In a previous post, we asked a fundamental question about our profession: How do I design careers that allow us to grow, from wherever we are at that point in our lives?

That question invited a shift in perspective and demanded a shift from viewing your career as a narrow ladder to seeing it as a broad, strategic scaffold. But once that scaffold is built, a new challenge emerges, especially around the question of leadership.

For many on campus – and in international higher education, in particular – positionality, scholarly accomplishments, and subject matter expertise are often mistaken for leadership. We arrive in senior roles after years of individual academic achievement, publications, and terminal degrees.

This can create what we call the faculty leadership trap, where the mindset required for tenure clashes with the relational needs of administrative leadership while giving us a sense of entitlement to being seen as leaders. At the same time, many of us feel a heavy pressure to appear infallible.

Although our title certainly entitles us to respect and demands total control, in a world of tightening immigration policies, budget pressures, and geopolitical instability, trying to be the all-knowing leader is a liability.

True growth and effective leadership in the 21st century require the courage to say four simple words: I do not know.

The Strategic Power of Intellectual Humility

Intellectual humility is not a sign of weakness. Instead, we see it as a vital strategic asset for socially responsive contemporary leadership.

When a leader admits they do not have all the answers, they stop being a sage on the stage and become an investigator and begin to seek out the expertise of frontline staff, the people who truly understand how the organization operates where the rubber meets the road. If done skillfully, this shift has the power to create high levels of psychological safety and signal that different perspectives, and even failures, are not just welcomed but necessary for the operation to thrive.

In short, practicing cultural humility is essential for achieving organizational excellence because it allows leaders to move beyond their own biases, acknowledge the position of privilege they may hold, listen and consult before making decisions, and leverage an empowered culture of collective intelligence.

Leading with Vulnerability and Risk

Yes, relinquishing absolute control can involve risk and will require a level of vulnerability that can feel uncomfortable in the high-stakes environment of global higher education. Many leaders socialized in a traditional managerial mindset fear that admitting a lack of knowledge will make them appear weak. The opposite is true, however: allowing yourself to be vulnerable as a human being with shortcomings and aspirations can build vital social (and political) capital with your team that will prove far more valuable than short-term utility during periods of institutional restructuring or financial austerity.

Leading with humility builds stronger group adhesion by empowering colleagues with different viewpoints and ensuring that the office functions as a complex and highly adaptive human ecosystem rather than a machine with replaceable parts.

Coaching as a Pedagogical Meta-Skill

How do we internalize this humble mindset? The answer lies in the power of experiencing coaching.

Coaching is more than a service, process, or investment; it is a meta-skill that you can model in your own management practices. By adopting a coaching approach and mindset with your team, one shifts the role from directing to supporting and from telling to inquiry. Instead of making decisions based on potentially incomplete information, using active listening and powerful questioning fosters agency and ownership.

Experiencing the power of being coached is perhaps the most effective way to develop these essential human-centric practices. Through the coaching partnership, you also learn to manage feelings of vulnerability in a safe, confidential space and witness firsthand how a guide on the side can facilitate success more effectively than a directive manager.

As leaders in an environment of ever-shifting regulatory and geopolitical demands and pressures, such an approach is also what enables our offices to develop true organizational agility.

Designing Your Leadership Future

As this series of posts attempted to show, career sustainability is about more than just your next job: It is about the kind of leader you wish to become. (Or, perhaps, not.)

Navigating the complexities of global higher education requires more than administrative expertise. It demands a commitment to trust, transparency, and the courage to learn from everyone around you.

Gateway International Group offers professional career and leadership coaching services specifically designed for the global education space. We help you move beyond the expert mindset to build the humble, agile, and human-centered leadership capacity your institution needs.

Contact Gateway International Group today to learn how our experienced coaches can help you design a leadership journey that allows you to grow wherever you are.

Resources

• Brown, B. (2018). Dare to lead: Brave work, tough conversations, whole hearts. Random House.
• Jansa, T. (Host). (2025, September 25). Equity-Centered Leadership and Change | Dr. Joel Pérez. [Video podcast episode]. In Coaching in Higher Education. Leadership Imagined. [https://youtu.be/Wi2LAmWQHhM]
• Jansa, T. & Anderson, D. L. (2021). Socially Responsive Leadership for Post-Pandemic International Higher Education: Theoretical Considerations and Practical Implications. Institute of International Education.[https://www.iie.org/publications/member-voices-socially-responsive-leadership/]
• Jansa, T. & Spencer, S. E. (2026). The ABCs and a Crystal Ball: Know Yourself Before You Reinvent Yourself. [https://gatewayinternational.org/the-abcs-and-a-crystal-ball-know-yourself-before-you-reinvent-yourself/]
• Spencer, S. E. (2025). Are You Climbing a Ladder—or Scaffolding a Career That Works for You? [https://gatewayinternational.org/are-you-climbing-a-ladder-or-scaffolding-a-career-that-works-for-you/]