An Imperfect Leader: The Superintendents and Leadership Podcast

Book Update!

Imperfect Leaders! My book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is available on Amazon.com. If there is no hyperlink to follow, please go to Amazon.com or peterstiepleman.com. You can order it there.

Intro: Hello Imperfect Leaders. Sometimes, when I am listening to a podcast, I hear the host say, "This week, we're only playing part 1 of a two-part podcast." And I think to myself, "Do they really have that much good material to warrant two weeks or are they just being lazy??" Most of the time, it's really because the guest does have a lot of good examples to share. That's definitely the case this week with my guest, Joe Santana.

You're really going to enjoy Joe (not in the sense of when your mother would tell you you'll be so happy if you got a haircut - oh, was that just me?). I mean it, you REALLY are going to enjoy this episode and the follow up next week.

In Part 1, you are going to learn more about Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and why they really are important for any organization, especially for school districts. Thanks for tuning in!

Bio: Joe Santana is Chairman of CDO PowerCircle, an association of top DEI leaders. Joe is also the creator and host of the award-winning ERG PowerTalk podcast reaching over 300 million listeners AND he is also an author of many articles and books, including his latest, Supercharge Your ERG's Tips to Power-up Your ERG/BRG Strategy. His work has been published in multiple languages.

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An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is supported by ILAA, LLC, a firm dedicated to supporting aspiring, new, and established leaders. For more information, please find them at www.human-centeredleaders.com.

Music for An Imperfect Leader was written and arranged by Ian Varley.

Sam Falbo created our artwork, a wood-print inspired daruma doll butterfly.

www.peterstiepleman.com

Book Update!

Imperfect Leaders! My book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is available on Amazon.com. If there is no hyperlink to follow, please go to Amazon.com or peterstiepleman.com. You can order it there.

Intro: Hartford, Connecticut was the location of my very first hockey game. The Hartford Whalers vs the NY Rangers. And what a scene it was. During the second period, there was an obvious offense because both benches cleared and both teams were absolutely brawling! I find myself in Hartford at least once a year and so every year, I revisit, in my mind, that very violent episode in my life. But now, after talking with my guest, Dr. Torres-Rodriguez, I have a delightful replacement memory and for that, I am grateful.

My mentor, Dr. Linda Henke, the creator of the human-centered school transformation model I speak so much about wrote:

The shift away from the heroic leader who goes it alone, to the transformational leader who attends to the field is perhaps the most fundamental change in the work of school leadership.

She continues by asking readers to rethink the metaphor of a leader as hero and consider, instead, a different metaphor --- someone like a midwife or a gardener or a minister. Someone who tends to the needs of others.

My guest this week cares so deeply for her district because her district is so personal to her - she graduated from the district and then returned to lead it.

She leverages the voices of her entire system, inside and outside the organization, including the voices of her children. She considers the technical skills, the emotional intelligence, and a lens focused on equity in order to make sound decisions.

And she uses all of this knowledge and skill in recounting her after action review – the recommendation to her board to consolidate or close schools in her school district. Thanks for tuning in!

BIO: Dr. Torres-Rodriguez was named the 2022 National Superintendent of the Year by the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (ALAS), received the 2019 Award for Educational Leadership from the Connecticut Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (CALAS) as well as the 2019 Prospanica National Brillante Award for Educational Excellence.

Dr. Torres-Rodriguez is a member of the Governor's Workforce Council and serves on the Hartford Promise Board. She also co-chairs the Mayor's Cabinet for Young Children in Hartford.

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An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is supported by ILAA, LLC, a firm dedicated to supporting aspiring, new, and established leaders. For more information, please find them at www.human-centeredleaders.com.

Music for An Imperfect Leader was written and arranged by Ian Varley.

Sam Falbo created our artwork, a wood-print inspired daruma doll butterfly.

www.peterstiepleman.com

Book Update!

Imperfect Leaders! My book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is available on Amazon.com. If there is no hyperlink to follow, please go to Amazon.com or peterstiepleman.com. You can order it there.

AND if you liked it, would you please leave a positive review on Amazon?

Intro: A few months ago, I found myself driving some logging roads on Vancouver Island. A few days later, I wandered into an independent bookstore and saw a book by Harley Rustad called Big Lonely Doug. Who was Big Lonely Doug and what made him Doug so lonely?! Big Lonely Doug is a massive Douglas Fir – the second largest tree in all of Canada. And I had totally missed seeing it. I must have driven right past both the Avatar Grove and Big Lonely Doug! Learning about Doug has been amazing.

The book is a great resource for thinking about and teaching systems thinking. For one thing, you really learn about how trees are not individual entities, but rather connected to each other. You learn about mycorrhiza and how these fungi establish a symbiotic association with plant roots (they improve nutrition and stabilization for them).

I know I am geeking out a bit on this intro, but as I read this book, I thought about the internal system of the forest and what it needs and the external systems that influence these forests (logging companies and the communities relying on the jobs, local, regional, federal, and tribal governments establishing policies about the trees, conservationists, climate scientists, the general public). As an educational leader, I couldn't help but think about schools and school systems when reading this book.

And you can't help but think of my guest this week who worked hard in Washington DC to build enduring systems for children, with them and their families. Dr. Bren Elliott is my guest. In her After-Action Review, we discuss a topic that so many leaders have had to face - feeling pressured to fill a position and making an unsuccessful hire.

BIO: Dr. Bren Elliott is the former Chief of School Improvement and Supports for District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). In her role, she leads efforts to see that the district meets the goals outlined in its strategic plan.

Prior to DCPS, Dr. Elliott worked in Tennessee and North Carolina as a teacher, an assistant principal, a principal, an area director, and an assistant superintendent. Plus! Dr. Elliott is a former officer in the United States Army and completed 10 years of military service.

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An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is supported by ILAA, LLC, a firm dedicated to supporting aspiring, new, and established leaders. For more information, please find them at www.human-centeredleaders.com.

Music for An Imperfect Leader was written and arranged by Ian Varley.

Sam Falbo created our artwork, a wood-print inspired daruma doll butterfly.

www.peterstiepleman.com

Book Update!

Imperfect Leaders! My book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is available on Amazon.com. If there is no hyperlink to follow, please go to Amazon.com or peterstiepleman.com. You can order it there.

AND if you liked it, would you please leave a positive review on Amazon?

Imperfect Leaders, in my third year as a superintendent, I learned about what can only be referred to as opportunity hoarding (in my recorded intro, I didn't know who coined the phrase - Charles Tilly appears to be an original thinker on this term).

What do I mean by opportunity hoarding? Well, we allowed 8th graders to take Algebra 2 (they had taken Algebra 1 in 6th grade and Geometry in 7th grade and NOW they were taking Algebra 2). The problem was there were only 5 kids assigned to the class and they had a full-time teacher. The regular 8th grade math class had more than 30 kids in the class. It was opportunity hoarding and what's worse, my kid was one of the 5. I decided we needed to eliminate the option. We worked with families to find options for the handful of families who wanted their children to take Algebra 2.

Dr. Mike Rossi is my guest today. In the first segment, he talks about engaging his community (spotlighting student and employee voice) and using appreciative inquiry questions like "WHAT DO WE DO WELL" to frame the district's goals.

Then, in our second segment, his After Action Review is similar to mine. It's about making the decision as a new superintendent to eliminate the advanced math track at his middle schools in July. So when parents got their child's schedule, the advanced class was not there. His description of 500 parents packed into an auditorium all lined up behind microphones to give him feedback… well, he paints quite a picture. 😳

Thanks for tuning in!

BIO: Dr. Michael Rossi is my guest. Michael has spent his entire 36-year professional career in education, as a teacher, coach, supervisor, college professor, principal, and, for the last 19 years, as a public-school superintendent. Michael is the superintendent for Lenape Valley Regional High School in Stanhope, N.J.

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An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is supported by ILAA, LLC, a firm dedicated to supporting aspiring, new, and established leaders. For more information, please find them at www.human-centeredleaders.com.

Music for An Imperfect Leader was written and arranged by Ian Varley.

Sam Falbo created our artwork, a wood-print inspired daruma doll butterfly.

www.peterstiepleman.com

An imperfect leader, TLI, peter stiepleman, dr. peter stiepleman, imperfect leaders, school culture, education, culture, school, positive school culture, principal, superintendent, aspiring superintendent, new superintendent, experienced superintendent, leadership, district leadership, school leadership, school leadership thoughts, inspiration, strategic planning, leadership development, human-centered leadership, collective aspiration, nested patterns, leaders' learning work, educators, superintendent pipeline, Model for Human Centered School, AASA, Mike Rossi, New Jersey,

Book Update!

Imperfect Leaders! You can now order my book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action. Click on the link here, and if there is no hyperlink, go to peterstiepleman.com, you can order it there.

AND if you liked it, would you please leave a positive review? I'm hoping to earn 35 positive reviews on Amazon. Thanks!

When I was a superintendent, I was called to a meeting with an economics professor. What he wanted to discuss with me was the use of results on standardized tests to evaluate the effectiveness of a teacher. I bristled at the idea of looking only at the score on an external test to determine whether or not a teacher was effective.

When asked if I would consider looking at growth data instead – meaning how much growth a child made over a 10-month period to determine a teacher's effectiveness, I became less hostile. I do think there is value in this. For one thing, I can remember using this type of data analysis to conclude that children in an elementary class were actually regressing over the first months of school. We used that information and intervened quickly to provide support.

I do struggle with the appropriateness of rewarding only one teacher for a child's growth. What about rewarding the entire school? Yes, I can get behind that. Think about it. You've got an excellent reading teacher. They are Reading Recovery trained and equipped to save a child's life. HOWEVER, the child only comes to school because every morning, he gets to eat breakfast with the custodian, someone who has taken an interest in the child's life. Or maybe she gets to stay after school and participate in the swim club the PE teacher hosts every Tuesday and Thursday at the local pool. Or perhaps they get to process their traumas with the school counselor and tend to the school's gecko in the science teacher's classroom.

Schools are a mosaic. They are many small pieces coming together to make something beautiful. My guest today, Dr. Brian Gill, is a researcher who helps schools understand what their data is telling them. He talks about avoiding the mistake of making an inference the data doesn't support. Brian offers four pieces advice called Don't Let Statistics Become "Damned Lies".

A different look at leadership this week. I was so into our conmversation, I went way over the typical time I usually take with a guest. 😳 Thanks for tuning in!

BIO: Dr. Brian Gill is a senior fellow on K-12 education policy at Mathematica and director of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Educational Laboratory for the US Department of Education.

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An Imperfect Leader is brought to you by EdConnective whose mission is to ensure student success through transformative teacher training.

EdConnective helps teachers move from awareness about strategies and frameworks to successful and consistent implementation. Their friendly coaches celebrate classroom success with teachers and, with concrete classroom data, support teachers in their growth, one step at a time. I've been thinking about this a lot. During the pandemic, student teachers didn't get a chance to do their student teaching with children. They started teaching in classrooms – and they need help. Across the nation, states are adopting higher expectations to make up for learning loss. That's where EdConnective fits in. Their vision is that every student deserves a great teacher, and every teacher deserves a great coach! Find out more by contacting them at EdConnective.com

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An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is supported by ILAA, LLC, a firm dedicated to supporting aspiring, new, and established leaders. For more information, please find them at www.human-centeredleaders.com.

Music for An Imperfect Leader was written and arranged by Ian Varley.

Sam Falbo created our artwork, a wood-print inspired daruma doll butterfly.

www.peterstiepleman.com

An imperfect leader, TLI, peter stiepleman, Dr. peter stiepleman, imperfect leaders, school culture, education, culture, school, positive school culture, principal, superintendent, aspiring superintendent, new superintendent, experienced superintendent, leadership, district leadership, school leadership, school leadership thoughts, inspiration, strategic planning, leadership development, human-centered leadership, collective aspiration, nested patterns, leaders' learning work, educators, superintendent pipeline, Model for Human Centered School, AASA, Brian Gill, Mathematica

Book Update!

Imperfect Leaders! You can now order my book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action. Click on the link here, and if there is no hyperlink, go to peterstiepleman.com, you can order it there.

AND if you liked it, would you please leave a positive review? I'm hoping to earn 35 positive reviews on Amazon. Thanks!

When you become a leader, you either inherit a strategic plan or you are tasked with creating one. Strategic planning is not easy. Often, leaders make the misstep of rushing the process and end up creating one with just a few people. Strategic planning is a collaborative process.

Strategic planning must start with appreciative inquiry (seeing what's going well and seeking ways to get more of it). In the end, strategic planning must yield something I call a compelling purpose and THAT happens when you are able to answer these two questions as a communuty:

• What do we want to create together?
• How do we want to be together?

Getting to that shared image is where you start. And the way you do that is what I call harvesting the collective wisdom of your internal and external systems. My guest today did just that. He asked an essential question, and through stakeholder meetings, a process he followed with the help of Studor Education, he harvested the wisdom of his community. He got to "what do we want to create together?"

Mr. Sergio Mendoza is my guest. I really enjoyed our time together. Thanks for tuning in!

BIO: Mr. Sergio Mendoza has been an educator for more than 35 years, most recently serving as Superintendent of the Burton School District in Porterville, CA. (located in California's San Joaquin Valley).

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An Imperfect Leader is brought to you by EdConnective whose mission is to ensure student success through transformative teacher training.

EdConnective helps teachers move from awareness about strategies and frameworks to successful and consistent implementation. Their friendly coaches celebrate classroom success with teachers and, with concrete classroom data, support teachers in their growth, one step at a time. I've been thinking about this a lot. During the pandemic, student teachers didn't get a chance to do their student teaching with children. They started teaching in classrooms – and they need help. Across the nation, states are adopting higher expectations to make up for learning loss. That's where EdConnective fits in. Their vision is that every student deserves a great teacher, and every teacher deserves a great coach! Find out more by contacting them at EdConnective.com

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An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is supported by ILAA, LLC, a firm dedicated to supporting aspiring, new, and established leaders. For more information, please find them at www.human-centeredleaders.com.

Music for An Imperfect Leader was written and arranged by Ian Varley.

Sam Falbo created our artwork, a wood-print inspired daruma doll butterfly.

www.peterstiepleman.com

An imperfect leader, TLI, peter stiepleman, Dr. peter stiepleman, imperfect leaders, school culture, education, culture, school, positive school culture, principal, superintendent, aspiring superintendent, new superintendent, experienced superintendent, leadership, district leadership, school leadership, school leadership thoughts, inspiration, strategic planning, leadership development, human-centered leadership, collective aspiration, nested patterns, leaders' learning work, educators, superintendent pipeline, Model for Human Centered School, AASA, Sergio Mendoza, Studor Education

Book Update!

Imperfect Leaders! You can now order my book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action. Click on the link here, and if there is no hyperlink, go to peterstiepleman.com, you can order it there.

AND if you liked it, would you please leave a positive review? I'm hoping to earn 35 positive reviews on Amazon. Thanks!

Imperfect Leaders! In this episode, Dave MacLeod is my guest. Dave is not a superintendent, but he and the company he leads, ThoughtExchange, have helped superintendents across the nation harvest the wisdom of their communities to make better decisions.

During the episode, you'll hear Dave say he is a 6 ft. tall white man. There's a reason why that's relevant. Did you know that studies have shown there are more CEOs named David in the Fortune 500 than there are female CEOs in total?? Furthermore the majority of those CEOs are white males who are 6ft. tall.

Additionally, Dave reminds leaders how there are incredible organizations throughout the nation who can advise and train organizations to be antiracist. Specifically, Dave refers listeners to Inroads.org.

This was an incredible conversation! Thanks for tuning in!

BIO: Dave MacLeod is the CEO and a co-founder of ThoughtExchange, the world's only Enterprise Discussion Management platform powered by anti-bias technology. Dave's expertise helped create the game-changing platform that's used by millions at some of the world's largest organizations like GE Healthcare, SAP, Oracle NetSuite and WestJet. ThoughtExchange invites participants to share insights anonymously—removing bias and getting the most important ideas in front of the leaders who can turn them into action.

Dave is also the author of Scaling Conversations: How Leaders Access the Full Potential of People. Prior to ThoughtExchange, he was a successful entrepreneur who designed businesses and events focused on analog group communication innovation.

Outside of work, Dave keeps busy as a dad of three who loves the outdoors.

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An Imperfect Leader is brought to you by EdConnective whose mission is to ensure student success through transformative teacher training.

EdConnective helps teachers move from awareness about strategies and frameworks to successful and consistent implementation. Their friendly coaches celebrate classroom success with teachers and, with concrete classroom data, support teachers in their growth, one step at a time. I've been thinking about this a lot. During the pandemic, student teachers didn't get a chance to do their student teaching with children. They started teaching in classrooms – and they need help. Across the nation, states are adopting higher expectations to make up for learning loss. That's where EdConnective fits in. Their vision is that every student deserves a great teacher, and every teacher deserves a great coach! Find out more by contacting them at EdConnective.com

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An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is supported by ILAA, LLC, a firm dedicated to supporting aspiring, new, and established leaders. For more information, please find them at www.human-centeredleaders.com.

Music for An Imperfect Leader was written and arranged by Ian Varley.

Sam Falbo created our artwork, a wood-print inspired daruma doll butterfly.

www.peterstiepleman.com

An imperfect leader, TLI, peter stiepleman, Dr. peter stiepleman, imperfect leaders, school culture, education, culture, school, positive school culture, principal, superintendent, aspiring superintendent, new superintendent, experienced superintendent, leadership, district leadership, school leadership, school leadership thoughts, inspiration, strategic planning, leadership development, human-centered leadership, collective aspiration, nested patterns, leaders' learning work, educators, superintendent pipeline, Model for Human Centered School, AASA, Dave Macleod, ThoughtExchange,

Book Update!

Imperfect Leaders! You can now order my book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action. Click on the link here, and if there is no hyperlink, go to peterstiepleman.com, you can order it there.

AND if you liked it, would you please leave a positive review? I'm hoping to get 35 positive reviews on Amazon. Thanks!

Imperfect Leaders!

This week, Dr. Amy Illingworth is my guest. Amy is the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Servies for the Encinitas Union School District in Encinitas, California. She is the author of The Coach ADVenture: Building Powerful Instructional Leadership Skills that Impact Learning.

She is also a prolific blogger for her blog, Reflections on Leadership and Learning.

In our conversation, Amy reminds us, "The person who talks the most learns the most." A lot of great learning this week! Thanks for tuning in!

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An Imperfect Leader is brought to you by EdConnective whose mission is to ensure student success through transformative teacher training.

EdConnective helps teachers move from awareness about strategies and frameworks to successful and consistent implementation. Their friendly coaches celebrate classroom success with teachers and, with concrete classroom data, support teachers in their growth, one step at a time. I've been thinking about this a lot. During the pandemic, student teachers didn't get a chance to do their student teaching with children. They started teaching in classrooms – and they need help. Across the nation, states are adopting higher expectations to make up for learning loss. That's where EdConnective fits in. Their vision is that every student deserves a great teacher, and every teacher deserves a great coach! Find out more by contacting them at EdConnective.com

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An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is supported by ILAA, LLC, a firm dedicated to supporting aspiring, new, and established leaders. For more information, please find them at www.human-centeredleaders.com.

Music for An Imperfect Leader was written and arranged by Ian Varley.

Sam Falbo created our artwork, a wood-print inspired daruma doll butterfly.

www.peterstiepleman.com

An imperfect leader, TLI, peter stiepleman, Dr. peter stiepleman, imperfect leaders, school culture, education, culture, school, positive school culture, principal, superintendent, aspiring superintendent, new superintendent, experienced superintendent, leadership, district leadership, school leadership, school leadership thoughts, inspiration, strategic planning, leadership development, human-centered leadership, collective aspiration, nested patterns, leaders' learning work, educators, superintendent pipeline, Model for Human Centered School, AASA, Encinitas, California, Amy Illingworth, Reflections on Leadership and Learning

Book Update!

Imperfect Leaders! You can order my book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action. Click on the link here. Or if there is no hyperlink, please go to Amazon or Barnes & Noble or peterstiepleman.com to order a copy.

AND if you liked it, would you please leave a positive review? I'm hoping to get 35 positive reviews on Amazon. Thanks!

Imperfect Leaders!

In this episode, Dr. Gladys Cruz is my guest. Dr. Cruz is the District Superintendent for Questar III, based In Castleton, NY. In addition to that role, Dr. Cruz serves as a lead teacher for the AASA Aspiring Superintendents Academy for Latino and Latina Leaders and is a mentor in the AASA National Superintendent Certification Program. Dr. Cruz is also the President-Elect of AASA, the School Superintendent's Association.

After reading her blog posts, and most recently, seeing her presentation in San Antonio, Dr. Cruz brings awareness (and a plan) for addressing superintendent turnover. As an aside, that topic is exactly why I created this podcast. The national average for school superintendents is around three years, and if you're a woman or a leader of color, it's even less. In her speech, she mentioned the turnover in New York and Maine and Oregon, so in our conversation, she took a moment to tell us about the theme for her presidency: "Leading in a New Era: New Challenges, New Approaches" and the foundation she hopes to lay for new and aspiring superintendents.

In her After Action Review, she describes the tensions she had to manage during a major construction project. The first site fell through, and she risked losing her the trust of her communities. Thanks for tuning in!

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An Imperfect Leader is brought to you by EdConnective whose mission is to ensure student success through transformative teacher training.

EdConnective helps teachers move from awareness about strategies and frameworks to successful and consistent implementation. Their friendly coaches celebrate classroom success with teachers and, with concrete classroom data, support teachers in their growth, one step at a time. I've been thinking about this a lot. During the pandemic, student teachers didn't get a chance to do their student teaching with children. They started teaching in classrooms – and they need help. Across the nation, states are adopting higher expectations to make up for learning loss. That's where EdConnective fits in. Their vision is that every student deserves a great teacher, and every teacher deserves a great coach! Find out more by contacting them at EdConnective.com

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An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is supported by ILAA, LLC, a firm dedicated to supporting aspiring, new, and established leaders. For more information, please find them at www.human-centeredleaders.com.

Music for An Imperfect Leader was written and arranged by Ian Varley.

Sam Falbo created our artwork, a wood-print inspired daruma doll butterfly.

www.peterstiepleman.com

An imperfect leader, TLI, peter stiepleman, Dr. peter stiepleman, imperfect leaders, school culture, education, culture, school, positive school culture, principal, superintendent, aspiring superintendent, new superintendent, experienced superintendent, leadership, district leadership, school leadership, school leadership thoughts, inspiration, strategic planning, leadership development, human-centered leadership, collective aspiration, nested patterns, leaders' learning work, educators, superintendent pipeline, Model for Human Centered School, AASA, Dr. Gladys Cruz, Questar III, Jay Goldman,

Book Update!

Imperfect Leaders! You can now order my book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action. Click on the link here. Or if there is no hyperlink, go to peterstiepleman.com, you can order it there.

AND if you liked it, would you please leave a positive review? I'm hoping to get 35 positive reviews on Amazon. Thanks!

Imperfect Leaders!

In this episode, Dr. Shari Camhi is my guest. We talk about the motto: We're all Here for the Kids! We talk about Ron Berger's book, An Ethic of Excellence. We talk about what learning spaces currently look like for children and a shift in what they could look like. Dr. Camhi brings people together to rethink the relationship between curriculum and learning spaces - and she even has a word for it: innovatrium. And we talk about excellence - it doesn't begin with a declaration. Give a listen!

BIO: Dr. Shari Camhi has been the superintendent of Baldwin Union Free School District since 2014, and is finishing her term as the president of AASA, the School Superintendent Association. Dr. Camhi is known for being innovative and for being a human-centered leader - always putting people first. She has been recognized by Ed Week as a leader to learn from as well as a superintendent to watch by the National School Public Relations Association.

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An Imperfect Leader is brought to you by EdConnective whose mission is to ensure student success through transformative teacher training.

EdConnective helps teachers move from awareness about strategies and frameworks to successful and consistent implementation. Their friendly coaches celebrate classroom success with teachers and, with concrete classroom data, support teachers in their growth, one step at a time. I've been thinking about this a lot. During the pandemic, student teachers didn't get a chance to do their student teaching with children. They started teaching in classrooms – and they need help. Across the nation, states are adopting higher expectations to make up for learning loss. That's where EdConnective fits in. Their vision is that every student deserves a great teacher, and every teacher deserves a great coach! Find out more by contacting them at EdConnective.com

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An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is supported by ILAA, LLC, a firm dedicated to supporting aspiring, new, and established leaders. For more information, please find them at www.human-centeredleaders.com.

Music for An Imperfect Leader was written and arranged by Ian Varley.

Sam Falbo created our artwork, a wood-print inspired daruma doll butterfly.

www.peterstiepleman.com

An imperfect leader, TLI, peter stiepleman, Dr. peter stiepleman, imperfect leaders, school culture, education, culture, school, positive school culture, principal, superintendent, aspiring superintendent, new superintendent, experienced superintendent, leadership, district leadership, school leadership, school leadership thoughts, inspiration, strategic planning, leadership development, human-centered leadership, collective aspiration, nested patterns, leaders' learning work, educators, superintendent pipeline, Model for Human Centered School, AASA, Baldwin Union Free School District, Shari Camhi