Higher Performance Insights | The Wall You're Not Building
January 14, 2025
It's easy to be seduced by the big goal, the shiny project, the next big thing that's going to change everything on your campus.
But that's not how real change works.
Will Smith tells a story about his father1 that cuts right to the heart of this. His dad asked him and his brother to build a wall. Brick by brick. Day after day. For eighteen months.
The wall wasn't the point.
Most campus leaders are trying to build their wall the wrong way. They're focused on the end result - the strategic plan, the culture transformation, the team development initiative. They're selling the vision of what could be.
But here's the thing that matters: There is no wall.
There's only today's brick.
There's only the three-minute conversation you have with the discouraged administrator. The way you handle the budget meeting. The email you write to acknowledge someone's extra effort.
These moments? They're your bricks.
James Clear talks about falling in love with boredom2. He's onto something. Excellence isn't exciting. It's repetitive. It's showing up. It's doing the small thing right, even when no one's watching.
Especially when no one's watching.
Because here's what happens: Your team sees. They notice. Not the big speech you gave at the start of the semester. They notice how you treat the maintenance staff. They notice when you're early to meetings. They notice the way you listen.
The secret? Stop trying to build a wall.
Start laying bricks with unusual care.
That's it.
That's the whole thing.
Footnotes
- Will Smith Job Interview on Charlie Rose
- Clear, James. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. Penguin Random House, 2018. ↩
Team Discussion Question
Think about the last major change you created on campus. Was it really one big initiative? Or was it hundreds of small, consistent actions that added up to something bigger? What's your brick for tomorrow?
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