Courageous Leadership is .
Last year I inked my New Year’s commitment to be courageous with my first (and likely only) tattoo. I decided my personal mission was to live and inspire everyday “be-courageous” leadership.
Join me on this journey of figuring out what that means and looks like for each of us, using our unique strengths.
It’s This Thing Called Change
Like many, in the unfolding story of the “Great Resignation,” I’m navigating a few major changes in my life.
I’ve said farewell to a 20-year career in our educational institutions, to an organization whose mission resonated with my soul, and to colleagues with whom I’ve celebrated and mourned so many life events. I am grieving these goodbyes.
Be Courageous Leadership
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Leadership
As we embrace a new year and a new decade, I believe that courageous leadership is needed more than ever. In this blog I share my reflections on this topic in hopes of inspiring thoughts of what this might look like for you.
I’m Sorry I Didn’t Get Back to You
At the bottom of my email inbox sit 3 messages that I have, for months, failed to follow-up on. In fact, it has been so long that any action at this point is probably irrelevant but still, these emails stare at me. I’ve thought about deleting them, as all they do is remind me of my failure to deliver to others on the promises I’ve made with my ideal self.
Leading With Yes
There is a pivotal moment as leaders when we are presented with a new idea: a moment in which we can either squash possibility by immediately analyzing all the reasons it might not work, or nurture possibility by “listening with yes.”
Unmuted: Part Three
I have shared how my body and brain have been telling stories “too strong to be muted” in the aftermath of the life-threatening brain bleed I experienced just one year ago. This week I want to share a story of my heart…
Unmuted: Part Two
My body is definitely telling a lot of stories these days—too strong to be muted.
Unmuted: Part One
I’ve been reflecting on how many times in the past I’ve put myself ‘on mute.’ They are generally times fueled by fears, of vulnerability, of rejection, or my insecurities. I used to spend moments, even hours, agonizing over my choices to speak or stay silent.
Just One Day Left
It’s time to LEAP into a new year and I have something to share. I produced my first ever video as a “live” love letter to each and every one of you.
I’m two-thirds ‘nervous butterflies,’ and one-third ‘excited.’
Come join me in welcoming 2021 with this New Year’s Eve Blessing poem.
Future of Work + Learning
In my role as CNM’s Academic Fellow for the Future of Work + Learning, I write guest columns to help spark discussion at CNM about how we prepare for the future of…
A Retrospective on the Future of…Post Pandemic: Part 2
Originally published on CNM Newslink. Erica Barreiro, CNM’s new Academic Fellow for the Future of Work + Learning, will be writing guest columns throughout the year to …
A Retrospective on the Future of… Post Pandemic
Originally published on CNM Newslink. Erica Barreiro, CNM’s new Academic Fellow for the Future of Work + Learning, will be writing guest columns throughout the year to …
A Retrospective on the Future of…Remote Work: Part 2
“You are not working from home; you are at your home during a crisis trying to work.”
I’ve seen the sentiment above expressed in various social media posts, and I think it captures a thought circling in my head since my first column on remote work was published two weeks ago.

About Erica Barreiro
In love with the equity mission of education, I started my career as a high school teacher working primarily with “at-risk” youth and later taught and created programs to prepare future teachers. I then served as the Dean for the School of Communication, Humanities & Social Sciences at a large urban community college for 7 years. As a student of curriculum and pedagogy, I am fascinated by how emerging research and trends in work and learning can be leverage to drive a redesign of academic learning. I am currently engaged at my community college in a one-year fellowship researching, ideating, and facilitating dialog to reimagine post-secondary education in ways that will provide individuals with more agency in shaping their future of work and life in the age of the 4th industrial revolution.