arrange • compose • conduct
If you own the work, they can’t. As an adult – parent, teacher, or leader: you pick – one of the hardest things to do is to forgo ownership. By that, I mean relinquishing control of a project. Witness the massive number of school projects that are partially or completely […]
I don’t think there are many absolute rules in leadership of students. There are many effective ways of leading students in music, athletics, academics, and extracurriculars. This might be as close as I come: Achievement must always come second to humanity. You can always focus as much energy as you […]
Meetings don’t always need to last as long as they’re schedule to last. But somehow, almost every meeting I have ever attended has lasted the full scheduled duration. A lot of that is due to meeting creep – discussion points stretching out to fill available time. In the short run, […]
If I was asked to describe my ideal choral educator, it would be someone with an equal combination of these three traits. Of course, you must have skill. A great choral educator knows how to tune a chord, cue the tenors, select great repertoire, teach it effectively and well, and […]
Don’t wait on creating your alumni list. It’s incredibly helpful, I find, to have a list of past students. To contact, to reminisce, and someday, to plan reunions. It’s going to be a lot harder to make that list if it’s in the run up to a reunion; looking back […]
Say it again. As I have continued to write daily on this site for year after year, I occasionally have gotten worried that I won’t have more insights to offer. But I remind myself: this might not be a new insight, but it might reach a new person. Especially if […]
Assumption of Positive Intent is hard to practice. It’s easy to assume malicious intent – that people are out to get you, or don’t have your best interests at heart, or just don’t care enough about what you care about. In Dr. Brené Brown’s Dare To Lead, she writes, “Daring […]
The golden rule of improv applies well beyond comedy. The most famous dictum of improv comedy is “Yes, and.” When someone adds something to the scene, you must accept it and work with it as you continue. Only through that open collaboration can you create something all the improvisers share […]
The best leaders I know lead like conductors. If the word leadership did not exist, what alternative word would you use? Adam Grant, to Brené Brown and Simon Sinek on his podcast ReThinking (The answers they gave were “facilitator” (Brown), “parent” (Sinek, jokingly), and “coach or guide” (Grant)) The word […]
How high do you prioritize an activity? Does it change from week to week? “Most of the time, I don’t ask you to make this your top priority. But for one week, you must.” That’s part of what I said to the Rockford Aces in the lead to their concert […]