Nine Rules to Correct Culture

Posted on March 18, 2025 Written by

Here’s a fascinating article from the business world about “fixing” a distorted corporate culture. In many ways, it’s essentially an expansion of the “You can lead a horse to water, but …” mantra that we’ve all heard before, but with specific tips on getting that horse to drink!

Executive coach, Art Petty, posits that in struggling organizations (or in our case, schools), we should never assume that the culture is broken. Instead, we need to realize that it’s simply been distorted … possibly by poor leadership or flawed decisions. And the job of any new leader is to respect and leverage the existing culture, not to “fix” it by attempting to force immediate change.

Creating a supportive, effective school culture takes time. But by focusing on key issues and leading by example, you can move your school culture towards a climate of renewal and positive growth.

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The Alpha Leader Lie

Posted on March 4, 2025 Written by

Decades ago, many people believed that a leader had to be pushy, aggressive, and sometimes even mean to be successful. Leaders were often envisioned as strong, pugnacious warrior types. Although extensive studies on productivity and workplace culture have long disproved that idea, the last few years have seen a reemergence of this false concept.

In this article, Eric Solomon (who has held leadership roles in major social media companies) takes a closer look at the “Alpha Leader” phenomenon, and shares three research-based characteristics that are commonly found in most truly successful leaders and the organizations they serve. While this was written primarily for a business audience (and featured in SmartBrief), the basic principles that he describes are directly applicable to educational leadership as well.

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Strong Relationships Drive Change!

Posted on February 18, 2025 Written by

Successful change initiatives depend on strong relationships. This blog post (from a Director of Curriculum and Instruction in New York) offers three tips for fostering relational change.

And while these tips seem obvious, we often fail to apply these guidelines to our change work. Ultimately, we must recognize that change is rarely a solo experience, and act accordingly. Because others are involved in the process, great leaders are constantly aware of their colleagues wants, needs, challenges, and worries. This relational focus helps us embrace change for what it truly is … a necessary part of life.

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Nine Key Questions

Posted on February 4, 2025 Written by

As the second half of the school year begins, it’s not too early to begin thinking about next school year and what you can do to increase your school’s impact.

Here’s are nine key questions from the business world that can help you focus on constituent expectations, external forces that may change those expectations, and identifying risks that may be within your control. (As you read through this article, just change “customers” to “constituents” … the parents, teachers, students, and everyone else your school serves.)

Asking these questions now has the potential to provide a fresh perspective on your school’s future as you look ahead.

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