Word: Respond Sentence: Most of life is shaped by how we respond to what happens to us. Passage: Life is going to hand us some difficult things. Setbacks, disappointments, and experiences we never asked for. Some change the direction of our lives, while others simply make getting through the day harder. I’ve come to believe that…

Word: Generations Sentence:  Every generation inherits a story and leaves one for the next. Passage: This week, I will stand in a room filled with Sullivan alumni who walked those hallways decades before I ever did. Some graduated before I was born. Others remember a version of the neighborhood, the school, and the world that no…

Word: Triage Sentence: Triage is knowing that everything can matter without everything mattering first. Passage: Leadership has a way of making everything feel important at the same time. A principal can start the day with a clear plan and, before lunch, be dealing with a student in crisis, a teacher who needs support, an upset parent,…

Word: Carry Sentence: Just because we have learned how to carry something does not mean it is no longer heavy. Passage: It was after six o’clock on a September evening during my first year as a principal. The school was nearly empty. For most of the day, I had done what leaders do. I listened. I…

Word: Witness Sentence: To witness someone is to see what they are carrying, even when you cannot take it away. Passage: Early in my teaching career, I do not think I understood how much of the work would simply be witnessing what young people were carrying. I was young and pretty green. I had grown up…

Word: Routine Sentence: Our routines show what matters to us because they are the things we keep coming back to. Passage: I think we give leadership too much credit for the big moments. We remember the speeches, the difficult decisions, the moments when someone stepped up and changed the direction of a team or an organization.…

Word: Direction Sentence: Direction is knowing what matters enough to decide what gets your time, your energy, and your attention. Passage: When I arrived at each school I was leading, there was no shortage of things that needed attention. Attendance was low. Graduation rates were low. The reputation of the school had taken a beating. There…

Word: Proximity Sentence: Proximity changes what we understand, and what we understand changes how we lead. Passage: One of the things I learned about leadership is that distance changes what you can see. At Sullivan High School, the principal’s office had been in the same place for more than ninety years, tucked inside the main office…

Word: Threshold Sentence: Every threshold is an invitation to enter differently than we arrived. Passage: When I first started teaching, I realized pretty quickly that many of my students were bringing a lot with them into my classroom. It made sense. Their worlds were big and complicated, and whatever had happened before they reached my door…

Word: Inheritance Sentence: We do not choose everything we inherit, but we do choose what we carry forward. Passage: When I walked into my first principalship, there had been four principals in four years. Each leader had created their own version of the school. For good or bad, each had left something behind. Systems. Traditions. Relationships.…