Storytelling aligns our work and personal lives in powerful and significant ways. You must own and tell your personal story if you are to live and lead authentically.

Creating your own mission statement is straightforward. But it is not an easy or quick process. It requires a commitment to dig deep and take the necessary time to get thoughts on paper, step away, reflect, and adjust. So, how to begin?

As school leaders we know storytelling brings to life our organization’s purpose and values, conveys a sense of history, and provides insight and inspiration into where we are heading. At the core of our stories is a clear mission that guides our daily decisions and aligns our strategic work. Most of us spend an enormous amount of time creating, articulating, and marketing that mission and telling our school’s stories. How many of us have invested that same amount of time in developing our own personal mission and telling our own story?

Many months ago I had the privilege of speaking with Jethro Jones of The Transformative Principal, In his series of podcasts each week, Jethro Jones interviews a principal or educational leader who is making a real difference in the life of his or her students. In our conversation, we did a deep dive into Edgework in his podcast “Living on the Edge.”

Today is #nationalcomingoutday. Each day, I strive to be more courageous than I was the day before. To be more authentic and, in that spirit, to show up more fully for my family, friends, and colleagues.

Edgework - the future of schools and organizations requires not only innovator’s mindset, it demands a new frame of mind.

This article, originally written in May, 2020, went unpublished. It is made available via this blog with the intent to provide an enduring framework to respond to school crises, but also to acknowledge a moment in time when all schools began to grapple with the implications of COVID-19. Today, as this blog is posted, we mark the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I believe we are at risk as a nation, and I am reminded of the profound responsibilities that schools have in shaping our future. We are educating the next generation of voters. Now, more than ever, character matters. A basic understanding of the rights and responsibilities of being a U.S. citizen and resident matters. An understanding of basic human rights matters. And an understanding of leadership matters.

I suppose there is a fine line between aloneship – time spent in relationship with ourselves – and loneliness.

Schools across the U.S. are poised to reopen some time in the new year. As students and teachers to return to campus, here is my advice.

Leading a school or organization smack tab in the middle of COVID-19 is, without question, edgework. School leaders are facing complex decision layered upon complex decision. And, overarching all of the substantial day-to-day decisions is the question about remote vs hybrid learning.

We need a new way of coping. “That means reckoning with what’s called ambiguous loss: any loss that’s unclear and lacks a resolution.”

It is hard to believe how quickly we reached this milestone. Less than two weeks ago the decision about when and how to close the school campus loomed.

Thank you to The Enrollment Management Association for inviting me as a guest on a recent podcast. We are all in the midst of a crisis that engulfs all areas - health, economic, and education among others.

The impact of COVID-19 on schools across the United States, and the world, is shocking. I share a range of insights on remote learning gleaned from my own early experiences in Seattle and from around the world.

If I had written this article last week, I would have told you the school campus was open, that we had many protocols in place to keep the campus as clean and sanitized as possible, and we were continuing to prepare for a potential closing.

Whether you stroll onto the lawn for your news or get it on a screen, it is pretty evident that tomorrow's challenges will require a new breed of leadership.

Stories and research on LGBTQ leadership in independent schools. Where do LGBTQ leaders find acceptance? What challenges do they face? How can schools learn from these leaders, and what is their impact?

Edgework means having one foot grounded in current knowledge or skill while the other foot enters more ambiguous, less comfortable territory.