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INTRO: In this encore episode, I am thrilled to spend time with a friend, Dr. Sharonica Hardin-Bartley, Superintendent of The School District of University City. During our conversation, we talk about storytelling, heroism, equity, and vulnerable leadership. I am grateful for Sharonica's willingness to be genuine and present. There is so much learning in this episode - for any leader in any industry!

BIO:  Dr. Sharonica Hardin-Bartley is an outspoken advocate for racial equity, traumatic-informed practices and student voice in education. Before becoming the University City's Superintendent, she was the assistant superintendent for human resources and leadership development for the Ritenour School District. Before that, she occupied a number of leadership roles over 15 years for the St. Louis Public Schools.

In 2021, she was awarded Missouri’s Pearce Award. In January, 2022, she was named one of "Five Superintendents to Watch" nationally by "K-12 Dive” and then a month later, in February 2022, she was selected as a prestigious Children and Family Fellow by The Annie E. Casey Foundation. 

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An Imperfect Leader: The Superintendents and Leadership Podcast is supported by ILAA, LLC, a firm dedicated to supporting aspiring, new, and established leaders. For more information, please find them at www.human-centeredleaders.com.

Music for An Imperfect Leader was written and arranged by Ian Varley.

Sam Falbo created our artwork, a wood-print inspired daruma doll butterfly.

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NEW EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE

"What do we want to create together?" 

So proud to have co-written the foreword with Zach Taylor to this essential book on Human-Centered School Transformation. If you're a school leader looking to make sense of what you know to be true about schools, check it out. If you're a corporate leader, you will find a pathway to better results in every page.

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AN IMPERFECT LEADER IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

My book,  An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is available at Amazon.com. If there is no hyperlink to follow, please go to Amazon.com or peterstiepleman.com to order a copy. 

Book Update!

Imperfect Leaders! My book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is available on Amazon.com. If there is no hyperlink to follow, please go to Amazon.com or peterstiepleman.com. You can order it there.

Intro: Hello Imperfect Leaders! On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina, a Category 3 hurricane with recorded wind speeds of 140 miles per hour devastated communities in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. I remember being a teacher in Missouri, and hearing reports of families heading north to find refuge all along the Mississippi River.

Our school system welcomed families, and quickly learned of their very specific needs. The children had been through a great deal of trauma. What I didn’t know until now was that after Katrina, in 2014, the New Orleans Public Schools transitioned from a traditional school district to a 100% charter school district. The superintendent would be hired by a school board, and it would be their responsibility to oversee and authorize each charter school (working with each charter school’s own school boards). What a task!

My guest this week describes that important work. Dr. Avis Williams is the New Orleans superintendent. She reminds us that “When you’re bringing people together around an issue, there is a difference between buy in and commitment (you’ll hear her say, “if people can buy in, they can be bought out.”). Listen for it. 

She also describes the creation of a Joyful Educator Collaborative where she convenes teachers to learn more about what is going well as well as areas for continued growth. Thanks for tuning in!

Bio: Dr. Avis Williams is the superintendent of schools for the NOLA Public Schools in New Orleans, Louisiana. Prior to her historic appointment to lead the Nola Public Schools, Dr. Williams served as superintendent of Historic Selma City Schools in Selma, AL for five years. 

An award-winning educator and sought-after speaker, she is a native of Salisbury, NC.  A product of poverty, Dr. Williams dreamed of being a teacher from an early age.  As a first generation 4-year college student, she followed the path of her older siblings and joined the Army right after high school. While in the Army, she was stationed at Fort Jackson, SC, Yongsan, Korea, and Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, AL. 

Further Info: Dr. Williams is a leader, a learner, and an author. She is the author of Welcome to Chase Shadows and of professional articles like Leading with Joy as a Prerequisite to Better Outcomes. Additionally, she has a professional book (co-authored with Bren Elliott) coming out soon.

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This episode is brought to you, in part, by the Waters Center for Systems Thinking. The Waters Center helps people understand what systems thinking is and how to incorporate the Habits, tools and concepts of systems thinking into their work and life to achieve desired results. To learn more, go to waterscenterst.org.  

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An Imperfect Leader: The Superintendents and Leadership Podcast is supported by ILAA, LLC, a firm dedicated to supporting aspiring, new, and established leaders. For more information, please find them at www.human-centeredleaders.com.

Music for An Imperfect Leader was written and arranged by Ian Varley.

Sam Falbo created our artwork, a wood-print inspired daruma doll butterfly.

www.peterstiepleman.com

Book Update!

Imperfect Leaders! My book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is available on Amazon.com. If there is no hyperlink to follow, please go to Amazon.com or peterstiepleman.com. You can order it there.

Intro: Hello Imperfect Leaders! A few months ago, I read White Bird by RJ. Palacio. It is such a powerful story, a graphic novel. The story of a Jewish child in France, hidden by a non-Jewish family, during World War II. I HIGHLY recommend it for anyone interested in knowing more about the Holocaust – or is looking for a book to help future generations understand what happened so that it may never happen again. It’s a story about friendship. It’s a story about regrets. It’s a story about courage. It’s a story about standing up against injustice. It’s about dreaming about a better future and doing something about it.

While I was speaking to my guest today, the story popped into my head. My guest describes the shift in how leaders can lead. He talks about the current landscape and how by working closely with others (I was struck by how often he talked about his colleagues by name) – by working with others, great things can happen. 

My guest is Max Silverman. He talks about shifting an entire system – transforming it, really. For those who are not familiar with the the organization he leads, the Center for Educational Leadership (CEL) leads national projects to implement new systems to improve leadership effectiveness by supporting the growth of superintendents, principals and teacher leader teams.

Thanks for tuning in. 

Bio: Max Silverman is the executive director of the University of Washington's Center for Educational Leadership (CEL) where he provides leadership for improving school systems focused on equitable outcomes for students. Throughout his career, Max has served in a variety of leadership positions including classroom teacher, school principal, district leader, and most recently as deputy director of CEL. 

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This episode is brought to you, in part, by the Waters Center for Systems Thinking. The Waters Center helps people understand what systems thinking is and how to incorporate the Habits, tools and concepts of systems thinking into their work and life to achieve desired results. To learn more, go to waterscenterst.org.  

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An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is supported by ILAA, LLC, a firm dedicated to supporting aspiring, new, and established leaders. For more information, please find them at www.human-centeredleaders.com.

Music for An Imperfect Leader was written and arranged by Ian Varley.

Sam Falbo created our artwork, a wood-print inspired daruma doll butterfly.

www.peterstiepleman.com

Book Update!

Imperfect Leaders! My book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is available on Amazon.com. If there is no hyperlink to follow, please go to Amazon.com or peterstiepleman.com. You can order it there.

AND if you liked it, would you please leave a positive review on Amazon?

Intro: A few months ago, I found myself driving some logging roads on Vancouver Island. A few days later, I wandered into an independent bookstore and saw a book by Harley Rustad called Big Lonely Doug. Who was Big Lonely Doug and what made him Doug so lonely?! Big Lonely Doug is a massive Douglas Fir – the second largest tree in all of Canada. And I had totally missed seeing it. I must have driven right past both the Avatar Grove and Big Lonely Doug! Learning about Doug has been amazing.

The book is a great resource for thinking about and teaching systems thinking. For one thing, you really learn about how trees are not individual entities, but rather connected to each other. You learn about mycorrhiza and how these fungi establish a symbiotic association with plant roots (they improve nutrition and stabilization for them).

I know I am geeking out a bit on this intro, but as I read this book, I thought about the internal system of the forest and what it needs and the external systems that influence these forests (logging companies and the communities relying on the jobs, local, regional, federal, and tribal governments establishing policies about the trees, conservationists, climate scientists, the general public). As an educational leader, I couldn't help but think about schools and school systems when reading this book.

And you can’t help but think of my guest this week who is working hard in the Washington DC to build enduring systems for children, with them and their families.  Dr. Bren Elliott is my guest. In her After-Action Review, we discuss a topic that so many leaders have had to face - feeling pressured to fill a position and making an unsuccessful hire. 

BIO: Dr. Bren Elliott is the chief of school improvement and supports for District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). In her role, she leads efforts to see that the district meets the goals outlined in its strategic plan. 

Prior to DCPS, Dr. Elliott worked in Tennessee and North Carolina as a teacher, an assistant principal, a principal, an area director, and an assistant superintendent. Plus! Dr. Elliott is a former officer in the United States Army and completed 10 years of military service.

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An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is supported by ILAA, LLC, a firm dedicated to supporting aspiring, new, and established leaders. For more information, please find them at www.human-centeredleaders.com.

Music for An Imperfect Leader was written and arranged by Ian Varley.

Sam Falbo created our artwork, a wood-print inspired daruma doll butterfly.

www.peterstiepleman.com

Book Update!

Imperfect Leaders! You can now order my book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action. Click on the link here, and if there is no hyperlink, go to peterstiepleman.com, you can order it there.

AND if you liked it, would you please leave a positive review? I’m hoping to earn 35 positive reviews on Amazon. Thanks!

Imperfect Leaders! In this episode, Dave MacLeod is my guest. Dave is not a superintendent, but he and the company he leads, ThoughtExchange, have helped superintendents across the nation harvest the wisdom of their communities to make better decisions.

During the episode, you'll hear Dave say he is a 6 ft. tall white man. There's a reason why that's relevant. Did you know that studies have shown there are more CEOs named David in the Fortune 500 than there are female CEOs in total?? Furthermore the majority of those CEOs are white males who are 6ft. tall.

Additionally, Dave reminds leaders how there are incredible organizations throughout the nation who can advise and train organizations to be antiracist. Specifically, Dave refers listeners to Inroads.org. 

This was an incredible conversation! Thanks for tuning in!

BIO: Dave MacLeod is the CEO and a co-founder of ThoughtExchange, the world’s only Enterprise Discussion Management platform powered by anti-bias technology. Dave’s expertise helped create the game-changing platform that’s used by millions at some of the world’s largest organizations like GE Healthcare, SAP, Oracle NetSuite and WestJet. ThoughtExchange invites participants to share insights anonymously—removing bias and getting the most important ideas in front of the leaders who can turn them into action.

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An Imperfect Leader is brought to you by EdConnective whose mission is to ensure student success through transformative teacher training.

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An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is supported by ILAA, LLC, a firm dedicated to supporting aspiring, new, and established leaders. For more information, please find them at www.human-centeredleaders.com.

Music for An Imperfect Leader was written and arranged by Ian Varley.

Sam Falbo created our artwork, a wood-print inspired daruma doll butterfly.

www.peterstiepleman.com

An imperfect leader, TLI, peter stiepleman, Dr. peter stiepleman, imperfect leaders, school culture, education, culture, school, positive school culture, principal, superintendent, aspiring superintendent, new superintendent, experienced superintendent, leadership, district leadership, school leadership, school leadership thoughts, inspiration, strategic planning, leadership development, human-centered leadership, collective aspiration, nested patterns, leaders’ learning work, educators, superintendent pipeline, Model for Human Centered School, AASA, Dave Macleod, ThoughtExchange, 

This week, on An Imperfect Leader, Dr. Alena E. Zachery-Ross is my guest. This conversation has it all. We talk about an annual Fail Fest where Alena's team put a spotlight on actions that fell short. We talk about board relations and how leaders often learn the hard lesson of learning how to partner with their board. We talk about the low of resigning from her position to the highs of having her work become the model for the entire state of Michigan. Thanks for tuning in!

BIO: Dr. Zachery-Ross is a self-described native Detroiter and has dedicated her career to educating others.  

She has served as a classroom teacher, a school psychologist, a teacher consultant, a principal and assistant superintendent (and pastor and motivational speaker, as well!). She has been superintendent of the Muskegon Heights Public School Academy System, the Okemos Public Schools and currently leads Ypsilanti Community Schools.

@Podchaser

In this episode of An Imperfect Leader, Dave MacLeod is my guest. Dave is NOT a superintendent, but he and the company he leads, ThoughtExchange, have helped superintendents across the nation harvest the wisdom of their communities to make better decisions.

During the episode, you'll hear Dave say he is a 6 ft. tall white man. There's a reason why that's relevant. Did you know that studies have shown there are more CEOs named David in the Fortune 500 than there are female CEOs in total?? Furthermore the majority of those CEOs are white males who are 6ft. tall.

Additionally, Dave reminds leaders how there are incredible organizations throughout the nation who can advise and train organizations to be antiracist. Specifically, Dave refers listeners to Inroads.org. 

This was an incredible conversation!

BIO: