Month: May 2020

“Many people are convinced leadership is about authority. True leadership is more about influence. While people don't want to be micromanaged, they do want to be led. An effective leader understands this and directs his/her people with intention, purpose and skill.” Derek Avera-Focus 3 Leadership Group I was browsing Linkedin and I saw this quote from Derek Avera from Focus 3 Leadership Group. I connected with Derek during this pandemic to talk leadership and hear his insight on what it means to lead. This quote resonated with me because it is so simple, yet so powerful. This quote sums up the difference between positional power and personal power. Authority is simply relying on your title and hoping that drives outcomes. Personal power is built on relationships and inspiration tha...

In my younger days I spent some time racing on a sail boat on Lake Michigan. I was very inexperienced as a sailor, but I enjoyed my time learning to sail competitively. While sailing there were times were the weather was not ideal, and this led to some uneasy times and heightened anxiety. You never know how fragile you are until you are battling against mother nature. With my inexperience I never knew how serious the weather was or what realistic level of danger we were in as a crew. I would look to our captain Tom as he was manning the steering wheel to see what his body language was telling me. No matter how rough the water or how strong the sea, he held the wheel and held a firm but steady demeanor. This would calm me and allow me to breathe easier and focus on my task at hand.  ...

As I am transitioning into my new role as a principal I am amazed at the unleashed power in human capital. Human capital is an expensive word for relationships. I have a circle of people that I lean on for advice. My eyes were opened by my cousin who is an upper level manager at a large cosmetic company. He is invaluable as a resource for me, and I always appreciate his insight. He reached out to me to give me feedback on my blind spot article that you can find on this site. He asked me if I wanted to hear my biggest blind spot as a leader, and I was eager to hear his insight. He stated that my biggest blind spot was that I do not put enough value on my likeability, and that my greatest skill is as a listener and allowing people to share what is important to them with me. He scolded me in ...

This has been a unique time in my life, and a unique time for many people. As we have progressed through the safer at home order there have been stages to my emotional state. At first I was kind of shocked that everything just ended and we are staying at home. Then the day that the state shut down schools for the year I was good until I received a call that there was a large group of students at school. I went up there and found a group of students with sidewalk chalk, and they were writing messages as a class on the concrete. There were some touching messages, but it became clear that school this year was done. It was emotional. Since that time, I have progressed in dealing with the current situation.  I was on a webinar with an education consultant and he presented the question o...

Wow that did not go like I anticipated. So, what do we do now? As a leader this is one of the most uncomfortable moments you encounter. When implementing an initiative or sending a communication, you have an idea of what you would like to happen. Then all of a sudden you start receiving questions or pushback and you wonder how you got here. While this is not the desired outcome it is unavoidable as a leader. So how do we avoid that uncomfortable feeling? Previously I had talked about humility versus ego and how that shapes leadership. As a leader one of the best ways to demonstrate humility is to have authentic reflection around what your blind spots are as a leader. Being aware of your own growth areas can help avoid those frustrating moments where things do not go as you intended. Bli...

Leadership is a lonely endeavor, and the saying goes that success has multiple parents while failure is an orphan rings true. Often times as a leader you are working alone. There is only one CEO, one plant manager, one principal or one head coach. This solitude takes an already hard job and makes it exponentially more difficult. So how do you deal with this as a leader? My cousin is a plant manager for a large cosmetic company. He is a key piece of my personal professional network. He is younger than me and we both lean on each other for advice. As we were talking about me taking on my new role as a principal, he asked me if I would take some advice from my younger cousin. I am always looking for advice, so I obliged. He told me to find other principals that I know and trust, and that I...

The role of a leader is complex and messy, there is the requirement to lead but there is also a requirement to be led. As a leader you are interacting with multiple stakeholders in an organization. Some stakeholders are looking to you for leadership, and some stakeholders are leading you in the work around the mission and vision of the organization. Facing these multiple roles the leader comes in contact with a variety of personalities. As I have grown professionally I have accepted the fact that everyone that is successful has an ego. The people that are successful in leadership are able to keep that ego in check and walk the fine line between arrogance and confidence. I have recently accepted a new position as a principal at a middle school. Through the onboarding process I am learnin...