Leadership and Development Trainer
Throughout my years of writing for the Leaders Forum and having the privilege of speaking at some of your conferences, I have learned how much administrators care about kids. Many times, the public’s perception is that administrators only deal with budgets and community relations and other administrative issues, but in my personal visits I have heard about a superintendent who found the funding to make sure that every student who attended their summer school program had noon lunch. Many of them were from impoverished families, but the superintendent made sure they had a free lunch before they left for the day. I visited with a former administrator that developed a curriculum to ensure that students achieved academic mastery before moving to the next level. I got to know a principal who made a habit of roaming the halls just to say “Hi” and have a friendly encounter with his students.
Stories like this remind us of the old cliché: “They don’t care how much you know until they know how much care.” There is a reason why clichés stick around. They stick around because they are true.
So let’s kick off another school year with the realization of the importance of the little things you do that make a huge difference. Show up at games and theatre productions and other extracurricular activities. Attend community events and service club meetings and promote the wonderful accomplishments of your staff and students. Create harmony and understanding with those who often have adversarial opinions and beliefs. Discuss issues courageously but with civility. As you do, relax and be yourself. Speak and think and act like the confident person you deserve to be.
John Quincy Adams summed up leadership with this. “If your actions inspire others to dream more, to learn more, to do more, and to become more, you are a leader.” If you do that, knowing that you have given your all, you can detach from the outcomes and hold your head high. I know how much you care and you know how much you care, so give it everything you’ve got and ignore what the naysayers think. Perhaps that is best summed up by this quote from President Teddy Roosevelt.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Have a great school year.
Denny Smith is a former teacher and coach, motivational speaker, and author committed to making our schools and communities safe and welcoming for all people. Excerpts from his latest books, Emotional Intelligence 101 and Coaches Make the Difference,” can be previewed at http://www.dennysmith.com
