The Aspiring School Leader Podcast

The Aspiring School Leader Podcast

By Dr. Donovan Smalls II

The Aspiring School Leader Podcast is the go-to show for educators ready to step into school leadership with clarity, confidence, and impact.

Hosted by Dr. Donovan S

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Best of The Aspiring School Leader Podcast

The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

  1. Number 1: Episode 40: New Assistant Principal? Here’s What to Expect in Your First Year

    New Assistant Principal? Here’s what to expect in your first year of school leadership—from managing emotional challenges to leading adults and growing into your new role. CHAPTERS: 00:00 — What New Assistant Principals Should Expect 01:51 — The Emotional Roller Coaster of Leadership 07:35 — Leading & Managing Adults 11:23 — Give Yourself Grace While You Grow Stepping into your first Assistant Principal role is exciting, but leadership can be very different from what you imagined. Your days may be unpredictable, difficult conversations may arise, and leading adults requires a different set of skills than leading students. In this episode, Dr. Donovan Smalls II shares 3 essential lessons every new Assistant Principal should understand: ✅ Be ready for the emotional roller coaster of leadership ✅ Learn how to lead and manage adults through trust and influence ✅ Give yourself grace while you learn, reflect, and grow You'll also learn why being a great classroom teacher doesn't automatically mean you'll be a great school leader—and why experience, relationships, emotional intelligence, and reflection are essential to becoming an effective assistant principal. Whether you're a new assistant principal or an aspiring school leader, this episode will help you better understand what your first year in school leadership may look like. 🎯 PREPARING FOR YOUR SCHOOL LEADERSHIP INTERVIEW? Learn how to strengthen your interview responses, communicate your leadership experience, and confidently land your first leadership role. 🎯 1:1 Interview Coaching If you're preparing for your first leadership role and want personalized interview coaching, learn more here: https://www.donovansmalls2.com/coaching 👋🏾 ABOUT DR. DONOVAN SMALLS II: Assistant Principal | Best-Selling Author | Interview Coach Dr. Donovan Smalls II helps aspiring school leaders get interview-ready & confidently land their first leadership role. 📘 Grab my book, Beyond the Classroom: https://shorturl.at/74Bgy Streaming on: 📺 YouTube 🔗 https://urlgeni.us/youtube/channel/L0Y2m 🎧 Apple Podcasts 🔗 https://tinyurl.com/mv7f683k 🎧 Spotify 🔗 https://tinyurl.com/4wydt4nr 👉🏾 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell for more school leadership interview prep and leadership readiness strategies. 🔔 Subscribe for weekly episodes on school leadership interview preparation specifically geared toward aspiring school leaders. #AssistantPrincipal #SchoolLeadership #EducationalLeadership #AssistantPrincipalInterview #LeadershipDevelopment #AspiringSchoolLeader #interview

    19min
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  2. Number 2: Episode 39: How to Know If a School Leadership Job Is Right for You | Interview Tips

    A school leadership job is about more than getting an offer—it’s about finding the right school, district, and leadership environment for you. In this episode, Dr. Donovan Smalls II shares how aspiring school leaders can evaluate a leadership opportunity before saying yes. Chapters: 00:00 You’re Interviewing Them, Too 02:33 Know What You’re Looking For 07:12 Ask Questions That Reveal the Culture 09:33 Remember the Value You Bring When preparing for a school leadership interview, it’s easy to focus entirely on proving yourself to the interview panel. But remember…you’re interviewing them, too. This episode will help you approach your next leadership interview with confidence, clarity, and discernment, by learning how to: ✅ Evaluate whether a school leadership job is right for you ✅ Ask questions that reveal the school’s culture ✅ Understand whether the district supports leadership growth ✅ Recognize the value and experience you bring to the table You’ll learn how to determine whether a school leadership position aligns with your long-term goals, leadership growth, values, and ability to make a meaningful impact on students, staff, and families. If you need personalized support with your leadership interview preparation, let’s explore 1:1 coaching below. 👉🏾 1:1 Leadership Interview Coaching: https://donovansmalls2.com/coaching 📘 Beyond the Classroom https://shorturl.at/74Bgy About Dr. Donovan Smalls II: Assistant Principal | Best-Selling Author | Interview Coach Dr. Donovan Smalls II helps aspiring school leaders become interview-ready, strengthen their leadership confidence, and confidently land their first school leadership role. Streaming on: 📺 YouTube 🔗 https://urlgeni.us/youtube/channel/L0Y2m 🎧 Apple Podcasts 🔗 https://tinyurl.com/mv7f683k 🎧 Spotify 🔗 https://tinyurl.com/4wydt4nr 🔔 Subscribe for weekly videos on Leadership Interviews, Assistant Principal Interviews, School Leadership, Educational Leadership, Interview Preparation, Leadership Development, and Career Growth for aspiring school leaders. #SchoolLeadership #LeadershipInterview #InterviewPreparation #AssistantPrincipal #AspiringSchoolLeaders

    15min
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  3. Number 3: Episode 38: How Qualified Candidates Can Stand Out in Leadership Interviews

    School leadership interview success takes more than experience and qualifications. In this episode, Dr. Donovan Smalls II shares 3 powerful leadership interview strategies to help aspiring school leaders answer with confidence, reduce interview anxiety, and position themselves as the leader a district wants to hire. Two candidates can have similar experience, qualifications, and resumes—but one gets the job while the other doesn't. Often, the difference isn't experience. It's strategy. ⏱️ Chapters: 00:00 — Why Qualified Candidates Fail Leadership Interviews 01:56 — Strategy #1: Know the District Before You Sell Yourself 06:38 — Strategy #2: Think Beyond the Question 09:27 — Strategy #3: Control the Narrative If you're preparing to land your first school leadership role, this video will help you: ✅ Research the district before you sell yourself ✅ Connect your experience to the district's goals and needs ✅ Understand what interview questions are really designed to reveal ✅ Answer unexpected leadership interview questions with confidence ✅ Use frameworks instead of memorizing answers ✅ Reduce interview anxiety and communicate your leadership more effectively ✅ Control the narrative and leave the interview with a clear leadership message 🎯 Ready to Prepare for Your Leadership Interview? If you have a strong resume and the experience to lead, but need additional support preparing for your next school leadership interview, Dr. Donovan Smalls II's 4-week interview preparation coaching program, Elevate Your Impact, can help you: • Clarify and confidently communicate your leadership story • Practice scenario-based leadership interview questions • Receive real-time coaching and targeted feedback • Complete a full one-on-one mock leadership interview 👉🏾 1:1 Leadership Interview Coaching: https://donovansmalls2.com/coaching 📘 Beyond the Classroom https://shorturl.at/74Bgy About Dr. Donovan Smalls II: Assistant Principal | Best-Selling Author | Interview Coach Dr. Donovan Smalls II helps aspiring school leaders become interview-ready, strengthen their leadership confidence, and confidently land their first school leadership role. Streaming on: 📺 YouTube 🔗 https://urlgeni.us/youtube/channel/L0Y2m 🎧 Apple Podcasts 🔗 https://tinyurl.com/mv7f683k 🎧 Spotify 🔗 https://tinyurl.com/4wydt4nr 🔔 Subscribe for weekly videos on Leadership Interviews, Assistant Principal Interviews, School Leadership, Educational Leadership, Interview Preparation, Leadership Development, and Career Growth for aspiring school leaders. #SchoolLeadership #LeadershipInterview #AssistantPrincipal #InterviewPreparation #EducationalLeadership

    15min
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  4. Number 4: Episode 37: 3 Things Hiring Committees Want to Hear in Leadership Interviews

    Leadership Interview Tips for Aspiring School Leadership Interview Success. Learn what hiring committees want to hear in leadership interviews. You don't need a stronger resume. You need stronger interview answers. The candidates who consistently earn leadership roles aren't always the most experienced—they're the ones who clearly communicate how their leadership changes outcomes for teachers, students, and the entire school community. If you're preparing for your first leadership interview, these three principles will completely change how you approach your next interview. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ **INSIDE THIS EPISODE** 00:00 | The mistake that weakens great interview answers 00:24 | Why hiring committees think differently than candidates 03:08 | Principle #1 — You shouldn't always be the hero 06:18 | Principle #2 — Think beyond your classroom 12:16 | Principle #3 — Put students at the center of every answer 14:24 | The interview framework every aspiring school leader should remember ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ **WHY THIS MATTERS** Hiring committees aren't simply looking for someone who can manage a school. They're looking for someone who can develop teachers, inspire people, and improve student outcomes. That's the difference between sounding qualified...and sounding like the leader they're ready to hire. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ **IN THIS VIDEO, YOU'LL DISCOVER** • The three things hiring committees actually want to hear • Why talking about yourself too much weakens your interview answers • How to communicate leadership impact instead of accomplishments • How to connect classroom success to school-wide leadership • The mindset shift that separates teachers from future school leaders • Why student-centered leadership creates unforgettable interview answers • How to position yourself as someone who develops people—not just manages them ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ **ONE IDEA TO REMEMBER** Great leadership interviews aren't about proving how impressive you are. They're about proving how many lives your leadership will improve. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ **ABOUT DR. DONOVAN SMALLS II** Assistant Principal | Best-Selling Author | Interview Coach Dr. Donovan Smalls II helps aspiring school leaders strengthen their interview skills, communicate their leadership story with confidence, and successfully transition into their first leadership role. Beyond the Classroom https://shorturl.at/74Bgy Interview Coaching https://donovansmalls2.com/coaching ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ LISTEN & CONNECT YouTube https://urlgeni.us/youtube/channel/L0Y2m Apple Podcasts https://tinyurl.com/mv7f683k Spotify https://tinyurl.com/4wydt4nr ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Subscribe for weekly content on leadership interviews, assistant principal interviews, school leadership, educational leadership, leadership development, interview preparation, and career growth for aspiring school leaders.

    14min
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  5. Number 5: Episode 31: Stop Rambling in Interviews! Use This 4-Step Framework to Get Hired

    STOP RAMBLING IN INTERVIEWS: USE THIS 4-PART FRAMEWORK TO ANSWER QUESTIONS Most aspiring school leaders don’t struggle in interviews because they don’t know what to say. They struggle because they don’t know how to structure their answers. And that difference is exactly what separates candidates who get hired from those who get passed over. This episode, Dr. Donovan Smalls II breaks down a simple but powerful 4-part structured leadership response framework that helps you answer any interview question with clarity, confidence, and strategic thinking. If you are preparing for your first leadership role or looking to improve how you communicate in interviews, this episode will help you structure your responses like a strong, capable leader. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ WHAT YOU WILL LEARN: ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ➤ Why most candidates fail interviews (even with strong experience) ➤ The 4-part interview framework: Context, Evidence, Execution, Close ➤ How to structure your answers to sound clear and confident ➤ The difference between rambling and structured leadership thinking ➤ How to show your thinking (not just your answers) ➤ Why structured responses make you stand out in interviews Strong candidates don’t just answer questions. They structure their thinking. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ About Dr. Donovan Smalls II Assistant Principal | Best-Selling Author | Interview Coach Dr. Smalls helps aspiring school leaders get interview-ready & confidently land their first leadership role. 📕 Grab Beyond the Classroom → https://shorturl.at/74Bgy 1:1 leadership coaching available for aspiring school leaders who want to strengthen their interview skills and confidently transition into administrative roles: https://donovansmalls2.com/coaching ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Listen & Connect 📺 YouTube https://urlgeni.us/youtube/channel/L0Y2m 🎧 Apple Podcasts https://tinyurl.com/mv7f683k 🎧 Spotify https://tinyurl.com/4wydt4nr ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Subscribe for weekly content on school leadership interviews, leadership development, and career growth strategies. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ #InterviewTips #LeadershipInterview #SchoolLeadership #CareerGrowth #InterviewPreparation #LeadershipSkills

    16min
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How many episodes does The Aspiring School Leader Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 44 episodes available.