Misdirected Leadership

Originally Publish in 2010 in Tumblr

When I worked in schools the hardest thing I can remember learning didn’t have to do with students, discipline, parents, faculty or staff. It honestly had to do with me.

If you are a leader you are expected to cast vision and prepare a pathway for the mission of the organization.  As a young administrator, learning my craft and paddling by hand, I made a few mistakes.  The largest was…

  • To be liked
  • To make others happy
  • To be liked
  • To tell people what they want to hear

And I could go on and on.  Make a decision, communicate it, and live by it.   When you’re wrong, admit it.  When you need to change course for the benefit of everyone…do it.  The most difficult thing I learned was in being just stubborn enough and nice enough to find a “swift” enough current in the river of administration to avoid the rapids of leadership and find the right destination.