The best piece of leadership advice i ever received
When I was just 29 years old, John Bone gave me an unforgettable piece of advice. that made me look like a genius 5 years later.
I was just starting in my first administrator position, and had been running myself ragged trying to help our Title I school. But, like most beginners, I was making a lot of mistakes: pleasing everyone, focusing solely on data, and making it not about the people.
Until one day, John said to me:
“Never blame any decision on central office”
That day, my whole life changed.
That doesn’t seem like ground-breaking advice, but it totally was. Anytime I was telling teachers or students to do something, I had to own it. If I didn’t agree with it, I better tell that to the district, not the staff.
If I was willing to go along to get along, I was doing it wrong. I had to stand up for what I believed.
No matter what, you’ve got to stand up for what you believe in, and then stick to your guns or change your mind.
Five years, we were supposed to give state tests for the first time on computers. Everyone was stressed, and I refused to do dozens of practice tests.
The temptation was strong to do those tests and blame it on central office. I didn’t.
Two days before we were to test, a fiber optic cable was cut and the whole state canceled testing for that year. I took a principled stand and my refusal to do practice tests looked genius when all that instructional time ended up being wasted.