Introducing BetterSimpler
The Strategic Leader
My memories of childhood stress are mostly connected to the intense competitions that occurred around our kitchen table: Risk, Monopoly, chess, Scrabble, and endless card games. We were a friendly, relaxed, book-loving, nature-loving family, but around that table, the only thing that mattered was winning. Generally speaking, I liked my siblings a lot, except in the middle of a game.
Perhaps my lifelong love of strategy began at that kitchen table. Years later, having become a leader, I realized that one of my greatest pleasures was figuring out how to create strategy for school improvement and growth.
I’ve undertaken many strategy projects over the years, some successful and some not. I’ve built more plans than I can count. I’ve taken multiple courses and read numerous books on the subject.
So when I sat down recently to write a few posts about strategy for this Leadership Journey project, I didn’t know where to start or where to end. There’s simply no way to condense it into just a few posts.
Consider how much is packed into these Leadership Journey standards:
The leader demonstrates strategic competencies.
The leader can develop an overall context-relevant business management plan supported by sound financial practices and a healthy school budget.
The leader understands the importance of whole-school improvement and can implement a whole-school improvement plan.
Cover all that in two posts? Not a chance.
Because strategy is so critical to leadership and so unendingly interesting, I decided to start a new rhythm of publishing a monthly newsletter purely centered on school strategy. I’ll continue to keep the Leadership Journey focused on ACSI’s Global Core Standards for Leaders, but this second channel will provide a long-term opportunity to explore the theory and practices of school strategy.
It just went live, and you can find it at this link: bettersimpler.substack.com. Please check it out, and I’d love to get your feedback.
(Looking ahead, the Leadership Journey theme in May is “The Balanced Leader.”)