Our founder has something to say something that might make a few folx uncomfortable… If you’re still calling student-parent work an “initiative,” you’re unintentionally signaling to your entire institution that it’s temporary. And people respond accordingly. They wait it out. They disengage. They never fully shift. Because why would they? You told them—through your language—that this has an end date. Student-parent success is not a side project. It’s not a campaign. It’s not something you roll out and hope sticks. It is infrastructure. It is leadership. It is operational. And this isn’t just about student parents. This is about every leader claiming they want transformation… but packaging it in language that guarantees it won’t last. Say what you mean. Build what you say. Anything less is just… optics. #WishfulDoing #StudentParentSuccess #HigherEdLeadership #SystemsChange #LeadershipThatWorks
If you’re doing student parent work… stop calling it an “initiative.”
That word tells your institution:
“This is temporary. Wait it out.”
And they will.
This isn’t a campaign. It’s infrastructure.
Call it what it is—or watch it fail.
Applies across industries.
#Leadership #SystemsChange
