Have you experienced some big setbacks in your leadership journey? Maybe you are focusing too much on the things you manage, not the people you serve.
In case you haven’t noticed, leadership has changed. A lot.
Gone are the days where the leader stands at the top of the organizational pyramid; speaking authoritatively, doling out wisdom, and is the keeper of all meaningful decision-making.
From a distance, the winged porcelain pig caught my eye. My wife had stopped at a curio shop in the hectic Chatuchak weekend market in suburban Bangkok, Thailand. I chuckled, "Ha! This image reminds me of the change process in education." Will pigs fly before we transform schools with students at the center of learning?
"For sale: Baby shoes, never worn."
Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway scribbled this brilliant six-word story on a napkin to win a bet. Fact-checking website Snopes.com cannot find any source or publication to verify the story is real. Nevertheless, it maintains an oft-quoted place in literary folklore.
There will be another school shooting in America with loss of life. Then another. Then another. Elected officials do nothing, so our national nightmare of killing children and teachers in schools is not going to end. How many times have we heard on media, "We never thought it would happen here!" The next atrocity can happen anywhere, anytime. Willing to bet that nearly every school has already done a review of its “active shooter” procedures. That is not enough.
What else can you do?
Great question! Doesn't get asked enough by school community stakeholders. More often, the question is: How would you change school?
Let’s start with the change school question and hypothetically ask those most impacted- teachers and students.
A typical teacher response could be suggesting new furnishings, better curriculum materials, more tech (maybe less tech!) and "MORE TIME dammit!"
Student comments might be less elegant, but more revealing. “School is boring and stupid.” For them, change is easy. Make it more fun.