When Ken Russell walked into his new role as inaugural Dean of the School of Business & Innovation at Barton College, he brought something unusual to academic leadership: decades of street-smart wisdom from Charlotte's entrepreneurial ecosystem.
I've known Ken for over three years through health tech events across our community. When we launched Advisory5, he was among the first advisors I approached—his combination of entrepreneurial grit and strategic thinking made him invaluable to our startup ecosystem. But when Ken left his CIO role for academia, I knew there was a deeper transformation story worth exploring.
The Practitioner-Philosopher Bridge
Ken's transition represents something rare in academia: genuine street-smart wisdom entering institutional leadership. "I'm a product of the streets of Charlotte," Ken explained. "A lot of my education is practical—what some folks would call street learning."
Most career transitions follow predictable patterns, but Ken's move from CIO to Dean represents what I call the practitioner-philosopher bridge. He understands that traditional business education has become disconnected from the messy realities entrepreneurs face, while recognizing the deep value in academic rigor.
What surprised Ken most during his listening tour was discovering what he calls "a lot of love at Barton." People genuinely wanted to be there and engage meaningfully with students. The challenge wasn't motivation—it was creating channels for that energy to flow into innovation.
The Six P's: Evolution, Not Revolution
Ken's operational framework—what he calls the "six P's"—demonstrates how listening translates into systematic change: Positioning, Programs, Partnerships, Pilots, Proof, and "Platformization" (his invented term for creating scalable innovation environments).
But unlike typical academic planning, these aren't abstract concepts. Ken is implementing specific, funded initiatives that bridge academic rigor with real-world application:
The Barton Undergraduate Journal: Students researching, writing, and peer-reviewing academic work—typically reserved for graduate programs. When Ken proposed this to faculty, he watched professors become genuinely excited about meaningful collaboration. "There you go, there's one right there," Ken said, describing how real projects emerge from community conversations.
Neuro Data Analytics Partnership: Using brain-monitoring technology to quantify historically unquantifiable emotions—calmness, focus, frustration. Ken's already seen this technology help a high school swimmer in Maryland manage pre-race anxiety. For Barton's business students, it represents a bridge into healthcare administration and the business of wellness.
Corporate Sponsorship Model: Learning from MIT's self-funding research centers, Ken's building what he calls a "sponsor wall" where companies invest in specific projects. "I had sponsors like IBM, and a bunch of smaller Wichita-based companies, but also Silicon Valley and Boston-based sponsors," Ken explained, referencing his successful model at Wichita State.
The Innovation Cohort Model
The most ambitious initiative is what we've been developing together: the "Dean's Innovation Cohort." Think of it as Advisory5 methodology applied to academic institutions—student-driven projects with faculty and external mentors, 90-day pilot cycles, defined outcomes, and corporate sponsors funding meaningful work.
This addresses multiple challenges simultaneously: Students get hands-on experience with real stakes. Faculty get revived through meaningful collaboration. Companies get access to fresh thinking and potential talent pipeline. The community benefits from solutions to actual problems.
Beyond Skills to Sense-Making
What Ken understands—and what most educational leaders miss—is that the future isn't about teaching skills; it's about teaching sense-making. His framework moves students through what he calls "Ken's data taxonomy": data to information to knowledge to insight to wisdom.
"The cool thing about wisdom is much bigger," Ken explained. "You've got this wisdom of all these experiences that make up who you are. You've got the ability to discern and make those one or two degree vector changes in your life or in your project."
The Culture Work Strategy
Ken's approach to institutional change offers lessons for any leader trying to transform established organizations. Rather than forcing change, he's finding existing pockets of energy and creating opportunities for meaningful re-engagement.
"Everybody wants to be part of something amazing," Ken observed. "It's just a balance—is it worth it for me to give up my routine when I've got my security?"
By making opportunities genuinely exciting rather than mandatory, Ken's creating conditions where even skeptical faculty choose to engage. The key insight: resistance often masks unfulfilled potential. When he proposed the undergraduate journal project, he watched faculty engagement levels change immediately. People weren't opposed to innovation—they were starved for meaningful work.
AI Forces the Human Question
Perhaps the most profound insight from our conversation was Ken's perspective on AI's impact on education. Rather than seeing AI as a threat, he views it as an opportunity to reclaim what makes us human.
"Gen AI is not going to take your job, but someone who knows Gen AI is going to take your job," Ken noted. "But the cool thing about AI is that it gives us the chance to participate in this world in new and different ways—ways we probably should have been participating all along."
Students arrive post-COVID as what Ken calls "tabula rasa"—less socialized but more open to learning how to engage meaningfully. This creates an unexpected opportunity for educators to help students develop the human capabilities that AI can't replicate.
This connects directly to what we see at Traction5 and Advisory5: as technical tasks become automated, the human elements—wisdom, judgment, relationship-building, meaning-making—become premium skills. Educational institutions that can teach these capabilities while providing practical application will create enormous value in an AI-dominated economy.
The Scalable Model
Ken's experiment at Barton is designed to be replicable. We're already discussing how to take the Dean's Innovation Cohort model to other institutions, leveraging our combined networks and proven frameworks.
The economic model is compelling: corporate sponsors fund real projects, students gain practical experience, faculty get revived through meaningful work, and communities benefit from solutions to actual problems. The sustainability comes from creating value for all stakeholders rather than depending solely on traditional funding models.
Companies get research value and talent pipeline access. Faculty get meaningful collaboration opportunities. Students get practical experience with real stakes. And the model naturally expands networks through corporate partnerships and project collaborations, creating a virtuous cycle of growth and impact.
The Bridge-Builder's Test
Ken faces a crucial test in the coming months: can this model produce the kind of progress that builds momentum for transformation? "It's got to be a win a month kind of thing," he explained. "Never more than 30 days for your next win."
But the real measure won't just be Barton's success. It will be whether other institutions adopt similar approaches, whether corporations see sufficient value to sustain sponsorship, and whether graduates demonstrate the kind of practical wisdom that commands premium in an AI-dominated economy.
For those of us working in entrepreneurial ecosystems, Ken's journey offers hope that we can create more integrated models of professional development—ones that honor both rigorous thinking and practical wisdom. In a world where AI handles routine tasks, we need more leaders who understand that the future belongs to those who can help others become more deeply, authentically human.
Ken Russell is building that bridge, one meaningful project at a time.
Ken Russell's book "Transact, Transform, Transcend" is available on Amazon. Advisory5 connects health tech founders with experienced advisors for strategic guidance and mentorship. Learn more about the Dean's Innovation Cohort model at igor@gorlatov.com.
