Leading With Passion And Knowledge

"The most important work of the school leader is to promote profound levels of learning in students and faculty, but only principals who know how to promote their own learning on the job can foster the learning of others. Here′s how!" —Roland S. Barth, Founding Director Harvard Principals′ Center "Finally, a book for administrators that validates their role in the area of action research! All administrator preparation programs should use this book." —Margarete Couture, Principal South Seneca Central School District, Interlaken, NY Become the "head learner" in your school by engaging in action research! While much has been written about the effectiveness of action research for improving the practice of teachers, few resources exist for leading principals through the process to strengthen their professional development and their role in school improvement efforts. Best-selling and award-winning author Nancy Fichtman Dana guides principals in identifying and exploring areas of interest for research, including staff development, curriculum development, individual teachers, community/culture building, leadership skills, building management, and school performance. With a step-by-step approach, this resource: Helps principals develop a question, collect and analyze data, and share the results of their inquiry with school faculty, the district, and the broader education community Includes numerous examples of actual principal inquiry to illustrate each step of the research process Provides exercises to guide principals through their own inquiry projects Use this proven method of professional development to continually cultivate your craft and improve school performance!

Principals can harness the power of action research for their own professional development. This book provides guidance on developing questions, collecting data, and sharing results.

Ignite the Passion is not your ordinary business guide. There are no theories or doctrines to learn. There are no boring graphs that make no sense. It is not written by a disconnected corporate icon or a professor of sociology. Ignite the Passion is written by a leader, for a leader. Peter A. LaPorta is a twenty year veteran of leadership, having personally motivated thousands of employees to reach new heights. He has been a beacon of light to many, clearing the fog for a path towards their destinations. Ignite the Passion is filled with practical knowledge you can apply today. Sharing his many years of experience, Peter brings it all together with real examples of applied usage. Story after story will keep you turning the page as your motivation builds. Peter takes you on a journey from manager to leader, dull interest to full passion. From the moment you open the book, you will open your mind to endless possibilities. Come along for the ride and you won't be disappointed. Ignite the passion today.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Brené Brown has taught us what it means to dare greatly, rise strong, and brave the wilderness. Now, based on new research conducted with leaders, change makers, and culture shifters, she’s showing us how to put those ideas into practice so we can step up and lead. Don’t miss the five-part HBO Max docuseries Brené Brown: Atlas of the Heart! NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BLOOMBERG Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential. When we dare to lead, we don’t pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don’t see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it with others. We don’t avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into vulnerability when it’s necessary to do good work. But daring leadership in a culture defined by scarcity, fear, and uncertainty requires skill-building around traits that are deeply and uniquely human. The irony is that we’re choosing not to invest in developing the hearts and minds of leaders at the exact same time as we’re scrambling to figure out what we have to offer that machines and AI can’t do better and faster. What can we do better? Empathy, connection, and courage, to start. Four-time #1 New York Times bestselling author Brené Brown has spent the past two decades studying the emotions and experiences that give meaning to our lives, and the past seven years working with transformative leaders and teams spanning the globe. She found that leaders in organizations ranging from small entrepreneurial startups and family-owned businesses to nonprofits, civic organizations, and Fortune 50 companies all ask the same question: How do you cultivate braver, more daring leaders, and how do you embed the value of courage in your culture? In this new book, Brown uses research, stories, and examples to answer these questions in the no-BS style that millions of readers have come to expect and love. Brown writes, “One of the most important findings of my career is that daring leadership is a collection of four skill sets that are 100 percent teachable, observable, and measurable. It’s learning and unlearning that requires brave work, tough conversations, and showing up with your whole heart. Easy? No. Because choosing courage over comfort is not always our default. Worth it? Always. We want to be brave with our lives and our work. It’s why we’re here.” Whether you’ve read Daring Greatly and Rising Strong or you’re new to Brené Brown’s work, this book is for anyone who wants to step up and into brave leadership.

A tour de force for the Future of Leadership ...We exist in a new reality, a global world where the individuated power of the mind/brain offers possibilities beyond our imagination. It is within this framework that thought leading emerges, and when married to our collaborative nature, makes the impossible an everyday occurrence. Leading with the Future in Mind, building on profound insights unleashed by recent findings in neuroscience, provides a new view that converges leadership, knowledge and learning for individual and organizational advancement.This book provides a research-based tour de force for the future of leadership. Moving from the leadership of the past, for the few at the top, using authority as the explanation, we now find leadership emerging from all levels of the organization, with knowledge as the explanation. The future will be owned by the organizations that understand and can master the relationships between knowledge and leadership. Being familiar with the role of a knowledge worker is not the same as understanding the role of a knowledge leader. As the key ingredient, collaboration is much more than "getting along"; it embraces and engages. Knowledge and leadership, a quality of organizations, have always been in relationship. However, the significant mental growth emerging throughout the 20th century-where individuals at all levels began to expand their capacity to learn-and the expansion of the capacity for social knowledge in the interconnected world of the 21st century has propelled humanity into a new age. Knowledge-and the responsibility for how that knowledge is used-sits squarely on the shoulders of leadership at all levels. The nature of the organization has moved beyond the factory and process metaphor, and is now understood as an intelligent complex adaptive system (ICAS). Leading with the Future in Mind covers the essentials of working, learning, and leading in an ICAS, covering knowledge and complexity, but also passion and spiritual energy. As social creatures living in an entangled world, our brains are linked together. We are in continuous interaction with those around us, and the brain is continuously changing in response. Wrapped in the mantle of collaborative leadership and engaging our full resources-physical, mental, emotional and spiritual-we open the door to possibilities. We are dreaming the future together.

Leading to Greatness is a hands-on how-to leadership development program designed to guide leaders to self and organizational excellence. By applying five core leadership principles top-level executives will be primed to take their organizations and teams into the future. Principle 1: Define a crystal-clear understanding of values and purpose—and never deviate. Principle 2: Recognize core strengths and align them with passion. Principle 3: Identify and engage the right people and get them in the right seats; no leader excels at everything. Principle 4: Learn to manage energy—not time—to become fully engaged in life (and thus, leadership). Principle 5: Develop a consistent inner discipline to achieve exceptional results. Author Jim Reid combines his decades of top-level leadership and coaching experience with the best research and science available to deliver to leaders a practical and actionable plan that when consistently applied in one’s life becomes a transformative experience. Part guidebook, part workbook and part work study, Leading to Greatness delivers proof of concept of Reid’s program through detailed case studies from level-5 leaders across North America. The stunning results speak for themselves. If you are looking to take your performance—and the performance of your team—to the next level, look no further. Leading to Greatness is your ultimate tool for exceptional results and sustained success.