“Do what you can, where you are, with what you have. “
– Theodore Roosevelt

As 2015 dawns upon us and while we recharge and rest up on break and gear up for an amazing new year and the rest of our school year 2014-2015, I am continuing my personal professional reflections about leadership, the role of a public school superintendent, and impacting change for the better.

The aim of this blog overall is service through communication to the world. My “stage” has been and continues to be public education, but leadership is leadership, I hope that these words and messages help and inspire leaders in all facets of life! Over time I am reminded that the keys to success are many, and they include: supporting a healthy organizational culture and continuous building of the culture, increasing student and staff achievement, and systems level growth and development as a public school superintendent.

I have found through reading, discovery, observation and communication that typically, superintendents lead so that others in the organization may benefit. I posit that through and from connectivity greater generative synergy produces results at the highest levels of quality on behalf of adult and child learning. Connectivity takes many forms, from the traditional to the digital. In my experiences as school superintendent (5 years and counting) and district/school leader (17 years) and as a classroom teacher (5 years) and as a higher education adjunct instructor (10 years), children learn more and adults work harder when they see/feel/hear the value of a healthy organizational culture for all aspects of the school system. It is also needed, in my professional opinion, to support “from the top” leadership and culture creation especially in today’s era of immediate connectivity as well as long lasting digital footprints.

As I have written about many times, for many years, I have been fortunate to have mentors and guides who have helped my career and my professional learning. Over time I have disciplined myself to read the journals, blogs, websites, and attend conferences of key/related professional associations. During the past five years in the superintendency, I am indebted to the great resources and help of the IASA, Illinois Association of School Administrators, and the AASA, the American Association of School Administrators (to name two great connected organizations). In addition, I have learned more than I anticipated from the Twitter PLN I am lucky to interact with! My leadership advice today is: join organizations and make the time to read and reach out and network.

As we bring closure to 2014 I say THANK YOU to so many for so much! My “message” for 2015 is found in Teddy Roosevelt’s quote at the start of this post: