An Imperfect Leader: The Superintendents and Leadership Podcast

In this episode of an Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action, David Geurin is my guest. David is in his first year as Superintendent of Fair Play School District in Southwest Missouri. His After Action Review topic is one leaders in ANY field have to negotiate. When do you step in to support? A teacher in his district was having a hard time with a challenging parent. Dave coached and supported. Looking back, he had some new thoughts on how he handled the situation. Give a listen!

BIO: David has been the principal of a National Blue Ribbon School. He has been honored as principal of the year for his region. In 2017, he was surprised and honored to be recognized as a National Association of Secondary Principals as a Digital Principal.

David has been humble about his successes, crediting a growth mindset and a culture of collaboration in his schools. More than anything, he finds ways to give the best learning opportunities for students.

I have so enjoyed getting to know David. When you get a chance, check out David's blog: https://www.davidgeurin.com/

In this episode of An Imperfect Leader, 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!

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.

I almost called this episode What's More Valuable Than Mithril? This Episode with Bryan Luizzi. I resisted because of the obvious Lord of the Rings reference, and how it might resonate with a very select group of leaders! This episode is a terrific one. We talk about Bryan's time teaching principals in Jordan and I ask him to talk a little about a real innovation in his community - the planetarium (or soon to be known as the Dome). In his After Action Review, Bryan reflects back on his participation in an education outreach trip to Finland. He returned with a great idea for adjusting the high school grading periods. It did NOT go as planned. Give a listen!

BIO: Dr. Bryan Luizzi has been the Superintendent of the New Canaan Public Schools in New Canaan, CT since 2014. Bryan began his teaching career at Newtown High School as an English teacher. He also served as the manager of technology operations for the Newtown school district. He served in a few administrative positions in the Brookfield school system and was principal of Brookfield High School for five years before becoming the principal of New Canaan High School and then its superintendent.

In this episode of an Imperfect Leader, we've invited Alexander Brittain to be my guest. The title of this episode is An Unexpected Leader because Alex didn't necessarily plan to be a superintendent. It sorta just happened. Alex has been a principal and a superintendent, and is currently working in a different capacity.

BIO: Alexander has been a California educator for more than 20 years. In 2022, he completed his term as the superintendent of the Manchester Union Elementary School District. Alexander describes himself as someone who "leads with empathy, kindness and humor, is passionate about the success of others, and is a creative problem solver.

NOTE: This interview is actually the very first interview I ever conducted. I was learning how to record and edit, so it has taken me a little time to bring it back to being in a presentable state. This interview is interesting. I didn't know my guest previously. His journey to becoming a superintendent, from a philosophy, theology and religion major to teacher caught my attention. His experiences in rural schools was important to me. It also happens to be an episode where I share my experiences going through the hiring process.

In this episode of An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action, Matt Robbins is my guest. Matt is the Superintendent of the Daviess County Public Schools in Daviess County, Kentucky. What's different about Matt is that he didn't follow a traditional route to the superintendency. His background is in finance. In this episode, we talk a little about how his past experiences help him in his current job. His After Action Review is one all superintendents should be prepared to deal with. What happens when you adopt new routing software for your bus system and it crashes? What happens when the crash occurs RIGHT before the school year begins and you have to postpone the start of school? A really good episode!

BIO: Matt Robbins serves as Superintendent of the Daviess County Public Schools, a district with nearly 12,000 students and 2,000 staff members in 12 elementary schools, three middle schools and three high schools.

Matt serves as the team leader for the finance & operations training program for KASA's NextGen new KY superintendent program and has done this for six years now.

Matt is also President of Kentucky's Council for Better Education that ensures equity and adequacy of funding for Kentucky's public schools. As a part of this work, Matt has most recently led Kentucky public schools districts in a lawsuit that involves funding private schools in Kentucky. That case is now on appeal before the Kentucky Supreme Court.

Matt led the Daviess County Public Schools district in completing a new five year strategic plan in June 2022. This was done in partnership with Studer Education and Dr. Deanna Ashby. This plan defines the district's mission and vision along with charting a detailed plan of measurable actions that will guide the district through 2027 and beyond.

He previously served as the district's assistant superintendent for finance and operations, overseeing a budget of $142.7 million. Under his leadership, the district's finance, facilities, food services and transportation departments have earned "exemplary" ratings from the Kentucky Department of Education.

Matt served as senior accountant at Riney, Hancock & Co. CPAs from 1993-96 before joining the Owensboro Public Schools district as assistant superintendent for finance and maintenance in 1997. Since joining DCPS, Matt has also served as accounting manager, business manager and director of finance. He has a bachelor of science degree from the University of Kentucky and earned a master's degree in education administration and superintendent endorsement from the University of Louisville in 2012.

Matt has been married for 21 years to his wife Luanne and has three children – Olivia, Lily Grace, and Brady. He loves spending time involved with youth sports, golf, and hunting. Matt has two dogs – Sophie (King Charles Cavalier Spaniel) and Reagan (English crème Golden Retriever). Matt is an enormous UK sports fan, particularly football and basketball. His favorite movies are Tombstone, Forest Gump, and Dead Poets Society. Matt enjoys all types of music and arts, including Bluegrass Music (ROMP festival), country music, modern pop, and artists such as Billy Joel, Elton John, Adelle, and Bruno Mars.

Today on an Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action, Dr. Scott Woolstenhulme joins us. Scott and I talk about the use of social media to engage stakeholders. Plus, we talk about a challenge most school leaders encounter - the adoption of technology. Determining the best time to purchase hardware and/or software is a complex question. In this case, the state was providing the technology, but the infrastructure just wasn't there.

BIO: Scott grew up on a small farm just outside of Victor, Idaho. He has been a high school teacher, an assistant principal, the principal of an elementary school, a District School Improvement Coordinator, a Director of Assessment, a Director of Technology, a Director of Human Resources, and an Assistant Superintendent, and now the Superintendent of Bonneville Joint School District 93 in Idaho Falls, Idaho (the fifth largest district in Idaho).

If you've got time, I would encourage you to learn more about Scott's very public stance to protect public schools from privatization. A really well written op-ed.

This week, Dr. Jim Wipke to joins the podcast. Jim talks about the power of supporting resilience (a dimension from the Human-Centered School Transformation Model) and he breaks down a decision he made during the pandemic - the decision to bring back kindergartners.

BIO: Dr. Jim Wipke has been the Superintendent of the Ladue School District, outside of St. Louis, since 2019 and has extensive experience at all levels of the public school education system.

Jim also enjoys highlighting his own lived experiences, as well as spotlighting the amazing people in his personal and professional life. Through his blog, "From My View" and podcast, "See. Serve. Connect.", he covers a variety of subjects.

In this episode of An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action, my guest is Dr. Quintin Shepherd of the Victoria Public Schools in Victoria, Texas. We talk about a number of lessons from his book, The Secret to Transformational Leadership, including the difference between #complicated and #complex. We talk about making decisions with those most impacted by the decision you're going to make and Q (for the record, he encouraged me to call him Q) reflects on his decision to "cancel Halloween!" Q is engaging and fantastic! Give a listen!

BIO: Dr. Shepherd is the superintendent of Victoria Public Schools in Victoria, Texas. Over nearly 30 years, Dr. Shepherd has earned a reputation for being innovative and responsive to his community's needs. As the superintendent of a district recognized as an Innovation District, Q has continued to build on past successes, established a highly collaborative framework to design the future of learning, and has gone beyond the traditional strategic planning process by harvesting the wisdom of his community. To learn more about Dr. Shepherd and transformational leadership, please sign up for his newsletter at his website: https://www.transformationalleadershipsecret.com/

In this episode of An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action, Dr. Shari Camhi is my guest. 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 currently 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: 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.

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

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

Imperfect leadership is not a scarlet letter. It's a badge of honor. It recognizes that serving as a lead learner is about being a vulnerable leader, an empathetic leader, a compassionate leader. I'm proud to be an imperfect leader.

In this episode of An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action, Dr. Kim Pietsch-Miller joins us. Dr. Pietsch-Miller is the Superintendent/CEO of Eastland-Fairfield Career and Technical Schools in Columbus, Ohio. I ask Kim to talk about the distinction between planning vs preparing (the topic of a recent article she wrote). Kim talks about establishing values with her community (and living them). Kim also describes the importance of serving children first, and how sometimes that requires courage.

BIO: Dr. Kim Pietsch-Miller is the Superintendent/CEO of Eastland-Fairfield Career and Technical Schools in Columbus, OH. She was previously the superintendent of Bexley City Schools in Columbus, Ohio and prior to earning positions as superintendent, she served as Chief Academic Officer, as an assistant superintendent, a principal, an assistant principal, and an English teacher. Check out Kim's blog for inspired reflections on education and leadership.