Remembering the Human Element in Bold School Leadership
A short reflection, a Stony Creek Strategy update, and then Friday links
Last night I was catching up with House of the Dragon on HBO and I texted my younger niece in exasperation: “It is astonishing no one on this show acts like an actual human person.” Like most people, I watch it for the spectacle not the insight into behavior but the expectation that as an audience we are supposed to believe these people are a combination of ruthless, visionary and hopelessly naive (or stupid?) makes this story a plot in search of characters. (And what I can only assume the HBO execs intended - an excuse for lots and lots of entertaining CGI dragons. Hey, I’m watching it, so guilty as charged in the downfall of civilization.)
But failing to take into account the full dimension of complicated humanity is nothing new. As I dived into the world on the other side of the campus gates, it has gradually come into focus for me that what is often lacking in terms of reflections on the future of schools and the evolutionary or revolutionary paths we need to follow is just taking into account - at the very least - that carefully developed plans are at best complicated and at worst waylaid and scrapped due to our multilayered humanity. This can add beauty and truth if recognized; it can become an inability for people and organizations to get out of their own way if ignored.
If we don’t start to actively acknowledge and engage with this element, independent schools are going to keep spinning their wheels right into the ground. There is no actual evidence that hallowed business guru Peter Drucker said “Culture eats strategy for lunch” but that doesn’t make it not true. Human nature eats the best laid plans for dinner.
We would all have a much better shot at wrestling with everything from the completely broken financial model that keeps us in a higher tuition - higher expectations price spiral, to implementing improved hiring practices to truly creating inclusive student communities to better faculty meetings to snow day policies if we could normalize regularly incorporating an allowance for the beautiful irrationality of human nature into our leadership and school community citizenship.
It is a gorgeous fall day here in CT. The air is just crisp enough to suggest what is coming, which I think always makes these days more sweet. Enjoy your pumpkin lattes and apple picking this weekend.
Julie
Stony Creek Strategy is on the move!
My video on demand session about salary negotiation for the Carney Sandoe Women’s Institute will be available on November 3rd for all registered participants. In keeping with my remarks above, it’s some very human insight into the situation for the folks on both sides of the negotiation table. This is a low cost virtual event ($225) offering four days of mainly on demand content. Link below to register.
https://www.carneysandoe.com/csa-womens-institute
I will be the kick-off speaker for the Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington DC’s Board Chair roundtable series, joining them November 15th to talk about head of school transitions - supporting both the outgoing head and setting up the new head for success.
Links!
Good News and Bad News
College enrollment continues to decline - this definitely has to figure into the long term thinking of independent school leaders.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/10/20/college-enrollment-declines-since-pandemic/
I was glad to see a serious article about the trend of girls going through puberty younger and younger as the experience girls have of this milestone can psychologically impact them for the rest of their lives. And this shift definitely should factor into our thinking about serving girls in schools. But it is frustratingly short on clear answers.
This article posits that climate change is still quite bad but not quite as apocalyptic as we thought it might be - cover of the New York Times magazine this week
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/10/26/magazine/climate-change-warming-world.html
General life related stuff
An interesting exchange about life and art - Marc Maron’s interview with actor Jeremy Strong (Succession’s biggest screw up, Kendall Roy)
https://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1377-jeremy-strong
Men of A Certain Age, co-created by Ray Romano, is a really lovely two season show where it is certainly character over plot - three men at midlife coming to grips with the lives they thought they would lead as compared to their realities, both the challenges and unexpected consolations. It scratched my midlife contemplation itch.
https://www.hbomax.com/series/urn:hbo:series:GXbD3AQ1DT5GYoAEAAATQ
Some other Substack recs
Culture Study is a newsletter where journalist Anne Helen Petersen writes insightfully about what feels like everything. This is a thought provoking interview about one of her favorite topics, the change in the workplace with the introduction of remote work.
https://annehelen.substack.com/p/why-are-bosses-so-miserable
Julia Turshen’s newsletter is the most helpful and practical cooking column I have ever read and she also incorporates the light hearted joy of good eating. Here is her entry on her advice on how to approach dinner on a daily basis. She has similar entries for breakfast and lunch as well.
https://juliaturshen.substack.com/p/the-world-is-hard-dinner-doesnt-need
Journalist Virginia Sole-Smith in her Burnt Toast newsletter has the kind of writer’s voice where she feels like an old friend who stopped by for coffee - soooo relatable and funny. She writes about diet culture, and parenting, and life in general (that it’s ok to be appalled that so many female Halloween costumes seem “sexy”), and has a truly remarkable series called Jean Science where she tried out over fifty pairs of plus size jeans and then reports on how denim has changed (it’s not your imagination - it is much thinner than it used to be) and why plus size jeans in particular are such a challenge to find. Here’s a link to one of her latest general posts.
https://virginiasolesmith.substack.com/p/taylor-swift-halloween-links
Finally, one of the best novels I have read in ages:
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Yes, it’s about video game designers. Yes the title is from Macbeth. If video games or homicidal Scottish thanes aren’t your jam, do not let that deter you from this compelling and beautiful story of the magic and intimacy between great work collaborators as well as friendship, love and growing into your identity.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-gabrielle-zevin/17502475