Can wait to join the dedicated leaders of @OASSP1 and @omleaY7 this week for their Leadership and Learning Conference!

I think it’s a mistake for leaders to be preoccupied with supervision.

Dear Principal, I suspect you're tired. Your job is demanding. The expectations are enormous. And some days, it can be difficult to remember why you wanted to become a principal in the first place. As Tim Messick once noted: "Job descriptions are written in such a way that a principal needs to be a superhero. A principal needs to have the power and strength of Superman, the intelligence of Albert Einstein, the popularity of Princess Diana, the political savvy of a presidential candidate, and the care and compassion of Mother Teresa." Sound familiar? You're expected to raise test scores, improve instruction, manage personnel, navigate mandates, respond to parents, and prepare students for an uncertain future. And that's just before lunch. With so many competing demands, it's easy to lose sight of what matters most. So how do we respond? We keep our eye on the ball. We remember that our most important work isn't managing programs or completing paperwork. It's creating a school where teachers want to work and students want to learn. We remove barriers for our teachers. We create a safe and supportive environment for our students. We build a culture where expectations are high, relationships are strong, and everyone feels valued. We take student achievement seriously. We analyze data, examine instructional practices, and challenge our teachers to continually improve. But we never forget that behind every data point is a student with a name, a story, and a future. We didn't become educators because we wanted to raise test scores. We became educators because we wanted to make a difference in the lives of young people. We remember that there are students walking our halls who desperately need us. The student who is being picked on. The student who has little support at home. The student who feels invisible. We advocate for them. We encourage them. We make time for them. And we remind our teachers that their influence extends far beyond the curriculum. Students may not always remember the lesson, but they'll remember the kindness. They may forget what we taught them, but they'll remember how we made them feel. There may not be one magical instructional strategy, but there is magic in connecting with kids. We've all written school improvement plans. We've all participated in developing mission statements. We've all attended meetings about goals, strategies, and initiatives. Those things matter. But people don't follow plans. They follow passion. And the best mission statements aren't framed on a wall. They're lived in the hallways and classrooms of our schools. The job of a principal will always be challenging. There will always be another mandate, another problem to solve, another fire to put out. But don't let the demands of the job distract you from the purpose of the job. You have the opportunity to empower teachers, inspire students, and help create a brighter future for the young people who walk through your doors every day. That's why you became a principal. And that's why your work matters. Keep your eye on the ball.

I was on a call with Emily Callahan, a superintendent in Indiana yesterday, and she told me she was having a great year. Leading a school district isn't easy. The challenges are relentless, the stress is real, and its easy to get buried in the administrivia of the job. So I asked her a simple question: "How do you stay so positive?" I wasn't prepared for her response. "I get to wake up every day and impact kids." I love that! She didn't talk about test scores, budgets, personnel issues, or strategic plans. She talked about kids. In the midst of all the challenges of leadership, she hasn't lost sight of why she does the work in the first place. Every school and district deserves a leader who wakes up excited about the difference they get to make. That's the kind of leadership that inspires people.

Honored to be named to @DA_magazine’s #DA100, recognizing the leaders and innovators shaping K12 education. Grateful to be in this company. invt.io/1txbz5dde52

There were some students with whom I never could build a relationship. I tried… but I just couldn't make a connection. There were lesson plans that I felt great about… but fell flat in the classroom. There were culture-building ideas that I was enthusiastic about… but they just didn't resonate with the staff. Not everything I tried in education worked. Not even close. I was recently reminded that Babe Ruth led the American League in strikeouts five different seasons. When you swing for the fences, sometimes you miss the ball. The greatest champions aren't people who never fail. They're people who refuse to let failure define them. Think about it. The people who accomplish the most often experience the most failures. Not because they're less capable, but because they keep putting themselves in a position to succeed. They take risks. They try difficult things. They put themselves out there. And sometimes they fail. I'm reminded of the famous words of Theodore Roosevelt: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena..." And later: "Who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming..." There's a lesson here for all of us in education. The goal isn't to avoid mistakes. The goal is to keep learning, keep growing, and keep making a difference. Don't let the fear of failure keep you from doing something that matters. Keep trying new things. Keep trying hard things. And don't give up. You’ve got this… Danny

Effective teachers are not naive about their challenges…

It’s hard being a kid!

The little things matter.

Most adults were kids once.

This was strong!

The conversations matter.

You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room to be a strong leader. In fact, trying to convince everyone that you are might make you a less effective leader. One of the challenges of becoming a school administrator is that suddenly you’re responsible for things you don’t know that much about. Maybe you taught high school PE, and now you’re observing an elementary reading lesson. Maybe you taught chemistry, and now you’re having conversations about special education, grading practices, or elementary math. Maybe you're sitting in a meeting listening to teachers discuss an instructional strategy you’ve never used. You have two choices. You can pretend you know more than you do. Or you can say: “I don’t know much about this. Help me understand.” I think the second response requires more confidence than the first. One principal I interviewed for "The Instructional Leader in You" told me, “You can’t always be the smartest guy in the room.” Exactly. Your teachers don't expect you to know everything. And they probably know when you're pretending. Great leaders are comfortable saying: “I don’t know.” “Tell me more.” “What do you think?” “I need some help understanding this.” “I was wrong about that.” There is vulnerability in those statements. But there is also tremendous strength. Insecure leaders can feel threatened by what they don't know. Secure leaders get curious about it. And perhaps that's one of the great paradoxes of leadership: The more confident you become in who you are, the less you need everyone else to believe you have all the answers. You don't have to be the smartest person in the room. You just need to be humble enough to keep learning from the people who are.

Don’t underestimate the power of vulnerability.