Don’t miss this vblog on books you need to read to lead better and grow faster. We recommend three titles that are must reads on the topic of learning and growing as a leader.
PS — If you have a topic you want us to cover or need recommendations on books to read in a particular area of leadership, just send us a tweet or an email.
Richard Elmore Brings Tons of School Leadership Wisdom to the Podcast
Richard Elmore is currently a Research Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where he has been on the faculty since 1990. He was the founding faculty director of the Doctorate in Educational Leadership (EdLD) at Harvard, an innovative interdisciplinary residential, cohort-based leadership program for the learning sector, now in its eleventh year.
His on-line HarvardX course, Leaders of Learning, has been taken by more than 100,000 learners internationally since its inception in 2014. From 1995 to 2014, his research and consulting practice focused on building instructional improvement capabilities of teachers and administrators through direct observation and analysis of classroom practice.
He has worked with schools in large urban districts in the U.S., and with government and private schools in Australia, Canada, Mexico, Chile, and China. His current work focuses on the relationship between research on the neuroscience of learning and the physical, cultural, and social design of new learning environments for adults, adolescents, and young children. He consults with architectural design firms working with international clients on the design and construction of innovative learning environments. He is a painter, working in watercolor and oil media, and a writer of Tanka poetry.
Highlights from the Interview with Richard Elmore
Dr. Elmore plainly describes the power of learning through the beginner’s mindset. In a sobering way, Richard takes us on a journey that uncovers the limitations that the institution of education has and what must be done about it.
Richard describes how simple, granular conversations during medical rounds is the premise behind educational rounds.
Hear how he clearly distinguishes between education and learning.
Listen to what he describes as one of the most powerful practices a leader can do to improve student learning.
This interview was steeped in neuroscience and how much has been learned over the last few decades. Richard touted the work of Alison Gopnick and Sarah Blakemore and encouraged us to read their work with a beginner’s mind.
Richard’s philosophy on learning is profound and challenging. Learn more about ground zero.
Find out what Richard would still like to learn and his unique insight into China. He also recommended Tom Vanderbilt’s book called Beginners as the perfect read for lifelong learning.
Richard describes how we can write our biography as a learner, something we should all do.
Finally, don’t miss how his mindset toward learning and schooling has changed significantly over the years. He shares a life-changing experience that led him to revamp his teaching style as a professor.
Dr. Elmore’s interview is truly a call-to-action. He challenges the educational system from architectural design to the application of neuroscience. It was a wonderful follow-up to our latest blogpost on the four often overlooked learning strategies for leaders. We hope to hear from you about your favorite parts of both the blog and the interview.
Please follow, like, and comment. Use #onethingseries and #SH302 so that we can find you. For more great leadership content, follow dereka206.sg-host.com.
Great leaders recognize that their own learning is directly correlated with their actual effectiveness. ~ TheSchoolHouse302
Anyone who is interested in growing as a leader should also be attentive to the speed at which they acquire new knowledge, skills, and abilities through learning. The concept of learning is an art and a science, and if we want to lead better and grow faster, we need to focus our efforts on being a super-learner in the areas that matter most to us.
Unfortunately, leaders are busy people, swamped with duties and responsibilities. Whether you are a principal, teacher-leader, or instructional coach, great leaders serve others. And, while servant leadership has grown to be a widely accepted leadership model, it’s often mismanaged and becomes a one-sided, output driven, approach. In other words, leaders who embrace the servant leadership theory, commonly confuse this method as solely aimed at providing for and serving others, versus also receiving growth experiences for themselves.
The problem is that when leaders fall into this one dimensional style of servant leadership and only address the people they serve, their personal mechanisms for learning stall. The old adage applies: “you can’t pour from an empty cup.” Learning and growing as a learning leader really is like a bank account; you cannot continue to make withdrawals if you do not make deposits.
The good news is that serving others is the foundation to serve oneself. Being grateful and giving to others are both strategies for renewal and servanthood. That said, those aren’t strategies for which leaders learn, grow, and acquire new knowledge. They are great ways to energize our efforts, but they don’t always provide the novel skills and abilities that leaders need as we progress in life and work.
Being a servant leader includes serving yourself, and that means adopting a mindset that embraces learning as much as you can along the way. If you want to excel at being a servant leader, you must also be what we call a “learning leader.”
Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. ~ Brene Brown
#1. Be Vulnerable — Always think like a novice, never overestimate your own expertise
Vulnerable leaders are “more interested in understanding reality than in being right and are not afraid to accept that they are wrong” (Edmondson & Chamorro-Premuzic). This vulnerable approach brings leaders into a learning-centered state rather than one where we need to know the answers. Especially during uncertain times, leaders need to be aware of their limitations. It takes courage to express our invincibility, but it allows us to see ourselves more clearly and take action that results in new learning. There are several key ways that we can engage with the act of being vulnerable. In the realm of learning faster, the critical resolution is to commit to self-improvement and to be open to criticism. The important mental model is that we think like novices and openly share our work for others to provide feedback.
Technical Tip: Be resilient. Resilience allows for growth and maturity. Coupled with one’s ability to remain vulnerable, it is a powerful combination that leads to explosive growth. One key to being resilient is to simply recognize when you’re anxious, which makes it challenging to lead with confidence.
Practical Strategy: Ship your work early. You’ll never know if something is going to be good enough until your audience gets to see a version of it. Whether you’re working on a memo, a blog, or a painting, let your audience comment on how it’s going before it’s done or at least before you think it’s done.
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. ~ Albert Einstein
#2. Be Curious — Don’t assume that you know something in depth when you may only have a very cursory knowledge of the subject
A great example of a lack of curiosity in practice is education’s application of Professional Learning Communities. We hate to admit it, but the concept of a PLC has been grossly over employed to the point where PLCs have become the nomenclature used as a substitute for what we would consider a commonly scheduled meeting. Just because a group of people are coming together to discuss a topic, doesn’t mean that they’re conducting a PLC. Even if the group is coming together to solve a problem or learn something new, it doesn’t technically fit the description of a true PLC. That said, if we are genuinely curious about how PLCs should work to benefit students, we would study them in depth. We assume too much about our own understanding of the concept, and we move forward, often erroneously. In his book, Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends On It, Leslie calls curiosity a muscle, a natural part of us that atrophies without regular intentional exercise.
Technical Tip: Dive Deep. Learn to study a subject in depth over a period of time. Commit to a list of readings, not just one book or a single article. Develop your own curriculum and create your own learner-directed certificated program in the subject.
Practical Strategy: Block time for yourself as a learner–literally schedule time in your calendar for reading and researching. Because leaders are so busy, if you don’t schedule learning in your daily calendar, it likely won’t happen. We tend to rise to our level of incompetence, not because of a lack of skills but rather a lack of skill development.
With a versatile player, there’s no spot on the court where you can’t pass him the ball. You can do anything. ~ Kevin Durant
#3. Be Versatile — Expand your willingness to use multiple modalities as a learner
As humans, we crave and desire consistency–consistency in how we feel, think, and act, even when it may be to our own detriment. Developing and honing our particular skill set through a preferred medium is fine, but it is through our ability to adapt, maneuver, and respond within different learning contexts that we achieve explosive growth. In Building a Winning Team, we describe the power of cognitive diversity and how it “accelerates learning and performance in the face of new, uncertain, and complex situations.” This is not only true for ourselves but particularly true for our students who benefit from experiencing content in multiple ways.
Technical Tip: Understand yourself. Know your learning preferences and also recognize that the concept of learning styles has been debunked. You can learn from multiple methods, and you should. People tend to approach learning in the way that they feel suits them best. You have far more capacity than that as a learner, and comfort may be getting in your way.
Practical Strategy: On the subject that you’re committing to learn, search for at least one book, one article, one podcast, and one video. Don’t just read, listen, or watch…do all three. Your brain will thank you.
A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open. ~ Frank Zappa
#4. Be Open-Minded — Often there are multiple perspectives that must be explored and considered
Not only do we tend to fall into our own traps of thinking and doing, there are other powerful reasons for our lack of perspective in life and work. Google and other social platforms force us into the spaces that we’ve already explored. Through cookies and other search optimizations, our digital world is limiting our perspective and creating our environment for us. In fact, Andrew Arnold, in his Forbes article, wrote that “social media is a major influencer when it comes to the purchasing decisions of millennials. In fact, 72% of them report buying fashion and beauty products based on Instagram posts.” To learn more and grow faster, you actually have to challenge what you would typically accept to be true, even if you’re accessing a database of information. As learners, we are obligated to not only expect but to respect all the perspectives on any given subject, not just the one or two that we know best. Even what we hold to be absolute should be consistently revisited and analyzed with a new lens. Reitz and Chaskalson call for this perspective seeking open-mindedness to be done with teams, which provides us with what they call a “meta-awareness.” “Meta-awareness is the capacity to observe and describe experiences from an individual, team, and system-wide perspective rather than being confined solely within any individual’s personal experiences.”
Technical Tip: Enhance your life. Learning to be open-minded enriches your existence. Your ideas, thoughts, values, and goals evolve and expand when you are open to receiving the goodness that the world has to offer. By gaining a greater understanding and an enhanced perspective, you become more versatile in your decision-making ability. Much of this comes from the practice of mindfulness. Don’t miss our podcast interview with the authors of The Mindful School Leader for tips and tricks to use throughout your day.
Practical Strategy: Ask questions of the most diverse players on your team, especially the ones that don’t look like you or have your same background experiences. Here’s a sample question: If there was a way to improve our ability to think creatively together, what would it be? You can find other questions, embedded within an “inquiry” approach to perspective finding in the HBR article cited above.
That’s our model for leading as a learner. If you remain vulnerable, practice being curious, take steps to exercising versatility, and position yourself with an open mind, you will learn more and faster than ever before. That’s what the world requires of its most powerful leaders today. If you stop learning, you also stop leading.
As always, let us know what you think of this with a like, a follow, or a comment.
Review: Review the four hacks and reflect on how well you use them. Let’s use feedback as an example. In what areas of your professional life did you receive feedback? If you are not receiving feedback, ask for it. Your own impression of your work and performance will not make you better. While we always strive to be reflective practitioners, cognitive scientists remind us that reflecting on our work when we’re doing it is near impossible for the brain.
Reflect: Identify key areas of your life where you would like to receive feedback more often. These areas can vary from how you are generally viewed by others to your actual performance on a specific task at work. See below for a few feedback prompts:
Do I honor commitments?
Am I reliable?
Do I show up to meetings on time? Even on Zoom.
How effectively do I run our meetings?
Ask these prompts to a trusted colleague and give them a scale to use (1-10). When they respond, ask for evidence and one thing that you can do better/differently. Then put that item into practice. That’s how we grow faster than we would without feedback.
Review: Based on the brief summarization of these books from our #readthisseries, which one are you starting to read this week? Let us know at @TSH302 on Twitter or send us a quick email @ [email protected].
Reflect: All three of these books delve into our behaviors and mindsets; what is one behavior that you are working on to improve or change? Try to think at the micro-level.
OneThingSeries Podcast
Mindfulness is the capacity to have compassion for ourselves as leaders and to carry that compassion into the world for others. ~ Valerie Brown & Kirsten Olson
Reflect: What is one major takeaway from the podcast that you can implement right now in your day or life?
Review: in which areas of your life do you need to be more mindful? This doesn’t have to be complicated, just something that needs more attention–something that may be on autopilot that you can notice more often throughout your day.
That’s our #ReviewAndReflect for this month, all on the topic of excellence. We can’t wait to hear from you.
PS — We’re getting ready to start our first ever Assistant Principal Mastermind. If you’re an assistant principal, and you want to lead better and grow faster, contact us at [email protected] so that we can put your name on the list (almost full).
PPS — Did you know that we’re running our first ever Masterclass on Candid and Compassionate Feedback. Starting in January, you can join us for five sessions on the leadership pitfalls of candor and how to solve them. If you’ve ever had a feedback conversation go wrong, you know how bad that feels. We’ve identified 9 problems and their solutions. Find out more here.
TheSchoolHouse302 · One Thing Series: Mindfulness & Excellence w/ Valerie Brown and Kirsten Olson -- #OneThingSeries
Mindfulness is the capacity to have compassion for ourselves as leaders and to carry that compassion into the world for others. ~ Valerie Brown & Kirsten Olson
Valerie Brown transformed her high-pressure, high-stakes twenty-year career as a lawyer-lobbyist, representing educational institutions and nonprofits, to human-scale work with diverse leaders and teams to foster trustworthy, compassionate, and authentic connections.
She holds a Juris Doctorate, she’s an accredited leadership coach at the Professional Certified Coach level (PCC), international retreat leader, writer, and Chief Mindfulness Officer and Professional Pilgrim of Lead Smart Coaching, specializing in the application and integration of mindfulness and leadership, and she is a Co-Director of Georgetown’s Institute for Transformational Leadership in Washington, D.C.
Kirsten Olson works with leaders engaged in transformational change, sector-shift, and the new demands of leadership in the learning sector, nationally and internationally. She is an ICF-certified leadership coach and an adjunct instructor at Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership. She holds a doctorate from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, where she focused on the systemic demands of large scale educational improvement, and is the author of The Mindful School Leader (Corwin, 2014), Wounded By School (Teachers College Press, 2009) and Schools As Colonizers (Verlag, 2008).
Also a retreat leader focused on mindfulness for leaders, self-compassion, and permissioning in leadership and social action, Kirsten was a founding board member of the Institute for Democratic Education in America (IDEA), a national not-for-profit organizing educational leaders, teachers, students, and parents around a vision for education founded in greater equity, social justice, compassion and passionate learning.
Major Takeaways from the Interview:
Valerie and Kirsten vividly describe the issues that many educators are facing and how mindfulness is more important than ever. Full of wisdom, they provide practical steps to achieve mindfulness within the human experience. They remind us that although mindfulness takes time, everything that we need to achieve it already exists within us. Using a story about an urban school leader, they discuss ways to become more self-aware and reduce anxiety. Hear what they have to say about microbursts and how cortisol is a killer. Quick Tip: As you’re reading this–Pause, put your feet on the floor, take a deep breath, and slowly exhale. Take notice of what you are feeling.
Valerie described the power of connection and being a part of a wonderful community, like the Plum Village, which was founded by Thich Nhat Hanh. Don’t miss everything else they reveal about who they value for knowledge and inspiration.
Both Valerie and Kirsten describe the “gift of empty time” and the need “to do less” and how “contentment is knowledge of enough.” Taking something out of your day or life is what leads to excellence, not the other way around.
Don’t miss what they would love to learn, but more importantly, pay attention to why.
Listen to what they say about how leadership is an x-ray of the self and why you shouldn’t live one more day without a community of support.
You don’t want to miss what they don’t think anymore and how they challenge contemporary service leadership as misunderstood.
This interview courageously confronts the concept of leading with excellence in a totally different way than our culture might expect from its leaders. The raw humanness exposed in this interview will make you think about how you are living each day and what you can do to be a mindful leader. It was a wonderful follow-up to our latest blogpost on excellence hacks every educator needs. And for more about adult SEL, check out this podcast as well.
Don’t miss this vblog on books you need to read to lead better and grow faster. We recommend three titles that are must reads on the topic of hacking excellence for educators.
PS — If you have a topic you want us to cover or need recommendations on books to read in a particular area of leadership, just send us a tweet or an email.
Subscribe here to join the tribe and get free leadership content each week via email–blog posts, podcasts, books to read, access to live events, and more.
More Resources for You
Grab a Copy of One of Our Books:
7 Mindshifts for School Leaders: Finding New Ways to Think About Old Problems. Order it Here
Retention for a Change is an Amazon Best Seller and our Latest Book: Order it Here
7 Mindshifts for School Leaders: Finding New Ways to Think About Old Problems. 
