Surviving to Thriving Leadership

Theory Can Only Take You So Far: I met with Patrick Mongrain, a veteran teacher and entrepenuer. He has held many roles in schools, and recently came out with an App called Edchanger Pro. This app helps school leaders transform ‘classroom observations with real-time engagement tracking, instant analytics, and researched-backed professional development resources. If you want to learn more, reach out to Patrick at: [email protected]. This was a fascinating conversation and there is so much to write about, but I always narrow it down to 3 takeaways.

1. The Power of Systems in Education
2. Be Agents of Your Own Learning 
3. Balance Does Not Mean Staying in the Center

Walk With Who You Serve
Cheryl Johnson and I were connected by our mutual connection, Jethro Jones. Cheryl has had a different career path than many of the education leaders I interviewed. She spent most of her career in Training and Development for different corporations. Cheryl wrote the book, the Ambition: The Missing Atribute in Your Employess about how to bridge the gap between school and/or work, and how educators find their balance in life through harmonic leadership. We talked about many things, but I always narrow it down to 3 main ideas:

1.     Corporate Training vs. K-12 Education

2.     The Ambition Quotient

3.     Harmonic Leadership

Be a Perpetual Learner: I met with Dr. Adeyemi Stembridge, a force in the education world around Culturally Responsive Education. I have been fortunate enough to work with him at multiple schools and see his work first hand. He does an incredible job pushing teachers and leaders in their practices to help them support students on a deeper level. Be sure to check out his work and his numerous books at his website: https://www.dryemis.com/. We talked about many things, but I always narrow it down to three key takeaways. 

1. Find Your Passion 
2. When is your ‘High Octane Cognative Capacity Time?’
3. Fulfillment over Balance 

The Principal Time Audit - Thank you Edutopia - George Lucas Educational Foundation for publishing another article of mine! https://www.edutopia.org/article/principal-time-audit This is a great tool for understanding how you are using your time and how to make the most of it! Let me know if you need any help getting started with this Time Audit. Share it with anyone you know in a leadership position! 

Don’t Leave a Path of Destruction: I met with Andy Rodford, a veteran school leader from Canada. Andy now runs Venture Gained Consulting where he helps school and business leaders tackle problems that they wouldn’t get to by themselves. Be sure to check out what he has to offer:  https://venturegained.ca/  We talked about many things, but I always narrow it down to three key takeaways. 

1. Watch out for ‘Prep Mountain’ 
2. Importance of Trust 
3. There are 168 Hours in a Week

Leading With Purpose: I met with Dr. Ralph Watkins, a visionary school leader and a friend of mine. Dr. Watkins has spent a lot of his career in schools with a predominantly native population. He just wrote a book: Leading with Purpose: A Leadership Framework for non-Native School Leaders serving in Predominantly Native Schools. Check out his website and be sure to get a copy of his book! https://www.empoweredvoicesorg.org/ We talked about many things, but I always narrow it down to three key takeaways. 

1. Break with the Norm 
2. Kids Need to be Seen 
3. Maximize Impact with Limited Time

Don’t Be Too Hard on Yourself: I met with Dr. Wilnic Gideon, a veteran principal who is also the author of 2 books: Mindful Learning: Unlocking the Gifts of the Teenage Brain and Raising Ready Teens: 21 Milestones for Learning and Life. We had an awesome conversation. Be sure to pick up your copy of one or both of his books! https://www.amazon.com/stores/Wilnic-Gideon/author/B0D29ZQ1GH?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true  We talked about many things, but I always narrow it down to three key takeaways. 

1. It’s Not all About Academics
2. Set Goals 
3. Tired Leaders Don’t Get A Lot Done

Slow it Down! I met with Woody Howard, a veteran Washington principal and current president of the Association of Washington School Principals. Woody has become a friend of mine over the past few years and we often meet to talk about leadership and just about anything else. It was a lot of fun to sit down and interview him for this!  We talked about many things, but I always narrow it down to three key takeaways. 

1. Adapt Your Decision Making
2. This Job is a Marathon
3. Get to Know Yourself

Top 5 Themes from 2024: I want to end the year by highlighting some of the big themes that have come from my leadership conversations. This year I did significantly fewer posts than 2023, but there were still a lot of great things I learned. It was hard to narrow it down to 5, and at the end of the post I list 8 other topics that could have been towards the top as well. These 5 topics came up the most often by the most number of leaders. Here are the top 5 themes from 2024: 

1. Relationships 
2. Culture is What You Allow 
3. Empower Others 
4. Leader Wellness and Sustainability 
5. Purpose Driven and Intentional Leadership 

Increase the Humanity You Have With People: I met with Jethro Jones, a veteran school leader and coach. We had an awesome conversation and we ended up spending a lot of the time talking about productivity for school leaders. You will want to listen to the full episode to hear Jethro’s ideas on getting the most done in your day, while still being able to focus on the people in your building. You can learn more about Jethro on his website: https://www.jethrojones.com/ and you can find his productivity tools here: https://jethro.site/tools. Here are 3 main takeaways I had from the conversation:

1. Be Curious 
2. Get the Biggest Return on Your Time 
3. Balance comes in Seasons