The Leader in You


cc licensed flickr photo shared by psd

“Treat a man as he is and you make him worse than he is. Treat a man as he has the potential to become and you make him better than he is.” —Goethe

Over the last 24 hours on Twitter, I have had an interesting conversation regarding leadership in our building amongst staff.  As a principal, I know that I can be out of my building at any time and things will continue to run smoothly.  I always care about what is going on but I am never concerned.  The people that I work with are leaders and can take care of whatever comes up, or else they know who to turn to for help.  I am no different.  There are many times that I ask those I work with for help.  Asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness.

But how do you get to a place where you have a building full of leaders?

First off, you have to believe that they are leaders, but that is not enough.  You have to give them continuous opportunities to lead and communicate your belief in them. Leadership is about tapping into the passion and strengths in others, and helping them share this with others, not about “being the boss”.  This is essential.

Stephen Covey communicates this belief beautifully in his book, The Leader in Me:

“Leadership is communicating people’s worth and potential so clearly that they are inspired to see it in themselves.”

How do you feel when you leave the building?  What have you done to set up your staff as leaders?

Thanks to Justin Tarte, Akevy Greenblatt, and Deven Black for the conversation on Twitter 🙂

Scroll to Top

Changing the Trajectories of Those We Serve​

Join over 40,000 Educators who already get the Newsletter