One Perspective on Leadership

            I have served as a principal at two different elementary schools.  As I reflect on my experience as a leader of a school one word comes to mind: exposed.  I once had a conversation with my sister, Polly Roper, also a principal, as I worked as an assistant principal.  In this conversation I told her that I could conceive of circumstances where my career could be in jeopardy should an event occur under my watch that was not particularly due to a decision or action I made.  Polly concurred.  Schools are organic communities that ebb and flow due to intentional actions of individuals, whether leaders of the school, teaching staff, parents or students.   Schools are public places that engender strong passions of loyalty and discontent.  The principal of the school is required to constantly adjust to the agenda and actions of others within and without.  

            There is a misconception among many that sees the leader of an organization with the power to simply direct by willful action.   I once heard George Will refer to this, in one context, as the mythology of the imperial presidency.   An elementary school principal is a far cry from the office of the President of the United States, but my daily interaction with a school constituency has shown me that my perspective does not rule the day simply because I deem it necessary.   People, especially in our egocentric culture, tend to act in their own interest that is often in conflict with popular mandate.  If I see actions that need to be taken to improve the plight of children, these actions will not happen simply because I say so.   I have to convince others at the ground level through modeling and example that my perspective has merit before I can convince the school community to act.  Even then, I am never able to convince everyone.  In fact, some will act to derail the initiative, no matter how overwhelming the majority.

            As a principal, there is always the possibility that someone in the community is seeking to impede my effectiveness because my view on education is not theirs.  The history of school as an institution is that those of us leading the school, including teachers, are always willing to accept a level of failure.  This breeds an undercurrent of resentment and distrust of school officials.  As hard as I work to be open and available to my school community, some simply don’t buy it.  It doesn’t take many to divert attention from the overall progress of a school toward a crisis of perceived negligence.

            As a principal, I have also learned the perils of leadership are often self- inflicted.  As a principal I not only need to keep my fingers on the pulse of instructional decisions made by teachers, but I also have to have a knack for operational logistics and the impact day to day supervision has on the perception of the school from parents and students.   If I see something one way, such as a disciplinary decision, I have to constantly seek another perspective to help me get it right.  Even doing this does not prevent me from making the wrong decision that can have significant implications on the attitude and compliance of staff, parents, students or all.  One thing I have discovered is that there are always blind spots.  I find that these blind spots become most evident when I am hyper focused on a particular perspective, too sure of the right answer, tired or all three. 

            As small as my influence has been in the global scheme of things, I have discovered that proverbial ripples of my action grows exponentially when I make an ill-advised decision.  It is profoundly rewarding when a good decision or successful implementation of an idea bares fruit with the success of those around me.  However, it then becomes deflating when a negative event overwhelms a positive occurrence.

            I recently made a bad decision that my experience and knowledge should have prevented.  I was made aware of a staff indiscretion and I immediately went into personal action to prevent its reoccurrence.  I should have gone to my superiors for help, as I have done in every similar case, but I did not.  I made the mistake many in leadership make by acting as if I was the single individual responsible for action.   We eventually resolved the issue, but not before the potential for more problems arose.  I did not ignore the problem, but I failed to use the resources around me to help solve the problem.  Although I know better, I took the responsibility as mine rather than ours.  

            Early in my career as a school administrator I came to the conclusion that I am only as good as those around me.  However, the danger with leadership is that we forget our individual role in this equation.   The schoolhouse is a collection of individuals seeking a similar goal, educating children.   I put this in terms of similar over singular because perspectives on how to achieve that goal and on the goal itself can be quite different.   As the principal of a school, I find my vision of academic success quite different from the vision I had as a classroom teacher.   As a parent my perspective varies even more.  This insight reinforces my vulnerability as a principal.  I find that I lessen that vulnerability if I include as many perspectives as possible when acting on my vision or making a decision. 

            Our culture tends to give far too much credit to the captain when the crew often saves the ship.   My experience as a principal continues to show me that it is not my ideas that matter as much as my service.  I best convince my school culture to follow when I make common connections among differing perspectives.  It is not the job of a leader to have all of the answers, but to have the optimism and perseverance to seek the answers out there.