As the school year wanes, I hope each of you are making plans to get away this summer and recuperate from what has likely been the most challenging year ever faced by school district leaders. It is my further hope that you will not only plan to relax while away, but also carve out some time for thought and reflection. Once you do, I trust that time might be used in the following manner… Think about lessons learned from this year.  Consider how your life and the lives of those you lead and interact with has been changed.  Based upon …

As a superintendent your days are extremely busy and often unpredictable. In other words, the way your calendar looks in the morning is rarely how it progresses throughout the day. It seems like there is always something which takes you off course and although it may be a minor diversion, it is a diversion, nonetheless. The concern I have about this reality is not so much that you are buffeted by the winds of distraction never to get back on track, but rather that you are intentionally exercising leadership thought on a daily basis. In today’s post I want to …

Spring is here and summer is just around the corner which means you are likely planning new initiatives for the coming year.  Clearly this will be another unique school year as you prepare to shore up student learning and figure out how to use an unprecedented level of federal funding in your district. As you begin to work with your leadership team in designing next year’s activities, I thought it might be helpful to reflect upon the concept of time and timing when planning new initiatives and to outline a few best practices. Time Achieving success in implementing new initiatives …

Recently I heard a podcast which highlighted Dr. Caroline Leaf, cognitive neuroscientist, and leadership guru, Dr. John Maxwell.  The topic was leadership and emotional health and I thought it provided some helpful information for educational leaders, especially related to the challenges which have been faced over the past year. Today I would like to discuss some of the insights I gleaned from the podcast and talk about how these ideas specifically impact educational leaders and the work that they do. The first insight is that the mind is different than the brain.  Our minds are malleable; they are trainable, and …

A year ago, I wrote a blog post on Generation Z teachers and have since then been researching the topic in greater depth.  The recruitment and retention of teachers is one of the greatest challenges we face and I believe those districts which focus on Generation Z will be the most competitive as time progresses. Today, I would like to outline a few facts which I found compelling in my research and offer a couple of ideas (of many) that districts might consider as they think about employing Generation Z teachers. Fact #1 – The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) suggests …

If you have been a school district leader for any period, you likely realize the issues you often face mirror the politics of your local community (or communities).  As this is the case, you must not only understand the community’s political leanings, but also how these thoughts and ideas impact the decisions of your Governing Board and you as superintendent. It is not uncommon, as we have recently seen, that division exists, and superintendents are caught in the middle.  As a result, do you do what you feel is best?  Do you follow what you deem to be the majority …

Leaders have a tough job, but this past year has been uniquely challenging. Coming off the holiday season many leaders have been able to reduce their stress level a bit by spending time with family and engaging in non-work activities. But work is about to start again in the new year so what can be done to curb stress on the job? Are there tweaks or modifications which can be made to build one’s resiliency moving forward? In this post I want to focus on the power of knowing yourself and how reflecting on your work pattern preferences can establish …

The pandemic is creating what some have referred to as a “new normal” for school districts. Teachers have been forced to seamlessly integrate technology into their instructional practices, interaction with parents has been enhanced, and competition for students has increased due to the introduction of micro schools and other forms of flexible learning models. Although most believe school districts will bounce back to a more “traditional” educational format post-pandemic, it will never be the same as it was before. The reality is superintendents and other school leaders need carve out time to conceptualize (collaboratively) how a post-pandemic school system might …

I have been reflecting lately on superintendents and other leaders across our nation who are beset by the challenges of addressing COVID, while simultaneously needing to focus on what comes next. It is this paradox of leading the organization in the current, while saving enough mental and emotional bandwidth to consider what will be required a year from now that is of concern. In today’s post I would like to briefly discuss the paradox of leading from a “current and next” perspective, how our inherent mental and emotional wiring impacts our thinking, and finally what leaders can do to manage …

I have been reflecting on what we can learn from our country’s recent political environment, and how we can apply these lessons to our leadership. My intent is not to make a political statement, but rather to step back and look broadly at leadership actions, assessing what works and what does not. In the following paragraphs I have identified three lessons we can apply, all of which directly impact how we function as leaders. Each lesson is borne out of what we have recently experienced, and I believe can impact us greatly if followed on a daily basis. It’s Typically …