Dr. Darrin Peppard is a dynamic keynote speaker, leadership expert, and consultant with a passion for transforming organizational culture and developing the next generation of leaders. A former award-winning principal, Darrin draws from nearly 30 years of experience in education to inspire leaders to embrace clarity, purpose, and joy in their work. 

He is the author of Road to Awesome: The Journey of a Leader, and his newest book, Culture First Classrooms: Leadership, Relationships, and Practices that Transform Schools, co-authored with Katie Kinder.

Darrin hosts the Leaning Into Leadership podcast, where he shares real-world insights to help leaders build strong teams and thriving school cultures.

“So much of what we do as a leader isn’t about the words that we use or the things that we say but about our actions.”

At the beginning of the interview, Will asks Darrin to share with listeners about why he chose to write the Road to Awesome. Darrin answers that his motivation for writing this book goes back to his first year as a high school principal. He dealt with a lot of discipline, and the school had a pretty toxic culture. One day, Darrin received a wake up call in the form of a question. A teacher asked him, “Why does it always have to be about what students do wrong? Why can’t we focus on what they do right?”. From that moment on, Darrin began showing up differently and shifted his focus to building relationships with students. Eventually, the rest of his staff followed suit. The shift in what they were looking for from students changed the school culture. 

Darrin and Will spend a large part of the interview covering Darrin’s acronym for leaders, A.W.E.S.O.M.E. Below is a short summary of the acronym and the meaning behind each statement.

To learn more about Darrin Peppard, check out the Leaning in to Leadership podcast, follow @Darrinmpeppard on all social media platforms, or visit DarrinPeppard.com

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