While working recently with a young, bright colleague, who is an Assistant Principal in a freshly minted Washington, DC charter school, I observed real qualities of leadership in how she handles a variety of school-based situations. It made me think about what real leadership is,
so I'll share my thoughts with you...
- Ironically, one of the key components of effective leadership is having the humility to know what you don't know and having the ability to listen and learn, from those who do.
- Leadership involves having the inner strength to make decisions and to take personal responsibility for the consequences of those decisions.
- Leadership is enabling those whom you lead to be innovative problem solvers without feeling threatened by their success.
- Leadership is being able to buffer and protect those you lead from distractions and impediments so they may carry out their responsibilities unimpeded by those distractions.
- Leadership is the ability to turn mistakes into "teachable moments" rather than "blamable moments".
- Leadership is knowing when to step back to give opportunities for those in your charge to take the lead, while understanding that ultimate responsibility rests with you.
- Leaders understand that leadership is a way of life and therefore unbound by the time constraints of the school or business day/week.
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