Fourth Education Firm LLC

Comfort (not to be confused with contentment) is a dangerous place for anyone to be, especially a leader.

If you’ve hit a ceiling or you’re not seeing as much progress professionally, it’s most likely because you’re in a comfort zone and these are the resins why:

1. 🌱You’re not challenging yourself to grow: You should be constantly adding to your professional tool belt, and sharpening skills that are strengths for you.

Or

2. 😅You’re a people pleaser: You hate the idea of someone being upset with you or making someone mad so you shy away from being direct and holding others accountable.

Or

3. 🎯Your goals aren’t ambitious enough: You get good results and can get them with your eyes closed, but you’re afraid of raising the bar for fear of not reaching it.

⏱️It took me a minute to escape the comfort zone and embrace the feeling of discomfort. But once I did, it accelerated my growth.

I’m excited for what comes next so it doesn’t take you as long as it took me

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
-Nelson Mandela

What does it take to lead? Over the past few weeks I’ve engaged with students and professionals alike and there’s one barrier that keeps coming up: discomfort.

When you choose to be a leader, understand you’re opting into experiencing discomfort more than most.

Leadership isn’t about being liked. Or the title. Or the money.

Leadership is what you do when the opportunity presents itself.

Advising and leading student leaders is a lot. If you don’t feel like you’re getting a return on the investment of time you’re making, this one is for you!

Check out my article, “The ROI of Actively Coaching Your Student Leaders.” (Link in Bio)

🗣️The Art of Communication Is Really the Art of Listening 👂🏾

Too many leaders think communication is only about speaking. Truth is, that’s only half the equation. Listening well is just as critical.

When I wrote “Grind to Grad”, I saw over and over that the students who thrived weren’t always the loudest or the most charismatic. They were the ones who actively listened— to mentors, to professors, to feedback, even to themselves.

🎯 Active listening is an underrated leadership skill. It builds trust, sharpens understanding, and helps you respond to impact, not react on impulse.

Trying to be a more effective leader? Start with listening—to. those who lead you and to those you lead.

💬👇🏾What’s one way active listening has helped you become an effective leader?

🌱What leadership skill are you developing this week?

💡For me, it’ll be intellectual prep.

Intellectual prep is the time you take to internalize the content or agenda before a meeting or coaching session.

It allows you to anticipate questions, clarify our own thinking, and ensure you’re leading with confidence and purpose.

By doing the upfront work, you’re not just reacting in the moment—you’re coaching with intention.

🧠 My intellectual prep includes these questions:

🎯What is the purpose of this time?
🎯What’s the key message and objective?
🎯Where is my team/coachee?
🎯What do they need?
🎯What do they need from me?

👇🏾What leadership skill are you developing this week?

✨ Grateful & Inspired ✨

I want to extend a HUGE thank you to Adonica Reed for inviting me to spend time with the amazing students at Southeastern Louisiana University!

I had the honor of delivering my keynote, “How to Be The Bar and Stop Making Excuses,” where we dug into what it means to set a new standard for leadership—starting with ourselves.

Following that, I facilitated my workshop, “You’re Hired!: How to Leverage Your Leadership to Make You the Only Choice,” where students learned practical ways to showcase and build skills that will make them desirable for employers.

The energy, curiosity, and engagement from these students was inspiring. Moments like this remind me why I love doing this work—helping young leaders realize that excuses don’t build futures, but preparation and leadership do.

Adonica Reed, thank you again for trusting me with your students and for creating space for their growth. Your commitment makes a lasting difference.

Good leaders never stop growing. Great leaders recognize the rigor of consistency.

No matter what you choose to develop this week - a skill that’s new or one you’ve honed but needs sharpening - lean into it.

Model your growth for those you lead. Show them the wins, the missteps. Let them into your thinking. It’ll grow them too.

This week, I’m focusing on the skill teeing up those I coach to own the work and their growth.

Part of it is being explicit about the why and how. Part of it is filling any skill or will gaps. Part of it is identifying more moments to immediately apply the skill or mindset.

Let’s see how it goes. Stay tuned and I’ll let you know my learnings at the end of the week.

👇🏾What leadership skill are you developing this week?

Legacy Interviews could change the game for your new incoming student leaders. More details in my latest newsletter on Linked In! (Link in bio)

Here’s a quick excerpt from my book, “Grind To Grad: 10 Keys to Fun, Fredom, and Finishing Your College Degree.”j

When you’ve solidified your values, it impacts you in two major ways:

1. You have clarity on exactly how to achieve the vision you have for your life.

and

2. You increase your accountability for making values-aligned decisions.

Values establish a standard for your behavior.

If you have a value of “discipline” and you have the choice to eat a cake for desert or a rice cake with honey and raisins, you’re more likely to choose the rice cake.

Chapter one of my book helps students dive deeper into different into aspects of their identity and make explicit connections to college success.

It’s be a great supplemental text for any First Year Experience or Seminar course.

Oh, by the way, there’s an accompanying workbook and journal that help spiral the lessons in the book more deeply

Today I took a swing. And missed. Bad.

I thought about what groceries we needed at home used some “down time” while my wife was getting ready for church to download a couple of apps, and scheduled our groceries for pick up.

We were late for church (but still got a good Word in). The first grocery pick up was scheduled for 1pm. Wasn’t ready until 2pm. Then when we got there, the app said groceries were already delivered.

They weren’t.

They needed to reshop to get our groceries. That whole process took about 40 minutes.

On to the next pick up. This one should be faster, right? Wrong.

Took just as long. And were it not for me going inside to nudge someone that we had been waiting, we might still be there lol.

Wife visibly upset, child getting ansy, not a fun time.

So what’s the lesson here?

I took a swing at trying to save some time. I missed. I know now not to do pick ups again (at least not for big shops and with my wife in the car 😅)

Today’s miss doesn’t mean I don’t swing again. It means I get to use today as “data” for the next swing. Even if I miss again, the swing will be sharper )or I’ll hit a single, double, etc.)

The same is true in leadership. Someone reading this is afraid to take a swing because they’re afraid they’ll miss. And it’s preventing them from being a great leader. Just know it’s a part of the process.

👇🏾What leadership swing are you taking this week?