What if great leadership in education and care isn’t defined by how skilled you are - but by how calm, clear and connected you can stay?

In this episode of The Bold Blueprint, Barbi and Jamie sit down with Adrian Pattra-McLean, Founder and Education Director at Farran Street Education. Long before he studied educational psychology, Adrian was learning about people by watching his family run their early childhood service - a place grounded in calm, familiarity and real connection.

That environment helped shape his blueprint for leadership:
calm creates culture, and culture creates results.

Together, we explore:

• Why leaders who stay calm create teams who stay capable.
• The difference between positional, distributed, and collaborative leadership.
• How predictable energy, boundaries and clear roles reduce burnout.
• Why “open door” leadership often hurts givers.
• Rituals, belonging, and the psychology behind keeping great educators.
• How time blocking and rhythms help leaders get out of reactive mode.
• Why teams fail without structure, and what great structures actually look like.
• The stress response no one talks about: avoiding tasks when we feel incompetent.
• What leaders can do tomorrow to build trust, clarity, and calm.

Adrian brings decades of lived experience, practical leadership insight, and stories from services across Australia - making this one of our most relatable and actionable episodes yet.

For leaders, educators, coordinators, NS/ELs and anyone ready to move from reacting to leading.

Links

10 past 10 morning briefing Adrian mentions -
https://farranstreeteducation.com.au/empower-your-team-with-the-10-past-10-morning-briefing/