Earlier today, I walked into a school I support and could feel it almost immediately. The energy was different. Nothing major had happened. There wasn’t a single event you could point to and say, “that’s the issue.” Instead, it was a collection of small things that were starting to stack up. Minor student behaviors were […]
I had a conversation with a leader today that stuck with me. She shared that she had been putting off a conversation with one of her direct reports—not because she didn’t know what needed to be said, but because she wasn’t quite sure how it would be received. She was concerned about how the employee […]
I’ve had the same conversation with multiple school leaders over the past few weeks. They’re excited about next year. They’ve got a vision. They’re thinking about what they want to implement and how things will look in the fall. And then I ask: “When does this work start?” Almost every time, I hear: “We’ll roll […]
A few years ago, I sat in a room with my leadership team during a retreat. And there was a word that kept surfacing in different ways: Fatigue. Not the kind that comes from long hours—although we had those too. This was something different. It was initiative fatigue. We had too much on our plate. […]
I remember sitting in leadership team meetings early in my time working under a superintendent who, quite honestly, operated on a different level than the rest of us. At the time, I thought I was prepared. I had reviewed the agenda. I had thought through the issues. I had ideas ready to contribute. And then […]
This week in Orlando, I had the opportunity to work with school leaders on a challenge that almost every organization faces but few address intentionally: Leadership team alignment. Most leadership teams don’t struggle because people aren’t trying hard or lack skills. They struggle because everyone is busy. Everyone is carrying responsibility. Everyone is trying to […]
Later this week I’ll be speaking to a room full of school leaders about a topic that doesn’t get nearly enough attention: leadership teams. Most organizations have one. Every school certainly does. Principals have assistant principals, instructional coaches, counselors, department chairs, and other key leaders who help move the work forward. But having a leadership […]
When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, the company was on the brink. It wasn’t that Apple lacked talent. It wasn’t that their people weren’t working hard. The problem was focus. The company had dozens of product lines. Engineers were spread thin. Marketing was diluted. Energy was scattered everywhere. Jobs walked into a room, […]
If I’m honest, overextension has been one of my most consistent leadership mistakes. As a principal, I took on too much because I cared deeply about my school, my staff, and my students. In my current work as a coach and speaker, I still sometimes catch myself saying yes when I should pause and ask […]
I was in Oklahoma this week, keynoting a conference for school principals. After the session, a leader pulled me aside to process something happening in his building. He shared that a group of teachers had decided to stop accepting late work altogether. Their reasoning? A handful of students were abusing the privilege. Assignments were coming […]
