A leader's work is never completed in isolation, it truly takes a village to educate a child. A great educational leader will surround him or herself with stellar individuals who are incredibly hard to manage with their ambitious drive to push the envelope on every issue for the sake of kids. Having to pull a staff member back is a great thing. Having to kick someone in the tail to get going is tougher to do because it requires that person to work harder. In any job, once someone has insulated him or herself from hard work it is difficult to change that behavior. A counter to this argument is the "work smarter not harder" attitude. But working smart and hard is the best combination that will produce results in any organization.
The work of an educator is becoming more and more difficult in contemporary America. Shrinking budgets, deterioration of the home, standardized testing, school safety, technology, and politics, have all changed the game. Today's educators have to be extremely talented in many different disciplines in order to handle the classroom. I give my utmost respect and applause to anyone willing to go into this field and reap the greatest reward in the world - transforming students' lives.
Each day presents opportunities for us to grow and improve in our specific arena of responsibility. Let's take hold of those opportunities and catapult our organization to new levels of excellence.
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