Word: Team Sentence: Team is turning failure into feedback. Passage: I started my sophomore year of high school as the varsity starting quarterback. It was the goal I’d worked for, trained for, pictured in my head a thousand times. We went 0–9. When that season ended, I made varsity basketball. Another dream. Another chance to prove…

Word: Renewal Sentence: Sometimes renewal is as simple as giving today a chance. Passage: Kids can teach us a lot. One of the biggest lessons is renewal. I’ve met students from all over the world. Some whose schools were literally blown up by war. Others here in Chicago who had to navigate intense neighborhoods just to…

Word: Rest Sentence: The best gift you can give yourself is the space and time to rest. Passage: Exercise science has come a long way. We know now that muscles do not grow from the weight we lift. They grow in the rest and recovery that follows. Without enough rest, muscles get overworked, and over time…

Word: Steady Sentence: Steady is being the calm when everything else speeds up. Passage: In some of my darkest moments I have felt the calmest. My first teaching job in Chicago was built for chaos. The school held over 3,000 students and was notorious for gang fights. I was a teacher on a cart, pushing my…

Word: Curiosity Sentence: Curiosity is the doorway to empathy, learning, and better leadership. Passage: Somewhere along the way, as our kid brain quiets and our adult brain takes over, curiosity starts to fade. We trade questions for assumptions, wonder for certainty. And yet, staying curious is one of the few practices that keeps us learning about…

Word: Energy Sentence: Energy is the bond that keeps us connected, and the force that keeps us going. Passage: Leaders hold a quiet power in the energy they give off and the energy they receive. And when fall turns to winter, it’s harder to bring the same level of presence you had earlier in the year.…

Word: Gratitude Sentence: Gratitude is more than appreciation; it’s how we pay forward what others once gave to us. Passage: My first real mentor came by luck. She was a district instructional coach on a building walkthrough with the chief of schools, the principal, and a few other district leaders. She took a seat in the…

Word: Perspective Sentence: Perspective is not about how high you climb, but how clearly you see. Passage: In any profession, there are steps on the ladder. For me, it went from teacher to department chair to instructional coach to assistant principal to principal and now district leader. Each role came with more responsibility, but also a…

A short climb to the balcony can change how you see the whole dance floor. Word: Reflection Sentence: The future can be changed only by your own reflections of the past. Passage: If everyday life is a dance floor, we spend our days dancing with all kinds of people: colleagues, friends, and family. The dance can…

The Match each week: One word. One sentence. One passage. Word: Culture Sentence: The behavior of the leader becomes the culture of the team. Passage: You can walk into a school, company, or home and feel its culture before anyone even says a word. Culture is the energy of human relationships and how they shape the…