Surviving to Thriving Leadership

Theory Can Only Take You So Far : I met with Patrick Mongrain, a veteran teacher and entrepenuer. He has held many roles in schools, and recently came out with an App called Edchanger Pro. This app helps school leaders transform ‘classroom observations with real-time engagement tracking, instant analytics, and researched-backed professional development resources. If you want to learn more, reach o...

Walk With Who You Serve Cheryl Johnson and I were connected by our mutual connection, Jethro Jones. Cheryl has had a different career path than many of the education leaders I interviewed. She spent most of her career in Training and Development for different corporations. Cheryl wrote the book, the Ambition: The Missing Atribute in Your Employess about how to bridge the gap between school and/or...

Be a Perpetual Learner: I met with Dr. Adeyemi Stembridge, a force in the education world around Culturally Responsive Education. I have been fortunate enough to work with him at multiple schools and see his work first hand. He does an incredible job pushing teachers and leaders in their practices to help them support students on a deeper level. Be sure to check out his work and his numerous books...

The Principal Time Audit - Thank you Edutopia - George Lucas Educational Foundation for publishing another article of mine! https://www.edutopia.org/article/principal-time-audit This is a great tool for understanding how you are using your time and how to make the most of it! Let me know if you need any help getting started with this Time Audit. Share it with anyone you know in a leadership positi...

Don’t Leave a Path of Destruction: I met with Andy Rodford, a veteran school leader from Canada. Andy now runs Venture Gained Consulting where he helps school and business leaders tackle problems that they wouldn’t get to by themselves. Be sure to check out what he has to offer:  https://venturegained.ca/   We talked about many things, but I always narrow it down to three key takeaways.  Watch out...

Leading With Purpose: I met with Dr. Ralph Watkins, a visionary school leader and a friend of mine. Dr. Watkins has spent a lot of his career in schools with a predominantly native population. He just wrote a book: Leading with Purpose: A Leadership Framework for non-Native School Leaders serving in Predominantly Native Schools. Check out his website and be sure to get a copy of his book! https://...

Don’t Be Too Hard on Yourself: I met with Dr. Wilnic Gideon, a veteran principal who is also the author of 2 books: Mindful Learning: Unlocking the Gifts of the Teenage Brain and Raising Ready Teens: 21 Milestones for Learning and Life. We had an awesome conversation. Be sure to pick up your copy of one or both of his books! https://www.amazon.com/stores/Wilnic-Gideon/author/B0D29ZQ1GH?ref=ap_rdr&...

Slow it Down! I met with Woody Howard, a veteran Washington principal and current president of the Association of Washington School Principals. Woody has become a friend of mine over the past few years and we often meet to talk about leadership and just about anything else. It was a lot of fun to sit down and interview him for this!  We talked about many things, but I always narrow it down to thre...

Top 5 Themes from 2024: I want to end the year by highlighting some of the big themes that have come from my leadership conversations. This year I did significantly fewer posts than 2023, but there were still a lot of great things I learned. It was hard to narrow it down to 5, and at the end of the post I list 8 other topics that could have been towards the top as well. These 5 topics came up the...

Increase the Humanity You Have With People: I met with Jethro Jones, a veteran school leader and coach. We had an awesome conversation and we ended up spending a lot of the time talking about productivity for school leaders. You will want to listen to the full episode to hear Jethro’s ideas on getting the most done in your day, while still being able to focus on the people in your building. You ca...

Be In It For the Long Haul: I met with Dr. Barb Flowers, a veteran educator and life coach. We had a great conversation around building more sustainable leadership practices. Be sure to check out her podcast, The Principal’s Handbook. We talked about many things, but I always narrow it down to three key takeaways.  Be Present in the Classroom  Set Boundaries  Prioritize  Also, be sure to check out...

I met with Dr. Robyn Hansen, a professor at NAU and former principal and president of NAESP. She has written the book, The Principal’s Desk Reference To Professional Standards - be sure to get a copy! We talked about many things, but I always narrow it down to three key takeaways.  Never Say No to Growth Opportunities  Balance Through Shared Leadership  Time Management and Reflective Practice

Over the past two years, I’ve interviewed more than 80 educational leaders across the country, and a few from Canada and Australia. This was a personal project to learn as much as possible about school leadership. The process pushed me out of my comfort zone, and some major themes emerged. I’ve turned several into what I call the Leadership FRAMEwork:  F - Find opportunities  R - Relationships   A...

Don’t Wait Around for a Stamp of Approval: I met with Chris Ballew, former lead singer of The Presidents of the United States, and former children’s musician, Casper Babypants. We had an awesome conversation that went in directions I wasn’t anticipating. Be sure to checkout his website or listen to his music on your favorite streaming platform. We talked about many things, but I always narrow it d...

You are in the people investment business! I met with Dr. Peter Rios for a great and engaging conversation. Dr. Rios is on a mission along with his spouse, Dr. Ruby Gonzalez-Rios, to build and develop people so they can maximize their potential and live healthy fulfilled lives. He recently wrote a book called Maximize! Be sure to check it out along with his services on his website: https://peter-r...

Building Active Players: I met with Camille Empey, an associate principal in Washington, and soon to be full-time entrepreneur. She is embarking on a journey to start filling some gaps that she has noticed while working in school systems. She is providing great opportunities for students, starting with summer camps - check it out here: https://www.buildingactiveplayers.com/ She also provides coach...

How Are You Building Community? I met with Khalid Maxie, the principal of Jesuit High School in Portland, OR . Khalid and I have known each other for a long time. Over the years, he has been a colleague, friend, mentor, and even a workout partner! I went to visit him at his school recently, and we had a broad-ranging conversation. We talked about many things, but I always narrow it down to three k...

Have Laser-Like Focus: I met with Dr. Shon Hocker, the superintendent of the Coeur d’Alene school district. We had an excellent conversation spanning a lot of topics. Dr. Hocker is a thoughtful and strategic leader, and his leadership is clearly working - Coeur d’Alene is ranked in the top 2 for most achievement categories in Idaho. Check out the district website for more of their great work. Be A...

We Are Going To Get After Teaching Our Kids! I met with Dr. Derek Bub, the superintendent of the West Ada School District in Idaho. You can see the great work they are doing on the district website . We had a fantastic conversation around leadership and cover many topics, but I always narrow it down to three key takeaways.  Keep It Positive  Mentorship and Professional Growth Balance and Prioritiz...

One or Two People Cannot Do It All: I met with Jeanette Crone, a veteran elementary educator, fantastic assistant principal, and a friend of mine! We have known each other for a couple of years, and finally sat down for a great leadership conversation. We talked about many things, but I always narrow it down to three key takeaways.  Build Relationships and have a Network Be a Systems Thinker  Find...

No One Really Cares About Your Title: I met with Dr. Darrin Peppard for an inspiring conversation! He has a podcast (Leaning into Learning), a newsletter, and a book (The Road to Awesome). Check them all out on his website: https://roadtoawesome.net/ . Dr. Peppard has been a state principal of the year and a national educator of the year! I guarantee you will learn something valuable from his work...

Culture is What You Allow: I met with Lacey Griffiths, an associate principal in Longview. She was the 2019 AWSP Assistant Principal of the Year for Washington. She is a well-known and well-respected AP across our state. I have been fortunate to know her for five years, and we finally sat down for an in-depth leadership conversation. What a great time! We discussed many things, but I always narrow...

Just Breathe: I met with Jennie Ehleringer, a former special education teacher who now had her own private practice. Check out her website: https://www.jennie-ehleringer.com/ to find out about the great services she can provide. We had a great, and wide ranging conversation, but I always narrow it down to three key takeaways.  Curiosity is so important  It’s the Breathing  Let Go of the Idea of Be...

Bring Education Back to Life: I met with Luc Goudreault, the CEO of Vireo. They are doing great work around gardening in classrooms, but they do so much more. Check out the website to see what they can offer to your school. https://www.vireoeducation.com/en/home . Luc and I met in the summer of 2023 and kept in touch. We finally met over Zoom to talk leadership; it was a great conversation! We dis...

Never Wish Anyone a Mistake Free Career: I met with Lisa Parry, a principal from South Dakota. Lisa is a fantastic person, an engaging speaker, and has really interesting thoughts on education. You can find out more about her on her website: https://principalparry.com/ . We talked about many things, but I always narrow it down to three key takeaways.  You Are Going to Fail (And That’s OK) Pour You...