Higher Performance Insights | RETHINKING RESISTANCE: Stubborn Ass Wisdom for Navigating Campus Challenges

May 13, 2025
higher performance insights

How an Ancient Mining Tradition Reveals the Secret to Navigating Today's Campus Challenges


In the sunbaked landscapes of New Mexico, an unusual sporting event recently captivated spectators and participants alike - burro racing. This isn't just any competition; it's a profound lesson in partnership that offers surprising wisdom for K-12 and campus leaders navigating today's educational challenges.


The Partnership Challenge


Last weekend, some 70 teams tested their skills in Cerrillos, New Mexico. Runners and burros navigated a challenging course through a historic turquoise-mining town. Success required neither dominance nor control but mutual trust and responsive communication.


Sound familiar?


Today's educational leaders face their own challenging terrain. Whether leading a classroom, a school, or a college administration, we navigate uphill climbs, unpredictable paths, and occasionally resistant stakeholders. With teacher shortages, learning recovery needs, budget constraints, and political polarization, traditional leadership approaches increasingly fall short.


When Innovation Meets Resistance


Perhaps the most valuable insight from burro racing comes from understanding what happens when forward progress stalls. Experienced racers explain that when burros refuse to move, it's not simple stubbornness—it's caution. These intelligent animals stop to assess situations that feel dangerous or unknown.


This mirrors what happens in our schools and districts. When faculty, staff, or community resist new initiatives, what might appear as obstinacy often signals legitimate concerns. The veteran teacher who questions a new curriculum rollout, the department chair hesitant about schedule changes, or the student government pushing back on policy reforms—each may be responding to genuine risks or misalignment with core educational values.


Building Relationships Before Implementation


For those borrowing or renting a burro for race day, organizers strongly encourage arriving early—even the night before—to build rapport with their racing partner. Without this relationship-building, success becomes nearly impossible.

Similarly, campus leaders can't expect immediate buy-in when introducing significant changes. The most successful curriculum adoptions, schedule revisions, or strategic plans begin with relationship cultivation before implementation. As race organizer Shane Weigand explains, "You have to spend a lot of time on the trail with your burro, building up that relationship and trust."


Leading Without Controlling


In burro racing, runners cannot ride their animals—they must guide without dominating, persuade without forcing. The relationship requires genuine partnership rather than control.


This approach resonates deeply with effective educational leadership today. Command-and-control structures increasingly fail in school environments where teacher expertise, student agency, and parent involvement are essential for sustainable success.


Five Strategies for Educational Leaders Navigating Resistance


Drawing inspiration from these remarkable athletes and their burro partners, here are five actionable strategies for school and college leaders:


1. See resistance as valuable feedback, not obstruction. When faculty hesitate to embrace new pedagogical approaches or technologies, listen first. Like an experienced burro racer, understand that apparent resistance often indicates legitimate concerns (or fears) that deserve addressing.


2. Invest in relationship-building before implementation. The most successful campus initiatives begin with trust-building conversations. Create informal spaces for dialogue about potential changes long before formal rollout.


3. Honor educational partnership. Your teachers, staff, students, and parents aren't simply recipients of directives—they bring essential wisdom to the table. Design inclusive decision-making processes that genuinely incorporate diverse perspectives.


4. Develop versatile leadership approaches. Burro racers prepare for varied conditions—from sprint starts in town to technical trail sections in the backcountry. Educational leaders similarly need flexible approaches for different challenges: a collaborative style for curriculum development, a more directive approach during safety emergencies, and a coaching stance for teacher development.


5. Celebrate diverse forms of excellence. In Cerrillos, teams competed for various recognitions, including the playful "last ass" award for the final finisher. Create a campus culture that honors different forms of contribution, not just test scores and academic achievements, but also compassion, creativity, perseverance, and community building.


Leading Forward Together


The burro racers of New Mexico demonstrate that success isn't about domination—it's about creating genuine partnerships, building trust, and navigating challenging terrain together.


This lesson feels especially relevant as schools and colleges face unprecedented challenges. Educational reforms imposed without stakeholder buy-in typically fail, while those developed through authentic partnership gain momentum even through difficult implementation phases.


For a deeper look at this fascinating sport and its surprising parallels to educational leadership, read the full AP News article: Burro racing wins over runners in backcountry ode to mining history


YOUR TURN

Consider a persistent challenge in your educational community where progress seems stalled. What if resistance isn't obstruction but a signal of caution or a desire for clarity? What might your stakeholders be sensing that you haven't yet recognized? How might approaching this challenge through partnership rather than authority create new possibilities?


Share a time when listening to resistance actually improved an initiative. What did you learn about leadership through that experience?


Like the burro racers navigating historic mining trails, effective educational leaders honor tradition while forging new paths forward—not by commanding, but by partnering.


References


Associated Press. (2025, May 3). Burro racing wins over runners in backcountry ode to mining history. AP News. Retrieved from https://apnews.com/article/wild-burro-racing-donkey-mining-new-mexico-9f20f6736401139529c8946162b97046

Fullan, M. (2019). Nuance: Why some leaders succeed and others fail. Corwin Press.

Hargreaves, A., & O'Connor, M. T. (2018). Collaborative professionalism: When teaching together means learning for all. Corwin Press.

Heifetz, R. A., Grashow, A., & Linsky, M. (2009). The practice of adaptive leadership: Tools and tactics for changing your organization and the world. Harvard Business Press.

Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2012). Crucial conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

Weigand, S. (2025, May 3). Personal interview. Cerrillos Burro Race, New Mexico.



Help Spread the Word

If you found value in this post, we’d love your help spreading the word! Please consider sharing this on your favorite social media platform and tag Higher Performance Group and Dr. Joe Hill. Your support helps us reach and inspire more awesome people like you!

Like What You've Read?

Get practical, research-based ideas to Accelerate Higher Team Performance delivered straight to your inbox every Tuesday.

More Blog Articles

Higher Performance Insights | YOUR CLIMBING WALL DOESN'T MATTER

By HPG Info • September 23, 2025
94% of enrollment decisions ignore your amenities. You just spent $50 million on a new student center—rock wall, meditation pods, juice bar—the whole package. Your board loves it. Tours showcase it. Marketing splashes it everywhere. You're certain this moves the needle. Here's the thing: Fresh amenities matter. But they're not why families choose you. The disconnect is devastating. While you're unveiling architectural renderings, students are having panic attacks about unemployability. While you're celebrating meditation pods, families are calculating whether bankruptcy hits before or after graduation. That beautiful climbing wall? It's proof you might not get it. The Amazon Lesson Every Leader Needs Jeff Bezos built the world's largest retailer with a philosophy your board would call insane: "We are not competitor focused. We are customer focused." Imagine announcing at your next cabinet meeting: "We're done tracking peer institutions." They'd check your temperature. Yet, institutions that spend 30% or more of their strategic planning analyzing competitors lose enrollment 23% faster than those focused on actual student needs. That climbing wall? You built it because State College has one. That honors program? Because Regional U launched theirs. You're playing defense in a game your students aren't even watching. The $20,000 Truck That Explains Everything A startup called SLATE just entered the most crowded market imaginable—electric vehicles. Tesla, Ford, and GM are all fighting for attention. Their launch video mentioned zero competitors. No range comparisons. No horsepower charts. Instead, one line: "Chris thinks new cars are too expensive and too complicated." That's it. One problem. One enemy. Done. Result? Millions of views. Servers crashing. Pre-orders flooding in. Now translate this to education: What K-12 Says: ❌ "Ranked top 10 in state test scores" ✅ "Your kid will actually want to come Monday morning" What Higher Ed Says: ❌ "We're climbing in rankings" ✅ "You'll graduate employed, not just educated" One makes you forgettable. The other makes you matter. 🚀 The Three Bowling Ball Principle Every message you send families is like handing them a bowling ball. Cognitive science suggests that humans can juggle up to three complex ideas at a time. Count what you're throwing at them: K-12's Bowling Ball Avalanche: IB authorized ✓ STEM certified ✓ 1:1 devices ✓ SEL curriculum ✓ Project-based ✓ Restorative justice ✓ Mindfulness ✓ Maker spaces ✓ Enrichment programs ✓ Test prep ✓ Higher Ed's Bowling Ball Tsunami: 200+ majors ✓ Study abroad ✓ Research opportunities ✓ Career center ✓ Division I athletics ✓ Honors program ✓ Living-learning communities ✓ Climbing wall ✓ Largest dining hall in region ✓ You just dropped everything. 🎳 What if you only threw three? K-12's Three: Known personally (not processed efficiently) Love learning (not survive testing) Ready for life (not just next grade) Higher Ed's Three: Graduate employed (not just graduated) Afford life after (not debt forever) Belong here (not compete constantly) The President Who Understood the Assignment Small liberal arts college. Declining enrollment. The president inherits the crisis. Every peer institution fought over rankings—moving from #47 to #45 was the battle cry. 🏆 She asked different questions: "What do students actually fear?" Answer: "Graduating unemployed with six-figure debt." New promise: "Job by graduation or we pay your loans for a year." Applications up 30%. Zero climbing walls mentioned. 💡 The Superintendent Who Stopped Playing Michigan superintendent. Neighboring districts bragging about test scores. She asked parents: "What keeps you up at night?" Answer: "My kid crying Sunday about Monday." Her response: "If your child dreads school, we've failed—regardless of test scores." State officials questioned her priorities Neighboring districts called her "soft" Enrollment up 18% in declining demographics Parents moving specifically for her schools She never mentioned competitors. Not once. The "What They Actually Want" Revolution Stop asking "What makes us different?" Start asking "What do they actually need?" What K-12 Students Want: Teachers who see them (not test scores) Friends without competition toxicity Decent sleep To personally matter Hope for their future What College Students Want: Professors who know their name Skills employers actually value To change majors without adding years Mental health support today (not 6 weeks) Friends, not networking competitions Proud parents without going broke What Nobody Wants: Your climbing wall Your ranking changes Your strategic plan Your competitive analysis They want transformation, not amenities. 🎯 The Framework That Actually Works Forget SWOT analyses. Use CARE: C - Core Problem: What actually keeps them awake? A - Against Declaration: What will you publicly fight? R - Real Evidence: What changes in week one? E - Emotional Truth: What feeling do you deliver? Your Million-Dollar Blind Spot "But State University just built a new rec center, so we need..." Stop. 🛑 Stanford studied 10,000 enrollment decisions: 8% mentioned other schools 94% mentioned actual problems 0% mentioned climbing walls You're solving for the wrong variable. 📈 The College That Gets It While universities build amenities, one college president asked students directly: "Why do people drop out?" Answer: "Credits don't transfer, and we waste time and money." Solution: "100% transfer guarantee or 100% refund." No facilities upgraded. No amenities added. Highest enrollment growth in the state. 🚀 The Transformation Question Stop asking: "What facilities do our competitors have?" Stop asking: "How do we move up in rankings?" Stop asking: "What's our differentiator?" Start asking: "What do families actually need that everyone else ignores?" When you answer that, you don't compete—you matter. Once you stop building climbing walls, you start building futures. Once you stop tracking competitors, you start seeing humans. You stop competing. You start transforming lives. The climbing wall is obviously a metaphor - a monument to looking sideways when you should be looking forward. Your families don't care about your amenities. They care about their tomorrow. Build that instead. THE MILLION-DOLLAR QUESTION: 👉🏼 What's your metaphorical climbing wall? What courage would it take to course correct? READY TO STOP COMPETING AND START MATTERING?  Executive Leader Roundtables translate theory into humanity: ✓ The REAL Method for viral culture language ✓ Monthly peer learning (virtual available) ✓ Scripts that spread without enforcement ✓ Leaders who've moved from complexity to connection

Higher Performance Insights | WHY AA TAUGHT ME MORE ABOUT LEADERSHIP THAN MY POST-GRAD PROGRAM

By HPG Info • September 15, 2025
The $282,000 Question Every Leader Should Ask I just discovered executive ed's most expensive joke: MIT charges $282,000 for leadership training that's 7x less effective than what happens in church basements. For free. Every. Single. Night. (Based on Kumar et al. 2023 MIT study. But the real proof? Watch what happens when you test this in your Monday meeting.) The Leadership Crisis We're Too Smart to Solve Last week, 4,200 executives added another certificate to their wall. Another model. Another acronym. Another framework gathering dust by November. Meanwhile, in a strip mall basement, 40 strangers transformed their lives using wisdom that fits on a Post-it note. The Ground Truth Data Universities invest $50B annually in leadership development 77% of strategic initiatives fail within 18 months Average executive tenure: 3.2 years Average AA member: 12.4 years in the same group We're paying premium prices for 23% success while ignoring a free system delivering 35% transformation rates. The 6 AM Revelation Picture this: Harvard-educated superintendent. Five schools. 42-page strategic plan. Tuesday, 6 AM, district parking lot. She's in her Tesla, googling "why smart teams fail" because her cabinet meeting just imploded. Again. The problem wasn't talent. It was translation. CFO speaks ROI Curriculum director speaks pedagogy Principals speak survival Nobody speaks human Two miles away: A construction foreman with a GED is guiding 40 people through bankruptcy, divorce, and addiction using five words: "One day at a time." She has three degrees and can't align her team. He has an eighth-grade education and transforms the lives of strangers. The difference? He knows complexity kills connection. The Coffee Mug Test Quick exercise: Write your system's core values. Now answer: What phrase do your people actually say at 3 PM Thursday when everything's falling apart? If they don't match, you're funding beautiful lies. MIT's research proves it: Simple phrases drive behavior change 7x more effectively than abstract values. Your team forgets "Excellence, Equity, Engagement" before reaching the parking lot. They remember "Progress, not perfection" when drowning. Why Simple Beats Smart (The Neuroscience) Stanford uncovered why AA's "uneducated" approach beats our sophisticated systems: 1. The Stress Factor When cortisol spikes, executive function crashes. Complex frameworks need a calm brain. Simple phrases work when everything's on fire. 2. The Mirror Effect We mimic language heard during emotional moments. AA phrases are forged in crisis, proven in survival. They carry DNA your consultant can't manufacture. 3. The Viral Factor "First things first" spreads because it saved someone today. "Strategic Pillar 4.2" dies because nobody remembers it under pressure. The $180,000 Discovery Hidden in Plain Sight Chicago principal. 40% annual turnover. Tried everything. Then she gave up and started saying "Grace before grades" like a broken record. The spread pattern shocked everyone: Week 3: Teachers quoting it to each other Week 6: Students using it during testing Week 12: Parent citing it at board meeting Year-end: 89% retention Stanford confirms: Schools with "viral internal language" show 38% higher retention. Save four teachers = $180,000 saved. But this isn't about money. It's about giving exhausted humans words that remind them why they teach. My Blue-Collar Working Class Story My parents embodied working-class success: Dad ran machine shops. Mom kept the books. First generation to own a home. Only generation that couldn't share a meal without someone storming out. They solved problems all day but couldn't solve their 6 PM silence. Until they found a room where titles didn't matter. Tuesday nights: Machinists next to judges. Nurses next to CEOs. All using the same language: "Keep it simple" (when complexity is killing you) "Easy does it" (when heroics become harmful) "How important is it?" (when everything feels urgent) I mocked the simplicity. "Bumper sticker philosophy." Sixty years later, the evidence is undeniable: Mom hasn't touched alcohol since 1975. Dad died this June, 10 years sober—something we thought impossible. They couldn't save their marriage, but those "bumper stickers" saved their lives. Now I watch brilliant teams implode while plumbers and prolific artists transform lives with coffee mug wisdom. The 12 Phrases That Outperform Any Strategic Plan From 89 years of proven transformation: "First things first" → Ends initiative fatigue "Progress not perfection" → Perfectionist's antidote "One day at a time" → Crisis navigation system "How important is it?" → Instant priority filter "Easy does it" → Sustainability over heroics "Keep coming back" → Consistency compounds "This too shall pass" → Perspective in 5 words "Stick with the winners" → Culture by proximity "If you spot it, you got it" → Your triggers teach "Meeting makers make it" → Show up, grow up "It works if you work it" → Accountability without shame "Principles before personalities" → Survives leadership changes 🔥 Your LinkedIn Challenge: Use ONE phrase 3x tomorrow. Report back what happens. (In the comments) 👇 The 30-Second Experiment Tomorrow's meeting opener: "What truth about working here would fit on a coffee mug you'd actually buy?" Then stop talking. Listen. Watch culture reveal itself. Real example: VP tried this. First response: "Fake it till you make it real." 90 days later: 47% drop in "initiative overwhelm" complaints. Same workload. Different language. The Pattern We're Too Sophisticated to See We've spent decades perfecting the wrong thing. Teams don't need frameworks. They need phrases for Tuesday's chaos. Culture doesn't live in mission statements. It lives in hallway conversations. The real question: What wisdom already echoes across your system that you're too polished to hear? Your Next Move (Choose Wisely) Path A: Another consultant. Another matrix. Watch your best people update LinkedIn by February. Path B: Recognize million-dollar transformations hide in five-word phrases. Start listening. Start repeating. Start transforming. The progression is predictable: Week 1: Feel ridiculous saying "One day at a time" Week 2: Someone quotes it back Week 3: Overhear it in hallways Week 4: Parent mentions it at pickup That's when you'll know: Culture spreads like spicy gossip, not like policy. The Legacy Choice Track traditional approach: Strategic plan: 6 months, 200 collective hours Implementation: 47 emails nobody reads Success rate: 23% adoption Track human approach: Listen for existing wisdom: One conversation Repeat what works: 30 seconds daily Success rate: 38% higher retention Twenty years from now, nobody remembers your PowerPoint. They remember if you spoke their language when drowning. READY TO BUILD TEAMS THAT ACTUALLY WORK? Stop hoping brilliance spontaneously coordinates. Start harvesting the wisdom already in your halls. Executive Leader Roundtables translate theory into humanity: ✓ The REAL Method for viral culture language ✓ Monthly peer learning (virtual available) ✓ Scripts that spread without enforcement ✓ Leaders who've moved from complexity to connection  Investment: Less than $175 per month per leader (up to 20 leaders). Pay month-to-month. Because transformation is focused and fluid.
Show More