I love to learn. This week, rather than share my latest thinking, I wanted to share some of the best of what I’ve been reading that has me thinking. I’ve organized it loosely into three areas: higher education, leadership, and the broader question of how to be a grounded human in unsettled times. You’ll notice those categories bleed into each other. That’s probably the point.
On Higher Education
We Did Not Bring This on Ourselves, but We Watched as It Happened
Mike Gavin, Substack
Gavin’s argument isn’t that higher ed is to blame for the attacks it’s facing (as some have argued), but that we were too slow, too passive, and too siloed to mount any real response while there was still time. I recently had Mike and Dr. Liliana Garces on Student Affairs Now. They are clear about their thinking on what is facing higher education and how we can move through it.
Trust Isn’t the Issue
Charlotte M. Canning, Inside Higher Ed
The dominant narrative is that higher education has a trust problem. Canning’s reframe is sharper: we actually have a truth problem. That’s not a semantic distinction. It changes what rebuilds the trust it has lost, without talking about all the people who are intentionally, purposely, and disingenuously lying about higher education for their own personal, political, and financial gain. I’m glad someone said it.
On Witnessing and Wonder: Confronting Moral Injury in Higher Ed
Mays Imad, Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning
Mays Imad is becoming one of my favorite thinkers and writers in higher education. She blends neuroscience, trauma-informed practices, and transformational leadership in this piece, discussing how to name moral injury and metabolize it into moral courage, specifically in the context of higher education leadership.
On Leadership
The Leadership Pattern That Leaves You Carrying Everything
Joyce Chen, Conscious Leadership Group
The Conscious Leadership Group (CLG) is one of my go-to sources for leadership. I don’t always love what they share, but I always read it. I love this one. When I say leadership begins with inner work, this is what I mean. Smart and capable leaders avoid the discomfort of honest conversation and end up absorbing the consequences of that avoidance. It’s easier to take it on than have the hard conversation. If you’ve ever found yourself doing someone else’s job because a hard conversation felt too costly, this is for you.
Meditation: Kobe Bryant
Elise Devlin, The Athletic
I’m not a Kobe Bryant fan for the obvious reasons, so I was skeptical of this one, but it’s more about meditation and the author’s experience experimenting and lessons learned about its impact on performance, leadership, and more. Meditation changed my life, and it’s one of the tools I’m often recommending to leaders looking for more spaciousness to slow down and be more grounded and centered.
20 Nuggets on Leadership from the World of Sports
Jayson Jenks, The Athletic Peak Newsletter
Sports are just one very public realm of high performance. There’s lots to learn about leadership, being at our best, and navigating challenges for all of us. This is a well-curated list of great insights from the realm of sports for the rest of us.
Staying Grounded in Hard Times
Riding the Leopard
Packy McCormick, Not Boring
This is a challenging read, mixing leadership, technology, philosophy, and spirituality. I appreciated the deep dive, and although I didn’t agree with (or even get) all of it, it has left me rereading and thinking.
The End Isn’t Nigh
Oliver Burkeman, The Imperfectionist
Burkeman is one of the clearest voices I know on complexity, productivity, and the limits of control. In this newsletter, he argues against catastrophizing our current context, not because it isn’t bad, but because things have almost always been worse. This isn’t a naive Pollyanna perspective, but it is thought-provoking and maybe even helpful.
Your Turn
These are just a few of the pieces that I haven’t been able to get out of my head. I thought I would share them with you. I’d love to hear what you think about these shared resources. Is this something you’d like more of or never again? Thanks for reading.
