October 26, 2024 • 59 mins
Uncover the transformative art of leadership with Amy Ruzicka, the visionary superintendent of the Bayless School District, as she guides us through her journey of becoming a multiplier leader. Known for her courageous leadership style and profound connection to her community, Amy shares the intricacies of her approach that earned her the prestigious Emerging Superintendent of the Year award in the Greater St. Louis District. Experience firsthand how her commitment to empowering others has paved the way for remarkable achievements within her school district, rooted in trust, passion, and a deep desire to leave a positive legacy.
Discover how Liz Wiseman's Multipliers framework has revolutionized leadership at Bayless School District. Amy elaborates on how this transformative approach has reshaped team dynamics, cultivating an environment where the inherent talents of each member are recognized and nurtured. Learn about strategies to avoid diminishing behaviors and witness the tangible impact of this framework, as evidenced by the district's recognition as a top workplace. Amy's insights provide a roadmap for creating a culture that celebrates individual strengths and drives both personal and organizational growth.
Join us as we explore the sustainability of the multiplier mindset, emphasizing its integration into professional development and everyday leadership practices. Drawing inspiration from Brene Brown's "Dare to Lead," Amy underscores the importance of vulnerability, trust, and empathy in crafting meaningful work experiences. The episode is a testament to the power of combining emotional intelligence with strategic leadership, offering valuable insights for anyone seeking to leave a lasting impact through their leadership.
Links and References:
To view our Professional Learning Offerings, visit:
https://www.nswppa.org.au/professional-learning
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Drew (00:00):
Hello and welcome to Season 2 of the Principal
Learnings Podcast.
If you're a principal oreducational leader looking to
enhance your skills, this is theplace for you, so let's get
into it, let's embark on thislearning journey together.
What legacy would Amy Rusukalike to have been known for?
Amy (00:32):
ike to have been known for .
So, in terms of legacy, I wantto be known as a multiplier
leader who brought out the bestin people, who helped people
achieve more than they everthought possible, and to do that
with purpose.
This work is so purposefulwe're shaping lives Likewise,
back to the dare to lead work,I'd like to be known as a
(00:53):
courageous leader.
I had shared a little bitearlier that comfort is popular,
courage changes lives, and soI'm not here serving this
district to do what'scomfortable.
I'm called to do what's right,even if it's difficult for our
(01:15):
kids, and so I never want to shyaway from a challenge, and I
want people to look back on mycareer and say and I want people
to look back on my career andsay, man, she was courageous,
she stepped into the arena, shewas a fierce advocate for kids,
and if any of that is said, Iwill consider it a success.
Drew (01:37):
Welcome to today's episode of Professional Learnings for
Educational Leaders.
Today we're diving into thepowerful leadership concept that
has been creating waves in theeducational leadership landscape
that is, of course, lizWiseman's multipliers.
This concept is now part of theNew South Wales PPA
professional learning suite andit is gaining tremendous
(01:59):
popularity among schoolexecutives and principal
networks across New South Wales.
Our focus today will beunpacking the work and the
impact of Amy Rizika, who is thesuperintendent of Baylor School
District.
Amy embodies the principles ofa true multiplier in her
(02:23):
leadership and in our discussionwith Amy, I look forward to
unpacking how we explore themultipliers approach in
transforming educationalleadership in her context.
Amy (02:39):
Well, Amy, welcome to our podcast.
Drew (02:42):
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm excited to dive into thework today.
Yeah, as am I.
To start off, congratulations,amy, on being named the Emerging
Superintendent of the Year forthe Greater St Louis District in
2024 by the MissouriAssociation of School
Administrations.
This recognition speaks volumesabout your leadership
capabilities and dedication.
(03:02):
How did you feel, amy, to beacknowledged in such a
significant way, and what do youthink contributed most to this
achievement?
Amy (03:13):
Well, when I received the phone call it was definitely
shock.
It's a peer-selected award, soI was honored to have been
recognized by othersuperintendents in the region
and so just the special workthat I've been able to lead in
our district, in the BaylessSchool District, just being
(03:34):
honored, I consider that arecognition for our entire
district.
We'll dive into the multipliereffect, but I'm truly surrounded
by incredible people withstrengths, talents, gifts that
make our kids and one anotherbetter every single day.
That talent and giving people acommon vision and mission and
(03:58):
empowering them to lead throughtheir native genius, through
their strengths, towards thatultimate mission and vision.
So again, I considered itreally an award for our entire
(04:19):
team.
Drew (04:21):
Yeah, and the fact that it's actually been nominated by
your Peer Speaks volumes as well.
Yeah, that's what a testamentto that, and obviously we'll
break that further down in termsof the multipliers framework
(04:48):
district since 2008, to givecontext serving in multiple
roles how has that prepared youin your current role as?
Amy (04:52):
superintendent.
Yeah, so first of all, Iconsider myself a lifelong
educator.
I taught for 12 years full-timeand then five years part-time
in a hybrid role, in a teacherleadership role.
So 17 years of teachingexperience.
Seven of those years were herein Bayless and so really working
(05:16):
my way through the system atevery level and being able to
know our district, our strengths, our opportunities.
You know we are part of anincredibly diverse, very
tight-knit community, and so Ithink growing up with the
community uniquely prepared mefor this role.
(05:36):
I had also invested so muchtime and passion into the work
that we were facilitating tocontinue to move our district to
the next level, and so beingable to continue that vision in
the superintendent's chair wasjust an incredible opportunity.
So I would say, you know, forme, just my commitment to the
(06:00):
district, my passion for thework that we do and then really
being able to see it through ina community I love was just such
an incredible opportunity.
Drew (06:10):
Yeah, you've really laid the foundation of trust.
You've been there for the longhaul.
You've developed in those,through that process as well,
those trusts and yeah, reallyfantastic work.
Yeah, you must pinch yourselfgoing.
Wow, a part of this dynamicroom must give you a lot of
energy and those around you itreally does.
Amy (06:34):
I mean it's.
You know we say if you lovewhat you do, you never work a
day in your life, and while Iwould love to say that's always
true, you know some days aredifficult.
However, I will say confidentlythat I never regret any role
that I've served in, even on themost challenging days, being
(06:56):
part of something bigger thanmyself and ourselves, and the
difference we make every day iscompletely worth it.
Drew (07:03):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
So what, amy?
What are your favorite memoriesabout your education or your
schooling that you could share?
Amy (07:14):
Yes.
So in addition to like many youknow students the time with
friends, the memories you create, the relationships you build In
particular, I didn't maybeappreciate it at the time, but
some of my favorite memories arefrom my educators, my teachers
who pushed me, who challenged me, who said I see this talent in
(07:37):
you.
I didn't see it myself.
For example, I remember in highschool I, like many students,
really hated to write.
Just the thought of writing anessay or a paper was
overwhelming.
And so I had a teacher whostopped me in the hallway and
(07:58):
said I saw your schedule fornext year and I saw you signed
up for just regular Englishclass.
I took it upon myself toreassign you to college credit
composition.
She said I am not going toallow you to sell yourself short
.
You have a talent for writingand I don't care what you say.
(08:21):
You can be mad at me, but I'mgoing to push you.
And so just stories like thatthroughout my career, where
people saw my native geniustapped into it and gave me the
confidence and the space to divein, has really stuck with me
all these years.
I actually reached out to thatteacher.
(08:42):
I went and met her in our oldclassroom about five years ago
and I thanked her because shechanged the trajectory and I
ended up becoming certified asan English teacher.
So it's just cases like thatthat you know.
At the time I was mad as a highschooler, as a teenager, but I
came to just greatly appreciatethat push teenager but I came to
(09:09):
just greatly appreciate thatpush.
Drew (09:10):
Yeah, what a multiply moment there that you share and
that impact and influence ofthat teacher could see that in
you.
And then they've taken thattime to just say no, that you
can meet this goal, Amy, yeah.
Amy (09:23):
Yes, I love the quote and I have it framed and I framed it
for my staff, and it sayscomfort is popular.
Courage changes lives, and sothe teachers who really changed
my life pushed me out of mycomfort zone, and so that's what
I try to do for our staff andour students always pushing,
(09:43):
encouraging and believing inpeople.
Yeah, yeah.
Drew (09:47):
And did that lead you to?
Then the natural to education?
Was that your next, you couldsee yourself going into
education as a teacher, as aneducator.
Amy (09:57):
You know I did not.
I was interested in law.
I really liked to debate inhigh school.
I loved to research.
My father was a policeman, sohe was in law enforcement and I
was always really fascinatedwith the law, with logical
arguments.
So I started college in thepre-law program and at the time
(10:22):
I was tutoring students in math.
And then I was also coaching amiddle school girls basketball
team and I just remember howexcited I was when the light
bulb went on in their mind as wewere going through the math
lessons, or the excitement ofthe girls as they improve their
(10:43):
skills in basketball.
And I just wasn't getting thatfulfillment from the pre-law
program.
I often dreaded going to someof those pre-law events, people
talking about who had the higherscores on the entrance exams
and what law firms their parentswere partners in.
(11:05):
It just didn't fill my bucket.
And so I went into.
My advisor, changed my majorfrom pre-law to education and
she said are you sure I've neverhad anybody do this?
And I said well, I'm going tobe the first.
And I never looked back.
Drew (11:23):
There you go.
Yeah, it was a calling, wasn'tit?
Amy (11:27):
It really was and it was interesting.
It's just one day I woke up andI realized I was on the wrong
path and so I never looked back.
I had people say are you crazy?
What are you doing?
And I actually had some peoplesay to me but you're so smart,
you can do anything you want.
Why would you choose education?
(11:48):
And I stepped back and I saiddon't your children deserve the
best education possible and weneed the best people to do that
work.
Drew (12:02):
Yeah, yeah, it's a shifting mindset, isn't it?
Absolutely.
Amy (12:06):
Yeah.
Drew (12:07):
Yeah, it's a shifting mindset, isn't it?
Absolutely yes, and then sointo teaching, making that brave
decision, but obviously it wasthe right, clearly the right
decision to do.
Then what led you intoeducational leadership?
Amy (12:21):
So I really never set out to be an educational leader.
That wasn't in my trajectory.
I thought maybe I'll max out asa math coordinator because I
love teaching math.
That's that I saw things beyondmy classroom, beyond math
education, that I really wantedto touch and to grow and expand,
(12:53):
and so it got to the pointwhere I couldn't give all that I
had to give within my classroom.
I loved it and leaving theclassroom was one of the hardest
decisions I ever made.
I looked at it though throughthe lens of I can impact
(13:14):
infinitely more students byinteracting or improving, I
should say the systems, byhelping to grow and support the
educators that work with thosestudents.
So it was all about impact andjust really expanding that to
share my gifts more broadly.
Drew (13:30):
Yeah, and that leads us now to 2024 and obviously that
fantastic recognition and I wasgoing to play a clip for us to
both hear Amy and it's by LizWiseman with the podcast we did
with her and she spoke in depthabout the impact that you're
making, so let's listen to that.
(13:51):
Is there any multiplier momentsor stories from an educational
perspective or leadershipperspective you could say has
come through, that you couldshare?
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Another that I learned about just recently was
the work of Amy Ruzicka, who isthe superintendent at the
Bayless School District in StLouis, missouri.
She took over as asuperintendent in February of
2022, and she had readMultipliers or the Multiplier
(14:23):
Effect one of those two booksand she wanted to share it with
(14:47):
her team, and I think shedecided it was going to be one
of the foundations for herleadership in this school
district.
Study across her entireleadership team and she did
something very simple but verypowerful.
She asked all of her teammembers to focus on one
multiplier experiment based ontheir accidental diminisher
tendencies.
Just one like just focus on onethings, and then she
incorporated that into each oneof their professional
development plans.
You know their own individualplans and then she just stayed
(15:08):
at it, and it's one of thethings we see with leaders who
really transform theirorganizations.
It's not that they do somethingamazing hand-weighting or
something expensive, they juststay at it, and she supported
this with check-ins.
She's letting people know likeI'm really serious about this.
Drew (15:33):
Amy, nice recognition.
What is it like to hear LizWiseman publicly recognizing
your work and the impact you areleading?
Amy (15:44):
So again, wow, it's much like that phone call that I
received about the EmergingSuperintendent Award just some
shock, some disbelief.
I've read a lot about impostersyndrome where you think you
know there's no way that couldbe me, I'm a fraud, I'm not that
capable and so definitelytriggered some imposter syndrome
(16:08):
.
But in all seriousness, I'mincredibly honored.
I think so much of Liz and herwork.
It truly it's part of myleadership canon and so just
hearing that I'm incrediblyhumbled and then also it just
drives me to be an even bettermultiplier leader.
(16:29):
So it's really recognition andthen a call to action that I
need to step up my game andbecome even stronger with the
work.
Drew (16:38):
Yeah, yeah, let's go further into that.
So how has the multipliersframework helped?
Helped at Baylor SchoolDistrict.
Amy (16:48):
So it really has changed our mindset and how we view the
work of leadership.
And so there are a few things,key phrases, key beliefs that
we've really tried to instill inall of our leaders.
One of those is people aresmart and will figure it out.
(17:08):
I think sometimes, as leaders,we think, well, we've been put
in these positions because weare the smartest person in the
room.
That is not true whatsoever.
That we have gifts and talentsall around us.
Recognizing those gifts andtalents in our people and giving
them the space to grow, tostretch, to really own the work
(17:34):
and lead it out at high levelsthat's what we're called to do.
So that definitely is a hugepiece.
There's another one To lead onpurpose.
We must understand how wediminish by accident.
Nobody wakes up and says I'mgoing to come in and I'm going
to crush people's hopes anddreams today, or I'm going to
(17:57):
really minimize their gifts.
We're human and really we thinkas leaders that we're helping
people by coming to their rescueor by sharing all of the ideas
that we have and I'm a huge ideafountain, as it talks about in
the work.
Really, those characteristicsare diminishing If I don't give
(18:24):
people the space to figurethings out for themselves, I'm
diminishing them.
If I'm the one generating allthe ideas and I don't give my
team opportunities to have somespace to share, again, I'm
diminishing them.
I'll share one more.
(18:44):
There's just so many.
But along those lines I lovethe quote from the book.
Intent is necessary but notsufficient.
Just because I intend to notdiminish people doesn't mean
that's enough so I can say Idon't want to be a diminisher.
I actually have to do the hardwork to recognize that in myself
(19:09):
and then put those replacementpractices in my practice so that
I am not just saying, oh, Idon't want to diminish you, I'm
actually not diminishing you,and so it's closing that loop.
Drew (19:22):
Yeah, it's being conscious about that, isn't it?
In terms of those accidentaldiminishing behaviors, that and
I can relate to the ideafountain as well that you have
said, which feels like a veryenergetic piece, but it can be
then going through thatframework that it can be
exhausting for those peoplearound you in terms of that and
(19:44):
also the opportunity, but it'sso clever in terms of giving a
framework for people who want tosucceed, people who are trying
to do the right thing, as yousaid, not going to try to.
How can I put someone down andmake their life miserable?
That's not the intent of whatpeople are trying to set out.
(20:08):
In terms of the podcast, shedescribed you as a
transformative leader whoembodies the multiplier mindset
which we can hear clearly.
Here's a quote from Liz thatstood out to me A true
multiplier brings out the geniusin people they lead, making
everyone around them smarter andmore capable.
(20:28):
How does this concept resonate,amy, with your approach to
leadership, and what strategieshave you found to be the most
effective in bringing out thebest in your team at Baylis?
Amy (20:41):
Yes.
So, drew, those words reallyresonate strongly with me.
Words really resonate stronglywith me.
Even before the multipliereffect came into my leadership
canon, I always consideredmyself to be a strengths-based
leader, really getting to knowthe people on my team and
recognizing what they do very,very well.
(21:03):
Leading from thatstrengths-based approach, as
opposed to a deficit-basedapproach, really allows people
to be more successful and morefulfilled.
And so, in switching thatlanguage over to native genius
which I like that even more thanstrengths, because it really
amplifies and celebrates thosegifts.
(21:23):
So the first part is, just, asa leader, really getting to know
my people how do you know whattheir gifts are if you don't
know them deeply as a person?
And then finding opportunitieswithin the organization, within
our goals, to match their geniusto an opportunity to really
(21:44):
give them that stretch growthopportunity to be able to shine,
to really lean into those giftsand talents.
To me is the secret sauce tothe work that we do.
It's not me leading outeverything, because then we're
(22:06):
limited by how far I can go.
It's about being thatorchestrator and matching the
genius with the needs andopportunities within the
district.
Drew (22:18):
Very clever in terms of and that doesn't happen via
accident, that happens throughclear thinking, framework
identifying and then and thenmapping and and moving forward.
I was I was actually readingthrough before our podcast, the
bayless publication, summer 24edition some, what a fantastic.
(22:42):
Um, what a fantastic read.
I mean in terms of theachievements the the class of
2024.
You must pinch yourself goingwow, that's all us.
I'll read some of the thingsthat are obviously in the
publication Record number ofscholarship recipients.
It also celebrates teacher andstudent success, such as
(23:02):
Courtney Duffy being namedTeacher of the Year and a fifth
grader winning the ELKS writingcontest.
These are all fantasticachievement.
Another one that really stoodout was at Baylis District was
recognized as a top workplace inyour area, which again do you
(23:25):
put that down to?
Multipliers?
Amy (23:29):
I really do.
I think about you.
Know, when we look back at theresearch, we get the most out of
people when we identify theirnative genius, when we match
that genius with opportunitiesand then give them the space and
the support to really lead itout successfully.
(23:50):
And since gosh way back in theday, before I stepped into the
superintendent's chair, when Iwas assistant superintendent,
for example, I worked to createa district-wide teacher
leadership group, and so wereally had nothing formalized
prior to that, and justrecognizing that talent within
(24:13):
our educators who are in theclassroom and partnering them
with a system, with anopportunity and with support, it
really helped transform ourdistrict.
That it's leadership by teachersfor teachers, and so that's
really been my approach is howdo we tap into our people?
Because they'll feel that senseof ownership, they will be more
(24:36):
fulfilled and, at the end ofthe day, they're going to
achieve more for our studentsthan any one of us leaders could
do alone.
And so it really.
The work of the multipliereffect has been transformative
with our culture.
It's woven now into our DNA andjust constantly looking for
(24:57):
opportunities to find thatgenius, to name it.
One of the most validating andempowering things we can do for
our people is to name andcelebrate that genius and then
invite them to really tap intothat to do great work for kids
in the community.
Drew (25:18):
Yeah, yeah, fantastic.
And just for our listeners togive context when was the
Multipliers Framework introducedin your context?
Amy (25:30):
Yeah.
So when I took over assuperintendent in 2022, so my
first day was July 1st I broughtthe Multiplier Effect work into
my team.
I really wanted that to set thestage for the next generation of
leadership, and so I had firstbeen introduced to the
(25:51):
multiplier effect in a NationalInstructional Leader Academy I
did with the AmericanAssociation for School
Administrators, and so I wasfortunate enough to learn from
one of Liz's trainers and thework just immediately clicked
and it put the framework.
(26:12):
It put some of the vocabularyaround ideas that I had had as a
leader and opportunities that Isaw diminishing side of it,
which was very sobering as Ilooked and categorized myself as
(26:33):
the idea fountain, a little bitof the pace setter, but that
really led to that next layer ofself-awareness.
So, as I was doing this andgoing through our district's
culture and climate data,looking at our strengths,
looking at our opportunities, itwas exactly what we needed to
really turn the page into awhole new chapter of our
(26:57):
district's history.
And we've been around.
Now this is our 156th year as aschool district and so just
having these last few years,we've achieved so much over the
156 years.
Implementing the multipliereffect really took us to the
(27:17):
next level.
Drew (27:19):
Yeah, you can absolutely see that In terms of.
Then the question is how do youmaintain that as well, like
it's such a powerful framework?
Is that something you thinkabout as well in terms of okay,
how can we continue?
This is something we don't wantto let go.
It's clearly a winning formulahere.
(27:40):
What's your thinking in termsof continuing with that?
Amy (27:47):
Yes, sustainability is key .
We know in education we can getsidetracked.
There's no shortage of work tobe done and we know sometimes we
get implementation fatigue.
There's always something new totackle, and so it was very
explicit in outlining this.
(28:09):
Work of the multiplier effectis not one more thing on the
plate of our leaders, it is theplate, and so this is the mind
frame, this is the approach, andso that's not going to change.
We can input any systems, anyinitiatives into this work, and
(28:32):
it should be successful.
If we're utilizing themultiplier practices, and so we
have layered in some otherprofessional learning components
, I always connect it back tothe multiplier effect.
It's important that they seethat again.
This mind frame supportseverything else that we do.
(28:53):
If we're getting the most outof our people, whether it's a
new math program, a new literacyprogram, if we lead that as
multipliers, it's going to bemore successful, is multipliers,
it's going to be moresuccessful.
So this week, for example, wehave our principals meeting, and
we do principal meetings twicea month.
(29:15):
One of our openers for themeeting is asking all of our
leaders, including myself I'mthe lead learner, I'm part of
this work to check in and to bevulnerable.
How have we been doing with ouraccidental diminishing
qualities and own it?
If you, for example, I've beena little bit of an idea fountain
(29:37):
lately and I need to own it andthen purposefully step back and
allow space that you know,knowing as a leader when to play
smaller, to create space forother people to play big, that's
what we need, and so it's justconstantly circling back to it.
(29:59):
This work is not a one and done.
It's a way of life, it's a wayof thinking and it's a way of
leading.
Drew (30:07):
Yeah, I love how you frame that because in terms of the
delivery, I just want toemphasize we have it in our
professional learning suite as aone-day delivery, but in terms
of what I'm hearing is, that'sembedded, you've incorporated
that into your professionallearning, so to speak, but
you've incorporated into yourculture.
(30:28):
Can you go unpack that a littlebit further?
So I've heard some braving workthere.
I heard a little bit ofpotentially, some potentially
dare to lead sort of frameworkover the top there with some
vulnerability.
So in terms of the just to givecontext for our listeners, we
(30:50):
have a one-day piece for themultipliers which is a fantastic
piece, but then it just thework just doesn't stop as a
one-day professional learningpiece, as you know, amy, because
then that's just, that's a nicefeel-good for the day, but
unless it's actually implemented, then it's almost well, what's
the point of doing that one daycourse?
(31:13):
So just unpack that further.
So you've obviouslyincorporated into your
professional learning and alsopotentially for onboarding
people into your district aswell.
Could you unpack that a littlebit further for us?
Amy (31:29):
Yes, absolutely so.
As our leadership team and thisincludes our district
leadership, all of our buildingadministrators, our principals
we went through the trainingtogether and did a book study
and then, beyond that, what Iasked every single leader to do
and I include myself in that isto identify one or two
(31:54):
accidental diminishing traitsand then really focus on that,
include that in their annualprincipal or leader professional
development plan and commit toyou know what specific I know?
In the book they talk about theexperiments, the replacement
practices.
So really locking in, basedupon your accidental diminisher
(32:19):
characteristic, which experimentor which replacement behavior
matches with that, and to bereally, really intentional about
implementing that and thenreflecting on it and being
honest how did I do?
How did I show up as amultiplier or was I
(32:40):
unintentionally diminishing?
And likewise, having anaccountability partner, somebody
they trust within theorganization, to say was I
diminishing?
Right there, be honest with me.
And being able to have thosefrank conversations.
I want my team to let me knowif I'm being the idea fountain.
(33:02):
I want to create space wherethey can say whoa time out,
you're overwhelming me with allof these ideas, and so I think
making those commitments andthen having a safe space.
This work is messy.
Any work worth doing is nevereasy, and so having a team that
(33:25):
trusts one another, that you cansay, oh man, I really messed
that up.
I really intended to be amultiplier, but I showed up, I
got excited, the ideas startedflowing and I really diminished
my team today, owning it,apologizing for it and
committing doing better and thenactually doing better.
(33:46):
I, I think, is a key piece ofthe work, but you're never
finished.
I would love to say I'm 100%multiplier all the time.
Liz talks about it in her book.
Nobody is 100% multiplier or100% diminisher, and so our goal
is, as leaders, to keeplearning, to keep checking back
(34:09):
in the work.
You know, as I said earlier,drew, I'm having my principals
check back in and just do youknow a little diminisher check,
how am I really doing?
And the goal is to keep movingthe needle more towards
multiplier.
Drew (34:25):
Yeah, yeah, how refreshing to have that honest
conversation and the fact ofcalling yourself out on that and
knowing to the group and saying, hey, I'm the ideas fountain, I
know that, I recognize it, buthey, I'm trying to work still on
that as well.
So, in terms of Liz alsomentioned further, let's listen
(34:50):
now further in terms of some ofthese fantastic results that are
occurring as a result of yourmultipliers framework, some
really fantastic results here inyour context.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
They spent about 18 months of just a year and a half
in her words, like fullywalking out the multiplier's
work.
She shared with me how theirschool climate has changed.
I pulled together a few ofthese Supportive relationships
up six points.
School climate up 13 points ontheir school climate survey.
(35:26):
School leadership up 25 pointson their school climate survey.
School leadership up 25 points,you know, on the 10-point scale
.
The school district achievedtop growths for math and English
language learners.
They became listed in the topworkplaces and received the
(35:46):
National School of District ofCharacter Award.
She was named superintendent ofthe year, you know, in greater
St Louis, and all in a veryshort period of time.
And again, it wasn't magic, itwas just this calm but very
(36:10):
clear persistence of this is thekind of leadership our students
deserve, our teachers deserve,and this is the way we're going
to lead here.
And she stayed on it with goodeducational follow-up,
(36:36):
educational follow-up.
Well, I think there are tworeasons to be a multiplier
leader and both kind of can getyou there.
But one way to look at it isyou want to lead this way
because you get more from people, and I think that was what was
so shocking to me in theresearch is how diminishing
leaders were getting less thanhalf of people's available
intelligence, whereasmultipliers were getting
virtually all of it.
(36:56):
It's a 2x effect broadly, butwhen we go into our school
districts it starts to look morelike a 3x difference.
And there is a compelling reasonto lead this way, which is, you
know, my short understandinglike, or my summary of my
understanding, of the challengesin education is like education
(37:17):
has all the challenges thatbusinesses and for-profit having
.
They just have them, I think,in like sharper ways.
In sharper ways, I think theproblems are a little bit more
acute and harder.
So, like, educational leadersneed to be able to do more by
getting more from people.
That's one reason.
But I'm always reminded and whenI think of myself as a leader
(37:41):
and like why I want to lead thisway, some of it comes to gee, I
want to get the most frompeople because we got hard
problems to solve and I needthis.
But I remind myself that thereal reason to lead this way is
about legacy and not just howmuch you get from people, but
what kind of work experience doyou offer and what's the impact
(38:06):
on the people you lead and howdo you really want to be
remembered as a leader, and whenI boil it down to you know what
I've learned from 35 years ofleading and my own research is
you know I want to be rememberedas a leader.
People grow around and maybethat's it, and it's about
(38:27):
getting more, but it's alsoabout giving to people an
experience that feels lessexhausting and more exhilarating
.
Drew (38:40):
Very powerful, Amy.
That's some impressive stats.
The question is now how tocontinue the momentum and where
to now for Baylor SchoolDistrict.
Amy (38:53):
Yeah.
So we have a last year's themewas celebrate and elevate, and
so it's really celebrating thosesuccesses and then raising the
bar.
We've never arrived.
This work is never finished asa leadership team continuing to
(39:20):
grow in the multiplier work.
That again, if we can get two,two and a half times the talent
out of our people, what can't weachieve together?
And we know we haveopportunities abound.
There's always work to be doneto improve student learning, to
improve our students'experiences through activities
and extracurriculars.
So I don't think we'll ever getthere.
(39:42):
And I always tell people, if weachieve all of our goals, the
goals weren't lofty enough, theyweren't aspirational enough,
and so I think it's continuingfor the strength of our
organization to multiply and tobuild those talents from within,
from our students, from ourstaff.
We are tapping into theirpotential and helping them
(40:07):
discover the best versions ofthemselves.
And if we can help every singleperson here discover that best
version of themselves, or atleast get really close, the
sky's the limit on what thisdistrict can achieve, and so
it's through this multiplierpath that I don't plan on going
(40:29):
anywhere anytime soon.
However, I want this work tocontinue on past my tenure here
for many, many years to come,the next 156 years, and so that
would be success to me, whenevery leader, every educator is
leading through the lens of amultiplier.
Drew (40:51):
Yeah, and the power.
You talked about, your role asa superintendent and now our
association, which is on theother side of the globe, in
Australia, with a jurisdictionof over 1,800 primary schools
and 2,200 public schools in NewSouth Wales curiosity looking at
(41:13):
this work, do you see that Ican see the clear connections
with what's happening in yourcontext?
Do you see an alignment withthe MultiFlows frameworks being
moving into another part of theworld, on the other side of the
globe, in our context?
Amy (41:36):
Yes, these concepts.
If you're a human being, theseresonate because, at the end of
the day, we all have ourdifferent contexts, with
different strengths, withdifferent challenges.
People are people, and we saythis all the time.
People are people and so theseevergreen, these research-based
(41:57):
practices will be effective, nomatter where you go.
And that's the neat thing, drew, because, as I talked earlier,
this work isn't one more thingon the plate, it is the plate.
So, leading with this mind frame, no matter what you're working
on in your local context, if youlead people through the
(42:19):
multiplier lens, everything isgoing to be more successful.
And likewise and I know you hadmentioned it earlier
incorporating this work withother great bodies of research,
like Brene Brown's Dare to Lead,which she gets more deeply into
human emotion, communication,vulnerability, trust.
(42:45):
Partnering those two is anincredibly powerful combination
of best practices in leadership,best practices in being an
empathetic, vulnerable,courageous leader.
And so I don't care where youare in the world, where you are
(43:07):
in your career.
Again, people are people,leaders are leaders, and best
practice is best practice.
Drew (43:15):
Yeah, those human traits, isn't it, amy?
Practice is best practice.
Yeah, those human traits, isn'tit, amy?
The human traits of you've usedthe framework of multipliers,
getting that genius, but alsounderstanding accidental,
diminishing behaviors.
But then the cleverness of weare human, everyone is human,
and underlying that with theprinciples of trust, and then
(43:35):
the ability to work through theskills such as shame or guilt,
and how can that be workedthrough together and being
vulnerable before to be able toshare that as well.
As you said before in ourconversation about look, I'm an
allergies fountain person.
Please let me know if I'm doingthat to you.
(43:58):
You're being vulnerable.
That could have gone who knowswhich way, but it went the right
way because you showed up withthat vulnerability.
Yeah, you're being human, asyou say.
Yeah, in terms of next, it'sbeen a fantastic conversation in
terms of talking about it.
(44:20):
You can see that.
Are there any other districtsthat are also?
We're looking at the impactthat's happening from the other
side of the globe.
Are there districts around youor in the US that are coming to
reach out and see the work ofmultipliers in your context?
Amy (44:40):
There has not been yet.
So you are the first to reachout.
So you know, we've had otherdistricts come to look at some
of our practices, some of ourprograms.
We're very proud of the workwe're doing, you know.
Fortunately, I think for us iswe've really continued to embody
(45:03):
the multiplier work, so it'salmost seamless.
It's not as visible and so Idon't think, like I said earlier
, it's kind of the plate.
Most people, if it's full ofother things, they don't see the
plate, they see all the otherthings, and so that foundation I
don't think is quite as visibleto others, because it is that
(45:26):
mind frame.
And so I would love to connectwith other districts you know,
here and abroad who are doingthis work and especially to,
like I said, the combination ofthe multiplier effect and Dare
to Lead.
It really has been atransformational combo for us.
If people are willing to committo it and walk it out, and that
(45:51):
starts with me.
It starts with thesuperintendent In a building, it
starts with the principal and ateacher.
It's, you know, theirleadership in the classroom.
Drew (46:19):
So, unfortunately, no, we haven't come place to work, been
voted not within, but also anexternal group has come and seen
this is the best workplace towork for in your area.
What an accolade.
What an accolade.
And also the fact that you'recreating genius 2.5 times those
(46:42):
scales are amazing.
So I guess a call to action isnot just people on the other
side of the world, which we are,but also those around you, so
fantastic In terms of the.
If I move to the next part, doyou incorporate coaching,
incorporated within themultipliers framework as well?
Amy (47:03):
Yes.
So, in addition to embeddingthe multiplier work within our
leadership professional learning, within our professional
learning plans, I do offerleadership coaching to all of
our leadership teams, bothindividual and then as a team.
(47:23):
So we do have a skilled coachthat works, you know, with our
people, to provide that safespace, to also be that mirror to
reflect the ideas, the workthat's occurring in the
buildings and then the relativesuccess.
So I do think I'm a firmbeliever, I'm a trained coach, I
did instructional coaching andsome leadership coaching To
(47:47):
really take root.
People need that opportunity topause, to reflect, to have some
of those strengths andopportunities mirrored back to
them and then the support tocontinue on.
Drew (48:02):
Yeah, it is such a and Liz also discussed this as well,
saying and it resonated with herthat coaching is such a crucial
element of the multipliersframework and you've just
reaffirmed that in terms of justshould we incorporate coaching?
Clearly that is a secret sourcein terms of ensuring that,
(48:22):
continuing the momentum, havingthose coaching conversations or,
as you said, more reflectivepractice on what you're doing
and then how you could pivottowards back to the plate of the
multipliers plate.
Yeah, Look, Amy, it's been anabsolute pleasure to talk to you
(48:43):
and it's a pleasure to hearabout the journey on your
insights, the multipliersmindset, your commitment to
growth has really come through,both personal and within the
Baylis School District.
It truly exemplifies thetransformative power of
leadership in education.
So congratulations on that.
(49:05):
You must feel very, veryhumbled and also very proud as
well.
Amy (49:10):
Yes, thank you, and that's absolutely the truth Very
humbled and very proud of thework that our district continues
to lead out for our kids andfor our community.
It's truly a special place andthe beauty about this work is
it's scalable in any sizedistrict or system, in any
(49:32):
context.
Drew (49:35):
Okay, Amy, a little bit of fun here.
Who has some questions for you?
Thought provoking questions.
Who has been Amy Rizuka's mostinfluential educational leader?
Amy (49:49):
That's a tough question, drew.
I would answer that and I knowit's a cop out, but I would say
every leader I've worked withbecause I've either learned a
leadership practice or Iactually call it an anti mentors
something that I absolutely donot want to do and so I've,
(50:10):
throughout my whole career, I'vealways been watching,
reflecting and thinking aboutthe leadership characteristics
that I want to embody and thosethat I want to avoid.
So I really think my leadershipstyle came from those
reflections from everybody thatI've worked with.
Drew (50:29):
Yeah.
Yeah, that's sort of cop out.
It's actually taking in all ofthat information and deciphering
what works best for you.
Who is Amy Resika's leadershipidols or idol?
Amy (50:46):
So I have a few um Brene Brown, as we talked about
earlier.
Uh, liz Wiseman, uh, simonSinek I've really um
internalized a lot of his work.
And then I have one mostrecently he's actually from St
Louis, missouri John O'Leary.
(51:07):
He has some great books.
One is on fire and so justwatching the story of his life
he went through he was burnedover 100% of his body as a young
child, not expected to live,and so he's really taken that
opportunity to lead a life thatimpacts and inspires so many
(51:33):
people, so many people.
I mean.
He truly is filled with joy andjust taking his work and his
thoughts into my own leadership,that has been probably the most
recent kind ofthought-provoking and leadership
transforming body of work.
Drew (51:52):
Wow, I love how you they're all fantastic idols, but
the passion you spoke aboutthere with Jonathan was in your
local context and what he bringsto the plate yeah, truly
inspirational.
Amy (52:07):
And I missed one, Drew, I can't believe I missed this one.
Justine Froelker she is a BreneBrown certified Dare to Lead
trainer.
She recently developed her owncurriculum, and so you know just
her work with courage,vulnerability, communication all
(52:31):
of those pieces have truly beentransformational for both me
personally and our team, and sojust being surrounded by
excellence has really helpedshape who I am as a leader, and
so I resonate very strongly withall of the people I talked
about.
Drew (52:51):
Yeah, yeah, you can absolutely tell when you're
invested.
You are really invested, Amy.
What is Amy Rosica's favoritebook or books, and why?
Amy (53:05):
Oh, good question.
So I would say definitely themultiplier effect, as I've
talked about it, has reallyshaped how we lead our
organization, how we lead ourorganization and, having been
led by both multipliers anddiminishers, I can absolutely
(53:27):
say without a doubt that themost rewarding environments I've
worked in have been led bymultipliers, and so I, having
the language and the tools tolead that way, has been really
helpful.
Dare to lead again as a human,a human being, renee, I feel
like, looks into our souls andjust she says what we don't
perhaps have the words to sayand using the research to help
(53:48):
us be better, more courageouspeople.
I mean I've truly transformedhow I approach tough
conversations, the vulnerabilitywork that's been huge on fire,
like I just talked about withJohn O'Leary, simon Sinek I love
Infinite Game and Know your why.
(54:10):
I could go on and on, but Ithink all of those really are
symbiotic.
There's so many connections andjust a well-rounded leadership
approach.
Drew (54:24):
Yeah, what is Amy Rezeka's educational philosophy?
Amy (54:32):
So my philosophy is really closely aligned with our
district mission and vision, andwe exist to help students and
staff and those we servediscover the best possible
versions of themselves byproviding opportunities to tap
(54:54):
into those passions, to buildtheir expertise and to really
ultimately live happy, fulfilledlives.
And so providing that space andthe opportunities is my job and
my philosophy.
And then we also want everystudent to leave our school
(55:14):
system being smart, good andstrong.
Drew (55:22):
What legacy would Amy Rusuka like to have been known
for?
Amy (55:32):
So, in terms of legacy, I want to be known as a multiplier
leader who brought out the bestin people, who helped people
achieve more than they everthought possible, and to do that
with purpose.
This work is so purposefulwe're shaping lives.
(55:53):
Likewise, back to the dare tolead work, I'd like to be known
as a courageous leader.
I had shared a little bitearlier that comfort is popular.
Courage changes lives, and soI'm not here serving this
district to do what'scomfortable.
(56:15):
I'm called to do what's right,even if it's difficult for our
kids, and so I never want to shyaway from a challenge, and I
want people to look back on mycareer and say, man, she was
courageous, she stepped into thearena, she was a fierce
(56:35):
advocate for kids, and if any ofthat is said, I will consider
it a success.
Drew (56:44):
Fantastic, Amy.
Thank you so much.
That was so very vulnerable too.
Thank you for sharing that aswell with us.
Great conversation.
We'd love to connect again.
Amy (56:56):
Yes, likewise.
So thank you so much, drew, Iappreciate it.
Speaker 3 (57:03):
Well, I think there are two reasons to be a
multiplier leader, and both kindof can get you there, but in
one way to look at it is youwant to lead this way because
you get more from people, and Ithink that was.
What was so shocking to me inthe research is how diminishing
(57:24):
meters were getting less thanhalf of people's available
intelligence, whereasmultipliers were getting
virtually all of it.
It's a 2x effect broadly, butwhen we go into our school
districts it starts to look morelike a 3x difference.
And and there is a compellingreason to lead this way, which
is, you know, my shortunderstanding like, or my
(57:48):
summary of my understanding ofthe challenges in education is
like education has all thechallenges that business is and
for profit having they, justhave them.
I think, in like sharper ways.
In sharper ways, I think theproblems are a little bit more
acute and harder.
So, like, educational leadersneed to be able to do more by
(58:09):
getting more from people.
That's one reason.
But I'm always reminded and whenI think of myself as a leader
and like why I want to lead thisway, some of it comes to gee I
want to get the most from peoplebecause we got hard problems to
solve and I need this, but Iremind myself that the real
(58:30):
reason to lead this way is aboutlegacy, and not just how much
you get from people, but whatkind of work experience do you
offer and what's the impact onthe people you lead?
And how do you really want tobe remembered as a leader?
And when I boil it down to you,know what I've learned from 35
(58:51):
years of leading and my ownresearch is, you know, I want to
be remembered as a leader.
People grow around and maybethat's it, and it's about
getting more, but it's alsoabout giving to people an
experience that feels lessexhausting and more exhilarating
.
Hello and welcome to Season 2 of the Principal
Learnings Podcast.
If you're a principal oreducational leader looking to
enhance your skills, this is theplace for you, so let's get
into it, let's embark on thislearning journey together.
What legacy would Amy Rusukalike to have been known for?
Amy (00:32):
ike to have been known for .
So, in terms of legacy, I wantto be known as a multiplier
leader who brought out the bestin people, who helped people
achieve more than they everthought possible, and to do that
with purpose.
This work is so purposefulwe're shaping lives Likewise,
back to the dare to lead work,I'd like to be known as a
(00:53):
courageous leader.
I had shared a little bitearlier that comfort is popular,
courage changes lives, and soI'm not here serving this
district to do what'scomfortable.
I'm called to do what's right,even if it's difficult for our
(01:15):
kids, and so I never want to shyaway from a challenge, and I
want people to look back on mycareer and say and I want people
to look back on my career andsay, man, she was courageous,
she stepped into the arena, shewas a fierce advocate for kids,
and if any of that is said, Iwill consider it a success.
Drew (01:37):
Welcome to today's episode of Professional Learnings for
Educational Leaders.
Today we're diving into thepowerful leadership concept that
has been creating waves in theeducational leadership landscape
that is, of course, lizWiseman's multipliers.
This concept is now part of theNew South Wales PPA
professional learning suite andit is gaining tremendous
(01:59):
popularity among schoolexecutives and principal
networks across New South Wales.
Our focus today will beunpacking the work and the
impact of Amy Rizika, who is thesuperintendent of Baylor School
District.
Amy embodies the principles ofa true multiplier in her
(02:23):
leadership and in our discussionwith Amy, I look forward to
unpacking how we explore themultipliers approach in
transforming educationalleadership in her context.
Amy (02:39):
Well, Amy, welcome to our podcast.
Drew (02:42):
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm excited to dive into thework today.
Yeah, as am I.
To start off, congratulations,amy, on being named the Emerging
Superintendent of the Year forthe Greater St Louis District in
2024 by the MissouriAssociation of School
Administrations.
This recognition speaks volumesabout your leadership
capabilities and dedication.
(03:02):
How did you feel, amy, to beacknowledged in such a
significant way, and what do youthink contributed most to this
achievement?
Amy (03:13):
Well, when I received the phone call it was definitely
shock.
It's a peer-selected award, soI was honored to have been
recognized by othersuperintendents in the region
and so just the special workthat I've been able to lead in
our district, in the BaylessSchool District, just being
(03:34):
honored, I consider that arecognition for our entire
district.
We'll dive into the multipliereffect, but I'm truly surrounded
by incredible people withstrengths, talents, gifts that
make our kids and one anotherbetter every single day.
That talent and giving people acommon vision and mission and
(03:58):
empowering them to lead throughtheir native genius, through
their strengths, towards thatultimate mission and vision.
So again, I considered itreally an award for our entire
(04:19):
team.
Drew (04:21):
Yeah, and the fact that it's actually been nominated by
your Peer Speaks volumes as well.
Yeah, that's what a testamentto that, and obviously we'll
break that further down in termsof the multipliers framework
(04:48):
district since 2008, to givecontext serving in multiple
roles how has that prepared youin your current role as?
Amy (04:52):
superintendent.
Yeah, so first of all, Iconsider myself a lifelong
educator.
I taught for 12 years full-timeand then five years part-time
in a hybrid role, in a teacherleadership role.
So 17 years of teachingexperience.
Seven of those years were herein Bayless and so really working
(05:16):
my way through the system atevery level and being able to
know our district, our strengths, our opportunities.
You know we are part of anincredibly diverse, very
tight-knit community, and so Ithink growing up with the
community uniquely prepared mefor this role.
(05:36):
I had also invested so muchtime and passion into the work
that we were facilitating tocontinue to move our district to
the next level, and so beingable to continue that vision in
the superintendent's chair wasjust an incredible opportunity.
So I would say, you know, forme, just my commitment to the
(06:00):
district, my passion for thework that we do and then really
being able to see it through ina community I love was just such
an incredible opportunity.
Drew (06:10):
Yeah, you've really laid the foundation of trust.
You've been there for the longhaul.
You've developed in those,through that process as well,
those trusts and yeah, reallyfantastic work.
Yeah, you must pinch yourselfgoing.
Wow, a part of this dynamicroom must give you a lot of
energy and those around you itreally does.
Amy (06:34):
I mean it's.
You know we say if you lovewhat you do, you never work a
day in your life, and while Iwould love to say that's always
true, you know some days aredifficult.
However, I will say confidentlythat I never regret any role
that I've served in, even on themost challenging days, being
(06:56):
part of something bigger thanmyself and ourselves, and the
difference we make every day iscompletely worth it.
Drew (07:03):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
So what, amy?
What are your favorite memoriesabout your education or your
schooling that you could share?
Amy (07:14):
Yes.
So in addition to like many youknow students the time with
friends, the memories you create, the relationships you build In
particular, I didn't maybeappreciate it at the time, but
some of my favorite memories arefrom my educators, my teachers
who pushed me, who challenged me, who said I see this talent in
(07:37):
you.
I didn't see it myself.
For example, I remember in highschool I, like many students,
really hated to write.
Just the thought of writing anessay or a paper was
overwhelming.
And so I had a teacher whostopped me in the hallway and
(07:58):
said I saw your schedule fornext year and I saw you signed
up for just regular Englishclass.
I took it upon myself toreassign you to college credit
composition.
She said I am not going toallow you to sell yourself short
.
You have a talent for writingand I don't care what you say.
(08:21):
You can be mad at me, but I'mgoing to push you.
And so just stories like thatthroughout my career, where
people saw my native geniustapped into it and gave me the
confidence and the space to divein, has really stuck with me
all these years.
I actually reached out to thatteacher.
(08:42):
I went and met her in our oldclassroom about five years ago
and I thanked her because shechanged the trajectory and I
ended up becoming certified asan English teacher.
So it's just cases like thatthat you know.
At the time I was mad as a highschooler, as a teenager, but I
came to just greatly appreciatethat push teenager but I came to
(09:09):
just greatly appreciate thatpush.
Drew (09:10):
Yeah, what a multiply moment there that you share and
that impact and influence ofthat teacher could see that in
you.
And then they've taken thattime to just say no, that you
can meet this goal, Amy, yeah.
Amy (09:23):
Yes, I love the quote and I have it framed and I framed it
for my staff, and it sayscomfort is popular.
Courage changes lives, and sothe teachers who really changed
my life pushed me out of mycomfort zone, and so that's what
I try to do for our staff andour students always pushing,
(09:43):
encouraging and believing inpeople.
Yeah, yeah.
Drew (09:47):
And did that lead you to?
Then the natural to education?
Was that your next, you couldsee yourself going into
education as a teacher, as aneducator.
Amy (09:57):
You know I did not.
I was interested in law.
I really liked to debate inhigh school.
I loved to research.
My father was a policeman, sohe was in law enforcement and I
was always really fascinatedwith the law, with logical
arguments.
So I started college in thepre-law program and at the time
(10:22):
I was tutoring students in math.
And then I was also coaching amiddle school girls basketball
team and I just remember howexcited I was when the light
bulb went on in their mind as wewere going through the math
lessons, or the excitement ofthe girls as they improve their
(10:43):
skills in basketball.
And I just wasn't getting thatfulfillment from the pre-law
program.
I often dreaded going to someof those pre-law events, people
talking about who had the higherscores on the entrance exams
and what law firms their parentswere partners in.
(11:05):
It just didn't fill my bucket.
And so I went into.
My advisor, changed my majorfrom pre-law to education and
she said are you sure I've neverhad anybody do this?
And I said well, I'm going tobe the first.
And I never looked back.
Drew (11:23):
There you go.
Yeah, it was a calling, wasn'tit?
Amy (11:27):
It really was and it was interesting.
It's just one day I woke up andI realized I was on the wrong
path and so I never looked back.
I had people say are you crazy?
What are you doing?
And I actually had some peoplesay to me but you're so smart,
you can do anything you want.
Why would you choose education?
(11:48):
And I stepped back and I saiddon't your children deserve the
best education possible and weneed the best people to do that
work.
Drew (12:02):
Yeah, yeah, it's a shifting mindset, isn't it?
Absolutely.
Amy (12:06):
Yeah.
Drew (12:07):
Yeah, it's a shifting mindset, isn't it?
Absolutely yes, and then sointo teaching, making that brave
decision, but obviously it wasthe right, clearly the right
decision to do.
Then what led you intoeducational leadership?
Amy (12:21):
So I really never set out to be an educational leader.
That wasn't in my trajectory.
I thought maybe I'll max out asa math coordinator because I
love teaching math.
That's that I saw things beyondmy classroom, beyond math
education, that I really wantedto touch and to grow and expand,
(12:53):
and so it got to the pointwhere I couldn't give all that I
had to give within my classroom.
I loved it and leaving theclassroom was one of the hardest
decisions I ever made.
I looked at it though throughthe lens of I can impact
(13:14):
infinitely more students byinteracting or improving, I
should say the systems, byhelping to grow and support the
educators that work with thosestudents.
So it was all about impact andjust really expanding that to
share my gifts more broadly.
Drew (13:30):
Yeah, and that leads us now to 2024 and obviously that
fantastic recognition and I wasgoing to play a clip for us to
both hear Amy and it's by LizWiseman with the podcast we did
with her and she spoke in depthabout the impact that you're
making, so let's listen to that.
(13:51):
Is there any multiplier momentsor stories from an educational
perspective or leadershipperspective you could say has
come through, that you couldshare?
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Another that I learned about just recently was
the work of Amy Ruzicka, who isthe superintendent at the
Bayless School District in StLouis, missouri.
She took over as asuperintendent in February of
2022, and she had readMultipliers or the Multiplier
(14:23):
Effect one of those two booksand she wanted to share it with
(14:47):
her team, and I think shedecided it was going to be one
of the foundations for herleadership in this school
district.
Study across her entireleadership team and she did
something very simple but verypowerful.
She asked all of her teammembers to focus on one
multiplier experiment based ontheir accidental diminisher
tendencies.
Just one like just focus on onethings, and then she
incorporated that into each oneof their professional
development plans.
You know their own individualplans and then she just stayed
(15:08):
at it, and it's one of thethings we see with leaders who
really transform theirorganizations.
It's not that they do somethingamazing hand-weighting or
something expensive, they juststay at it, and she supported
this with check-ins.
She's letting people know likeI'm really serious about this.
Drew (15:33):
Amy, nice recognition.
What is it like to hear LizWiseman publicly recognizing
your work and the impact you areleading?
Amy (15:44):
So again, wow, it's much like that phone call that I
received about the EmergingSuperintendent Award just some
shock, some disbelief.
I've read a lot about impostersyndrome where you think you
know there's no way that couldbe me, I'm a fraud, I'm not that
capable and so definitelytriggered some imposter syndrome
(16:08):
.
But in all seriousness, I'mincredibly honored.
I think so much of Liz and herwork.
It truly it's part of myleadership canon and so just
hearing that I'm incrediblyhumbled and then also it just
drives me to be an even bettermultiplier leader.
(16:29):
So it's really recognition andthen a call to action that I
need to step up my game andbecome even stronger with the
work.
Drew (16:38):
Yeah, yeah, let's go further into that.
So how has the multipliersframework helped?
Helped at Baylor SchoolDistrict.
Amy (16:48):
So it really has changed our mindset and how we view the
work of leadership.
And so there are a few things,key phrases, key beliefs that
we've really tried to instill inall of our leaders.
One of those is people aresmart and will figure it out.
(17:08):
I think sometimes, as leaders,we think, well, we've been put
in these positions because weare the smartest person in the
room.
That is not true whatsoever.
That we have gifts and talentsall around us.
Recognizing those gifts andtalents in our people and giving
them the space to grow, tostretch, to really own the work
(17:34):
and lead it out at high levelsthat's what we're called to do.
So that definitely is a hugepiece.
There's another one To lead onpurpose.
We must understand how wediminish by accident.
Nobody wakes up and says I'mgoing to come in and I'm going
to crush people's hopes anddreams today, or I'm going to
(17:57):
really minimize their gifts.
We're human and really we thinkas leaders that we're helping
people by coming to their rescueor by sharing all of the ideas
that we have and I'm a huge ideafountain, as it talks about in
the work.
Really, those characteristicsare diminishing If I don't give
(18:24):
people the space to figurethings out for themselves, I'm
diminishing them.
If I'm the one generating allthe ideas and I don't give my
team opportunities to have somespace to share, again, I'm
diminishing them.
I'll share one more.
(18:44):
There's just so many.
But along those lines I lovethe quote from the book.
Intent is necessary but notsufficient.
Just because I intend to notdiminish people doesn't mean
that's enough so I can say Idon't want to be a diminisher.
I actually have to do the hardwork to recognize that in myself
(19:09):
and then put those replacementpractices in my practice so that
I am not just saying, oh, Idon't want to diminish you, I'm
actually not diminishing you,and so it's closing that loop.
Drew (19:22):
Yeah, it's being conscious about that, isn't it?
In terms of those accidentaldiminishing behaviors, that and
I can relate to the ideafountain as well that you have
said, which feels like a veryenergetic piece, but it can be
then going through thatframework that it can be
exhausting for those peoplearound you in terms of that and
(19:44):
also the opportunity, but it'sso clever in terms of giving a
framework for people who want tosucceed, people who are trying
to do the right thing, as yousaid, not going to try to.
How can I put someone down andmake their life miserable?
That's not the intent of whatpeople are trying to set out.
(20:08):
In terms of the podcast, shedescribed you as a
transformative leader whoembodies the multiplier mindset
which we can hear clearly.
Here's a quote from Liz thatstood out to me A true
multiplier brings out the geniusin people they lead, making
everyone around them smarter andmore capable.
(20:28):
How does this concept resonate,amy, with your approach to
leadership, and what strategieshave you found to be the most
effective in bringing out thebest in your team at Baylis?
Amy (20:41):
Yes.
So, drew, those words reallyresonate strongly with me.
Words really resonate stronglywith me.
Even before the multipliereffect came into my leadership
canon, I always consideredmyself to be a strengths-based
leader, really getting to knowthe people on my team and
recognizing what they do very,very well.
(21:03):
Leading from thatstrengths-based approach, as
opposed to a deficit-basedapproach, really allows people
to be more successful and morefulfilled.
And so, in switching thatlanguage over to native genius
which I like that even more thanstrengths, because it really
amplifies and celebrates thosegifts.
(21:23):
So the first part is, just, asa leader, really getting to know
my people how do you know whattheir gifts are if you don't
know them deeply as a person?
And then finding opportunitieswithin the organization, within
our goals, to match their geniusto an opportunity to really
(21:44):
give them that stretch growthopportunity to be able to shine,
to really lean into those giftsand talents.
To me is the secret sauce tothe work that we do.
It's not me leading outeverything, because then we're
(22:06):
limited by how far I can go.
It's about being thatorchestrator and matching the
genius with the needs andopportunities within the
district.
Drew (22:18):
Very clever in terms of and that doesn't happen via
accident, that happens throughclear thinking, framework
identifying and then and thenmapping and and moving forward.
I was I was actually readingthrough before our podcast, the
bayless publication, summer 24edition some, what a fantastic.
(22:42):
Um, what a fantastic read.
I mean in terms of theachievements the the class of
2024.
You must pinch yourself goingwow, that's all us.
I'll read some of the thingsthat are obviously in the
publication Record number ofscholarship recipients.
It also celebrates teacher andstudent success, such as
(23:02):
Courtney Duffy being namedTeacher of the Year and a fifth
grader winning the ELKS writingcontest.
These are all fantasticachievement.
Another one that really stoodout was at Baylis District was
recognized as a top workplace inyour area, which again do you
(23:25):
put that down to?
Multipliers?
Amy (23:29):
I really do.
I think about you.
Know, when we look back at theresearch, we get the most out of
people when we identify theirnative genius, when we match
that genius with opportunitiesand then give them the space and
the support to really lead itout successfully.
(23:50):
And since gosh way back in theday, before I stepped into the
superintendent's chair, when Iwas assistant superintendent,
for example, I worked to createa district-wide teacher
leadership group, and so wereally had nothing formalized
prior to that, and justrecognizing that talent within
(24:13):
our educators who are in theclassroom and partnering them
with a system, with anopportunity and with support, it
really helped transform ourdistrict.
That it's leadership by teachersfor teachers, and so that's
really been my approach is howdo we tap into our people?
Because they'll feel that senseof ownership, they will be more
(24:36):
fulfilled and, at the end ofthe day, they're going to
achieve more for our studentsthan any one of us leaders could
do alone.
And so it really.
The work of the multipliereffect has been transformative
with our culture.
It's woven now into our DNA andjust constantly looking for
(24:57):
opportunities to find thatgenius, to name it.
One of the most validating andempowering things we can do for
our people is to name andcelebrate that genius and then
invite them to really tap intothat to do great work for kids
in the community.
Drew (25:18):
Yeah, yeah, fantastic.
And just for our listeners togive context when was the
Multipliers Framework introducedin your context?
Amy (25:30):
Yeah.
So when I took over assuperintendent in 2022, so my
first day was July 1st I broughtthe Multiplier Effect work into
my team.
I really wanted that to set thestage for the next generation of
leadership, and so I had firstbeen introduced to the
(25:51):
multiplier effect in a NationalInstructional Leader Academy I
did with the AmericanAssociation for School
Administrators, and so I wasfortunate enough to learn from
one of Liz's trainers and thework just immediately clicked
and it put the framework.
(26:12):
It put some of the vocabularyaround ideas that I had had as a
leader and opportunities that Isaw diminishing side of it,
which was very sobering as Ilooked and categorized myself as
(26:33):
the idea fountain, a little bitof the pace setter, but that
really led to that next layer ofself-awareness.
So, as I was doing this andgoing through our district's
culture and climate data,looking at our strengths,
looking at our opportunities, itwas exactly what we needed to
really turn the page into awhole new chapter of our
(26:57):
district's history.
And we've been around.
Now this is our 156th year as aschool district and so just
having these last few years,we've achieved so much over the
156 years.
Implementing the multipliereffect really took us to the
(27:17):
next level.
Drew (27:19):
Yeah, you can absolutely see that In terms of.
Then the question is how do youmaintain that as well, like
it's such a powerful framework?
Is that something you thinkabout as well in terms of okay,
how can we continue?
This is something we don't wantto let go.
It's clearly a winning formulahere.
(27:40):
What's your thinking in termsof continuing with that?
Amy (27:47):
Yes, sustainability is key .
We know in education we can getsidetracked.
There's no shortage of work tobe done and we know sometimes we
get implementation fatigue.
There's always something new totackle, and so it was very
explicit in outlining this.
(28:09):
Work of the multiplier effectis not one more thing on the
plate of our leaders, it is theplate, and so this is the mind
frame, this is the approach, andso that's not going to change.
We can input any systems, anyinitiatives into this work, and
(28:32):
it should be successful.
If we're utilizing themultiplier practices, and so we
have layered in some otherprofessional learning components
, I always connect it back tothe multiplier effect.
It's important that they seethat again.
This mind frame supportseverything else that we do.
(28:53):
If we're getting the most outof our people, whether it's a
new math program, a new literacyprogram, if we lead that as
multipliers, it's going to bemore successful, is multipliers,
it's going to be moresuccessful.
So this week, for example, wehave our principals meeting, and
we do principal meetings twicea month.
(29:15):
One of our openers for themeeting is asking all of our
leaders, including myself I'mthe lead learner, I'm part of
this work to check in and to bevulnerable.
How have we been doing with ouraccidental diminishing
qualities and own it?
If you, for example, I've beena little bit of an idea fountain
(29:37):
lately and I need to own it andthen purposefully step back and
allow space that you know,knowing as a leader when to play
smaller, to create space forother people to play big, that's
what we need, and so it's justconstantly circling back to it.
(29:59):
This work is not a one and done.
It's a way of life, it's a wayof thinking and it's a way of
leading.
Drew (30:07):
Yeah, I love how you frame that because in terms of the
delivery, I just want toemphasize we have it in our
professional learning suite as aone-day delivery, but in terms
of what I'm hearing is, that'sembedded, you've incorporated
that into your professionallearning, so to speak, but
you've incorporated into yourculture.
(30:28):
Can you go unpack that a littlebit further?
So I've heard some braving workthere.
I heard a little bit ofpotentially, some potentially
dare to lead sort of frameworkover the top there with some
vulnerability.
So in terms of the just to givecontext for our listeners, we
(30:50):
have a one-day piece for themultipliers which is a fantastic
piece, but then it just thework just doesn't stop as a
one-day professional learningpiece, as you know, amy, because
then that's just, that's a nicefeel-good for the day, but
unless it's actually implemented, then it's almost well, what's
the point of doing that one daycourse?
(31:13):
So just unpack that further.
So you've obviouslyincorporated into your
professional learning and alsopotentially for onboarding
people into your district aswell.
Could you unpack that a littlebit further for us?
Amy (31:29):
Yes, absolutely so.
As our leadership team and thisincludes our district
leadership, all of our buildingadministrators, our principals
we went through the trainingtogether and did a book study
and then, beyond that, what Iasked every single leader to do
and I include myself in that isto identify one or two
(31:54):
accidental diminishing traitsand then really focus on that,
include that in their annualprincipal or leader professional
development plan and commit toyou know what specific I know?
In the book they talk about theexperiments, the replacement
practices.
So really locking in, basedupon your accidental diminisher
(32:19):
characteristic, which experimentor which replacement behavior
matches with that, and to bereally, really intentional about
implementing that and thenreflecting on it and being
honest how did I do?
How did I show up as amultiplier or was I
(32:40):
unintentionally diminishing?
And likewise, having anaccountability partner, somebody
they trust within theorganization, to say was I
diminishing?
Right there, be honest with me.
And being able to have thosefrank conversations.
I want my team to let me knowif I'm being the idea fountain.
(33:02):
I want to create space wherethey can say whoa time out,
you're overwhelming me with allof these ideas, and so I think
making those commitments andthen having a safe space.
This work is messy.
Any work worth doing is nevereasy, and so having a team that
(33:25):
trusts one another, that you cansay, oh man, I really messed
that up.
I really intended to be amultiplier, but I showed up, I
got excited, the ideas startedflowing and I really diminished
my team today, owning it,apologizing for it and
committing doing better and thenactually doing better.
(33:46):
I, I think, is a key piece ofthe work, but you're never
finished.
I would love to say I'm 100%multiplier all the time.
Liz talks about it in her book.
Nobody is 100% multiplier or100% diminisher, and so our goal
is, as leaders, to keeplearning, to keep checking back
(34:09):
in the work.
You know, as I said earlier,drew, I'm having my principals
check back in and just do youknow a little diminisher check,
how am I really doing?
And the goal is to keep movingthe needle more towards
multiplier.
Drew (34:25):
Yeah, yeah, how refreshing to have that honest
conversation and the fact ofcalling yourself out on that and
knowing to the group and saying, hey, I'm the ideas fountain, I
know that, I recognize it, buthey, I'm trying to work still on
that as well.
So, in terms of Liz alsomentioned further, let's listen
(34:50):
now further in terms of some ofthese fantastic results that are
occurring as a result of yourmultipliers framework, some
really fantastic results here inyour context.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
They spent about 18 months of just a year and a half
in her words, like fullywalking out the multiplier's
work.
She shared with me how theirschool climate has changed.
I pulled together a few ofthese Supportive relationships
up six points.
School climate up 13 points ontheir school climate survey.
(35:26):
School leadership up 25 pointson their school climate survey.
School leadership up 25 points,you know, on the 10-point scale
.
The school district achievedtop growths for math and English
language learners.
They became listed in the topworkplaces and received the
(35:46):
National School of District ofCharacter Award.
She was named superintendent ofthe year, you know, in greater
St Louis, and all in a veryshort period of time.
And again, it wasn't magic, itwas just this calm but very
(36:10):
clear persistence of this is thekind of leadership our students
deserve, our teachers deserve,and this is the way we're going
to lead here.
And she stayed on it with goodeducational follow-up,
(36:36):
educational follow-up.
Well, I think there are tworeasons to be a multiplier
leader and both kind of can getyou there.
But one way to look at it isyou want to lead this way
because you get more from people, and I think that was what was
so shocking to me in theresearch is how diminishing
leaders were getting less thanhalf of people's available
intelligence, whereasmultipliers were getting
virtually all of it.
(36:56):
It's a 2x effect broadly, butwhen we go into our school
districts it starts to look morelike a 3x difference.
And there is a compelling reasonto lead this way, which is, you
know, my short understandinglike, or my summary of my
understanding, of the challengesin education is like education
(37:17):
has all the challenges thatbusinesses and for-profit having
.
They just have them, I think,in like sharper ways.
In sharper ways, I think theproblems are a little bit more
acute and harder.
So, like, educational leadersneed to be able to do more by
getting more from people.
That's one reason.
But I'm always reminded and whenI think of myself as a leader
(37:41):
and like why I want to lead thisway, some of it comes to gee, I
want to get the most frompeople because we got hard
problems to solve and I needthis.
But I remind myself that thereal reason to lead this way is
about legacy and not just howmuch you get from people, but
what kind of work experience doyou offer and what's the impact
(38:06):
on the people you lead and howdo you really want to be
remembered as a leader, and whenI boil it down to you know what
I've learned from 35 years ofleading and my own research is
you know I want to be rememberedas a leader.
People grow around and maybethat's it, and it's about
(38:27):
getting more, but it's alsoabout giving to people an
experience that feels lessexhausting and more exhilarating
.
Drew (38:40):
Very powerful, Amy.
That's some impressive stats.
The question is now how tocontinue the momentum and where
to now for Baylor SchoolDistrict.
Amy (38:53):
Yeah.
So we have a last year's themewas celebrate and elevate, and
so it's really celebrating thosesuccesses and then raising the
bar.
We've never arrived.
This work is never finished asa leadership team continuing to
(39:20):
grow in the multiplier work.
That again, if we can get two,two and a half times the talent
out of our people, what can't weachieve together?
And we know we haveopportunities abound.
There's always work to be doneto improve student learning, to
improve our students'experiences through activities
and extracurriculars.
So I don't think we'll ever getthere.
(39:42):
And I always tell people, if weachieve all of our goals, the
goals weren't lofty enough, theyweren't aspirational enough,
and so I think it's continuingfor the strength of our
organization to multiply and tobuild those talents from within,
from our students, from ourstaff.
We are tapping into theirpotential and helping them
(40:07):
discover the best versions ofthemselves.
And if we can help every singleperson here discover that best
version of themselves, or atleast get really close, the
sky's the limit on what thisdistrict can achieve, and so
it's through this multiplierpath that I don't plan on going
(40:29):
anywhere anytime soon.
However, I want this work tocontinue on past my tenure here
for many, many years to come,the next 156 years, and so that
would be success to me, whenevery leader, every educator is
leading through the lens of amultiplier.
Drew (40:51):
Yeah, and the power.
You talked about, your role asa superintendent and now our
association, which is on theother side of the globe, in
Australia, with a jurisdictionof over 1,800 primary schools
and 2,200 public schools in NewSouth Wales curiosity looking at
(41:13):
this work, do you see that Ican see the clear connections
with what's happening in yourcontext?
Do you see an alignment withthe MultiFlows frameworks being
moving into another part of theworld, on the other side of the
globe, in our context?
Amy (41:36):
Yes, these concepts.
If you're a human being, theseresonate because, at the end of
the day, we all have ourdifferent contexts, with
different strengths, withdifferent challenges.
People are people, and we saythis all the time.
People are people and so theseevergreen, these research-based
(41:57):
practices will be effective, nomatter where you go.
And that's the neat thing, drew, because, as I talked earlier,
this work isn't one more thingon the plate, it is the plate.
So, leading with this mind frame, no matter what you're working
on in your local context, if youlead people through the
(42:19):
multiplier lens, everything isgoing to be more successful.
And likewise and I know you hadmentioned it earlier
incorporating this work withother great bodies of research,
like Brene Brown's Dare to Lead,which she gets more deeply into
human emotion, communication,vulnerability, trust.
(42:45):
Partnering those two is anincredibly powerful combination
of best practices in leadership,best practices in being an
empathetic, vulnerable,courageous leader.
And so I don't care where youare in the world, where you are
(43:07):
in your career.
Again, people are people,leaders are leaders, and best
practice is best practice.
Drew (43:15):
Yeah, those human traits, isn't it, amy?
Practice is best practice.
Yeah, those human traits, isn'tit, amy?
The human traits of you've usedthe framework of multipliers,
getting that genius, but alsounderstanding accidental,
diminishing behaviors.
But then the cleverness of weare human, everyone is human,
and underlying that with theprinciples of trust, and then
(43:35):
the ability to work through theskills such as shame or guilt,
and how can that be workedthrough together and being
vulnerable before to be able toshare that as well.
As you said before in ourconversation about look, I'm an
allergies fountain person.
Please let me know if I'm doingthat to you.
(43:58):
You're being vulnerable.
That could have gone who knowswhich way, but it went the right
way because you showed up withthat vulnerability.
Yeah, you're being human, asyou say.
Yeah, in terms of next, it'sbeen a fantastic conversation in
terms of talking about it.
(44:20):
You can see that.
Are there any other districtsthat are also?
We're looking at the impactthat's happening from the other
side of the globe.
Are there districts around youor in the US that are coming to
reach out and see the work ofmultipliers in your context?
Amy (44:40):
There has not been yet.
So you are the first to reachout.
So you know, we've had otherdistricts come to look at some
of our practices, some of ourprograms.
We're very proud of the workwe're doing, you know.
Fortunately, I think for us iswe've really continued to embody
(45:03):
the multiplier work, so it'salmost seamless.
It's not as visible and so Idon't think, like I said earlier
, it's kind of the plate.
Most people, if it's full ofother things, they don't see the
plate, they see all the otherthings, and so that foundation I
don't think is quite as visibleto others, because it is that
(45:26):
mind frame.
And so I would love to connectwith other districts you know,
here and abroad who are doingthis work and especially to,
like I said, the combination ofthe multiplier effect and Dare
to Lead.
It really has been atransformational combo for us.
If people are willing to committo it and walk it out, and that
(45:51):
starts with me.
It starts with thesuperintendent In a building, it
starts with the principal and ateacher.
It's, you know, theirleadership in the classroom.
Drew (46:19):
So, unfortunately, no, we haven't come place to work, been
voted not within, but also anexternal group has come and seen
this is the best workplace towork for in your area.
What an accolade.
What an accolade.
And also the fact that you'recreating genius 2.5 times those
(46:42):
scales are amazing.
So I guess a call to action isnot just people on the other
side of the world, which we are,but also those around you, so
fantastic In terms of the.
If I move to the next part, doyou incorporate coaching,
incorporated within themultipliers framework as well?
Amy (47:03):
Yes.
So, in addition to embeddingthe multiplier work within our
leadership professional learning, within our professional
learning plans, I do offerleadership coaching to all of
our leadership teams, bothindividual and then as a team.
(47:23):
So we do have a skilled coachthat works, you know, with our
people, to provide that safespace, to also be that mirror to
reflect the ideas, the workthat's occurring in the
buildings and then the relativesuccess.
So I do think I'm a firmbeliever, I'm a trained coach, I
did instructional coaching andsome leadership coaching To
(47:47):
really take root.
People need that opportunity topause, to reflect, to have some
of those strengths andopportunities mirrored back to
them and then the support tocontinue on.
Drew (48:02):
Yeah, it is such a and Liz also discussed this as well,
saying and it resonated with herthat coaching is such a crucial
element of the multipliersframework and you've just
reaffirmed that in terms of justshould we incorporate coaching?
Clearly that is a secret sourcein terms of ensuring that,
(48:22):
continuing the momentum, havingthose coaching conversations or,
as you said, more reflectivepractice on what you're doing
and then how you could pivottowards back to the plate of the
multipliers plate.
Yeah, Look, Amy, it's been anabsolute pleasure to talk to you
(48:43):
and it's a pleasure to hearabout the journey on your
insights, the multipliersmindset, your commitment to
growth has really come through,both personal and within the
Baylis School District.
It truly exemplifies thetransformative power of
leadership in education.
So congratulations on that.
(49:05):
You must feel very, veryhumbled and also very proud as
well.
Amy (49:10):
Yes, thank you, and that's absolutely the truth Very
humbled and very proud of thework that our district continues
to lead out for our kids andfor our community.
It's truly a special place andthe beauty about this work is
it's scalable in any sizedistrict or system, in any
(49:32):
context.
Drew (49:35):
Okay, Amy, a little bit of fun here.
Who has some questions for you?
Thought provoking questions.
Who has been Amy Rizuka's mostinfluential educational leader?
Amy (49:49):
That's a tough question, drew.
I would answer that and I knowit's a cop out, but I would say
every leader I've worked withbecause I've either learned a
leadership practice or Iactually call it an anti mentors
something that I absolutely donot want to do and so I've,
(50:10):
throughout my whole career, I'vealways been watching,
reflecting and thinking aboutthe leadership characteristics
that I want to embody and thosethat I want to avoid.
So I really think my leadershipstyle came from those
reflections from everybody thatI've worked with.
Drew (50:29):
Yeah.
Yeah, that's sort of cop out.
It's actually taking in all ofthat information and deciphering
what works best for you.
Who is Amy Resika's leadershipidols or idol?
Amy (50:46):
So I have a few um Brene Brown, as we talked about
earlier.
Uh, liz Wiseman, uh, simonSinek I've really um
internalized a lot of his work.
And then I have one mostrecently he's actually from St
Louis, missouri John O'Leary.
(51:07):
He has some great books.
One is on fire and so justwatching the story of his life
he went through he was burnedover 100% of his body as a young
child, not expected to live,and so he's really taken that
opportunity to lead a life thatimpacts and inspires so many
(51:33):
people, so many people.
I mean.
He truly is filled with joy andjust taking his work and his
thoughts into my own leadership,that has been probably the most
recent kind ofthought-provoking and leadership
transforming body of work.
Drew (51:52):
Wow, I love how you they're all fantastic idols, but
the passion you spoke aboutthere with Jonathan was in your
local context and what he bringsto the plate yeah, truly
inspirational.
Amy (52:07):
And I missed one, Drew, I can't believe I missed this one.
Justine Froelker she is a BreneBrown certified Dare to Lead
trainer.
She recently developed her owncurriculum, and so you know just
her work with courage,vulnerability, communication all
(52:31):
of those pieces have truly beentransformational for both me
personally and our team, and sojust being surrounded by
excellence has really helpedshape who I am as a leader, and
so I resonate very strongly withall of the people I talked
about.
Drew (52:51):
Yeah, yeah, you can absolutely tell when you're
invested.
You are really invested, Amy.
What is Amy Rosica's favoritebook or books, and why?
Amy (53:05):
Oh, good question.
So I would say definitely themultiplier effect, as I've
talked about it, has reallyshaped how we lead our
organization, how we lead ourorganization and, having been
led by both multipliers anddiminishers, I can absolutely
(53:27):
say without a doubt that themost rewarding environments I've
worked in have been led bymultipliers, and so I, having
the language and the tools tolead that way, has been really
helpful.
Dare to lead again as a human,a human being, renee, I feel
like, looks into our souls andjust she says what we don't
perhaps have the words to sayand using the research to help
(53:48):
us be better, more courageouspeople.
I mean I've truly transformedhow I approach tough
conversations, the vulnerabilitywork that's been huge on fire,
like I just talked about withJohn O'Leary, simon Sinek I love
Infinite Game and Know your why.
(54:10):
I could go on and on, but Ithink all of those really are
symbiotic.
There's so many connections andjust a well-rounded leadership
approach.
Drew (54:24):
Yeah, what is Amy Rezeka's educational philosophy?
Amy (54:32):
So my philosophy is really closely aligned with our
district mission and vision, andwe exist to help students and
staff and those we servediscover the best possible
versions of themselves byproviding opportunities to tap
(54:54):
into those passions, to buildtheir expertise and to really
ultimately live happy, fulfilledlives.
And so providing that space andthe opportunities is my job and
my philosophy.
And then we also want everystudent to leave our school
(55:14):
system being smart, good andstrong.
Drew (55:22):
What legacy would Amy Rusuka like to have been known
for?
Amy (55:32):
So, in terms of legacy, I want to be known as a multiplier
leader who brought out the bestin people, who helped people
achieve more than they everthought possible, and to do that
with purpose.
This work is so purposefulwe're shaping lives.
(55:53):
Likewise, back to the dare tolead work, I'd like to be known
as a courageous leader.
I had shared a little bitearlier that comfort is popular.
Courage changes lives, and soI'm not here serving this
district to do what'scomfortable.
(56:15):
I'm called to do what's right,even if it's difficult for our
kids, and so I never want to shyaway from a challenge, and I
want people to look back on mycareer and say, man, she was
courageous, she stepped into thearena, she was a fierce
(56:35):
advocate for kids, and if any ofthat is said, I will consider
it a success.
Drew (56:44):
Fantastic, Amy.
Thank you so much.
That was so very vulnerable too.
Thank you for sharing that aswell with us.
Great conversation.
We'd love to connect again.
Amy (56:56):
Yes, likewise.
So thank you so much, drew, Iappreciate it.
Speaker 3 (57:03):
Well, I think there are two reasons to be a
multiplier leader, and both kindof can get you there, but in
one way to look at it is youwant to lead this way because
you get more from people, and Ithink that was.
What was so shocking to me inthe research is how diminishing
(57:24):
meters were getting less thanhalf of people's available
intelligence, whereasmultipliers were getting
virtually all of it.
It's a 2x effect broadly, butwhen we go into our school
districts it starts to look morelike a 3x difference.
And and there is a compellingreason to lead this way, which
is, you know, my shortunderstanding like, or my
(57:48):
summary of my understanding ofthe challenges in education is
like education has all thechallenges that business is and
for profit having they, justhave them.
I think, in like sharper ways.
In sharper ways, I think theproblems are a little bit more
acute and harder.
So, like, educational leadersneed to be able to do more by
(58:09):
getting more from people.
That's one reason.
But I'm always reminded and whenI think of myself as a leader
and like why I want to lead thisway, some of it comes to gee I
want to get the most from peoplebecause we got hard problems to
solve and I need this, but Iremind myself that the real
(58:30):
reason to lead this way is aboutlegacy, and not just how much
you get from people, but whatkind of work experience do you
offer and what's the impact onthe people you lead?
And how do you really want tobe remembered as a leader?
And when I boil it down to you,know what I've learned from 35
(58:51):
years of leading and my ownresearch is, you know, I want to
be remembered as a leader.
People grow around and maybethat's it, and it's about
getting more, but it's alsoabout giving to people an
experience that feels lessexhausting and more exhilarating
.
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