Recent Blog Posts

My Thoughts on Racism and the George Floyd Murder

So, I tweeted about the SpaceX launch on Saturday and how it was nice to see overwhelming positivity on my social media timelines for an hour or so. As a huge fan of Elon Musk (I think he is fascinating) and science I was enthralled with the coverage of the launch and tried to capture it in a tweet. Relatively innocuous tweet, or so I thought. Then yesterday the aforementioned tweet was quote tweeted and I was asked about #BlackLivesMatter.… Read More »My Thoughts on Racism and the George Floyd Murder

This is Terrifying

This may be as vulnerable as I have ever allowed myself to be in a blog. I am a mess. I am 39. I am in good health. The only underlying condition I have is that my lungs have been radiated in the past. Which means, I am in pretty good shape to fight this thing. And still, I have been on the verge of tears multiple times in the past 24 hours because I am not sure I am… Read More »This is Terrifying

Vulnerable .

This may be as vulnerable as I have ever allowed myself to be in a blog. I am a mess. I am 39. I am in good health. The only underlying condition I have is that my lungs have been radiated in the past. Which means, I am in pretty good shape to fight this thing. And still, I have been on the verge of tears multiple times in the past 24 hours because I am not sure I am… Read More »Vulnerable .

Top 10 Books of the Decade, A Personal List

It is the end of a decade which means that Top 10 lists are an absolute must (I guess). So, in thinking of whether or not I had a top ten list in me that would have any value to the collective populous I thought I would share the 10 books that have impacted me the most during the past decade. Now, to be clear, these are not the 10 best books I have read. In fact, there are at… Read More »Top 10 Books of the Decade, A Personal List

Annual Birthday Post

Man, I look forward to writing this each year. As I concluded by 38th year on this planet I wanted to share any thoughts, musings, wisdom or proof of idiocy that have dominated my thoughts over the past 365 days. New rule from last year for myself. . . each musing is limited to at most a general topic and no more than three sentences or three bullet points to support my thought. Also, added some favorite pics this year.… Read More »Annual Birthday Post

Why telling people to ‘re-charge’ is probably stressing them out.

Maybe, just maybe, we need to quit telling each other to re-charge. Listen, I understand the hypocrisy coming from a guy who has written two books on how to be #FullyCharged. And yes, I still boldly believe and support everything in those books, but I think we are in a danger zone. Joe Mullikin (@joemullikin86) prompted me to think about this. He said maybe enough is enough on this topic and then we had a great dialogue processing through this.… Read More »Why telling people to ‘re-charge’ is probably stressing them out.

It is all about relationships

POST ORIGINATED in EdWeek Teacher http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/classroom_qa_with_larry_ferlazzo/2019/09/classroom_management_is_all_about_relationships.html This may be unpopular. Heavens knows it was unpopular when I would say it at the opening faculty meeting of every year as a principal, but I believe this statement in the depths of my soul.  “The minute I am required to assist you in discipline, classroom management, by default, has failed.” I would clarify that it did not mean that they had failed, but as an administrator, the instant I am involved it is no… Read More »It is all about relationships

Why every superintendent should attend #ASUGSV at least once

A Superintendents #ASUGSV19 experience Late last year (2018) I was asked if I wanted to attend #ASUGSV. I (embarrassingly) had never heard of the event. So, I closed out that email and Google’d the event. The conference website popped up and I saw the list of former and future speakers and rushed back into my email to say I am in if the spot still existed for me. (What other conference can you hear from the likes of Andre Agassi… Read More »Why every superintendent should attend #ASUGSV at least once

Know When You Are Being Used

Leadership is hard. The steadfast desire to create positive change brings forth many behaviors in a leader. Some positive, some negative – but all impact the work environment we are attempting to shape and mold. While it is impossible to know or profile every single leader, it is possible to create generalizations about the behavior of leaders.  Many leaders desire: A level of control or at least influence over their environment or organization To know as must as much as… Read More »Know When You Are Being Used

Fault vs Responsibility

Just because something is not your fault, does not mean it is not your responsibility. This is one of my favorite sayings in leadership. I think it is hard to find a singular statement that helps explain the fundamental responsibilities that define being a human. A good human –at least. I have been pretty conflicted over the viral news story of the weekend. So conflicted that I am compelled to write on something that is political – something I try… Read More »Fault vs Responsibility