Learning 2 Lead Leading 2 Learn
reflections on higher education, executive coaching, and leadership
recent posts
about
Category: workplace
-
Academic environments are built on critique. Peer review, tenure decisions, grant and award competitions, and traditional governance processes signal that scrutiny is a currency of academic life. While driving us towards excellence and innovation, our academic culture often renders invisible something central to learning: failure. Timmermans and Sutherland (2020) share that “Stories of failure are…
-
I’m lucky to have amazing friends who also happen to be incredible coaches. Each January, we gather to talk about the year ahead. I cherish this time and these conversations. We reflect on the highs, lows, and learnings from the past year, then set goals and intentions for what’s coming. This work is hard, vulnerable,…
-
This time of year is tough for many leaders. We are juggling everyday leadership responsibilities, fiscal and year-end accountabilities, and navigating the ever-evolving expectations and commitments associated with the holiday season. My Recent Mind Trap Last week, I found myself in a mind trap of failure, not-enoughness, and inadequacy. What does this look like? I…
-
As a leader working in higher education, I navigate what feels like an unprecedented array of challenges. Everything feels like an urgent priority. I recently collaborated with colleagues across UCalgary’s Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning to explore the shifts and transformations we are experiencing in higher education (Kenny et al., 2025), and to develop…
-
What is joy? Joy is a positive affective or emotional state. It is something we can broaden and build (Fredrickson, 2001). The more we notice, practice, and express gratitude for the joy in our lives, the more we feel and experience it. Johnson (2020) suggests that: When we talk about bringing joy into workspaces, it…
Learning 2 Lead Leading 2 Learn 