Embracing the Unknown: A Journey through School Leadership

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
One of the hardest things about being a leader or
the person who's in the positionof leadership meaning that
everything comes to you,especially in the school
building is embracing theunknown.
The unknown could be a lot ofdifferent things to different

(00:24):
people, but the one thing thatdoesn't change is that the
unknown is literally the unknown.
Let's talk about it.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
When they see me.
They know that every day, whenI'm breathing, it's for us to go
farther.
You know, every time I speak, Iwant the truth to come out.
You know what I'm saying.
Every time I speak, I want toshiver.
You know I don't want them tobe like.
They know what I'm going to say, because it's polite.
They know what I'm going to sayand even if I get in trouble,
you know what I'm saying.
That ain't that what we'resupposed to do.
I'm not saying I'm going torule the world or I'm going to

(00:55):
change the world, but Iguarantee that I will spark the
brain that will change the world, and that's our job.
It's to spark somebody elsewatching us.
We might not be the ones, butlet's not be selfish.
And because we're not going tochange the world, let's not talk
about how we should change it.
I don't know how to change it,but I know if I keep talking
about how dirty it is out here,somebody's going to clean it up.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
And now he's been promoted His job principle.
Good morning everyone.
It is some time around fiveo'clock in the morning and I
decided to make this episode ofthe Sneaker Principle podcast to
discuss the unknown andunfortunately, as I was here

(01:47):
going over my notes that's on mytab to run for me, the tab had
died.
It's about you for not chargingit, but it's okay, I am going
to go ahead and proceed with myphone, my notes, and I'm not one
of those content creators whohas everything memorized.
I know what I want to say.
I want to make sure that Idon't ramble on as I've done in

(02:10):
the past.
I'm trying to have a moreprofessional feel to my podcast.
So this morning I want to talkto you about embracing the
unknown, especially when itcomes to school transformation
and just leadership and life ingeneral.

(02:31):
You know, one of the things thatis so hard about being a school
leader is the fact that oftenwhat you do and who you are can
become one.
People are unable to separatethe two, and maybe that's

(02:51):
something that is actually thereality for almost every
profession.
But something that's differentabout being a school leader is
that as a school leader becauseas a school leader, there is an
expectation that you areeverything in that space.
And let's first of allunderstand what we're talking

(03:12):
about here.
We're talking about the schoolbuilding.
School is where children, youngadults, people are sent to
learn, to learn information, tolearn how to be in society, to
do all the things that they needto do to be able to function as

(03:34):
informed citizens.
Right At least that's whatwe're told.
And for schools to function,you have to have your students,
of course, but then also haveyour instructors, the teachers.
Students without teachers kindof hard to have a school.
But within that space also,you'd need support staff,

(03:57):
because teachers can't do it all.
Their primary responsibility isto engage students.
So you have front-off staffsecretaries, purchasing,
procurement people, accounting,payroll.
You have school aides veryimportant.

(04:20):
They're the ones who are doinga lot of day-to-day operational
things Dropping off, picking uplaptops, making sure attendance
is on point, making sure kidsare in the classrooms and not
just wandering the hallways.
Sometimes they take over in themain office answering phone
calls.
Sometimes they drop it off inthe post office.

(04:40):
They're picking up packages,they're delivering packages,
they're taking care of supplies.
You have the cafeteria staffwho are cooking, cleaning,
providing, making sure thecafeteria is presentable for the
kids who come and eat Breakfastand lunch.
You have, typically, a nurse or, in our case, you have nearly

(05:02):
medical staff.
You have a doctor, you have aclinic.
It's winter time right now, sokids have to sniffle, they have
to cough.
Covid is kind of like an uptick.
All these little things arehappening all within the school
building.
Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot thecafeteria staff.
You have a broken door, brokendoor knobs, the classrooms have

(05:22):
to be cleaned.
There's just a million and onethings happening within the
school.
People just see, literally, theschool building and they see
kids walking in there and theythink students, classrooms and
that's it.
But then you also have, youhave to have the point person

(05:46):
who is the one to make sure thatall the little nuances of daily
life in the school building isoperating fluidly.
And you have school leadership,principal, system principal In
some cases.
You know teacher leaders, likethe deans, academic deans.
You know coaches, the guidancecounselors, all these facets,

(06:11):
all these parts of a system thatneeds to be in play for a
school to function.
However, everything, literallyeverything, has to go through
the filter of the principal, theperson who, at the end of the

(06:32):
day, is held accountable.
You know and I'm gonna changethat that's not.
Who's in charge Is the personwho's held accountable for
making sure that the system isfunctioning properly.
Okay, I'm gonna say it againPeople have the assumption
principle you're in charge.
No, you're not in charge.

(06:55):
There steps above you that arein charge.
Your job is to make sure thateverything is running and
functioning as it should.
You know, you're the one who'sheld accountable, which means
now that all accountabilityComes to you.
The kids are not fed.
You're accountable.

(07:16):
What happened?
Kids are sick and and theydon't make your way to, to the
nurse or the doctor.
And it was known, you know, orit was seen, or those perception
of those, something wrong andthat didn't happen.
It falls on you.
You're accountable.
Kids are not performing no,test scores are dropping,

(07:39):
attendance is dropping, allthese different things, guess
what?
You are held accountable as theleader, specifically as the
principal.
In some cases, the systemprincipal might be thrown into
the mix, but at the end of theday, you are the one who's
accountable and and and.

(08:02):
The problem with this, you know,I'm not even a problem to
reality, there are so manyunknowns, so many unknowns, and
when you have these unknowns, itdoes create anxiety, you know,
for veteran and new and middlecareer school leaders.
I Know people who walk intotheir building every day with a

(08:26):
sense of dread.
Literally, they walk into theirbuilding and their thing to
themselves was gonna go wrongtoday.
I also know those who move intothe buildings and everything is
always always the glassesalmost to the top and I've been
half full.
They're always the glassesalmost to the top.
Now they find excitement inwhat they do every day and they

(08:47):
keep building the body ofknowledge and they have a
clarity of Forsythed insightinto what should be happening in
their spaces.
But typically these peoplepeople have been doing this for
a long time.
You know, and no matter, andyes, there are some time things
will happen that you are notready for.

(09:08):
You know, I've had that throughmy career.
Many things have happened I'mnot ready for.
But however, you know, evenwhen you know are you
experienced a lot?
The unknown is always gonna bethere.
So now Was it important toembrace the unknown?
And Let me see here what is mynotes here on my phone, because

(09:31):
I tap, my tablet is stillcharging.
First of all, let's go back thefear of the unknown in
leadership.
Okay, so Leaders are oftenafraid of the unknown.
You know, when we talk aboutthose things that could happen
or those areas that they'rebeing pushed to move into, those

(09:53):
uncharted territories, like Isaid earlier, it creates a sense
of anxiety, fear, they, they,they start to doubt themselves,
because often what they're knownas in those areas where you
feel weak is that, or thoseareas where you feel Not as well
prepared for or trained for soand so you, of course, you start

(10:19):
to get nervous, you start to requestion yourself and the other
part is and no one was supposedto say this often what's really
happening is you fear beingfound out, to found out that you
don't know.
You know we're in the educationbusiness, and in education

(10:42):
business there's a perceptionthat you have to have all the
answers, that you are smart,that your abilities are tied
into your intelligence.
So if you walk into a space and, as a leader, and you ask
something about education, thenobviously you think to yourself
I should know the answer.
Why don't I know the answer?

(11:05):
And then, because of that, youstart to second guess yourself
or, better yet, you lie and asklike you know what's going on.
You know, and you might say,hey, I'm gonna take care of that
, I'm gonna make sure thatthat's done, but you don't even
know how to do it.
It might be a reading program,it might be scheduling, it might

(11:26):
be handling a situation youknow, and then you find yourself
going to the manual or tryingto find the answer online or,
even worse, not asking for help.
You know so, all of a sudden,in this place, this space of the
unknown, because again now youhave, you know, bitten off money

(11:48):
you can chew and you now fearbeing found out.
And these are things that oftencripple schools, because, as
the point person that everyonegoes to, you start to kind of
hide behind, you know, yourinadequacies, those things that
you that weaken you, thosethings that you fear.

(12:13):
You hide behind, you know theytake over and all of a sudden
you're asking yourself like, ohmy God, how to get out of this.
And I'm saying this becausethere are those of you out there
right now who, every day youwake up, you are literally like

(12:34):
suffocating in fear because youlet the unknown take over.
You let the unknown be yourcrutch, and I have to say to you
that you cannot let that be thecase.
You have to embrace the unknown.
So my career so far, I have notbeen perfect at all, and thank

(12:58):
God for that, but I choose tonot be perfect.
I choose to be excellentexcellent in my, in what I do,
in my outcomes or in my growthand in my learning.
I tend to be I like.
I tend to be excellent inadmitting that I have no idea
what you're talking about andexcellent in saying I can find
out, I can improve.

(13:20):
But I choose not to be perfect,so I embraced the unknown.
You know, one of the things thatI've been proud about in my
career is that every space I'vewalked into, I've opted to go
into dark places.
What I mean by dark places?
To go for those challenges thatI know this right here might be

(13:45):
a bad idea In the sense that Imight be taking on more than I
can chew, but the thing I'veloved about doing that is that
it's allowed me to be in a spaceof learning, of assessing, of
engaging others and saying, hey,how do I do this?

(14:06):
How do I get better at this?
How do I figure this problemout?
You know, how do I build a teamto make this thing not a
weakness but a strength?
And, um, the challenge of thathas always been not knowing,
because often you might plan,you know and have an idea of

(14:28):
what the outcome is going to beand you get kicked in the mouth
and it's completely the opposite.
But, however, the best part ofit all is when you walk into the
unknown and you've done yourhomework, you've asked the right
questions, you've gotten theright help, you have the right

(14:51):
supports, you built the rightteam.
The unknown doesn't become asscary anymore.
What happens is that theunknown starts to unravel.
You take a step forward.
You realize, hmm, that didn'twork.
You take another step oh, okay,that's working better.
They make adjustments and you,and all of a sudden you have a

(15:11):
flashlight, so that dark spaceis not dark anymore.
You have a flashlight, you havecompanions and you're moving
forward into the darkness,figuring out where the problem
is.
So that problem might be how doI improve my attendance?
I mean, I have no idea.
Then you study data, you lookat historical trends, you visit
and talk to schools that have,you know, solved that problem or

(15:33):
have improved upon that problem.
You know student performancesame thing.
You know teacher efficacy samething.
Parental engagement same thing.
You know, turning a whole entireschool around Making that big,
that big monster of a task andsaying how do I break it down to

(15:53):
the smallest parts?
How do I filter out the noiseso I can focus in on what I need
to do?
These are all part of embracingthe unknown.
I've always looked at the workas a game, and please do not let

(16:19):
me just understand when I sayby game, I'm not talking about,
like some you know, child's play.
I'm liking it more like thechess or strategy Some.
Something requires immensestrategy, you know, like a
Sherlock Holmes mystery.
You have the problem, you know,but the problem comes with so

(16:44):
many questions, and your goal isto solve this mystery, this
series of problems, to get to anoutcome that is beneficial to
all parties involved.
So, sitting down and being ableto think, engage, assess, you
know, these are the things thatI believe you know makes the

(17:07):
unknown like an amazing space tobe.
Go to my notes here.
And one of the things, too, isyou can't, as a leader, make
their known only about you.

(17:27):
I always, always, relate thisto my team.
I am not the smartest person inthe room and I do not want to
be the smartest person in theroom.
If anything, I want to attractand bring together the smartest
people that I can find, socollectively we can figure out

(17:53):
the problem, we can come to asolution, you know.
But if you're going to do that,which you must do bring amazing
, smart people together,figuring out who your staff can
be of immense asset not just toyou but to the whole entire
journey towards improvement andsolving the mystery or, you know

(18:16):
, going into the unknown.
But you have to empower them tobe able to do so.
You cannot take your fear andput on them.
You know, I'll tell you thisright now, guys, I am constantly
in my head doubting myself, andit's not a bad kind of like

(18:38):
doubting yourself.
I'm not like saying, oh my God,I can't do this, this cannot be
done.
I question every move, Iquestion every decision and
again, I think that's that isthe act of responsible leader.
You know, you don't let itparalyze you, but you always,
your brain is always on andyou're always assessing.

(18:59):
But sometimes you might have tomake a pivot at the drop of a
dime, like we got to make ashift here.
I just saw something, you know,and I just did my numbers, and
that doesn't add up and that'swhy I live.
And I have to live there because, you know, my leadership team
is about six.
Six to seven people, brilliantpeople, very intelligent, very

(19:22):
capable, but again it's six toseven people, some personality,
seven ability levels, severalemotional intelligences, and
it's like an orchestra.
I have to manage them allbecause they are all intertwined
.
You know, one piece connects toall the other seven pieces and

(19:44):
this is how they move.
So often they don't see thefull picture, they don't see how
they connect to each other andthat's my responsibility.
So I'm the one who sits thereand says OK, making sure the
team is functioning properly,but at the same time I have to
give them the leeway and theability to truly embrace the

(20:06):
unknown, to be excited about thework, to move forward, but also
knowing that you know it's myresponsibility if one of them is
drifting two, four to the leftor two, four to the right, that
I bring him back to center.
I have to pay attention to themand see how, what their part is
in our journey through theunknown.

(20:30):
We have to have to create andmaintain a culture that embraces
the unknown, but you, theleader, are the one kind of to
oversee how the ship is sailing,how the bus is driving, how all
the members of this team youknow, and also your overall

(20:52):
community, are moving in thatdirection.
You're the one setting thestandard, you're the one setting
the pace, you're the onesetting the vision of where
you're going as a leader.
But the most important thing isyou cannot be afraid.
You must embrace the unknownmore than anybody else.

(21:15):
You know the greatest outcomeshave come from people who are
willing to step into the dark,who are willing to move into
spaces where others were notwanting to go.
I've taken schools, I've movedinto communities where most

(21:36):
people would have said you know,you gotta be in mind that
that's not a good move, that'snot a good career move.
And I made my decisions notbecause of career.
I made my decisions because Iwanted to make a difference.
I wanted to do something thatothers were not willing to do

(21:59):
because I knew at the back endof it there are children, young
adults, teachers, a wholecommunity of stakeholders who
needed.
They needed vision, they neededa mission to fight for, they
needed something to move themforward, to get them out their

(22:21):
rut, to see themselvesdifferently, to smile again, to
laugh again, to enjoy the work.
For me, that is the impact thatI've always wanted to have,
wherever I was assigned,wherever I chose to be.
But when you move in thatdirection and move like that,

(22:41):
you're always dealing withunknowns and the biggest unknown
is always like it fails nothing, that you're not able to make
the moves or make the shiftsthat are needed.
So, in conclusion, stepping intothe unknown and embracing

(23:05):
potential failure or what thebad things can happen, and when
you do it intentionally, whenyou truly intentionally embrace
these things, it is freeing.
It gives you this centering.
When you're like okay, I knowwhat I'm doing.
At minimum I know why I'm doingit, versus being in a space

(23:29):
where you're just shaking inyour boots and when people show
up in the district or wherever,you're like oh my God, am I in
trouble?
Why are you here?
I don't know If you do it right.
You're an open book.
You're like listen, come, come,help me, look at this.
It's like working on a classiccar and you're around other
enthusiasts and they come in andyou're like come see what I'm

(23:50):
doing, look at this engine I'mbuilding, but I have a problem.
I can't figure out how to dothis thing right here.
And all of a sudden you're likeoh yeah come on, we got you.

Speaker 2 (23:59):
Now have you thought?

Speaker 1 (24:00):
about this?
Have you thought about that?
And you're like, huh, okay, youput all these pieces together
and you're seeing the mysteryunravel.
You seem the unknown becomeknown.
Then, ultimately, you see anoutcome that was always intended
, and that is the success, thejoy, the happiness, the

(24:22):
fulfillment, the progress, theexcellence of the school
community.
All right, y'all.
This is Uche and Jogu.
Thank you again for being hereon the Sneaker Principal podcast
.
Until next time.

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