An Imperfect Leader: The Superintendents and Leadership Podcast

Book Update!  You can preorder my forthcoming book,  A n Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action. Click on the link here. Or if there is no hyperlink, go to peterstiepleman.com, you can order it there. Imperfect Leaders!  Today on an Imperfect Leader, Dr. Mike Redmond is my guest. Mike has been the Superintendent of Shakopee Public Schools, in Shakopee, Minnesota since 2018. In our conversa...

Book Update!  You can preorder my forthcoming book,  A n Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action. Click on the link here. Or if there is no hyperlink, go to peterstiepleman.com and order it there. Imperfect Leaders! This week  on an Imperfect Leader, Dr. Vickie Murillo is my guest. Dr. Murillo has served as the Superintendent of the Council Bluffs Community School District in Council Bluffs...

Book Update!  You can preorder my forthcoming book,  A n Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action. Click on the link here. Or if there is no hyperlink, go to peterstiepleman.com and order it there. Imperfect Leaders! This week, Matt Hornbeck is my guest. He is the principal of  Hampstead Hill Academy in Baltimore, Maryland. In our conversation, w e talk about the importance of relationships...

Hello Imperfect Leaders! This week,  Dr. Adam Swinyard is my guest. Adam is the superintendent of the Spokane Public Schools in Spokane, Washington. The first part of our conversation is dedicated to Adam's dissertation research and how there is a correlation between principals who regularly assess school culture with the success of the children in that school. I found it to be really interesting....

Dr. Nick Polyak is my guest. Nick is the superintendent for Leyden Community High School District in Cook County, Illinois. During our conversation, we talk about  The Unfinished Leader , a book he has co-written with colleagues (they've written a few!). He also describes a community of lead learners he brings together through #suptchat , a Twitter community he co-moderates.  Nick describes the pr...

Hello Imperfect Leaders! In this episode of An Imperfect Leader, Dr. Tony Aylsworth is my guest. As many know, t he aim of this podcast is to learn about how superintendents think, plan, lead, use systems, and learn lessons. In this episode, Tony tells us about his experience leading two school district in Iowa simultaneously  and he tells us about what he learned from a bond election (and how EVE...

In this episode of an Imperfect Leader, Nate Levenson is my guest. In our conversation, we talk about the budgeting process and the importance of engaging in high levels of collaboration. During his After Action Review, Nate describes his experience of eliminating the school's crossing guards, a decision he believed to be the right one based on the data. He learned a lot about the politics surroun...

First of AWL (that's first of all for you non-New Yorkers), my Long Island accent appears in full force from time to time during my conversation with Andrew Marotta.  Mr. Marotta is a high school principal and self-described as "an energetic and enthusiastic school leader who has put his positive imprint on his beloved school, Port Jervis High School, in Port Jervis, NY."  In his After Action Revi...

Hello Imperfect Leaders! This week, Dr. Mark T. Bedell is my guest. Mark and I became friends during his 6 years as the Superintendent of the Kansas City Public Schools, but Mark is no longer a Missouri resident. He began a four-year term as Superintendent of Anne Arundel County Public Schools on July 1, 2022, Maryland's fourth largest school district. BIO: Dr. Bedell is a talented, caring teacher...

In this episode of An Imperfect Leader, Dr. Leslie Torres-Rodriguez is my guest. Dr. Torres-Rodriguez is the Superintendent in Hartford, CT, a school district with about 17,000 students. Leslie cares so deeply for her district because her district is so personal to her - she graduated from the Hartford Public Schools and then returned to lead it. In her After Action Review, she describes the proce...

This week on An Imperfect Leader, Dr. Kenny Rodrequez is my guest. Dr. Rodrequez has been the Superintendent of the Grandview C-4 School District since 2016.  In our conversation, Kenny references the work his district has done on Introducing children to authentic experiences, including Project Lead the Way . Kenny uses the power of language to convey his thoughts on systems and system thinking. M...

This week, on An Imperfect Leader, Dr. Alena E. Zachery-Ross is my guest. This conversation has it all. We talk about an annual Fail Fest where Alena's team put a spotlight on actions that fell short. We talk about board relations and how leaders often learn the hard lesson of learning how to partner with their board. We talk about the low of resigning from her position to the highs of having her...

This week on An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action, Dr. Rob Clayton is my guest. As superintendent of the Warren County Public Schools in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Rob has seen a 25% growth in students, which now number about 18,000 in grades pre-K through 12 representing 103 different languages. In this episode, Rob shows how managing and leading that kind of growth requires a lot of s...

In this episode of an Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action , David Geurin is my guest. David is in his first year as Superintendent of Fair Play School District in Southwest Missouri.  His After Action Review topic is one leaders in ANY field have to negotiate. When do you step in to support? A teacher in his district was having a hard time with a challenging parent. Dave coached and sup...

In this episode of An Imperfect Leader, Dave MacLeod is my guest. Dave is NOT a superintendent, but he and the company he leads, ThoughtExchange, have helped superintendents across the nation harvest the wisdom of their communities to make better decisions. During the episode, you'll hear Dave say he is a 6 ft. tall white man. There's a reason why that's relevant. Did you know that studies have sh...

I almost called this episode What's More Valuable Than Mithril? This Episode with Bryan Luizzi.  I resisted because of the obvious Lord of the Rings reference, and how it might resonate with a very select group of leaders! This episode is a terrific one. We talk about Bryan's time teaching principals in Jordan and I ask him to talk a little about a real innovation in his community - the planetariu...

In this episode of an Imperfect Leader, we've invited Alexander Brittain to be my guest. The title of this episode is An Unexpected Leader because Alex didn't necessarily plan to be a superintendent. It sorta just happened. Alex has been a principal and a superintendent, and is currently working in a different capacity. BIO: Alexander has been a California educator for more than 20 years. In 2022,...

In this episode of An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action, Matt Robbins is my guest. Matt is the Superintendent of the Daviess County Public Schools in Daviess County, Kentucky. What's different about Matt is that he didn't follow a traditional route to the superintendency. His background is in finance. In this episode, we talk a little about how his past experiences help him in his cur...

Today on an Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action, Dr. Scott Woolstenhulme joins us. Scott and I talk about the use of social media to engage stakeholders. Plus, we talk about a challenge most school leaders encounter - the adoption of technology. Determining the best time to purchase hardware and/or software is a complex question. In this case, the state was providing the technology, but...

This week, Dr. Jim Wipke to joins the podcast. Jim talks about the power of supporting resilience (a dimension from the Human-Centered School Transformation Model ) and he breaks down a decision he made during the pandemic - the decision to bring back kindergartners. BIO: Dr. Jim Wipke has been the Superintendent of the Ladue School District, outside of St. Louis, since 2019 and has extensive expe...

In this episode of An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action, my guest is Dr. Quintin Shepherd of the Victoria Public Schools in Victoria, Texas. We talk about a number of lessons from his book,  The Secret to Transformational Leadership, including the difference between #complicated and #complex. We talk about making decisions with those most impacted by the decision you're going to make...

In this episode of An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action, Dr. Shari Camhi is my guest. We talk about  Ron Berger's book, An Ethic of Excellence . We talk about what learning spaces currently look like for children and a shift in what they could look like. Dr. Camhi brings people together to rethink the relationship between curriculum and learning spaces - and she even has a word for it...

In this episode of An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action, Dr. Kim Pietsch-Miller joins us. Dr. Pietsch-Miller is the Superintendent/CEO of Eastland-Fairfield Career and Technical Schools in Columbus, Ohio. I ask Kim to talk about the distinction between planning vs preparing ( the topic of a recent article she wrote ). Kim talks about establishing values with her community (and living...

In this episode of An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action, my guest is the Superintendent from Ferguson-Florissant, Dr. Joe Davis . In our conversation, we talk about programming for #STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math). We talk about #faith. We talk about how leaders monitor progress, and make midcourse course corrections, when needed. You can't talk with Joe Davis...

This week on An Imperfect Leader, Dr. Deanna Ashby is my guest. Deanna is a retired superintendent who now works as a leader coach with Studer Education in Madisonville, Kentucky (link below). Deanna urges school leaders to pause and reflect before planning . BIO: Dr. Ashby's five years as a superintendent built a strong belief in education and her mission in the field. Working in public schools f...