Recently, my wife and I were signing up on the whiteboard at the YMCA to use the cardio equipment. With eraser in hand and knowing that my wife wanted to row, I quickly saw that no one was on one of the rowers and yet a name and time were written down. I erased the name and started to write my wife’... read more
RG175 Blog
As part of our ongoing effort to cultivate and support independent school leadership, RG175 consultants contribute monthly blog posts on topics ranging from governance and head transitions to strategic thinking and school management.
Sitting with an independent school board president and a head of school search committee chair a while back, I was asked, “What makes a search for a new head of school triumphant or tragic?” I asked them to clarify their terms a bit – what would constitute triumph or tragedy in their minds? Swift to... read more
In my 21 years as a Head of School search consultant with over 100 searches under my belt, I have done thousands of reference checks. Here is what I have learned:Lies of commission are very rare in our world. Generally, folks don’t tell untruths. It’s not what they say that is the problem; it’s what... read more
Not long ago, a trustee of a prominent independent day school groused to me that the Head of School doesn’t lead “he just goes around asking other people what they think. No one knows where he stands. We need a vision of where the school should be in five years, ten years, and he needs to spearhead... read more
This month’s RG175 blog post comes from Ed Cesare, co-chair of the Head of School Search Committee at King School in Connecticut, and former Chair of the Board of Trustees at the same school. I, along with my co-Chair Lynn King, was privileged to lead the Head of School Search at King School in 2017... read more
There are many “must read” articles and books that land on the desks and in the email inboxes of school heads. There are terrific workshops to attend, theories of management to understand and apply, and great courses and seminars to register for in order to better comprehend one’s work environment a... read more