Lessons From The Best

For many of us in international education the new school year is already upon us.   For some of you diehard holiday lovers this might come with a little dread, but hopefully as an educator you feel at least a little excitement at the beginning of a new school year.  Like most summers I planned to do much more then I ever accomplished, which was compounded this year as it was my first time chasing after a 1-year old all day.  It really is amazing how little one gets done in a day when it’s spent chasing after a small child.

So now that I’ve taken a little break from the blog and the Leadership Project, I thought it might be nice to reflect on what I’ve learned from the many great leaders I’ve had a chance to connect with this year.  So I’ve compiled a few of my favorite quotes and words of advice below.  Click on the name of the person to go directly to their interview.

Advice:

“If you’re interested in leadership, then raise your hand for anything that would constitute leadership, even if [it’s not your specialty]…[and] make yourself indispensable.”  Tim Carr, Jakarta International School

“Trust takes a long time to develop and can be lost in a sentence, so be scrupulously honest with people.” Bill Gerritz, International School Bangkok

I think it’s important to always focus on excellence and to never be satisfied with the status quo.  Similar to Philippians 4:8 which says, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”  Jim Koerschen, Concordia Shanghai

“Keep challenging yourself to learn something new all the time…[and] learn from those that you respect, and…those that are different from you.”  Kerry Jacobson, Shanghai American School

“[Avoid] shared endarkenment.”  I use this term to describe what I see happening at a lot of schools…”leaders that pay too much attention to what’s going on in their own school,” rather then looking at what other schools are doing. Bill Gerritz, International School Bangkok

“Have at least one other passion apart from the job…it also leads to the transfer of good ideas across disciplines.”  Kevin Bartlett, International School Brussels

Focus on 21st century skills and curriculum.  Know the research on best teaching and learning strategies, brain theory and focus on strategic thinking, especially around the ability to create and lead change.  Mark Ulfers, American School of Paris

“Make missions and strategic plans…alive, viable and dynamic.” Monica Greeley, Academia Cotopaxi

Keep building connections with people.  Especially peers at other schools who can help guide you in decisions you’re considering at your own school.  Stephen Dare, Hong Kong Academy

Lessons:

“I try to keep it real simple–I work as hard as I can, I focus on the student learning getting better, and that a student’s time at the school is positive.” Bill Gerritz, International School Bangkok

“Teachers respect administrators who know their trade and can teach…it gives you credibility with the faculty.” David Toze, International School Manila

“It’s something that’s deeper then skills, to be an effective school leader or manager you need to have a very high level of social and emotional intelligence and a very high verbal kind of intelligence. [In fact] people that [don’t have these skills] won’t be successful administrators.  [Also] you need to be really good at critical thinking and problem solving.” Bill Gertritz, International School Bangkok

I find my inspiration like any other person, through books, speakers, conferences, etc.  In particular, I find conferences valuable because they give you time to think. …”Even if the conference is crap, the fact that you have two or three days where you have thinking time, away from the school, I find that really useful and a lot of my better ideas have happened because I’ve just had time to think…I used to go to conferences expecting to learn something, and be really frustrated by them…until I realized I didn’t have to go there and grab something tangible…. The most significant decisions I’ve made at this school have happened while I’ve been at conferences and been away to think.”  David Toze, International School Manila

“One of my favorite sayings is, have a clear sense of purpose that gives rise to complex intelligent behaviors, not complicated rules and regulations that give rise to stupid, simplistic behaviors.”  Kevin Bartlett, International School Brussels

On Mentorship:

“One of the key factors I had going for me early on was having people that believed in me, and gave me opportunities to do things that I wasn’t qualified to do.”  Many of those people have inspired the way I work today, and demonstrated different styles of leadership.  “[I] learned more about myself as a leader by watching them…[and having] those key mentors in my life was absolutely essential.”  TIm Carr, Jakarta International School

“I think leaders who are talented at developing others share a common philosophy, to give people responsibility and mentor them.  Certainly that’s what I tried to do.  Harlan Lyso, Seoul Foreign School

Why Lead?

“Leadership is so hard…but it seems like a passion that you’re just called to [and] that you can’t deny, and it starts early in life.”  For me, even as early as high school I had leadership roles that I never had aspired to, but felt called to be in that position.  As that’s developed, I’ve just been pulled towards those positions.  Not for the authority or position, but because my skills have developed me to be effective in that way.  Jim Koerschen, Concordia Shanghai

“I think people need to know for themselves why they lead.”  “For me the fun is having the idea and having the power to make it happen…but if you’re not a guy who wants to make things better or doesn’t like the challenge to live up to that, then it’s really not the right job for you.” Kevin Bartlett, International School Brussels

 

Great Admin Traits:

“[As for administrators,] I think in general I’m looking for people who can manage people.  Who can take difficult situations and use the appropriate deft touch to calm those situations down.  People who others look at with respect and for wisdom.”  Kevin Dunning, Hong Kong International School

“I’m looking for the right person…I’m making the assumption that they already have the content knowledge at the point I see their information…[I look for] a person who sees a wide horizon on their job description, sees within and beyond the classroom into the life of school.”  Mark Ulfers, American School of Paris

“I look for love of the job…any teacher that works with me… will tell you how [tired] they are of hearing me say ‘come to work with a spring in your step.’ But I really believe that we are in a service profession, we’re serving students, so we have to love what we’re doing, because that contributes to their love of learning.” Monica Greeley, Academia Cotopaxi

“[Great leaders] are able to convey things with simple language, because one of the problems we have in change areas is we over complicate things, use too much jargon and language and we lose people…these leaders are able to put things in very simplistic terms that make people feel good about the change and make it seem achievable.”  Stephen Dare, Hong Kong Academy

Any thoughts you see that stand out above the others?  Any ideas missed that you think should be mentioned?  Comment below.