At a keynote presentation at the annual PASCD conference, Dr. Chris Moersch referenced an older article by Philip Schlechty entitled, On the frontier of school reform with trailblazers, pioneers and settlers. In the article, Schlechty proposes five types of roles people assume throughout the change process. Trailblazers – independent and don’t need a map. The stories […]
The Struggle
One of the challenges I’m experiencing in my new role as Assistant Superintendent is balancing the day-to-day work with the innovative work. In my previous role as Director of Data and Technology, my responsibilities were more focused and it was easier to make the time to focus on new ideas to move us forward. I’m […]
Status Quo
I love this image… Source: pinerly.com via Scott on Pinterest Why don’t we have more school leaders re-imagining learning around time and space; and teaching around connection, sharing and collaboration? None of use has “the answer,” but we’re not even asking the questions. Scott McLeod has curated other great images/quotes on Pinterest. Be sure to […]
Steve Jobs Biography
I have acquired, but not yet started reading, the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson. After stumbling across this First Friday Book Synopsis, I am intrigued by the “lessons” in the biography. They aren’t just “business lessons” but rather leadership lessons applicable to any field, especially education. My favorite: “Build a team of A Players […]
Culture of Dissent
If you’re in education, you probably have just winced at the title of this post. That’s because most education cultures don’t engage in dissent very well. And maybe that’s part of our problem. If we are constantly spending time “covering up” the sucky stuff about what we do and where we work and not facing […]
“Greatness” in an organization
I read an excellent post on How To Create A Culture of Greatness from author Jon Gordon. I particularly liked how he emphasizes that shaping a great organization starts with the leader, no one else. “A culture of greatness creates an expectation that everyone in the organization be committed to excellence. It requires leaders and […]
Change, Innovation and Leadership
It’s not often that I find resources that push the limits of our paradigm of school leadership, but Jonathan Martin shares some takeaways from a new book, The Innovator’s DNA, that offer an opportunity to reflect on our own leadership and that of the organizations we call schools. I haven’t read the book yet, but […]
Framework for 21st Century School Leadership
Reading through Google Reader, I encountered a post that really interested me. The post, by Chris Kennedy, proposes a framework for leadership today. I find that many of our current ideas of leadership are rooted almost exclusively in the past. As a result, we have a lot of status quo leaders in our schools. Chris […]
Changing Habits – In Work and Life
Where change is happening, we often hear that if we are wanting to do something differently, the change must involves giving something up, or stopping some unproductive behavior. In Necessary Endings, Dr. Henry Cloud refers to this as pruning. And we all need to do it – at work and in life. “You can’t prune […]
Simple definition of Leadership…
From Beyond Code by Rajesh Setty: “Leadership is not tied to a position. If you want to lead, look for the gaps in your organization and start trying to fill them. Leadership can be as simple as filling in the blanks.” (pg. 5)