Leadership Lessons

Two of the best leaders I have ever known are my mother and father. My father is a very quiet leader. He takes his time in making a decision. He is very carefully in order to make the decision that will motivate others and move his agenda in a positive direction. He is always very careful to take into consideration others in his decision making. My mother is a leader with spunk, to say the least. She is always very confident in her decisions as her experiences seem to give her a firm background in making good solid decisions. The combination of their leadership styles has strongly influenced me in my leadership roles. While my mother and father are both natural leaders it has been a role that hasn't been one hundred percent comfortable for me.

I have been very fortunate to have some very good friends who have proven to be very influential to me during my struggles with leadership. One of my oldest and dearest friends, Steve, who is a CEO for a hospital once told me a story of an experience he had. To this day that story influences my ability to lead others in my role as a Principal. It's a leadership quality that I struggled with early on but has come to learn the value and importance of it in providing the best school experience for our kids. The story was about a leader who struggled with the desire to be a popular leader rather than holding everyone accountable. His organization was very stagnant, people became satisfied with the status quo, over time people became burned out, and finally the organization failed. I've learned over time that in order to lead others towards greatness that you must be clear, concise and honest with them. I have had more than my fair share of times when my heart was racing, my palms were sweating, and I dreaded having to look someone in the eye and tell them something I knew they did not want to hear. But I have to admit that brutal honesty, challenging others, and holding them accountable to become better has caused others to become better than they ever believed they could become. Had I chosen to not leave my own comfort zone and hold others accountable, they would have never gotten on their journey to become great.

As I mentioned earlier, leadership does not come naturally for me. I still struggle with an area of leadership that frustrates me quite often. I desire harmony! My family members have been the best teachers for me with this leadership lesson. While I want harmony here at my home, Lynette challenges me to think outside the box, Jessica teaches me to look at various perspectives, and Alex teaches me to listen. Now, almost by default I've gotten better at this. Certainly I have a wife, a son, and a daughter that challenges the "harmony" at the Lyddane household, but at schools I have all chiefs and no Indians. So I am challenged and we engage in conflict pretty often at Sutton Elementary School. But once again, this has caused us to reach for greatness. If we didn't challenge one another we wouldn't see the results we see in regards to student success.