I promised my granddaughter I would be there. But a last-minute meeting took its place, and that night when she asked, “Did you see me wave from the stage?” I hadn’t. The ache was sharper than any pressure I had carried from work. Leadership isn’t about collecting yeses. It’s about protecting alignment — because every aligned no creates space for the yes that matters most.

In higher education and technology leadership, being “always on” is often mistaken for presence. But availability isn’t the same as leadership. The truth is, the more stretched we are, the less present we become. Real strategy isn’t about saying yes to everything — it’s about choosing where to focus, where to pause, and when to say no so clarity can emerge.