At a recent Boston College retreat, I invited a group of scholar-leaders to explore a radical idea: What if you are the leader you’ve been waiting for? In a time when higher education needs courage, imagination, and hope, this reflection calls us to stop waiting for change “out there” and begin leading from within — with self-awareness, reflection, and community.

"Higher education leaders don’t need more outside advice—they need trusted partners who understand their institution from the inside out. Through our Integrated Advisory Partnership, Integrated Strategy Consulting offers a fractional Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) model that provides high-context counsel, strategic alignment, and real-time support to help universities achieve greater clarity, momentum, and long-term success.

We often say “hope is not a strategy”—but what if it’s the heart of one? Drawing on Jessica Riddell’s Hope Circuits, we see hope not as wishful thinking, but as a disciplined, intentional stance for navigating complexity. Hope invites leaders to pause, think differently, do differently, tolerate discomfort, expand the circle, and build intentional community. It is what turns uncertainty into possibility and aligns action with vision. As Riddell reminds us: Hope is a circuit w

As careers in higher education and nonprofit leadership evolve, titles alone don’t tell the full story. Moving into senior roles requires more than deep expertise within a single function. It calls for the ability to lead across the organization, influence peers, and act as an institutional thinker. At Integrated Strategy, we help leaders develop both their vertical depth—the expertise that grounds their work—and their horizontal reach.