Hey Higher Ed Pros…Stop Shrinking Your Impact!
by Claire L Brady, EdD
A note about this series: This is a multi-part series for higher ed pros who want to lead boldly (without turning into someone they’re not). Higher ed is full of brilliant, community-driven leaders who tiptoe through their careers using language designed to sound polite, careful, accurate, and pleasant. But here’s the truth: Language shapes perception—and perception shapes opportunity. Words can shrink your influence, or they can expand it. This series is for the quietly powerful humans who are ready to take up a little more space in their own stories—without losing their collaborative soul.
Let’s go
Hi, I'm Claire—a collaborative human, a Canadian who apologizes reflexively (sorry about that), and a woman socialized to make everyone else feel comfortable first. I spent decades in higher ed learning how to keep the peace, smooth the edges, and make sure credit was shared abundantly—even when it meant shrinking my own contributions in the process.
So I say this with love: Higher ed professionals need to stop shrinking themselves on their résumés, LinkedIn profiles, and in their professional communications.
You know exactly what I mean. We write things like “co-chaired the committee,” “co-led the initiative,” or “co-developed the program”—and we write them with pride. Because we value collaboration. Because the work really was shared. Because we don’t want to look like spotlight-stealers. But here’s the problem: “co-” makes you disappear.
When Precision Becomes Self-Sabotage
In higher ed, almost everything is genuinely collaborative:
Student success committees
Strategic planning task forces
Retention initiatives
Advising reforms
First-year experience redesigns
Work gets done in circles, not straight lines. Shared leadership is real, and the collaboration matters.
But when every accomplishment starts with “co-,” hiring managers can’t see what you actually did. The message unintentionally becomes: I contributed, but not enough to claim the action. And that’s rarely true.
When you write “co-chaired,” your impact can feel like 50% of something—even when you drove the thinking, scheduling, drafting, presenting, and cat-herding. You were being accurate. But you made yourself invisible.
The Translation Problem Nobody Tells You About
Here's what happens when your résumé leaves higher ed:
What you write: "Co-led university-wide retention initiative"
What corporate hiring managers read: "Was one of several people involved in something"
What they can't see: That you facilitated 47 meetings, synthesized input from 12 departments, navigated faculty governance, presented to the board three times, and personally drove implementation across five campuses while two other "co-leads" attended occasional meetings. Your accuracy could be costing you visibility.
In other words, the most complex leadership work you’ve done reads like passive participation to people outside higher education.
Stronger Language That Still Honors Reality
Before you type “co-,” pause and ask yourself: What was actually my role?
Then try language like:
Led a cross-functional team to…
Served as committee chair responsible for…
Facilitated the design and implementation of…
Directed a collaborative effort to…
Spearheaded the launch of…
Chaired shared leadership for…
If you still feel squeamish claiming credit (hello, fellow over-accurate humans), use a second sentence to spotlight partnership:
Led a university-wide redesign of new student onboarding, increasing fall-to-fall retention by 4%. Collaborated closely with academic affairs and advising leaders to drive implementation across three campuses.
See what happened there?
You claimed leadership—because you provided it.
You demonstrated teamwork—because you value it.
You didn’t diminish yourself—because accuracy includes your actual contribution.
What Hiring Managers Actually See
Here’s the reality: hiring managers skim. They aren’t grading your precision or your humility. They’re scanning for signals that tell them, quickly and clearly, whether you can do the work they need done.
Specifically, they’re looking for evidence that you can:
Lead—even when leadership is shared
Influence across silos and constituencies
Deliver outcomes, not just participate in processes
Shape strategy, not merely implement someone else’s plan
Move people and projects forward through complexity
When your impact gets buried under careful language, those signals never register. And if they don’t see your leadership at a glance, your power never makes it off the page.
The Cost of "Co-" in Real Numbers
I've reviewed hundreds of higher ed résumés.
Here's what I see:
Weak version: "Co-managed college retention initiative"
What it cost them: Invisible contribution, no scope, no outcome, no leadership signal
Strong version: "Managed campus-wide retention and completion initiative serving 8,000 students. Led steering committee of 15 cross-functional leaders; secured $250K in new funding; increased targeted student retention by 9% over two years."
The difference wasn't exaggeration. It was accuracy about their actual role.
Three Action Steps for "Recovering Co-Leaders"
Audit your résumé for the C-word
Highlight every co-led, co-chaired, co-developed, co-managed. Be honest: are you accurately representing shared leadership, or are you hiding?Rewrite using: Action verb + Scope + Outcome
"Co-managed the grant"
"Managed $750K Title III grant supporting first-year retention; collaborated with IR and advising teams to direct resource allocation and reporting; improved first-year persistence by 6%."
Practice saying it out loud
If you can speak the leadership without apologizing (out loud or in your head), you're on the right track. If you can't? That's your socialization talking, not reality.
The Truth About Collaboration and Power
Claiming your impact does not erase anyone else's. You can be collaborative AND powerful. Shared leadership doesn't require shrinking. Honoring your team doesn't mean hiding yourself.
And you—my fellow committee-loving, consensus-driven, community-oriented higher ed pros—deserve language that reflects the strength you actually bring to the work. Not the diminished version you were taught to perform. Not the self-effacing narrative you think sounds humble. The real contribution. The actual leadership. The measurable impact. Because somewhere, a hiring manager is skimming your résumé right now. And "co-led" just made you disappear.
Now go update that LinkedIn headline. And don't apologize for it!
This image was created using ChatGPT.
