Don’t Be Too Hard on Yourself: I met with Dr. Wilnic Gideon, a veteran principal who is also the author of 2 books: Mindful Learning: Unlocking the Gifts of the Teenage Brain and Raising Ready Teens: 21 Milestones for Learning and Life. We had an awesome conversation. Be sure to pick up your copy of one or both of his books! https://www.amazon.com/stores/Wilnic-Gideon/author/B0D29ZQ1GH?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true We talked about many things, but I always narrow it down to three key takeaways.

1. It’s Not all About Academics
2. Set Goals
3. Tired Leaders Don’t Get A Lot Done

Slow it Down! I met with Woody Howard, a veteran Washington principal and current president of the Association of Washington School Principals. Woody has become a friend of mine over the past few years and we often meet to talk about leadership and just about anything else. It was a lot of fun to sit down and interview him for this! We talked about many things, but I always narrow it down to three key takeaways.

1. Adapt Your Decision Making
2. This Job is a Marathon
3. Get to Know Yourself

Top 5 Themes from 2024: I want to end the year by highlighting some of the big themes that have come from my leadership conversations. This year I did significantly fewer posts than 2023, but there were still a lot of great things I learned. It was hard to narrow it down to 5, and at the end of the post I list 8 other topics that could have been towards the top as well. These 5 topics came up the most often by the most number of leaders. Here are the top 5 themes from 2024:

1. Relationships
2. Culture is What You Allow
3. Empower Others
4. Leader Wellness and Sustainability
5. Purpose Driven and Intentional Leadership