It seems like crises bring out the best while making us notice the worst…
Teacher Development Conference 2019
These are parts of my speech to the 2019 cohort of Teach First at the Teacher Development Conference in Leeds. 1735 brilliant new trainee teachers; it was a thrill to meet them. It was hottest day in a very hot August, in case you’re wondering about sartorial choices…
Management debt (review of The Hard Thing About Hard Things)
Managers think that their shortcuts and exceptions are invisible choices that lubricate the gears of the organisation. I can tell you straight: nothing is more visible…
Crisis 3: boredom
War has been described as long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of extreme terror…
Strong and stable
This was my final article, I think, while at the NAHT, published with TES in June 2017. It captured many of my conclusions about effective leadership and the sometimes toxic relationship between politics and the profession. “Strong and stable leadership? School bosses embody it “It’s time for a different approach to leadership, says Russell Hobby […]
Crisis 2: liberated from perfection
“We can be limited by the need for perfection and liberated by its impossibility.” – Nat Nabarro, vice principal Ark John Keats Academy (adapted slightly from context) The full crisis collection
Accountability, authority, ability
Do not hold people accountable for results outside their control. It is pointless, toxic, dishonest and all too common…
Crisis 1: clarity the hard way
It’s surprising what ceases to be impossible when you have no choice. It’s surprising what ceases to be necessary when you have to let it go…
Workload
“This is good, let’s do more,” sounds sensible but I think we should rather say: “This is good, how little of it can we get away with?”…
Losing perspective
This is what happens when you lose your sense of perspective. Things that are actually quite small loom large, things that should be seen as significant seem small. You pay attention to the wrong things. You ignore massive problems. You over- or under-react. Your judgement and wisdom and intuition as a leader depend on your sense of perspective…
Note to self 