How's Your Elevator Pitch?

by | Sep 29, 2014 | Andy's Deep Thoughts

I don’t ride in too many elevators these days.  If you’re in the education world this is probably the same for you too, so the idea of the elevator pitch might be a little foreign.  For review, the idea originates from the practice of pitching your great idea to someone of importance, if you ever happen to be riding in an elevator together…so approximately 30 to 60 seconds.  Of course, you don’t need to be in an elevator to give an elevator pitch, instead the concept has evolved to include anytime you’re trying to convince someone else that your idea is compelling enough to make them want to learn more. I’ve been reading about elevators pitches in Daniel Pink’s book To Sell is Human where he outlines a number of successors to the elevator pitch, including the twitter pitch, email subject line pitch, and a few others.  He also asks the question “What’s your Invisible Pitch?”  Meaning if you asked those around you to describe you in 3 words, what would they say?  Pink describes the Invisible Pitch by saying, “we don’t always realize it, but what we do and how we do it are themselves pitches.  We’re conveying a message about ourselves, our work, or our organization.”  Although not completely related, I’m reminded of the famous Peter Drucker quote “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Despite our best intentions and best plans what are you as a leader pitching to your community?  What are your teachers pitching to your students and parents?  What are your students pitching to each other and...

The Unlikely Writer-Why I Blog and Why You Should Too

by | Sep 24, 2014 | Andy's Deep Thoughts

There’s little in my background as a student that would ever suggest I’d enjoy writing and one day write an almost daily blog.  As a child I hated writing and would avoid it at all costs.  Like many boys, I had poor handwriting and despite a wild imagination would avoid illustrative language and instead just provide what was required…and sometimes less…Ok a lot of times less.  So what changed? That’s a good question and something I’m still trying to figure out.  It might have been all the papers I’ve written for college and beyond, and an increased level of comfortability that comes with practice.  Or more likely it’s that I can be kind of vain and like to the approval of others, and blogging has provided an avenue for this.  Either way and for whatever reason, it’s been worth it because I’ve found as I write that my ideas and passions are jumped started and refined by the process.  To put in another way, think about it like this…Do you know of any great authors, rappers, songwriters, etc who simply sit and think, and then one day create a masterpiece?  No, of course not, it takes practice.  Writing provides this opportunity and transforms the way a person thinks.  Or by comparison, in the last few years I’ve finished a masters, started a doctorate, traveled the world, changed jobs, had a kid, and none of it compares to how much  I’ve learned about myself from taking time regularly write. So how does this relate to you?  You should be writing.  In fact you should be blogging, especially if you want...
Why Your Kid's Grades Wont Matter: Part Two

Why Your Kid's Grades Wont Matter: Part Two

by | Sep 23, 2014 | Blog

A few weeks back I shared with the education world the provocative statement: Grades are Dead.  If you haven’t had a chance to read Why Your Kids Grades Won’t Matter: Part One, I highly encourage you to check it out.  Read on for part 2. Now it would be fair to think “Ok, well clearly there are some flaws with the grading system, but since it’s still the standard method, we’re going to stick with A-F grading, which is at least the safe choice.” Hmm, interesting point…and I can understand your desire to lean towards safety.  After all, this is a student’s future we’re discussing here.  Yet, just for fun, let’s challenge the assumption that A-F grades are the safe choice. Some might think it’s the safe choice because to put it in the words of dollars and cents, grades are the currency that college admissions offices operate on with a little high stakes SAT testing to seal the deal.  Historically, this was true for sometime, but as grade inflation has become the norm in most schools, grades have become much less reliable.  Still many colleges start the admission process here, because students and schools show up with the same currency. Keeping with this metaphor, if high grades are the currency, yet grade inflation is an issue, then it holds true that today’s inflated grades just don’t “buy” you as much college education as they used to.  Look on any top tier college’s admission site and you’ll read about how they look beyond grades, because even colleges know that this is no longer a reliable means of determining whether...

Do You Have What It Takes?

by | Sep 22, 2014 | Andy's Deep Thoughts

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it takes to be a principal and even more so about what it takes to be a high performing leader (dare I say a level 5 leader).  So naturally, I drift to the thought, “do I have what it takes?”  One of my favorite, I mean absolutely favorite quotes is from Michael Fullan when he says “collaborative cultures rarely select newcomers only on the basis of their personal track records.  Rather, they hire largely for the person’s ability to work with and lead others.”  Fullan goes onto quote another author by adding “We want people who know they can get better; they want to learn from the best.  We look for people who light up when they are around other talented people.”   As a young leader it’s easy to see why I might gravitate to this quote.  I don’t have decades of experience.  I haven’t passed The Tipping Point of 10,000 hours of administrative work…wait, wrong analogy…I haven’t blinked…um, that doesn’t sound right…anyway, insert Malcolm Gladwell reference here.  What I do have is enough sense to know that I’m a better leader when I rely on the wisdom and collaboration of my team to make decisions, rather than always shooting from the hip.  Is that what it takes?  The ability to say “less of me and more of us?”   What do you think?  Yes you!  The principal, or leader reading this post, I want to hear your thought on what it takes?  Or is that wrong question?  Don’t be shy.  Start typing...

A Lid to Learning

by | Sep 21, 2014 | Andy's Deep Thoughts

Earlier this week I had a chance to connect with a head of school I really respect in Shanghai.  We’re preparing for an upcoming presentation together at the EARCOS conference in Malaysia.  I asked him a few questions about his leadership philosophy and one thing that stood out to me was the statement that “a leader must constantly be learning and developing, otherwise they’ll stifle the learning of the others in the institution…or in other words, they’ll put a lid on learning” (paraphrase).  What do you think, is this true?  Does a learned leader become a greater catalyst for learning?  Or is it also true that a narrow minded leader can help spark a race for more knowledge?  What do you...