From Pretty Notebook Dreams to Actionable Plans: How I Created My 2025 Goals
The Magic of Actionable Plans and Tools for Higher Ed Success Around New Year’s, I found myself laughing at several memes about it being the season for fancy new notebooks destined to change our lives. I’ll admit it: I’m one of those people who gets swept up in the magic of new stationery—the kind who […]
How a Ta-da List Can Boost Your Confidence
Ta-da List: Tracking Small Achievements In a podcast conversation with Kate Bowler, educator of educators, Parker Palmer shared that during a debilitating bout of depression, a therapist encouraged him to keep a list of the tiniest achievements. The therapist told him that documenting these micro wins each day would be evidence of his progress, even […]
Tired but Still Showing Up? A Guide to Leadership Burnout in Higher Education
When we talk about leadership burnout in higher education, we’re not just talking about exhaustion… Leading in higher education demands more than strategy and vision; it requires stamina, empathy, and constant adaptation. Between tightening budgets, shifting enrollment patterns, and rising expectations from every direction, it’s easy to miss the quiet signals that your energy, focus, […]
How to Build Self-Trust as a Woman in Academia: Key Strategies
Building self-trust as women in academia often means pushing past doubt and grounding ourselves in our own judgment. We encounter many expectations, some written, many implied, that can make us question our competence. Developing self-trust in leadership allows us to make clear decisions and speak with confidence. This ability becomes essential for both career growth and long-term […]
How Appreciative Inquiry Creates a Hopeful Campus Culture
Appreciative Inquiry in higher education is a strengths-based process that helps us build positive change by identifying and expanding what gives our academic communities life. Higher education often focuses on fixing problems—low engagement, poor collaboration, or lack of innovation. But, appreciative Inquiry takes a different approach by shifting attention from what is broken to what already works […]
Why Strategic Planning Often Fails in Higher Education
Higher Ed strategic plans take months to create, but fail to produce real progress. These plans are often loaded with vague goals, endless metrics, and lofty promises that never turn into measurable results. Most campuses get strategic planning wrong because they focus on creating documents instead of driving action and strategy execution. We know the frustration of watching […]
Reflection Prompts For Women In Leadership: Strategies for Growth and Balance
Every day seems full, yet the list keeps growing. Leadership brings satisfaction and purpose, but it can also feel like too much. For many of us, recognizing how our leadership development unfolds amid overwhelm is the first step toward restoring clarity and resilience. Between responsibilities at work and home, it’s easy to move so fast […]
Why Women in Higher Ed Feel Responsible for Everyone: Causes, Challenges, and Impact
Women In higher education carry the weight of collective responsibility, supporting students, colleagues, and the institution itself. Women in academia often feel responsible for everyone because cultural expectations, institutional pressures, and leadership gaps encourage them to take on more than their share of emotional and administrative labor. As these dynamics persist, they also reflect broader inequities connected […]
How Psychological Safety Shapes a More Inclusive Campus Culture
Campus culture shapes how we learn, lead, and work together. When people feel safe to share ideas, admit mistakes, and ask questions, collaboration grows stronger and trust becomes the norm. Psychological safety changes campus culture by replacing fear and silence with openness, respect, and shared responsibility. We’ve seen that campuses built on trust perform better—not because everyone […]
How to Build Trust Through Staff Engagement in Planning
Faculty and staff engagement is essential to effective campus planning, yet it’s often overlooked. When we launch new initiatives, early involvement from staff and faculty shapes stronger outcomes and smoother implementation. Many plans fail not because of poor ideas but because the people responsible for carrying them out weren’t part of the initial planning. Including […]