THE PRINCIPAL SUCCESS FORMULA™ — 4-STEPS EVERY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL LEADER MASTERS
After coaching and mentoring 100+ school leaders since 2015, I started wondering if they share some of the same traits that help them be successful …
Turns out, they do.
And while they definitely do many things uniquely, the BEST Ruckus Makers have mastered four distinct domains of leadership.
I call these four qualities, The Principal Success Formula™.
PRINCIPAL SUCCESS CRITERIA #1: MINDSET
“It’s important to be willing to make mistakes. The worst thing that can happen is you become memorable.”
-Sara Blakely
Fear …
It’s the number one thing that holds back a school leader.
- Fear of failure.
- Fear of what others will think of you.
- Fear of keeping great books in your library (and what your parents will think of that).
- Fear of standing up for equity.
- Fear of suspending a kid (or not).
- Fear of failing a kid (or not).
- Fear of standing up to a toxic teacher.
- Fear of your supervisor who is a bully.
- Fear of being featured in the news for all the wrong reasons.
- Fear of prioritizing yourself.
- Fear of trying new things in education when you know things need to change.
- Fear to become the leader you were meant to be.
There is only one solution to fear.
Mindset.
When you develop your mindset something beautiful happens …
You realize fear is just an opportunity.
Fear is an invitation to be remarkable.
PRINCIPAL SUCCESS CRITERIA #2: DESIGN
“Either you run the day, or the day runs you.”
-Jim Rohn
When I think about design, I think about making things with purpose.
The BEST school leaders I know don’t let things happen by chance. They plan and design EVERYTHING to get their desired results.
While it’s true you cannot control any outcome, you can control the inputs, or lead indicators.
I completed a half marathon in Lake Placid this past October. I’ve run half and full marathons before.
I wanted to finish strong, so the lead indicators in my control were:
- Diet
- Sleep
- Stretching (I was terrible at this)
- Cardio
- Strength Training
- Rest Days
- Proper Equipment
- Hydration
- And so on …
School leadership is similar to running in that you can run the race and hope for the best …
Or you can properly train and do all the things within your control to set yourself up for success.
Many people call me “lucky.”
- They see Harvard sponsor my podcast, the 1.8+ million downloads, and the fact that Better Leaders Better Schools podcast is ranked in the TOP 0.5% of all global shows.
- They note the 80+ leaders enrolled in our leadership development community — the mastermind.
- They comment on the best selling book, Mastermind: Unlocking Talent Within Every School Leader.
- They observe that I coach the “mentor coaches” at NAESP.
- They admire the fact that BLBS is working with the State of Delaware to train new principals.
Seneca said, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
In other words, you design for it.
PRINCIPAL SUCCESS CRITERIA #3: CULTURE
“People make choices. Choices make culture.”
-John Amaechi
Culture is everyone’s responsibility.
In The Promises of Giants, John Amaechi uses a story to illustrate this point.
He describes a common area shared by residents of an apartment building.
Some residents smoke. When they are done, they flick their cigarette butts onto the ground.
“Someone else will pick them up.”
Then people leave sandwich wrappers, water bottles, paper and plastic bags. Next come the cardboard boxes. Finally, a mattress is abandoned.
The garbage continues to pile up, yet no one does anything about it.
The smokers continue to smoke, and flick the used cigarette butts onto the ground, until one day …
The dying embers light the cardboard which sets fire to the rest of the litter.
What was once a problem that no one took responsibility for is now everyone’s problem.
As a leader you have a choice.
And choices make culture.
Do you sweat the small stuff that can lead to the dumpster fire?
Do you ignore poor choices until you can’t ignore them anymore?
My friend Fran McGreevy says a school’s performance can be directly measured by the quality of the relationships between the faculty.
That’s culture.
Obsess about relationships over test scores. Obsess over choices.
Do that and everything else you want will follow.
PRINCIPAL SUCCESS CRITERIA #4: RESULTS
“Ideas are easy. Execution is everything.”
-John Doerr
It’s very difficult to create results if you don’t have the other three parts of The Principal Success Formula™ working for you.
Talking more …
Learning more …
Reading more …
Do not produce results.
The only thing that matters is action.
To be honest, I don’t always feel like writing these posts for you.
But I’m committed to live out my mission “to connect, grow, and mentor every school leader who wants to level up.”
Even when I don’t feel like it.
Feelings get in order after you take action.
Many people recommend doing only things you are excited about doing. This is a mistake and poor advice.
I rarely feel like running. I am always happy I’ve run once when I’m done.
I never feel like cleaning. I always enjoy a tidy space.
I don’t always feel inspired to meditate. I always enjoy the peace, calm, and focus after doing so.
This is an important point.
Successful leaders don’t consistently feel like doing everything they do in a given day.
They do it anyway.
And they’re always glad they did afterward.
If you wait to feel like doing something, you’ll be waiting a long time.
Act first. The feelings will follow.
READY TO LEVEL UP?
Start your 2023 with some real momentum by applying to the fourth cohort of The Principal Success Path™.
Our promise is simple: You will become an even better leader in 10-weeks or less.
We do this through a project based program with live coaching that takes about 3 hours of your time each week.
Best of all, the results you get will be immediate and you’ll be able to recycle what you learn to create more results far into the future.
Apply today! https://www.betterleadersbetterschools.com/principalsuccesspath/
