Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School Leadership Podcast

School owner Charlie Marcotty spent nearly 29 years building something remarkable and then watched it fracture under the weight of rapid growth. Eight allegations, four directors in three months, 50% staff turnover. In this episode, Chanie breaks down exactly how Charlie came back from the edge using rhythm-based leadership and what that means for every school leader who feels like they're barely holding it all together.

If Charlie's story resonated, we'd love for you to:

1. Apply for Leadership HQ → https://schoolsofexcellence.com/apply
2. Grab the book → This Can't Be Normal at thiscanbenormal.com
3. Subscribe + leave a review it helps more school leaders find this content when they need it most
4. Share this episode with a school leader in your life who needs to hear it right now

Summer enrollment feeling unpredictable? It's not about effort, it's about infrastructure. In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski breaks down why school leaders keep losing leads they already have, why families are waiting longer to commit, and what it actually looks like to build an enrollment system that converts delayed decisions and compounds over time. If enrollment feels reactive, this episode is for you.

Resources Mentioned:

Enrollment Engine: https://discovered.thrivecart.com/the-enrollment-engine-curriculum-only/

Every year, school owners sit down with their accountants and ask the same dangerous question. In this episode, Chanie explains why "what should I cut?" is a shrinking strategy, and walks you through where your school is actually leaking profit right now.

Resources + Links Mentioned:

Reclaim $2,000+/month by fixing the money leaks without adding enrollment in the Increase Your Profit Workshop: https://discovered.thrivecart.com/financial-gear-workshop

Consistency sounds so simple. Show up. Do the thing. Repeat.

So why does it feel like standing at the edge of a cliff?

Consistency isn't boring. It's vulnerable. In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski explores why high-achieving school leaders resist steady rhythms, how perfectionism masquerades as inconsistency, and why return, not perfection, is what sustainable leadership is built on. If you've been doing the work and wondering why nothing seems to change yet, this one is for you.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• This Can't Be Normal: What to Do When Success Starts to Feel Like Survival available wherever books are sold: https://thiscantbenormal.com
• The Gratitude Rhythm — Episode 3 of the Schools of Excellence Podcast
• Brené Brown's TED Talk on Vulnerability

What if the warmth you've been leading with is quietly stalling your school's growth? In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski challenges the belief that empathy alone creates change — and unpacks why consequence, not punishment, is actually the key to predictable safety, reduced burnout, and a team that rises on its own. A must-listen for school leaders who are exhausted from holding everyone else.

Resources Mentioned:

1. This Can't Be Normal by Chanie Wilschanski — https://thiscantbenormal.com
2. Leadership HQ Membership — https://schoolsofexcellence.com/apply

Every September feels like a fresh start. By March, it feels like everything is falling apart. If that cycle sounds familiar, this episode is going to reframe everything for you.

Chanie Wilschanski breaks down the real reason school leaders burn out every spring: heroics masquerading as infrastructure. She unpacks what real systems look like under pressure, introduces the five elements of infrastructure that every school leader needs, and gives you two practical moves to make right now — before summer — to stop the cycle.

In this episode, you'll learn:

1. Why heroics work in September but collapse by March — and what that tells you about your current systems
2. The five elements of real infrastructure: standards, ownership, rhythm, guardrails, and consequence
3. Why the skills that made you successful at one level become a liability at the next
4. The Gottman statistic that reframes how you think about school leadership problems
5. Two specific actions you can take this week to start closing your infrastructure gap
6. How to use your spring data to build a focused infrastructure plan this summer

RESOURCES & LINKS:

1. Register for the Delegation Workshop: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/workshop
2. Get Chanie's book, This Can't Be Normal: https://thiscantbenormal.com
3. Apply for Leadership HQ: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/apply
4. Follow Chanie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chaniewilschanski/
5. Join the Schools of Excellence Lounge on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolsofexcellencelounge

March is the mid-year mirror for school leaders, and it's showing you exactly what needs to change before May amplifies everything. In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski breaks down the difference between circumstantial challenges and infrastructure problems, shares a three-question framework to identify your patterns, and walks you through exactly how to install the standards and ownership your school needs to finish the year strong.

Resources Mentioned:

1. Register for the Delegation Workshop: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/workshop
2. This Can't Be Normal (Chanie's book): https://thiscantbenormal.com
3. Leadership HQ Membership: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/apply

You finally exhaled. Things at school are good. The team is doing well. No fires. No panicked texts. No impossible parent meetings. And somehow, instead of leaning in, you quietly stepped back — because isn't that the goal?

This episode is rooted in the same rhythm-based leadership philosophy at the heart of my book, This Can't Be Normal: What to Do When Success Starts to Feel Like Survival, and it's one of the conversations I wish every school leader could hear before they disappear into a calm season without studying it first.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

1. Why calm seasons are actually your most important diagnostic window — not a break from leadership
2. The difference between "borrowed calm" and "built calm" — and how to tell which one you have
3. Why drift doesn't begin in chaos — it begins in calm, quietly, while you're not watching
4. What it really means when you "step back" and the team figures it out (and why it might not mean what you think)
5. The critical difference between absence and true leadership transfer
6. How to study your calm and turn one good season into a repeatable one
7. Why you cannot anchor yourself — and what to do instead

Resources & Links Mentioned:

1. This Can't Be Normal: What to Do When Success Starts to Feel Like Survival by Chanie Wilschanski — available wherever books are sold and at https://thiscantbenormal.com
2. Leadership HQ — Schools of Excellence membership program: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/apply

📘 Buy the book: This Can’t Be Normal: What to Do When Success Starts to Feel Like Survival

Early childhood education promotes leaders faster than almost any other industry — and school leaders are paying the price.

In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski names a quiet but growing leadership crisis inside schools: teachers are promoted into leadership roles based on warmth, availability, and emotional labor — not relational stamina, discernment, or leadership infrastructure.

You’ll hear why early childhood lacks true leadership pipelines, how urgency and exhaustion drive premature promotions, and why titles alone don’t build capacity. Chanie breaks down what other industries do differently — and what school leaders must begin building now if they want leadership that’s steady, sustainable, and not built on survival.

This conversation is for school owners and leaders who promoted someone hoping for relief — and instead found themselves carrying even more weight.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

1. Why early childhood promotes leaders earlier than almost any other industry
2. The difference between emotional labor and leadership stamina
3. Why warmth and likability don’t equal leadership readiness
4. How premature promotion creates top-heavy leadership and invisible pressure
5. What discernment actually looks like in school leadership
6. Why mentorship and rhythms matter more than titles
7. How to stop passing emotional labor from one leader to the next

Key Insights

1. Emotional regulation is not leadership. Adults don’t grow through comfort — they grow through stamina.
2. Titles without capacity create collapse. Promoting without scaffolding only shifts the weight.
3. Discernment is a leadership muscle. It must be built through rhythm, mentorship, and exposure.
4. Infrastructure protects leaders. Systems, standards, and rhythms distribute pressure instead of concentrating it.

Memorable Quotes

1. “You cannot hug an adult into accountability.”
2. “We reward warmth without cultivating relational stamina.”
3. “Adults don’t grow through discomfort — they grow through stamina.”
4. “Titles change, but emotional labor doesn’t.”

Why This Matters for School Leaders

1. Prevents burnout caused by premature promotions
2. Creates leadership clarity instead of survival-based decisions
3. Protects owners from becoming the emotional shock absorber
4. Builds leadership capacity that holds under pressure
5. Replaces urgency with strategy and structure

Next Step

If today’s conversation named something you’ve felt but haven’t been able to articulate, you’re not behind — you’re seeing the system clearly.

👉 Purchase This Can’t Be Normal and start exploring how school leaders can build leadership infrastructure that doesn’t rely on exhaustion. thiscantbenormal.com

Hiring can feel like a test you’re supposed to pass.

You check references.

You trust your gut.

You believe in someone.

And then something happens — they struggle, disappoint you, drift, or leave suddenly.

And the messaging comes fast:

1. “The wrong hire is expensive.”
2. “You should have vetted better.”
3. “This is what happens when you trust too quickly.”

In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski names the toxic hiring myth school leaders are swimming in: the belief that if you hire the “right person,” the problems stop — and you can finally rest.

But hiring isn’t the moment you eliminate risk.

Hiring is the moment you agree to lead humanity.

This is not a tips-and-tricks episode. It’s a reality reset for school leaders who are tired of blaming themselves every time a hire doesn’t go exactly as planned — and ready to lead with steadier rhythms that can hold trust when life shows up.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn

1. The hiring myth that turns leadership into a moral test of your intelligence
2. Why “responsibility equals foresight” is a trap for school leaders
3. What hiring actually means — and what it never meant
4. Why you can’t interview for grief, stress, burnout, or life disruptions
5. The interview fallacy and why better questions won’t create safety
6. The difference between trusting once vs. building trust through rhythm
7. The three post-hire rhythms that create predictable safety:
8. Alignment rhythms
9. One-on-one rhythms
10. Rupture & repair rhythms

Hiring is a choice.

Leadership is a relationship.

And when we stop trying to choose our way out of relational work, we build school cultures that can hold both standards and humanity.

If this episode named something real — especially the invisible weight school leaders carry after a hire — This Can’t Be Normal is now available.

👉 Grab your copy today: thiscantbenormal.com