START

For years, I’ve been saying that college students aren’t being prepped to lead; they’re leading right now.

They’re running student organizations. Managing million-dollar budgets. Holding each other accountable. Balancing 40+ hour weeks filled with class, extracurriculars, work, studying, and (if they’re lucky) a social life.

If college students wait to graduate to lead, like the world tells them to, how can we possibly expect them to succeed once they get there?

The Hardest Part: Starting

So, here’s my confession: for someone who coaches others to step into their leadership, I’ve found it embarrassingly hard to “start” putting myself out there as a leadership speaker and coach.

To start sharing my perspectives on leadership.
To start using my voice, not just as a facilitator or coach, but also as a writer.

To know me is to know how much I love my work, how deeply I believe I’ve found my calling, and how confident I am in my personal philosophy of leadership. So imagine my surprise when I found it debilitating to put myself out there and share so much of myself in this way.

As the philosopher Lil Wayne once said (because yes, I quote philosophers and rappers interchangeably),

“Real G’s move in silence, like lasagna.”

For a long time, I believed that. I thought my job was to do the good work quietly — not to talk about it.

I’ve learned that part of doing the good work is talking about the good work.

Fear of the Eye Roll

Every time I thought about posting, I pictured the people who might roll their eyes when they saw me share something.

You know the ones. The “who does he think he is?” crowd.

I could practically see their reactions, and honestly, that was enough to keep me quiet.

Then I had a conversation with a dear friend, one of my mentors, and truly one of the most successful speakers higher education has ever known. I told him about that fear, and he laughed.

He said, “Jeremy, people still react that way to me.”

This is a person who changes thousands of lives every year, and he still gets eye rolls.

That conversation humbled me. It reminded me that making a difference is worth the discomfort. It’s worth the judgment. It’s worth the eye rolls of people I don’t know, and even the ones I do.

Why This Blog Exists

So, here we are.
This blog, Jeremy Unpaulished, is my space to start.

To be vulnerable about the work I do.
To workshop ideas that are still messy.
To share thoughts about leadership, belonging, and the lessons that come from being human, not just being “professional.”

This will be a space where I can be, well… unpolished.
Or should I say, Unpaulished. (What’s a good pun for if not a personal brand?)

I’m starting. Finally.
And I’m excited about it.

Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned over years of coaching leaders — from students to professionals — it’s this:

The best leaders don’t wait until they’re ready.
They start.

So here I am, taking my own advice.

Being a leader who starts.