to an InterEd engagement, we are always open to incremental revenue sharing in appropriate contexts.
Pro Bono
In addition to Executive Briefings, our current interest lies in helping organizations, philanthropic and otherwise, deliver low cost higher education to the socially and financially disadvantaged. If you think you can break the $100/credit hour barrier in delivering quality online education to the underclass, with appropriate elements of support, talk to us. We want to help.
The Only Rules That Seem Important To Mention
Guidance
Occasionally we will recommend a third-party vendor to our clients. Since we work in an area that changes rapidly, a vendor we recommended two years ago may not be recommended today.
In the absence of long-term certainty, we can assure our clients that we do not accept compensation or considerations in any form from vendors. If we recommend a vendor for your consideration, it is because we believe they will help you meet your goal in way that is consistent with your budget, culture, needs, and calendar. To do otherwise would not meet our goal of being a trusted member of your executive team.
