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Colleagues,
Last week I shared the first step to solving any organizational problem is to focus on yourself. The first step to focusing on yourself is to slow down. The faster we move, the more reactionary we become, and reacting is more about doing than growing. Just slow down. Pause. Ask. Listen. Reflect. No emails tomorrow or Friday. Enjoy your New Year! Cheers! Frederick
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Colleagues, One of the great things that came out of my discussion with Darryall White this week was about how to leverage our strengths. It’s too easy to get focused on our weaknesses. Good reflection should include an honest assessment of our strengths so we can better take advantage of what we are good at. Again, this is a sector agnostic episode and now is the perfect time to listen. I’m happy to acknowledge Kaleidoscope Adventures as a sponsor of yesterday’s episode of The Assistant Principal Podcast! I appreciate their support and encourage you to connect with them if you are thinking about planning a school trip!  Cheers!
Frederick Colleagues, My favorite podcast of the year was #279 with Darryall White. I decided not to re-release the episode as it aired a few weeks ago. Instead, I invited Darryall back onto the show. He did the SWOT analysis and Stop-Start-Continue-Consider reflections (see episode 276 to learn about SWOT) and we talked through the highlights. If one of your goals in 2026 is to become more reflective, PLEASE do yourself a favor and listen to this episode. Darryall does a great job modeling meaningful reflection and it leads to some great results. This is a sector-agnostic episode and the timing is perfect! Thanks again to IXL for sponsoring today’s episode!  Cheers!
Frederick Colleagues, Merry Christmas Eve Day! We are taking the rest of the week off, so enjoy this morning’s message! In yesterday’s podcast, I shared about ten things I learned or was reminded of at a recent conference. Dr. Jake Wilson, NC Charter Schools’ Principal of the Year, responded to a question asking if relationships were the most important thing for being a school leader. He responded, “I don’t know if it is the most important thing, but it is the first thing.” I loved this response because it captures an essential truth. Building relationships is not enough. Relationships are not the end point; they are the beginning point. Building relationships means we can learn what people need, how to leverage their strengths, and create trust so that they will be willing to take risks and try new things. I’m happy to acknowledge Kaleidoscope Adventures as a sponsor of yesterday’s episode of The Assistant Principal Podcast! I appreciate their support and encourage you to connect with them if you are thinking about planning a school trip! Cheers!
Frederick Colleagues, On this morning’s episode of The Assistant Principal Podcast, I unpack a cornucopia of things I learned or was reminded of at the North Carolina Principals & Assistant Principals’ Association Fall Instructional Symposium a couple weeks ago. I shared about identifying core values yesterday. Another nugget from Jimmy Casas was this: The solution to every problem in your organization is for you to work on you. In other words, if something is not working it’s because, as leaders, we haven’t figured out how to make it work. Kids in the classroom aren’t doing homework? Become a better teacher. Teachers aren’t using engaged learning strategies? Become a better coach. There is too much to do? Become better at identifying what’s important. Of course there is an aspect of this which is simplistic and not fully accurate, but the basic premise – that we need to improve ourselves as the first step to fixing any problem – that’s golden. Thanks again to IXL for sponsoring today’s episode. Cheers!
Frederick |
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