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.

1. Watch out for ‘Prep Mountain’
2. Importance of Trust
3. There are 168 Hours in a Week

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://www.empoweredvoicesorg.org/ We talked about many things, but I always narrow it down to three key takeaways.

1. Break with the Norm
2. Kids Need to be Seen
3. Maximize Impact with Limited Time

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&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true We talked about many things, but I always narrow it down to three key takeaways.

1. It’s Not all About Academics
2. Set Goals
3. Tired Leaders Don’t Get A Lot Done

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 three key takeaways.

1. Adapt Your Decision Making
2. This Job is a Marathon
3. Get to Know Yourself

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 most often by the most number of leaders. Here are the top 5 themes from 2024:

1. Relationships
2. Culture is What You Allow
3. Empower Others
4. Leader Wellness and Sustainability
5. Purpose Driven and Intentional Leadership

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 can learn more about Jethro on his website: https://www.jethrojones.com/ and you can find his productivity tools here: https://jethro.site/tools. Here are 3 main takeaways I had from the conversation:

1. Be Curious
2. Get the Biggest Return on Your Time
3. Balance comes in Seasons

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.

1. Be Present in the Classroom
2. Set Boundaries
3. Prioritize

Also, be sure to check out the Be Podcast Network, which hosts this podcast and Dr. Flower's podcast!

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.

1. Never Say No to Growth Opportunities

2. Balance Through Shared Leadership

3. Time Management and Reflective Practice