11.02.08
On Leadership and Being Led
I know I’ve been quiet lately – I’ve been taking courses as well as teaching a grad class and I feel like the end of the day comes before I’ve completed all the things I meant to. But I did want to reflect on the grad classes I’m taking in Edinboro University’s Educational Leadership program. If you can’t stand principals and superintendents, that’s fine. I don’t want to be one of those people either.
I wrote a post this Summer about leadership, and quoted Lee Iacocca’s book Where Have All the Leaders Gone? – and I’m still wondering that myself. I can count the “leaders” I’ve met on one hand – mind you, any principal can be a supervisor, but few are truly leaders.
What’s an educational leader? Don’t look at them. Look at the people that work for them. Or rather, WITH them. Do they sing the praises of their “boss”? Do they feel like they are all part of a team striving for success? Is there a defining mission that they can all describe in their own words? Do the students feel it too?
Here’s the thing that gets me the most: I don’t think leaders rise to the top in education like they do in business. Maybe part of it is that being a principal or superintendent is largely thankless and certainly not glamorous. Do schools have headhunters to lure principals? I’d be surprised if more than a few do. So where are the true leaders in education? Look around you, because they’re among us. Leading their students. Why? Because you CAN be thanked, you can feel a bit like a hero when working with kids and parents.
But what does that mean for the future of schools? What if all the good leaders are unwilling to take the reins because they don’t want to be the “bad guy” (assistant principal in charge of discipline) or feel like they have no life (out on a Friday night for another football game instead of out with friends). Who is going to lead?
