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Have You Thanked Your Search Committee Today?

Alternate titles under consideration include:

• Making a Plea for Thinking Positively or Everyone does Not have Evil Intentions

• Maybe You Don't Know as Much as You Think

• Join the Latest Self-Help Craze:  Fighting against the Human Tendency of "I could have done it better"

I am a school person. For the past 12 years I have worked with schools instead of in one day-to-day, but I am a school person.  Unfortunately some individuals within schools would argue vehemently against my self-descriptor because my now-professional title "Search Consultant" connotes all sorts of suspicion. Consultant is a dirty word within many school walls and I do kind of get it because our own disgruntlement with the profession was what encouraged my business partner and me to start Independent Thinking. I really don't worry too much about how I am viewed because I know I do good work; I know what I do adds great value, and I know that I help schools and that by really caring about helping a school find the right leader, I can help move a school forward.  I am a matchmaker and my abilities to get the culture of a school and to read people accurately make me very good at what I do.

Leadership Part III: What do you wish you knew more about when you started?

Heads of schools who began tenures in July 2008 shared their responses to the question below. 

What do you wish you knew more about when you started?

• Unless a Head has training in finance, accounting, etc., I think it can be intimidating, particularly when speaking with Board members...

Leadership Part II: What best prepared you to be a head of school?

What best prepared you to be a head of school?

• The breadth and depth of my various previous independent school positions.
• A mentor relationship.
• Being given the opportunity to learn about aspects of independent schools not directly related to my position at the time.

Leadership: What surprised you most about being a head of school?

A group of heads of schools who began tenures in July 2008 shared their responses to the question above. The answers below are reflective of common themes offered in those responses.

• Everyone wants something. Balancing the needs/wants of the various constituent groups is crucial. Also that the head’s primary work with the board...