Colleagues, Friends, and Family,
Thank you for the reading this past month’s blog posts. I am humbled and appreciative of your support. I am on vacation this week, so there is no new post today. If you are new to this blog, please peruse the past postings. There will be new content to read when I return from my sabbatical.
My past blog post titles can be viewed on the main page of the Front Office Leadership blog. Past blog titles cover the topics listed below:
Have a great week.
When men and women climb the highest peaks or dive to the deepest depths of our physical world one never does it alone. Pop culture celebrates the four-star general or captain of industry who did it their way without compromise. This unfortunately gives a narrowed view of leadership since it only tells part of the story. The absent part of the story is the journey to get there and more importantly the person or person’s instrumental helping the leader achieve their goals.
Nearly every great leader throughout the ages of time has been blessed with a mentor to assist them in starting their journey, carrying on their journey, or finishing their journey. The world of public education is no different. What separates the great leaders from the average ones is their willingness to develop other great leaders. The selfless assistance could mean the leader means find success earlier, faster or better than yours, but you do it anyway because this is what makes school leaders unforgettable for all the right reasons.
For a public education leader a mentor can be advantageous in three significant ways:
1. Fail safely. Having a mentor alongside for your campus leadership journey allows you to flop constructively. They allow you to make the mistakes, but learn from them quickly so student learning is not disrupted or campus morale depressed.
2. Be heard. Move on. Campus leadership can sometimes be filled with periods of complaining because this rewarding profession has many challenges. What a campus never wants or needs is the leader complaining to the masses. It is toxic and counterproductive to leadership. This written, sometimes leaders need to vent and the mentor is your safe harbor to get it out and move on.
3. The nature of public education leadership is fluid for a myriad of reasons. Rare is the day of the campus leader parking in the front office for two decades and retiring into the sunset. Your connection to your mentor and other networking connections in this mentor tree branch out to opportunities unbeknownst to you right now.
Front Office Leadership 