The College 2011
sustainability: we know what the goal is if we wish to be on a firm financial footing by the 150th anniversary of the Foundation of the College. That goal is ambitious, but the signs are that it is attainable. College is already in the quiet phase of the Development Campaign that will achieve it, and there is tremendous support in our extended family. I recently visited Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai and that trip reminded me just what a broad base of support, interest and engagement there is in the future of Girton. I know that when I visit the USA later this year, I shall have the same experience. But one thing is clear from these discussions: if we are to make the most of our human and other resources in these highly uncertain times, we need a plan. That brings me to the fourth ‘nudge’ – a new round of strategic academic planning. Exercises like this can be frustrating of course. Bureaucracies have a tendency to engage in circuits of information-gathering, reporting and evaluating, and the net result can simply be to maintain the status quo. There is, of course, nothing wrong with staying the same; indeed it can be hard and productive work to keep particular values in place. The challenge is achieving the right balance of continuity and change. To that end, a body of scholarly work that I find particularly inspiring is Max Weber’s thesis on the interplay of institution building (establishing the routines that keep things the same) with charisma (the energies that drive things on). Now if there is one thing that impresses me most about Girton it is the fact that it is full of charisma. It seems to me that the time is right to harness those energies as we reflect on the past, celebrate the present and grasp the future – not a future that sweeps us relentlessly into its wake, but rather the future that we plan, very actively, to make. Next year, I hope to share this plan with you. Conclusion I am reluctant to conclude something as ongoing as an annual letter. Why would one wish to round things off just as a new year beckons and so much is in the air? I thought I would end, therefore, with an observation from the world of Psychology concerning the way individuals and institutions fare on the cruise ship of life. I am sure you know the story: some set their deck chairs facing the stern, so they can reflect on the route they have travelled; others turn their deck chairs forwards, to embrace whatever is ahead. At Girton I expect we shall do both: we shall face backwards sufficiently to remember what inspired us, and to avoid reinventing the wheel; we shall turn forwards far enough to anticipate change from a position of strength. What is certain, given the active year we've had so far, is that we won't be in the state of unreadiness voiced by cartoon character Charlie Brown. Who can fail to learn from that edition of Peanuts in which, when Lucy asked which direction his deck chair faced, Charlie Brown replied: ‘I’ve no idea, I’ve not even got it unfolded!’ Susan J Smith
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