A Principal Discusses How To Be Proactive and Play With The Lead

 A Principal Discusses How To Be Proactive and Play With The Lead

 

Thanks for hitting play. Do you feel like a square peg trying to fit into the round hole of education? If so, then you’re in the right place. I’m Danny Bauer, and this is the better leaders, Better Schools podcast, the original Ruckus Maker podcast for visionary leaders who want to do school differently and make a legendary impact on their campus. Thanks to Ruckus Makers just like you, this show ranks in the top 0.5% of over 3 million worldwide podcasts. In today’s show, I speak with Ryan, who’s a principal and a coaching client, and we’ve been following his journey for the last few months. Today we’re checking in, and even though we’re releasing this and it’s not June anymore, our conversation happened in early summer. So we’re thinking about how to best prepare for the year.

This will still help you because you can save it, listen to it next year as well. But things that we talk about that are still important, the importance of 90 day planning, and we go through that framework, which, by the way, right, I share all that information in my bestseller, build leadership momentum. We talk about why it’s so important to what Ryan calls play with the lead, and then we talk about some of the challenges. They get in the way in terms of taking care of ourselves in what I call the Ruckus Maker mindset. Eating, sleeping, moving, meditating, unplugging, taking care of these fundamental areas so that we’re not pouring from an empty cup. Once again, thanks so much for listening, and we’ll be right back after a quick message from our show sponsors. Hey, Ruckus Maker, I’ll make this quick.

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04:14
Danny
All right, so we’re back with Ryan, update me on school stuff. And what do you want to dive into? How can I serve you today?

04:21
Ryan
Well, it’s just, holy cow, this first year  I was assistant principal for nine years, and I kind of thought, well, I’ll get into that leadership role and be able to handle business and be playing ahead. But at the end of the year just, I mean, that this year flew by, so I felt like  I have been playing from behind all year, and this year the goal is just playing with the lead, playing ahead. So I just want  that whole 90 building momentum, the 90 day start of the year plan. I mean, I really want to get into that.

04:56
Ryan
I just finished reading that book last night or two nights ago, and then I was going to kind of game plan a little bit with my assistant principal, but then he had his headaches, decided to rupture, so.

05:07
Danny
Oh, gosh. Can’t make up real life.

05:10
Ryan
Oh. Every time I’ve been trying to get ahead, it’s like something happened. So at some point when he’s a little bit better, we’ll sit down and plan things out.

05:19
Danny
Yeah. Is he all right?

05:20
Ryan
Yeah, yeah, he’s all right. It was funny because he has a few kids, and when he came, one of the kids said they had a road trip. And one of the kids comes in and says, hey, my stomach hurts. So his wife’s like, okay, well, you’re probably sick. So the other kid comes in, says, my stomach hurts. They come inside and then he comes in and says, hey, my stomach hurts. I’m going upstairs. So she’s like, all three of them must have gotten sick. Well, then he comes down. He’s like, hey, I’m going to the ER. Something’s not right. And sure enough. Yeah, they went in, and they pulled that appendix out. And right when they got it right, when they were pulling it out, it ruptured.

05:53
Danny
Oh, gosh.

05:55
Ryan
So he had to stay overnight.

05:57
Danny
All right, I hope he’s on the mend. You say he’s doing okay, 90 day plan. Thanks for reading the book. Is that what you want to jump into, or is there something else that’s more of a priority first?

06:10
Ryan
Well, I’ve had. I did. I talked to Mitch Weathers.

06:15
Danny
Awesome guy, my man.

06:16
Ryan
Organized binder., that’s all good stuff. And I’ve kind of been putting him on the back burner a little bit because, oh, we just had our end of the year principals meeting last week, and I just can’t build anything for next year until I knew what district had coming down the pipeline for us and how much time I’m going to have for in my own building and not having to do district stuff. And so I’ll be reaching out to him with kind of a game plan.  I did have. I am having to drag my feet on that a little bit, and I feel bad, but, yes, like, that 90 day plan, like I said, I want to be playing with the lead man. I don’t want to be playing catch up all year long. And that’s exactly how I felt like I was doing it my first year.

07:02
Danny
Well, give yourself grace. First of all, you. You finished. You’re still standing. You know what I mean? Barely. That’s big. That’s a big deal. Well, yeah, barely doesn’t matter. But you didn’t  even if he got knocked down, if you get back up is what matters, you know? And you’re still standing. So I think that’s a. That’s a massive accomplishment. Now, know that enough leaders sit and pause and say, all right, that was pretty cool. And reflect on what you learned and that kind of thing. And actually, separately, outside of our call, if you want this resource, this month in the mastermind I shared, it’s a three page document that I call the Ruckus Maker end of year review with just some really meaty reflection questions, because that’s an area of optimization for many school leaders. You talk about playing catch up. And I get it. All the things that you need to do, that kind of deal. But top performing principles, they make the time, they create it to pause to do deep thinking and also learn from experience.

08:11
Danny
And so just to reflect on what were those most important moments, I’d be happy to share it with but in terms of playing with the lead, how can I support you?

08:21
Ryan
Well, I’m glad you mentioned that, because when I was at the end of the year principal meeting, I don’t know, we’ve done it in the past, surveyed the staff just on how the year went. And that’s meaningful data. And  you build the next year with that, too. And all the high schools talking about it, I’m like, gosh, ding. Why did I not get that knocked out, too? Just so I have more of a roadmap for next year. What worked? What needs to be improved? Cause I think I know what needs to be improved, but obviously, that’s not  I mean, staff’s probably seen things a little bit different, too, and are driving the ship based on what they’re thinking, too. Again, this year was just like, all those things that I’m going to do better next year.

09:04
Danny
Yeah. Have you made a list of those things?

09:06
Ryan
I have a list. And that was one of the things I was also going to ask you for, too, just because I’m building. I mean, one of the big things is just communication. And I had what I thought was a great staff dashboard, and then staff’s telling me, well, it’s overwhelming. It’s overwhelming.  I actually had a staff member send me out a much simpler dashboard that we’ll be using. But one of the things that I want is a calendar for the entire year. And I just got that done yesterday. And  right at the end of the year, all the test dates are finalized. Everything kind of cemented. That’s a big picture for everybody in the building. Obviously, we still need to put in  our assemblies and just some of our other student incentive days and just different things in there. Do you know of a calendar that has everything educational, like secretary, admin, secretary week, a teacher appreciation week? What, all those principal nurses?

10:08
Danny
Do you have a secretary or admin assistant?

10:11
Ryan
Well, I do, yes.

10:13
Danny
That sounds like an incredible task to delegate to that person.

10:17
Ryan
But is there, like, a sheet that you’re like, oh, yeah, I know of a calendar. It’s right here.

10:21
Danny
I bet if you google it, like, you could get 80% of it and not you, but your assistant. And then once they put that together for you, that works every single year.  Or at least you have a general sense. It might move from a Monday to a Tuesday or whatever because of the years change, but I think that would be a really great resource to have. I actually want to pause a second, go back a bit, because I heard you. You share that a staff member simplified the dashboard. Awesome. What have you done? Or what have you planned to celebrate with that staff?

10:57
Ryan
Oh, I definitely need to celebrate that staff member. I have not planned anything, though. I just thanked her and I’ll give her all the kudos when we start the school year, though.

11:09
Danny
Yeah, that’s fantastic. And there’s a story around that, too, because you mentioned communication, right. There’s a story around that in terms of celebrating her effort, making it simple. And it’s also sort of showing you as a leader who’s open to feedback. Right. Because you built something you thought it would serve, and it did, but it was too much. And so she came in and somehow made it simpler. But yes, I don’t have all the answers for you, but the right questions. And so for this staff member, I think there’s just to spend a little bit of time and not just saying in the staff meeting, back to school, thank you for doing this, but is there a way to push that out via email or social or the website? Also, you could challenge the staff because I’m kind of curious about the staff member. Did you ask her to make it simpler? Did she just proactively add value to the school by doing that? Or how did it. How did that happen?

12:12
Ryan
I had some people that said, wow, this is kind of overwhelming. It’s nice to have all this at our fingertips, but it ain’t a little bit big. And were actually at a, like a technology conference, asti, and were both in this dashboard seminar. I don’t remember the name. Staff dashboard, something like that. Building dashboards. And she was like, hey, yours is overwhelming. Can we narrow it down? And I’m like, yeah, absolutely. Whatever we do as a communication tool has to be usable by you guys.

12:47
Ryan
After that conference, I thought I’d narrowed it down more, and then I had some other feedback, and she’s like, no, no, it’s still too big. She did a very nice job this last week of simplifying it.

13:02
Danny
Awesome. When you’re telling that story, too. The call to action, potentially, is  dear staff, what can you help improve? Process, system, so and so forth  on campus, what are you going to step up and create that’s better than what we have today?  Because this superstar rose to the challenge. But there’s more creative, amazing people on campus that can optimize all different aspects of your school. But they might just need the challenge potentially, in the. Yeah, the call to action. So see what happens if you do that.

13:39
Ryan
Yeah, no, and I am. I’m blessed with the staff that. I mean, they. They do rise to that. I mean, there’s just a lot of leaders in the building.

13:47
Danny
Fantastic.

13:48
Ryan
And they love diving in and helping out and  showing their different strengths.

13:53
Danny
Brilliant. All right, cool. So thank you for allowing me to bring us back a few steps, but.  Again, playing with the lead, what do you want to jump into?

14:02
Ryan
Just that 90 day plan. I mean, I’d sat down, I went over my sticky core values. I went over there. Oh, what was the other one? The enemies. But I thought that in the book it said that it was like a PDF, there was an outline for it, but I can’t find that. I don’t know if I had the email to add help there.

14:24
Danny
I’ll email it to you now so that you have that resource.

14:28
Ryan
I gotta let the dogs in real quick. All right, sure.

14:30
Danny
While you were getting the dogs, I emailed you the resource page.  I just have a bunch of links to different things. And you were talking about the enemies. What else were you looking for?

14:42
Ryan
Just that 90 day outlook or just that 90 day plan?  I know all the steps to go through.

14:47
Danny
When you go and get it. You got the books and now you got the resource page. I wish there was a way to automate that, but,  I just send it to everybody. I get emails every day, a number of them. Can I get the resources so you have? And just for you, as a refresher for the Ruckus Maker listening, there’s five parts to the framework and within generally every framework I create for school leaders. And I was just on a coaching call with Lorraine out in California today, too, and she said, danny, I love the tools because they help you become a more effective school leader, but they also remind you to take care of yourself.

15:29
Danny
And I share that because step one in every part of your 90 day plan is like, what are you doing for yourself, right in your family? And that’s really important because if we’re not careful. We just get sucked into the job. I am not. I’m guilty of that as well.  My. I got feedback from my wife right now that I’m working too much. That’s because I got some speaking. I have a live event coming up. I’m launching a new thing called the Ruckus Maker Club. And so that’s. That’s given. That’s taken a lot of focus, but I still need to. It’ll get done, and I need to create more time for her and the family. I’m just sharing that to be. To be vulnerable. Your number one. Is there something you wanted to add before I continue, Jeff?

16:15
Ryan
I guess it’s twofold with that, too, because of the 90 day plan. But then that whole mindset tool just went through that and you nailed it, too. I have not. One of my sticky values is just to be there. And this last year, I was all over the place and it was. School was the focus.  It does need to be that family piece, man. Glad you mentioned that, too. I guess two things to just really stretch next year, just going through that mindset tool and then having that 90 day plan, because I think both of those really play into playing with the lead, too.

16:52
Danny
Absolutely. Some things that help people, too, are setting. I think we talked about this actually one of our calls earlier, but setting for next year, what is that? End of day time.  And then you go to communicate it to your family because your kids and your wife will love to hold you accountable on that.Or if you tell your. Your assistant, they’re also going to be like Ryan. You said you’re going to leave if they’re still around, they’ll love to tell you that, too.

17:23
Ryan
And it hasn’t. Like, leaving wasn’t really a problem this year because, well, toward the end of the year, because you’re back. Anyway, like I was saying, I was able to  get out of the office at a semi decent hour, but then the evenings are just taking up with. Just doing school stuff. And then it was interesting, too, because  towards the end of the year, too,  I’m making phone calls late, semi into the evening there because that’s. I’m able to do them. And then I kind of had a couple parents complain that, oh, man, this guy’s not calling us. Like, right during the day when this stuff happens. And he’s calling us in the evening and I’m thinking stuff that, heck, I’m communicating with you.

18:06
Danny
. Yeah, it’s tough.Some of those things you can’t take to heart. And that’s something you could explain to parents too. Like, hey, I’m focused on x, Y and Z during the day on campus. Parent calls will happen  generally around this hour, just so I can add the most value to campus and that kind of thing. And not just  disrupt you at work potentially if you have a nine to five and ensure that you’re home too when I call. So there’s a number of ways to take that, but I think the most important lesson is parents are going to be unhappy if you call at noon, if you call at six, if you call at eight in the morning, you’re always going to be in  there’s always something.

18:49
Danny
So some of that you just  let it just roll off type of thing.

18:54
Ryan
It’s so funny too  but I mean, I’m good at letting stuff roll off, but all of a sudden when  I pride myself in making phone calls, talking to parents, and all of a sudden it’s like straight to your boss, you’re like, what the heck? Like, I’m good at this, these conversations.

19:12
Danny
Some people love to do that. And you’re not going to change them. So  use that first part as you’re working through the rest. The communication you’ve already at least touched on in our conversation here. Then it’s thinking about the business of school, which is academics, thinking about culture, thinking about operations. And when you do see the downloads I sent you, there’s a blank one and there’s one that’s filled out. Right, okay, hold on. Yeah. The process is what’s happening before school starts. And that’s what’s happening with our discussion now. The second part is like the first day of school, it’s chunking it. Before school, the first day of school, what do you want to see happen in those five pillars? Your first week, your first month? Month number two, month number three.  And that’s how you roll it out. The sort of the punchline of the whole 90 day plan, which, like, you just doing this for the first 90 days will probably put you in the top, I would say, 5% of principals. It’s amazing how many school leaders I talk to and they just, they don’t put this into practice. And then that number goes from the top five. You could be in the top 1% if you do it for the next 90 days. In the next. In the next. Cause you could do this four times a year. And for Ryan, the people that do that, I’m telling you, the job is still hard, but they say I have a calm and a confidence that I’ve just never had before. Because you have the plan. Write it in pencil. Things change. But at least you have a much stronger structure. And to use your words, you’re playing with the lead versus playing catch up.

21:00
Ryan
Yeah. And that is. That’s the goal. I mean, how nice would it be to just have all that mapped out and then. Obviously it is Pennsylvania. Things are going to happen during the school year, but to just be able to do that, it’d be awesome. My wife’s like, hey, you want to go into work and do this? No, I’m going to be at the house and do this.

21:25
Danny
It’s all good. It’s all good. We love kids. Right?

21:28
Ryan
So I’m just looking at these ebook files here. Chapter one.

21:35
Danny
If you scroll down to the next page, it says bonuses. And you have. Here’s your fill. Filled entry plan template and completed.

21:43
Ryan
Okay, sweet. So there isn’t. There is a completed one, too, that.

21:47
Danny
You said, and they’re general recommendations that all work for probably many schools. And then you just take that and revise. To fit the context of what you’re trying to do.

22:01
Ryan
No, that’s nice, man. That is nice.

22:03
Danny
I hope it gets you going. Yeah. This book has really taken off for me. You know, it’s the second bestseller. Build leadership momentum. And it’s been a joy to have people write in and talk about all the wins and success that they’ve. They’ve accomplished. I’ve actually. Since the book came out, there’s. There’s one guy featured in the book, John, and this really helped him as principal. He just got his superintendent job.  And I know that he’s going to be using this As he thinks about how he’s entering the school year and that kind of thing now in a new role. It’s fantastic to see those success stories. I don’t think there’s a room you can hide from the kids. I got a lot.

22:46
Ryan
I have a few rooms in this house, too, but everybody’s got a room. Just migrating back and forth. Maybe I should have listened to my life on that one. I think Vincent, I think this is good.

22:58
Danny
Now, that’s rule number one. Always listen. Always listen to your wife.

23:03
Ryan
Always.. No, that is nice. I’ll get that knocked out and then just. Going through that mindset tool and  making more of an effort to just be eaten. Better health wise, man. And Shelanette or  talking to SAP about that, too. It’s a long school year.

23:24
Danny
We got to take care of ourselves. To be able to last. I wonder sometimes how. How much of a correlation is between the crazy pace that we operate at, the sort of neglect of taking care of ourselves, and then the frustration that always seems to bubble up at the end of the year. And if we were really focused on that, eating, sleeping, moving, meditating, unplugging  would we be at a better place in the spring? I think we would. So is there anything on the tool you want to talk about, or you’re just saying it could be hard to implement?

24:02
Ryan
It’s all pretty much straightforward. It’s just  making those actions a habit. I think, too, if you’re doing all these things, I mean, you’re less irritable at school, too, and 100% getting under your skin, and you’re understanding, holy cow, like, I’m getting frustrated with these kids, but are they eating, sleeping, unplugging? No, man, they’re. Too many lives are just craziness, for.

24:29
Danny
Sure, which is hard to control.

24:31
Ryan
You have no control over that.

24:33
Danny
But you have control over your life, I’ll tell you. I don’t know if I ever shared this story, but when I started doing deeper internal work as a teacher, I had this epiphany, which was, oh, I’m the problem in the classroom. It’s how. It’s how I respond to things, and I would often escalate them, and it would become a power struggle. And I didn’t want to lose as the teacher, so kids were punished as a result because I wasn’t going to lose. But when I. When I started really looking at my emotions and what was triggering me and how I was responding to whatever kid says  you suck as a teacher. They don’t want to do your homework or whatever, I would take that very personally the second I stopped taking that personally, because it wasn’t.

25:20
Danny
They’re just frustrated. Whatever. And it doesn’t mean I ignored their bad behavior either. Right. But I actually never wrote up another kid ever and was able to deal with all the issues within my classroom. The second I learned I’m the majority of the problems. And that was such a huge thing for me because the biggest realization was the kids didn’t change their behavior, didn’t change how I was the being, the presence changed, you know what I mean? And that was like an absolute game changer for me. The same is true as a principal, see, was true as a husband and a dad.  These things are important. I call them the fundamentals for a reason.

26:04
Ryan
No, that, yeah, and that’s all reflecting. Acacia’s big too. Speaking of the reflecting piece, I mean, you said you had that end of the year reflection too. Could I get that sent my way?

26:15
Danny
Yeah, I’ll find that and send it off.  We call this one the Ruckus Maker end of year review. If you’re listening. Sorry, that’s only for coaching clients and folks in the mastermind. By the time you hear this podcast, we’ll have a new program called the Ruckus Maker Club. It’ll be in there that’s worth its price of admission just by itself. So they found you again. They’re even saying, dad, don’t ignore me. Dad, dad, here it is.

26:46
Ryan
I just said I spilled something and I didn’t. And the little guy goes, that’s not okay.

26:56
Danny
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28:00
Danny
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28:59
Ryan
The first one, what are you most proud of accomplishing this year? Just  we haven’t had leadership team really the last few years, and it was just nice to be able to have around again this year, just getting more staff input, letting them do some of the heavy lifting with things.

29:17
Danny
That’s a sort of low hanging fruit, too, because that leadership meeting is so important.

29:21
Ryan
And we do, this is our second year of, we have PlC’s, we have Plc. Mondays are an hour late. The leadership team pretty much helped me build those. And it’s funny because, like, what am I most proud of, too? It’s not necessarily looking at this year, it’s looking at what I’m going to be doing differently next year. Am I the best fan for becoming the best version of myself? No, but I will be next year. Like, I think that with this 90 day plan, with being with playing with the lead or at school and at home, I’ll definitely be taking more steps with that.

30:03
Danny
Ask that question from a different perspective, and it’s fantastic that you’re focused on this idea of playing with the lead. So there’s an idea called the pre-mortem. So post mortem, why did somebody expire? What caused the death and all that pre mortem, when it comes to our work and our projects, like, what are all the challenges and obstacles that could get in the way? So you’re pumped you’re going to do the plan. I have no doubt that you’re going to build something and it’s great and you’ll do the mindset tool and you’ll have a sense of how you want to improve on the fundamentals, too. However, what could get in the way? It’s a good question to consider because then if you build some more awareness around what the challenges could be, you can now also plan for those.

30:50
Danny
So anyways, what do you think gets in the way of that?

30:54
Ryan
I think the big thing is life. Anything crazy health wise with life, I mean, staff, health  those are the big ones that come to mind first and then just, I don’t know. I mean, this is one of those jobs where  you go in and you have your day planned out, but it seems like rarely does that ever come to fruition. There’s always something that pops up in there and we, my mindset next year is going to be a lot more delegating to. We got a very good assistant principal and just yet  that discipline, I like to be involved in discipline a little bit, but bigger picture stuff, I need to be focusing on more too.

31:33
Ryan
Delegate Matt, I was listening to a podcast on you the other day, and they’re like, oh, man, Danny is so thin. Just so, he’s just always so chill.

31:45
Danny
That was the best feedback I ever got from a 6th grade counselor. You brought this sense of calm to the building that we needed, and that just meant, that meant so much to me. But, what do you notice when you see this image?

31:58
Ryan
That the one you’re focusing on more is probably getting, majority of, success?

32:03
Danny
Yeah. And just sort of the Ruckus Maker list then I created this image, I put it out on Max and probably Instagram. And anyways, it says working on five projects versus one project. And the working on five projects is in white and versus one project is in electric Papaya is the color name.

32:21
Ryan
Electric Papaya?

32:22
Danny
Yeah. Yeah, baby. Electric papaya. That’s what my designer said. But then it’s a line graph and our bar graph, and it has your five projects in white and they’re all very low. And then the one in electric Papaya is like, obviously much further ahead. So  you get the punchline there. And I think, I’ll tell you this, when it comes to my productivity, to  working within a school or even what I do now as an entrepreneur, less is more. And when I actually focused on what we call internally, the one big thing, when I focused on that and really made sure there was great progress on a major project, I saw myself being more productive. So that is the thing. And it’s a common challenge that school leaders face is the intangibles within the school day in your schedule.

33:14
Danny
So my wondering is, what if you maybe just what if you plan the rest of the day. Like, what if. There’s always a lot of stuff to do, but can you identify literally, seriously, what’s most important? Protect a decent amount of time to work on that significant thing. Have a list of important things that you need to get to. And like you said, you can delegate some stuff to the AP, but then if you got the one thing and  you could get to that and you feel successful too. Which builds momentum and just belief, confidence in yourself, that kind of thing. Got your other list. But as stuff comes up, it’s okay because  part of my job is being responsive to what comes up, you know? And I wonder if you’re suffering from some over planning, maybe potentially.

34:00
Danny
I don’t know. What do you think?

34:02
Ryan
One of my sticky core values there is aim small, miss small, because I think I do. And my old boss used to say, man, you got too many fries on the plate, Ryan. They’re flowing over, they’re falling out. Like, you need to focus on. Just focus on a few. And I agree, if I’m just focusing on  a couple big things or one electric papaya, that would be one of those things where, hey, if my focus is just getting into making sure that I get into classrooms during the day and I’m visible in the building, and then instead of having ten things I want to walk out the door with at the end of the day, like that one, I can say, hey, I did a lot of other things today, but I did make sure that I got to the one I was focusing on.

34:47
Danny
Exactly. So I want to. Can I tell you one more story?

34:51
Ryan
It’s a good one, Danny.

34:53
Danny
I think it’s an okay one. Okay. People enjoyed it when I shared it the other day. So I was doing a workshop on endgame excellence, how to finish the school year strong. And I told this story. So here’s how it goes. Give me just a second. Yep. Have I told you this? 90 in Pittsburgh.

35:12
Ryan
No. No.

35:13
Danny
Okay, so it’s 1890. We’re going back to the city of Pittsburgh in Andrew Carnegie, which I’m sure you’ve heard of that guy. He’s kind of successful and historic. Andrew Carnegie meets this really young, I mean, super young green consultant. His name was Frederick Taylor. And Andrew says something sort of shocking. He says, young Mandy, if you could tell me something about management worth hearing, I will send you a check for $10,000.  And by the way, that was 1890 money. If you fast forward, that’s probably $343,000. Right. If you did what Frederick Taylor did today. And so Frederick thought about it for a minute, maybe five. And they said, okay, Mister Carnegie, here’s your management tip. Make a list of the ten most important things and then start doing number one. And he got the check.

He got the check for ten k in 1890. But it’s the same thing we just looked at, right. Five projects versus one project flies on the plate. So this is wise advice, right. And again for you to do the internal work and the reflection on what it will take to focus, make the progress  have that sense of accomplishment each day and if you get to other stuff, that’s just a bonus, right. And then you could be responsive to staff, students, family.

36:45
Ryan
Now that’s wise advice. That ten K well earned back in 1890.

36:52
Danny
Rich man. I’ll take 343,000. I just told you. Is that worth it? Can you send me a check for it?

36:58
Ryan
That was a good story, man. We said you did.  Send you a virtual hug though, that.

37:04
Danny
I’ll take a virtual hug. I need to choose my audience for that story.

37:08
Ryan
I throw a heart out over Zoom here.

37:10
Danny
I think Warren Buffett allegedly told a similar thing to his pilot. There’s definitely a story about him. And you know Warren Buffett, the investor there in Nebraska. And I think his pilot asked him something about success and he essentially said, write down, I’m pretty sure it’s right down your five or ten most important things and then cross off everything except number one. So  this advice has been around for ages and I don’t know why. I think the system puts pressure, right, to be doing all things, be all things, all people. But everybody who’s successful does the opposite. And Ruckus Makers reject the premise. When our colleagues are doing ten things right, you say a lot of plates in the air. Okay, when you have plates in the air, you work at a circus. You’re not a leader.

38:00
Danny
So it’s like choosing to be great, choose to do school differently, choose to make a ruckus. You know, it’s not ignoring the other nine things. You’ll get to them, but you’re going to get to them actually faster than your peers because you focus, you have sustained effort, you complete things and you do it well. And then you move on to the next. Takes a little bit of discipline, a bit of courage. But you can do it for sure.

38:24
Ryan
Is this in that 90 day plan? You have to add a section for this?

38:27
Danny
Yeah, I might need to add that to part two. Right? But these are the little nuggets that we drop in the mastermind and the Ruckus Maker club or my. I hope you come one day to one of my live events. That would be cool.

38:39
Ryan
Yeah. Yeah, no, I need to. It’s always nice to get out of the state, too.

38:43
Danny
Yeah. We’re kind of coming close to time. Is there anything else you want to dig into, or. No, I think you.

38:50
Ryan
You’ve given me four, saying each year.

38:53
Danny
What was most helpful of the four? Just prioritize one put into practice what we’ve been talking about.

38:59
Ryan
I would probably say that last story, it was a good one, because I do. I mean, we have a mindset on next year’s feed. And that’s the word. That’s the acronym we’ve been using.

39:11
Danny
Fun.

39:11
Ryan
Like, you gotta have fun in middle school.

39:13
Danny
Yes, absolutely.

39:15
Ryan
I feel bad because  when I was a teacher and as an administrator, too, I just got in this mindset. If I just see kids running around, are you know, green, yellow or red with the data, are you proficient? Are you getting there? Or are you a couple years behind? And I’m like, that’s good. But they’re kids, too.

39:34
Danny
We kids, too.

39:35
Ryan
We have to be celebrating excellence. We have to just. Just be celebrating that success. And then next, the e is engagement. That’s the focus. Next year is engagement. And that’s why I asked you for just. If you had any resources on classroom engagement, and I haven’t. I kind of looked into her stuff a little bit or her website.

39:56
Danny
Cult of pedagogy. Jennifer is the best. I think that’s who I sent it to.

40:01
Ryan
And then executive functioning stuff, and that was where Mitch Weathers was coming into play. And then d just comes back to that data culture, maybe just really me focusing on that. And it’s going to be cool next year. We have a big language arts and math gap in the building, and the focus on that during. We call it our time and what I need for students and the focus on that, it’s going to be math and language arts, and everybody in the building is going to be teaching that or doing some sort of enrichment piece with that.  I think that the data culture, everybody’s going to buy into that, because now they have ownership, now they have skin in the game with it.

40:41
Ryan
So we feed. You got four different things right there. What does the focus really need to be? And I think it all just comes back to that engagement piece.

40:52
Danny
That’s a big lever to pull within a school setting. And it’s not to ignore the other aspects of feet, but  prioritizing that engagement, and you can build systems around fun and everything else. It almost goes in the calendar. In the calendar. But that helps support it almost automatically. So that’s why systems thinking is so important, because then it’s not dependent  on you. I’ll leave you with that. That’s a bigger topic. I don’t want to open that up at the end, but certainly appreciate your time and how you’re playing to win and  wanting to play with the lead. I like that idea..

41:37
Ryan
But playing with the lead is not always an easy thing, man. I like trying to play catch up.

41:42
Danny
Yeah. Yeah, I hear you.

41:44
Ryan
Celtics almost lose the 21 point lead?

41:47
Danny
No, they didn’t, though.  They hung in there. Yeah. Jalen Brown looks amazing. By the time people hear this, I’m sure the Celtics will be world champs, but, yeah, they’re looking unstoppable. Cool. Well, I’ll send you a link to schedule another one, and feel free. Always call or text if you need something in between. I’ll reach out to Jennifer, too. I know her, so I’ll see if she has anything specifically on engagement.

42:11
Ryan
Okay. And then I go out fishing. I won’t be back till July 21.

42:17
Danny
So enjoy the time off. That’s the. That’s the Ruckus Maker mindset. Unplugging Mandy.

42:23
Ryan
Get a little busy out there, too. Yeah.

42:26
Danny
All right.

42:26
Ryan
All right, man. You take it easy.

42:28
Danny
See? Thanks for listening to the Better Leaders Better Schools podcast. Ruckus Maker, how would you like to lead with confidence, swap exhaustion for energy, turn your critics into cheerleaders, and so much more? The Ruckus Maker mastermind is a world class leadership program designed for growth minded school leaders just like you. Go to betterleadersbetterschools.com mastermind, learn more about our program, and fill out the application. We’ll be in touch within 48 hours to talk about how we can help you be even more effective. And by the way, we have cohorts that are diverse and mixed up. We also have cohorts just for women in leadership and a BIPOC only cohort as well. When you’re ready to level up, go to betterleadersbetterschools.com mastermind and fill out the application. Thanks again for listening to the show. Bye for now and go make a ruckus.