Marcos Voss

College Catalyst

Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

I have spent my entire career curious and engaged with the questions of “why do we make the choices we make, individually and collectively?” and “how can we harness our strengths and lived experiences in leadership and collaboration to create a better, more empathetic society?” It was when I encountered Principled Innovation that I felt all of the leadership assessments I had completed, the emotional intelligence trainings, the conversations with mentors and more start to coalesce around one idea that as agents of change, we must also be held to advance change when it is truly for the benefit of those around us and beyond.

My work as the chief of staff for the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts demands that I not only provide guidance, support, and thoughtful analysis to our leadership, but also to all faculty, staff and students that I work with. It is through authentic relationship-building, talent development and recognition that we empower the staff and faculty to best serve the needs of our 9,000 students and the communities around us. I believe in the power of creativity and arts/design to intersect and improve our daily lives, and the responsibility to impart that call of duty to our students — the creatives who will shape the future.

Leading with compassion, authenticity, honesty, inclusivity, and curiosity are tantamount to the way I operate on a daily basis. I have found through our PI activities in the Institute, that my colleagues bring those traits and more to work. It is when we can share, empower, hold up, and celebrate our commonalities and differences around a shared mission and vision that we create a culture that thrives and prepares our students for their next steps post-ASU.