Mr. David Toze is the Superintendent at the International School Manila.  Wait a minute did I misspeak?  Certainly I must have meant Dr. David Toze, right?  If one looks at the School Head Welcome Message on most international school’s website, they’ll notice a similarity between most heads, three letters…PhD.  During my conversation with Mr. Toze, he explained why he chose not to pursue a PhD and how he and other leaders have developed independently.

Since starting the process of interviewing different International ED Leaders, David Toze had been recommended numerous times by his peers as a bright, innovative, and unique leader in international education.  Admittedly, Mr. Toze has his own style, which influences the way he leads ISM, but his decisions are always based on core experiences and values.

He was kind enough to share with me how he established these values, and how they integrate into his leadership style during an interview last week.

(If not specifically quoted I’ve paraphrased his responses to these questions)

How have you developed from place to place?  Did the big development happen as you took on new roles, or as you matured in a role?

The majority of my development came from maturing in a position.  “The longer you can stay in a particular place, the more you experience.”  It’s the daily challenges and “confrontation that comes from a wide variety of experiences that is the key to growth.”

 I believe it’s the opportunity to learn from experience that has benefited me the most.  This is why I chose not to get a PhD, because I’m not convinced that it’s worth the three years of salary and lost experience it requires.  It can certainly help open doors, but even a degree from Harvard can be worth less than consciously working at development.

If one of your administrators at ISM wanted to pursue a PhD would you support their decision?

“Certainly, one of our principals is working on a PhD at the moment.’’  However, if someone asked me for advice “I’d say, be sure you know of what you’re getting into.”  There are many PhD students who spend all that time and money, and then don’t complete the dissertation.  However, I don’t expect my administrators to have doctoral degrees, but when they ask for my support, it’s my obligation to help out…”

What’s your greatest priority when choosing administrators and teachers at your school? 

I’ve interviewed hundreds of people and sometimes it simply comes down to that “blink moment…that moment in the interview, very early on, when I know viscerally that this is a person I can work with.”  Admittedly I’ve picked some lemons, but that usually happens when I’ve said ‘yes,’ despite my instincts saying ‘no.’ Although it’s not just me making hiring decisions, we’ve had administrators who really like a candidate that I didn’t feel strongly about, and despite my hesitations, we’ve said ‘yes,’ and sometimes it turns out to be a mistake, but that’s how you learn.

 “[Ultimately] connection is key…if you can’t make that human connection, then it doesn’t matter how many degrees you have, you’re doomed.”

Who do you want on your team at ISM?

“I look for clever people.  You can do a lot with smart people, and you can’t do much when people are dull.”  After that, I look at their experience and where they want to go, and what they want to bring to the school.  “I like people who are young and ambitious.”  One of the benefits of working at an international school like ISM is every year there is a new bunch of smart and ambitious teachers who bring great ideas to the school, and help our school constantly evolve.

How did you help ISM raise its standards when you arrived?

When I arrived it wasn’t difficult to make speedy and significant changes because we had to just take the bad stuff away.  What’s difficult as an administrator, is replacing the bad stuff with good stuff.  One of ISM’s most difficult problems was that it lacked high-quality teachers.  So one of our first challenges was to change some of the personnel. 

 “[Since then] the structures of the school have all changed and…a lot of people have played important roles in all of it.”  We try to get teachers who will stay beyond four years, and although continuity isn’t always the most important factors in a school, I believe it’s not until a teacher’s third year that they start to make a real impact at our campus.

Where do you find your inspiration?

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.”

 Obviously our success at ISM doesn’t just come from me.  “There is a huge amount of momentum here and there are loads of great people with great ideas, [in fact] sometimes we have too much going on…so we try to work on balance.”

What advice do you have for the next generation of administrators?

“Do a lot more listening than talking.”

 “Understand that to be a leader you must have followers…so pay a lot of time and attention to the people you’re trying to lead.”

 “Be pro-kid and a decent human being.”

 “Although the ‘goal posts’ are changing in terms of international education, they aren’t shifting so fast that the experience of [veteran administrators] isn’t important.  At the end of the day, although the techniques and technologies may change, the intentions of education remain the same.  It’s about building community and you need leaders who are able to do that building.”

 “Teachers respect administrators who know their trade and can teach…it gives you credibility with the faculty.”