Three Years Later: What Consulting Has Taught Me About Leadership, Higher Education, and Taking the Leap

by Claire L. Brady, EdD

Three years ago, I did something that terrified me.

After more than 25 years in higher education, I walked away from a career I loved to launch Glass Half Full Consulting and pursue full-time consulting and executive coaching.

The decision sounds simple in hindsight. It wasn't.

For most of my adult life, my identity was deeply connected to the campuses I served. I knew the rhythms of an academic year. I understood move-in days, commencement ceremonies, orientation programs, budget cycles, and leadership retreats. My calendar was shaped by semesters. My work was rooted in a community. I wasn't just leaving a job—I was leaving a professional home and an identity that had been built over decades.

There were moments when I wondered if I was making a terrible mistake.

Thankfully, I wasn't.

What started as a leap of faith has become one of the greatest joys of my professional life.

Over the last three years, I've had the privilege of partnering with more than 100 colleges, universities, associations, and organizations. I've worked with presidents, vice presidents, boards, faculty, staff, and students. I've facilitated strategic planning efforts, coached executive leaders, led AI initiatives, delivered keynotes and trainings, and helped teams navigate some of the most significant challenges and opportunities facing higher education today.

Along the way, a few lessons have become crystal clear.

First, higher education is filled with extraordinary people.

The headlines often focus on enrollment declines, financial pressures, political tensions, and disruption. Those challenges are real. But what I see every day are dedicated professionals who continue showing up for students, communities, and one another. The people in this profession remain one of its greatest strengths.

Second, most institutions don't have a strategy problem. They have a capacity problem.

After three years of working with more than 100 organizations, I've become convinced that most campuses already know what matters. They know student success matters. They know culture matters. They know leadership matters. They know AI is reshaping the future of work and learning.

The challenge is rarely identifying the right priorities. The challenge is creating the capacity, alignment, and momentum to move those priorities forward. The institutions making the greatest progress aren't necessarily the ones with the most ambitious plans. They're the ones building the conditions that allow good ideas to become reality.

Third, leaders need mirrors as much as they need maps.

Higher education leaders are carrying an incredible amount right now. They are navigating uncertainty, change, competing priorities, and constant demands for answers. What I have learned through coaching and consulting is that leaders don't necessarily need someone to tell them what to do. They need someone who can ask good questions, challenge assumptions, create space for reflection, and help them see around corners.

Sometimes the most valuable thing a leader can have is a trusted thought partner who isn't embedded in the politics, history, and day-to-day pressures of the institution. Someone who can help them see themselves, their team, and their challenges more clearly.

I've certainly experienced that lesson myself. Building a business, writing a book, and navigating this transition would have been far more difficult without mentors, colleagues, coaches, and friends who challenged and supported me along the way.

This year brought milestones I never imagined when I launched Glass Half Full Consulting. I published “AI with Intention”, had opportunities to contribute to national conversations about artificial intelligence in higher ed, and continued helping organizations think not just about technology, but about leadership, culture, and change. Increasingly, my work has moved beyond AI awareness and exploration into long-term implementation and transformation. I now have the privilege of partnering with institutions on multi-year AI strategy efforts, helping leaders move from "What should we do?" to "How do we actually do it?" I've also had the opportunity to serve as a strategic thought partner to national associations seeking to create meaningful value for their members as AI reshapes higher ed. Watching my clients move from curiosity to capability has been one of the most rewarding parts of this journey.

Yet the achievement I'm most proud of isn't a book, a keynote, or a client list.

It's the relationships.

• To every client who trusted me with your teams, your challenges, and your aspirations for the future—thank you.

• To the colleagues, partners, and friends who have collaborated, referred, encouraged, and championed my work—thank you.

• And to Ben and Fox, who have shared me with campuses, conferences, airports, Zoom calls, keynote stages, and writing projects far more often than anyone should reasonably expect—thank you most of all.

Three years later, my glass isn't just half full.

It's overflowing with gratitude.

I remain as optimistic about higher education—and the people who lead it—as I was on day one.