It's a Small World

This morning on the way to the airport I was talking to a friend and school leader about how things were starting out this year. He said things seemed to be smooth but he felt that he was doing some things wrong, but he didn’t know what. I asked him what he meant and he said that he knew that there were decisions he was making that other people would do differently.
I told him not to worry too much about that. We are in a dynamic, people driven business. Often there are multiple solutions to the same problem. I then reminded him of a story I had told him before.

Two of my mentors, E. Don Brown and Fred Richardson (my high school principal) are long time friends. Both are principal icons. Both are driven to ensure continuous school improvement and both agree that success is defined in terms of student performance. That is all they agree on. They led excellent schools differently and when faced with the same problem, they will come up with correct solutions that are polar opposites.

My friend said thanks for the reminder and we hung up so I could catch my plane to go meet with E. Don Brown. As I stepped on the plane, the first person I saw was Fred Richardson (who I haven’t seen in two years).

The point of this post is this:

1. Know what you want to achieve, make your decision and implement at full speed. Don’t worry
about process differences, focus on results.

2. Don’t forget the wisdom of your mentors. You never know when something the old guys and gals taught you might get you out of your rut.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...