How I Spent My Summer Vacation, or Leadership Lessons from Hiking Hadrian’s Wall

Earlier this summer I walked the length of Hadrian’s Wall in the north of England, traveling from Bowness-on-Solway on the western coast to Wallsend and Tynemouth in the east. I did this over seven days hiking with a group of five other accomplished academic women of a certain age. (It was my way of celebrating a birthday that the Beatles once sang about.) The group represented more than 100 combined years of experience at the dean, associate provost, director, faculty, and even trustee levels. While the wall itself is 84 miles long, my Fitbit recorded that I walked 106 miles during our hike. Our luggage was ferried ahead to our next lodging each day, and we were responsible just for toting out lunch, snacks, water, and rain gear. Aside from that bougie accommodation, it was a self-guided adventure.