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Relate, Innovate and Invigorate as a Future-Focused Leader with Bill Ziegler
Description
Bill Ziegler, a school leader in Southeastern Pennsylvania and author of Future Focused Leaders, lays out future focused leadership in three parts: relate, innovate and invigorate. He gives principals practical ways to build partnerships, change how students learn, and keep themselves and their teachers connected to why they started.
Ziegler offers concrete moves. Go to a company with a partner and a clear plan, start with easy wins, and join the Rotary or Chamber of Commerce. At his school, students run challenge-based learning projects, lead professional development for teachers, and answer questions each week in a random group of 16.
What you'll learn
- Bring a partner and a clear mission when you approach a local business, and start with the contact you already know.
- Join the Lions Club, Rotary or Chamber of Commerce to build community connections in a low-pressure way.
- Ask students what problem they want to solve instead of what they want to be when they grow up.
- Review your handbook and code of conduct to see whether the rules still make sense to today's students.
- Invite students to lead a faculty meeting or professional development session about how they learn best.
Chapters
- 0:00 What a future-focused leader is
- 3:21 Build partnerships when it feels uncomfortable
- 5:27 Find where your school and business fit
- 8:11 Innovation goes beyond technology
- 12:19 From engagement to giving students authority
- 14:22 Invigorate yourself before your staff
- 15:58 Putting students first in policies and voice
- 17:59 Students leading professional development for teachers
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Questions this episode answers
What is a future-focused leader?
Ziegler says a future-focused leader prepares students and teachers for a world no one can see yet. His book describes three principles: relate, which means real relationships and partnerships, innovate, which means building schools kids want to run to, and invigorate, which means inspiring people back to their original calling.
How can a principal build partnerships with local businesses?
Ziegler suggests three steps: do not go alone, go with a clear mission and plan, and begin with easy wins such as a company where you know the owner. He also recommends joining Rotary, Lions Club or the Chamber of Commerce, and looking at what your school needs.
How do you get students more involved in solving real problems?
Ziegler says to move from engagement to giving students power and authority. Plant the seed by showing them a real problem, such as a prosthetic hand, model it yourself with faculty, and ask what they want to fix. At his school, students are raising funds for kindergarten backpacks.
About Bill Ziegler
Bill Ziegler is the author of Future Focused Leaders and a school leader at a high school in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Links and resources
Working on this at your school? Get a free preview of a 10-week leadership pathway built from episodes like this one at transformativeprincipal.com/start.
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