Dr. Harry Alvis

  " Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off."             - Colin Powell. The primary responsibility of good leadership is the welfare of the entire organization or group, which means that some people WILL be angry at your decisions and actions.  This is unavoidable if you lead with integrity and honor.   If a leader's primary goal is to get everyone to "like" them or to be "happy" all the time, they are building a system where we take those that are in our charge and "love" them into mediocrity.  This happens because the leader will avoid tough decisions, avoid confronting people who need to be confronted, and they will avoid rewarding high-performers because some people will be upset that they did not receive the same reward.  The leader will be met with cries of "that's not fair!", or "How dare they treat me this way after all the years I have given to this place?" and the like.  However, by holding ba...

  A fellow superintendent shared a quote that resonated with me. “…the highest form of leadership: servant leadership.  They give you what you need.  They have hard conversations.  They hold you accountable. They push you outside your comfort zone.  And they do all those things from their heart, because they care about you.” - Steve Jones and Lucas Jadin  It made me consider not only my role as superintendent, but the role of ALL educators.   We are all servant leaders in every sense.  The only difference is WHO we directly lead.  Some lead adults.  Some lead children. The form and function of that leadership is the same.   When you first read the quote, it is apparent that those are the qualities of a great leader.  It describes someone who can lead people to become the best versions of themselves.  Hopefully, that is the experience that we would want for our children and for ourselves. However, when the quote i...