August 30, 2025

Read Time - 4 minutes

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

— African proverb

The start of the academic year always feels electric to me—fresh faces, full classrooms, and a sense of possibility in the air. And I’ve learned that the real measure of a successful year rarely comes from the strength of my ideas alone. It comes from how well I invite others into them.

The Gap Between Vision and Reality

If you’re in leadership right now, chances are you were chosen for your vision. Institutions crave it—especially after seasons of drift or stagnation.

The trap many leaders fall into is treating vision like a solo mandate—something they must carry out alone.

But this is what you have to keep in mind:

The vision may start with you. But the path forward can’t.

You see possibility. And your team may not...at first.

Even the best vision will fall flat if people don’t understand it, trust it, or see themselves in it.

So the real work is this: How do you turn a personal vision into a shared one?

A Messy Part of Leadership to Practice

It’s not charisma.

It’s not strategy.

It’s co-creation. Co-creation is what shifts leadership from carrying the burden alone to carrying it with your people.

• A chair who admits, “I don’t have the full picture of the curriculum. What do you see?” gets stronger ideas.

• A dean who says, “I’m not close enough to advising to decide this—let’s bring in our advisors,” builds credibility.

• A provost who asks, “What might we be missing?” deepens trust.

The strategy is simple:

It’s an invitation for others to bring their strengths—and, in the process, their buy-in.

3 Moves That Invite Co-Creation

So how do you lead in a way that draws people in instead of pushing ideas onto them?

1. Define the question, not the answer.

   Instead of “Here’s the budget cut,” try: “If we had to reduce by 10%, where would you look first?”

2. Name your limits.

   “I need your expertise here” is not a liability.

3. Set boundaries, then step back.

   Frame the problem (budget, timeline, people) and let your team own the solution.

This is how you move from carrying decisions alone to creating ownership of them together.

💡 Coaching Question for You

Where in your leadership right now are you holding on too tightly to the path—when what your team really needs is an invitation to help shape it?

Ten Ways to Line People Up Behind Your Vision

Think of these less as steps and more as conditions you create for alignment to flourish. Here are ten moves that turn co-creation from an idea into a shared reality.

1. Lead with a why that connects. Why now, what’s changing, what is success, how we’ll help.

2. Find your first followers. Champions multiply momentum. Focus on your early supporters.

3. Communicate like a human, not just a leader. Shift your tone to fit the room.

4. Give people the pen. Invite others into the “how.”

5. Translate vision into their world. What does this mean for each specific audience.

6. Use structure to sustain alignment. Make sure your organizational structure supports the vision.

7. Ask for feedback—and prove you listened. Show them how their input shaped action.

8. Give committees real power. Symbolic groups drain energy. Empowered ones fuel it.

9. Draw the big picture again (and again). Repetition isn’t redundant—it’s reinforcement.

10. Stay present when it’s hard. Visibility matters most when progress feels slow.

The Bottom Line

If leadership were just about having a vision, almost anyone could do it.

The true art lies in bringing vision to life—through the energy, choices, and contributions of others.

That’s not management—It’s co-creation.

And it’s the muscle that will define how far you and your team can go this year.

Try This Before Friday

Instead of presenting a fully baked plan this week, bring just one piece of it to your team.

Say:

• “Here’s the goal I’ve been asked to reach.”

• “Here’s what I know.”

• “Here’s what I don’t know yet.”

Then ask:

• What possibilities do you see that I haven’t considered?

• What would make this goal worth rallying around for you?

This small shift—from telling to asking—builds alignment faster than any polished slide deck.

Thanks for reading.

I'll see you next Saturday.

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