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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INTRO: Hello Imperfect Leaders. This week, many of us are joining the millions of people traveling for the Thanksgiving holidays. In my book, I use the term the power of language to describe the work of a leader. Stories, the art of framing, and the use of metaphors make specific appearances. You know, road trips are an appropriate metaphor for leadership.

In this encore episode of the podcast, let’s do that, let’s think of leadership as a road trip. We'll invite Dr. Nick Polyak to be our seasoned driver. In our conversation about the routes of continual improvement (for which there are many – highways, byways, detours, and dead ends). But in this case, my take away was it's not about reaching a final destination; it's about enjoying the ride and growing along the way.

We'll stop at Nick’s role as the moderator of #SuptChat, a digital caravan of leaders sharing insights and creating a community that's essential for the road ahead. We'll talk about The Unfinished Leader, a book Nick co-wrote with Michael Lubelfied and PJ Caposey. During our "Imperfect Leadership in After Action" segment, Nick opens up about involving family in major life choices, a real and raw aspect of the leadership road trip. 

As we cruise along, Nick leaves us with a personal roadmap of advice for aspiring leaders. Buckle up, friends! We're about to hit the road on this personal and insightful journey of unfinished leadership withDr. Nick Polyak. The engine is humming, the GPS is set, and our podcast adventure is ready to roll!

Too much? Thanks for tuning in! 

I am pleased to announce he and his co-autors have a new book coming out In January. You can order your copy of The Unfinished Teacher today!

Bio: Dr. Nick Polyak is the superintendent for Leyden Community High School District in Cook County, Illinois. He has served as a math teacher and tennis and soccer coach before moving into administrative roles at the building and central office levels. As the leader of Leyden schools, the school district has received many recognitions, including awards from the College Board and the National School Board Association. 

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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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AN IMPERFECT LEADER IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

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.

Book Update!

Imperfect Leaders! You can now order my book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action. Click on the link here. Or 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 get 35 positive reviews on Amazon. Thanks!

My Guest: This week, Dr. Jenn Lowery is my guest. How I wish her name had been Sue as it would have made my whole T-Rex reference work perfectly (Sue is the T-Rex at the Field Museum that was found in Faith, South Dakota). But Jenn Lowery isn't named Sue, and she's not from from Faith, but she is the superintendent of the Tea Area School District in Tea, South Dakota. Her district graduated just 11 students when it started about 20 years ago and now it is significantly larger (and growing). The community has been working to be clear on its WHY. If you’re a Simon Sinek fan (and I value his message), he talks about being clear on your why. 

Starting with the why and the importance of understanding your WHY is what Jenn talks about. And I loved how she speaks about moving from compliance to improvement.

My guest is Jenn Lowery. She was recently named the South Dakota Superintendent of the Year. Just listening to her today gives you a really good sense why. Thanks for listening. 

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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

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

Imperfect Leaders! Today on an Imperfect Leader, Dr. Mike Redmond is my guest. Mike has been the Superintendent of Shakopee Public Schools, in Shakopee, Minnesota since 2018.

In our conversation, we talk about best practices when it comes to planning for a bond election In your district. In his After Action Review, Mike describes lessons learned when implementing district-wide change and the importance of making decisions with the people most impacted.

Thanks for listening!

BIO: Before becoming Shakopee's Superintendent, Mike served as the Superintendent for Goodhue Public Schools in Goodhue, Minnesota. He was an Executive Director of Secondary Education for Stillwater Area Public Schools, served as principal of John Glenn Middle School in Maplewood, Minnesota, and has been an assistant principal, a social studies teacher, a soccer coach and a basketball coach.

Mike is an active member of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators as well as the Association of Metropolitan School Districts. Dr. Redmond is also an adjunct professor for Winona State.

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

Imperfect Leaders! This week on an Imperfect Leader, Dr. Vickie Murillo is my guest. Dr. Murillo has served as the Superintendent of the Council Bluffs Community School District in Council Bluffs, Iowa since July of 2017. 

As Superintendent, Dr. Murillo has charted a course to ensure all students are future ready. She has done this by championing Early College Academy located on the campus of Iowa Western Community College (allowing high school students to graduate with a high school diploma and an associate degree). She has proudly supported innovative programming like TradeWorks Academy, which is a certified pre-apprenticeship program for high school sophomores and juniors. 

In her After Action Review, she describes the creation of Diploma Plus One Pathways and for every good reason, she’s is so excited about one her district’s kid from Council Bluffs, Iowa who is a Quest Bridge Scholar. I’ve linked to Quest Bridge in the episode notes so you know what a BIG deal that is.

Her list of achievements and interests are really impressive. Thanks for listening!

Dr. Nick Polyak is my guest. Nick is the superintendent for Leyden Community High School District in Cook County, Illinois. During our conversation, we talk about  The Unfinished Leader, a book he has co-written with colleagues (they've written a few!). He also describes a community of lead learners he brings together through #suptchat, a Twitter community he co-moderates. 

Nick describes the process he followed when accepting a new superintendency, and how his greatest lesson was to include those most impacted by his decision to accept the job. Thanks for tuning in!

Bio: Dr. Nick Polyak has served as a math teacher and tennis and soccer coach before moving into administrative roles at the building and central office levels. As the leader of Leyden schools, the school district has received many recognitions, including the College Board to the National School Board Association. 

Book Update! You can preorder my forthcoming book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action. Click on the link here.

Or if there is no hyperlink, go to peterstiepleman.com and order it there.

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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.

I almost called this episode What's More Valuable Than Mithril? This Episode with Bryan Luizzi. I resisted because of the obvious Lord of the Rings reference, and how it might resonate with a very select group of leaders! This episode is a terrific one. We talk about Bryan's time teaching principals in Jordan and I ask him to talk a little about a real innovation in his community - the planetarium (or soon to be known as the Dome). In his After Action Review, Bryan reflects back on his participation in an education outreach trip to Finland. He returned with a great idea for adjusting the high school grading periods. It did NOT go as planned. Give a listen!

BIO: Dr. Bryan Luizzi has been the Superintendent of the New Canaan Public Schools in New Canaan, CT since 2014. Bryan began his teaching career at Newtown High School as an English teacher. He also served as the manager of technology operations for the Newtown school district. He served in a few administrative positions in the Brookfield school system and was principal of Brookfield High School for five years before becoming the principal of New Canaan High School and then its superintendent.

In this episode of An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action, Matt Robbins is my guest. Matt is the Superintendent of the Daviess County Public Schools in Daviess County, Kentucky. What’s different about Matt is that he didn’t follow a traditional route to the superintendency. His background is in finance. In this episode, we talk a little about how his past experiences help him in his current job. His After Action Review is one all superintendents should be prepared to deal with. What happens when you adopt new routing software for your bus system and it crashes? What happens when the crash occurs RIGHT before the school year begins and you have to postpone the start of school? A really good episode!

BIO: Matt Robbins serves as Superintendent of the Daviess County Public Schools, a district with nearly 12,000 students and 2,000 staff members in 12 elementary schools, three middle schools and three high schools. 

Matt serves as the team leader for the finance & operations training program for KASA’s NextGen new KY superintendent program and has done this for six years now.

Matt is also President of Kentucky’s Council for Better Education that ensures equity and adequacy of funding for Kentucky’s public schools. As a part of this work, Matt has most recently led Kentucky public schools districts in a lawsuit that involves funding private schools in Kentucky. That case is now on appeal before the Kentucky Supreme Court.

Matt led the Daviess County Public Schools district in completing a new five year strategic plan in June 2022. This was done in partnership with Studer Education and Dr. Deanna Ashby. This plan defines the district’s mission and vision along with charting a detailed plan of measurable actions that will guide the district through 2027 and beyond.

He previously served as the district’s assistant superintendent for finance and operations, overseeing a budget of $142.7 million. Under his leadership, the district’s finance, facilities, food services and transportation departments have earned “exemplary” ratings from the Kentucky Department of Education.

Matt served as senior accountant at Riney, Hancock & Co. CPAs from 1993-96 before joining the Owensboro Public Schools district as assistant superintendent for finance and maintenance in 1997. Since joining DCPS, Matt has also served as accounting manager, business manager and director of finance. He has a bachelor of science degree from the University of Kentucky and earned a master’s degree in education administration and superintendent endorsement from the University of Louisville in 2012.

Matt has been married for 21 years to his wife Luanne and has three children – Olivia, Lily Grace, and Brady. He loves spending time involved with youth sports, golf, and hunting. Matt has two dogs – Sophie (King Charles Cavalier Spaniel) and Reagan (English crème Golden Retriever). Matt is an enormous UK sports fan, particularly football and basketball. His favorite movies are Tombstone, Forest Gump, and Dead Poets Society. Matt enjoys all types of music and arts, including Bluegrass Music (ROMP festival), country music, modern pop, and artists such as Billy Joel, Elton John, Adelle, and Bruno Mars.

This week, Dr. Jim Wipke to joins the podcast. Jim talks about the power of supporting resilience (a dimension from the Human-Centered School Transformation Model) and he breaks down a decision he made during the pandemic - the decision to bring back kindergartners.

BIO: Dr. Jim Wipke has been the Superintendent of the Ladue School District, outside of St. Louis, since 2019 and has extensive experience at all levels of the public school education system. 

Jim also enjoys highlighting his own lived experiences, as well as spotlighting the amazing people in his personal and professional life. Through his blog, "From My View" and podcast, "See. Serve. Connect.", he covers a variety of subjects. 

In this episode of An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action, Dr. Kim Pietsch-Miller joins us. Dr. Pietsch-Miller is the Superintendent/CEO of Eastland-Fairfield Career and Technical Schools in Columbus, Ohio. I ask Kim to talk about the distinction between planning vs preparing (the topic of a recent article she wrote). Kim talks about establishing values with her community (and living them). Kim also describes the importance of serving children first, and how sometimes that requires courage. 

BIO: Dr. Kim Pietsch-Miller is the Superintendent/CEO of Eastland-Fairfield Career and Technical Schools in Columbus, OH. She was previously the superintendent of Bexley City Schools in Columbus, Ohio and prior to earning positions as superintendent, she served as Chief Academic Officer, as an assistant superintendent, a principal, an assistant principal, and an English teacher. Check out Kim's blog for inspired reflections on education and leadership.