Does the number 1,440 mean anything to you? What about the number 86,400? Well, we each get exactly 1,440 minutes a day. We each get exactly 86,400 seconds a day. As private school leaders, we are so busy. We never have enough hours in the day. We are always trying to catch up. Most of the time, our days are ruled by the tyranny of the urgent. Well, I can’t give you more than 24 hours in a day. But, I can do the next best thing. On today’s episode of the Private School Leader Podcast, I am going to share One Productivity Hack Will Save You 1-2 Hours Per Week. Thank you for listening to th ..read more

I’m going to tell you something that you already know. You have a VERY stressful job. You must respond to every email, return every phone call, attend every meeting, handle every discipline problem, keep everyone safe, motivate and inspire every teacher, retain every student, beat last year’s test scores, come in under budget, keep every board member happy and keep every parent happy. We all know about our built-in stress response: “fight or flight”. The problem is that “fight or flight” is meant to help you during a short term, intense period of stress. This response is to help you long enoug ..read more

The first stop sign is said to have been erected in Detroit, Michigan in 1915. It was a simple, square, wooden sign with the word "STOP" painted in white letters on a black background.  The sign was designed to control traffic at a particularly dangerous intersection where several accidents had occurred. Far too often, stop signs are erected at intersections after someone has gotten seriously or injured in an accident. There are now millions of red, octagonal stop signs all over North America.  As private school leaders, we try our best to be proactive and put a stop to certain behav ..read more

I love a good oxymoron. Of course, you know that an oxymoron is a figure of speech that pairs two opposing words. Plastic silverware, Unbiased opinion, Minor miracle, Controlled chaos, Original copy, Near miss, Minor catastrophe, Seriously funny, Small crowd, and my all time favorite oxymoron: jumbo shrimp! As private school leaders, our jobs are often accurately described by an oxymoron: “Isolation in a Fishbowl” We experience loneliness and isolation as we quietly lead our schools. We are often required to make private decisions with public consequences and then suffer in silence as our scho ..read more

I want to start today’s episode by asking you to use your imagination. First, I need you to think of “that parent”. The one that immediately came to mind will be part of the following scenario: It’s a Tuesday night, around 7:00PM.  You are sitting on the couch with your spouse or partner, getting ready to watch an episode of your favorite TV show.  You turn to your left. Sitting right next to you on the couch is “that parent”!  I apologize for sending a chill down your spine. I can hear what you are saying:  “I would NEVER invite that parent into my home.” “I would CERTAI ..read more

There is an old saying: “You can’t judge a book by its cover”. Of course, we understand the meaning. When we meet a person for the first time, we should not make snap judgments about them by their outward appearance. I get it. But, let’s be honest. We do this every day. Some of us used to do it on a Friday night at Blockbuster Video. Most of us do it when we check out the thumbnail images on Netflix, Amazon and YouTube. When we go to the Library or a bookstore, we quite literally judge a book by its cover. The homepage of your school’s website is the “cover” that prospective parents will use t ..read more

I’ve never really been a big fan of strategy games. Games like Connect 4, Battleship, Chess and Risk don’t really interest me. Maybe it is because of all of the strategic thinking and problem solving that I do at school. Maybe my brain needs a break. As private school leaders, it is so easy to get caught up in the day to day. That is just the nature of our job. They “tryanny of the urgent”, “no two days the same” and “playing whack-a-mole with your hair on fire” are phrases that probably describe your typical day at school. One of the biggest problems with focusing so much on today, is that we ..read more

I love ice cream. My favorite flavor is Cow Patty (a mix of chocolate ice cream, chocolate chip, peanut butter and brownie cookie doughs and pieces of chocolate-covered sugar cone), which is a specialty flavor at a dairy near my house. But, there’s an old saying, “Too much of a good thing is a bad thing.” A double scoop cone of ice cream on a warm summer night is a good thing. Eating a gallon of ice cream and feeling really sick is a bad thing. The same thing is true about social media. Social media allows us to stay connected with friends and family all over the world. It lets us feel part of ..read more

Your day starts before your alarm goes off. You wake up early because you are stressed out about a meeting that you have that afternoon. Your phone starts dinging with texts from two teachers calling off sick. The snow has stopped, but the parking lot needs to be plowed.  You are going to open on time, but the guy that plows your parking lot just called and says that his truck has a dead battery. You haven’t even left your house yet and you are thinking “Here we go again……” Then you arrive at school. You must respond to every email, return every phone call, attend every meeting, handle ev ..read more

Sometimes I think that adults and children aren't all that different. Kids and adults both crave predictability and support, but we also like to have fun. Adults want people to listen to us when we talk. Kids do too. Adults are happiest when we feel safe. That's true for kids too. You may have heard of The 4 S's of Secure Attachment, by Daniel Siegel, as explained in his book The Power of Showing Up Kids want to feel safe, seen, soothed and secure. Adults are not that different. The parents at your school are not that different. On today's episode of the Private School Leader Podcast, we are g ..read more