Real Leaders, Real Schools


Book Description

Real Leaders, Real Schools tells the stories of five urban public school principals who led their schools through profound and transformative changes. In each of these cases, their efforts resulted in dramatic improvements in student achievement—improvements that occurred within the current environment of high-stakes tests. The revealing and often gripping narratives that form the heart of this remarkable book offer unprecedented insights into the meaning and practice of effective school leadership. The stories themselves are often inspiring but they are never idealized. All of these principals met with frustrations as well as successes, setbacks as well as breakthroughs. All regularly reassessed their policies and practices, and all acknowledged—and learned from—their errors along the way. Yet all believed in their staffs and their students, and all found innovative ways to transform and improve their schools. These are true stories of successful leadership against enormous odds. They provide countless lessons for today’s school leaders and all who are committed to education reform.




Real Leaders Don't Boss


Book Description

Forget leadership gimmicks and catch phrases, “instant” leadership manuals and Stalinesque approaches to bottom-line results. Skip the sharp cuts to cope with tough times, too. Real and effective leaders today—from the executive suite to the assembly line—quietly and consistently follow what Dr. Eich has identified as the seven principles of effective leadership.True leaders know how to make ethical judgments in the face of real-world challenges, and recognize what it takes to win loyalty and respect, motivate through passion, develop positive relationships, and enhance open communication.Real Leaders Don’t Boss is an easy-to-understand, practical guide to leadership in the workplace and in life that can help anyone grasp what it takes to inspire, motivate, and lead. With the help of real-life stories and advice from top leaders, it teaches how, with the right direction and guidance, real leaders quietly stand back and, no matter the economic conditions, observe as others achieve success, which creates their own successes.




Real Leaders Negotiate!


Book Description

This book examines the central role of negotiation in gaining, exercising, and retaining leadership within organizations, large and small, public and private. Its aim is to instruct readers on the way to use negotiation to lead effectively. For far too long conventional wisdom has proposed that strong leaders refuse to negotiate, viewing negotiation as a sign of weakness. Leading people requires charisma, vision, and a commanding presence, not the tricks for making deals. For many executives, negotiation is a tool to use outside the organization to deal with customers, suppliers, and creditors. Inside the organization, it’s strictly “my way or the highway.” Salacuse explains that leaders can increase their effectiveness by using negotiation in each of the three phases of the leadership lifecycle: 1) leadership attainment, 2) leadership action; and 3) leadership preservation and loss. Drawing on experience in wide variety of settings, including the author’s own leadership positions, the book will examine high profile leadership cases such as the rise and fall of Carly Fiorina at Hewlett-Packard, the skillful negotiations by Warren Buffet to save Salomon Brothers from extinction, and the successful efforts by the partners at Goldman Sachs to negotiate a new vision and direction for that financial giant. Leaders and managers should pick up this book to learn how effective negotiation is essential to both gaining and exercising leadership and to overcoming threats to a leader’s position.




Real Women, Real Leaders


Book Description

Plan your path to leadership with insight from real women at the top In Real Women, Real Leadership, twenty-four women leaders describe their personal journeys to the top, providing deep insight and a fascinating perspective on "making it" as a woman in the male-dominated business environment. They discuss their experiences and offer guidance on topics such as balancing family and career, building alliances, mentoring and being mentored, and overcoming obstacles in the business world which is still dominated by men in the senior levels of management. Drawn from a range of industries including higher education, technology, law, the military, politics, the media, and more, these stories provide the details that every ambitious woman needs to know. You'll learn which skills, attributes, and relationships served these women best, how they overcame the obstacles thrown into their paths, and the people they credit as instrumental along the way. A self-assessment chapter helps you discover your own leadership attributes, and determine which skills you need to acquire as you formulate your own personal roadmap to the top. There are many books about women who have been excellent leaders, but Real Women, Real Leadership provides the personal, relatable testimonials from women who have navigated the opportunities and pitfalls of the business world. Each story sheds light on women's unique leadership attributes, and provides guidance for professional women charting their own professional advancement. Learn from women leaders in a diverse range of industries Discover the leadership attributes that make the biggest impact Gain insight into work/life balance, mentors, relationships, and more Discover your leadership strengths and develop a plan forward Studies have shown that companies with three or more women board members dramatically outperform the competition in returns on equity, sales, and invested capital — yet women only claim a tiny percentage of boardroom seats and top executive positions. Why? And why, when they do achieve leadership positions, do women tend to make such outstanding leaders? Real Women, Real Leadership tackles these questions and more from an in-the-trenches perspective to help you become the leader you want to be.




Real Leaders Don't Follow


Book Description

Leaders Lead. Followers Follow. You Can't Do Both. Acknowledging the great irony that most of today's inspiring entrepreneurs are following the crowd instead of doing what innovative leaders like Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk did to become successful, Silicon Valley management consultant Steve Tobak delivers some truth: Nobody ever made it big by doing what everyone else is doing. Drawing upon decades of personal experience with hundreds of accomplished entrepreneurs, CEOs, and venture capitalists, Tobak provides a unique perspective on today's technology revolution, exposes popular myths that masquerade as common wisdom and shows you what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur and an exceptional business leaders in today's highly competitive world.




Real Leaders Don't Do PowerPoint


Book Description

Think about the most powerful speech you’ve ever heard a leader give. What made that speech–and that speaker–memorable was likely a mix of authenticity, stage presence, masterful delivery, and–above all–an inspirational message. Nobody ever walked out of a great speech saying, “I loved the way she used PowerPoint.” Yet, all too often, speakers rely on tools like it to carry them through a presentation. Real leaders speak to make a difference, to promote a vision, to change the way people think and feel and act. Their ability to lead goes hand in hand with their ability to get their message across, no matter what size audience they’re addressing. Drawing on his years of experience in coaching executives, Christopher Witt shows not just how to make a speech but why and when you should make one. His practical advice on how to take your game to the next level includes: • You are the message. Who you are–your character, experience, values–shapes the message your listeners hear. • Content is king. Delivery is important, but it is only the helpful–or unhelpful–servant of your message. So build each speech around one, and only one, “Big Idea.” • A confused mind always says no. When you want your listeners to say yes, you’ve got to make them understand what you want them to do and why they should care. • Dare to do the unexpected. Leaders know the rules, and they know when, why, and how to break them. In chapters that can be read in five minutes or less and in a book that can be gone through in one sitting, Witt shows you how to become more confident, more commanding, more compelling speakers. But this isn’t just a book about speaking. It’s about leadership and about how people–CEOs and PTA presidents, small business owners and sales reps, middle managers and techno geeks–can present themselves and their ideas with greater impact.




The Leader in Me


Book Description

Children in today's world are inundated with information about who to be, what to do and how to live. But what if there was a way to teach children how to manage priorities, focus on goals and be a positive influence on the world around them? The Leader in Meis that programme. It's based on a hugely successful initiative carried out at the A.B. Combs Elementary School in North Carolina. To hear the parents of A. B Combs talk about the school is to be amazed. In 1999, the school debuted a programme that taught The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Peopleto a pilot group of students. The parents reported an incredible change in their children, who blossomed under the programme. By the end of the following year the average end-of-grade scores had leapt from 84 to 94. This book will launch the message onto a much larger platform. Stephen R. Covey takes the 7 Habits, that have already changed the lives of millions of people, and shows how children can use them as they develop. Those habits -- be proactive, begin with the end in mind, put first things first, think win-win, seek to understand and then to be understood, synergize, and sharpen the saw -- are critical skills to learn at a young age and bring incredible results, proving that it's never too early to teach someone how to live well.




What School Leaders Need to Know About Digital Technologies and Social Media


Book Description

Facebook, Twitter, Google...today's tech-savvy students are always plugged in. However, all too often their teachers and administrators aren't experienced in the use of these familiar digital tools. If schools are to prepare students for the future, administrators and educators must harness the power of digital technologies and social media. With contributions from authorities on the topic of educational technology, What School Leaders Need to Know About Digital Technologies and Social Media is a compendium of the most useful tools for any education setting. Throughout the book, experts including Will Richardson, Vicki Davis, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, Richard Byrne, Joyce Valenza, and many others explain how administrators and teachers can best integrate technology into schools, helping to make sense of the often-confusing world of social media and digital tools. They offer the most current information for the educational use of blogs, wikis and podcasts, online learning, open-source courseware, educational gaming, social networking, online mind mapping, mobile phones, and more, and include examples of these methods currently at work in schools. As the book clearly illustrates, when these tools are combined with thoughtful and deliberate pedagogical practice, it can create a transformative experience for students, educators, and administrators alike. What School Leaders Need to Know About Digital Technologies and Social Media reveals the power of information technology and social networks in the classroom and throughout the education community.




The School Leaders Our Children Deserve


Book Description

"This is an updated edition of the best-selling, seminal book on school leadership, equity, and social justice. George Theoharis draws on the experiences and words of successful public-school principals committed to advancing equity and social justice. Through the work of these principals, Theoharis shows why social justice leadership is needed and how it can be effective in creating more equitable schools. Although facing tremendous barriers, these principals made important strides toward closing both the outcome and opportunity gaps in their schools through the use of inclusive, and equitable practices. Updated with examples and frameworks for today's leaders, this edition features a mix of theory and practical strategies. In current context of national resistance to issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, this timely book portrays how real school leaders seek, create, and sustain equitable schools, especially for marginalized students. The author identifies seven "keys" that are crucial for social justice leadership: Key 1: Acquire Broad, Reconceptualized Consciousness/Knowledge/Skill Base Key 2: Possess Core Leadership Traits Key 3: Advance Inclusion, Access, and Opportunity for All Key 4: Improve the Core Learning Context - Both the Teaching and the Curriculum Key 5: Create a Climate of Belonging Key 6: Increase Student Learning Key 7: Sustain Oneself Professionally and Personally"--




Real Leadership Real Change


Book Description

Real Leadership Real Change is a call to action on behalf of young people everywhere. In spite of the pace of change in our lives, little has changed in the way we educate our children. It is time to redefine the purpose of public education and take the bold actions necessary to make a difference. Real Change will happen when Real Leaders address organizational culture and design while building trust and respect among all stakeholders. This book gives practical examples and challenges that will put you on the path to being the Real Leader you need to be. You will read the story of a Canadian school community that received the Order of Excellence from The National Quality Institute, as a result of their focused quest for making a difference. While serving a rainbow of faiths, cultures, and socio-economic groups, the school achieved extraordinary results through the efforts of everyone in the school community. Students, staff, and parents worked together in an atmosphere of mutual respect and shared responsibility to maximize student learning. Learning encompassed academic, social and emotional growth, with real successes in student gain scores and character development alike. Real Leaders made Real Change....