The Private School Leader Podcast

If you have ever watched an infomercial, you have probably heard a very specific phrase used again and again. As the energetic host tells you why you can’t live without a knife that can cut through a penny, they say…. But wait, there’s more! So, I want to take a page out of the infomercial playbook and tell you about something that probably sounds too good to be true. On today’s episode of the Private School Leader Podcast, I am going to tell you about ONE THING that you can do that will make you a happier and better compensated leader. But wait, there’s more! This ONE THING can also help you overcome Imposter Syndrome and will make you feel better when you are discouraged. But wait, there’s more! This ONE THING will take you less than two minutes a day to create and it is totally free. I know that sounds too good to be true. But, this is something that I have been doing for 11 years and everything that I have listed above has been true for me. I am really excited to share this with you on today’s episode! I hope that you are taking some time to relax and reconnect with your loved ones this Summer. Thank you for listening to the podcast and thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode37  Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!! I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks!

I love sports movies! My favorite is Rocky 4, but I also love Miracle, Remember The Titans, Hoosiers, Field of Dreams, Tin Cup, Caddyshack and so many more. There is a sports movie that came out in 2009 that I think is really underrated. What movie is that? Invictus. Invictus is the story of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, held in South Africa. Nelson Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman) had just dismantled apartheid and the country was deeply fractured. The national team, The Springboks, were expected to be crushed by the competition. In fact, the only reason that The Springboks were even playing in the World Cup was because the host nation earned an automatic entry. What happened next would change South Africa forever. I won’t spoil it for you, but this incredible true story is inspirational, motivational and heart warming. That’s everything that I look for in a sports movie! I believe that Nelson Mandela was one of the most influential leaders in history. He was inspirational, courageous and he was a servant leader. He united a country and then forever changed that country. His story is legendary. A tireless fighter for racial equality, imprisoned for 27 years, and once released, elected president of the country—and instead of focusing on settling scores and gaining retribution, he instead went about healing and uniting the country. In today's episode, I am going to share with you four exceptional leadership qualities that Nelson Mandela displayed as well as four quotes that will illuminate his leadership style and help us become better leaders. Thank you for taking me along with you when you are walking the dog, driving to school or running errands. I appreciate you and what you are doing for the lucky kids and teachers at your school. Thanks so much for listening and thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus I want to give you a gift to say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. I have created a FREE guide for you called “5 Strategies To Help You Work With Difficult Parents”. We know that working with parents is part of the job and most of our parents are great, but some of them can be very demanding and emotional and difficult. This guide will give you the tools that you need to build better relationships and have better meetings with the difficult parents at your school. Go to theprivateschoolleader.com/parents to grab the guide. Thank you again for listening every week! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode36 If you have gotten value from listening to the podcast, I would love to work with you 1-on-1. I would love to take my experience and help you to feel less overwhelmed and frustrated or help you have success if you are a brand new leader. I also work with private school leaders who are aspiring Heads of School and want to accelerate their leadership growth or experienced leaders that are moving on to a new school and they want to get off to a great start. If I’m describing you, then head over to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/coaching to learn more about working with me 1-on-1. Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!! I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks!

OK, I know what you’re thinking: “What is the deal with all of these Top 10 lists?” That’s a fair question considering that: Two weeks ago (Episode 33) was titled The Top 10 Leadership Books For Private School Leaders. Last week (Episode 34) was called The Top 10 Time Management Books For Busy Private School Leaders And this week’s episode is titled The Top 10 TED Talks That Every Private School Leader Should Watch So, a couple of things. First, no more countdowns for a while. I promise. Second, I figured that early summer is a good time to share some books that can help you grow as a leader.  Third, I really LOVE TED Talks! What's not to love? Really smart people, talking about thought provoking and interesting ideas, all in 18 minutes or less! Another reason that you may want to check out today’s episode is because five of the TED Talks are by authors of books that are on one of the top 10 book lists. Therefore, you can get a “sneak peek” of that person and their big ideas and then you might want to read something that they wrote! Mark Minkus I want to give you a gift to say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. I have created a FREE guide for you called “5 Strategies To Help You Work With Difficult Parents”. We know that working with parents is part of the job and most of our parents are great, but some of them can be very demanding and emotional and difficult. This guide will give you the tools that you need to build better relationships and have better meetings with the difficult parents at your school. Go to theprivateschoolleader.com/parents to grab the guide. Thank you again for listening every week! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode If you have gotten value from listening to the podcast, I would love to work with you 1-on-1. I would love to take my experience and help you to feel less overwhelmed and frustrated or help you have success if you are a brand new leader. I also work with private school leaders who are aspiring Heads of School and want to accelerate their leadership growth or experienced leaders that are moving on to a new school and they want to get off to a great start. If I’m describing you, then head over to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/coaching to learn more about working with me 1-on-1. Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!! I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks!

I’ve got a riddle for you. I am free, yet priceless. You can’t own me, but you can use me. You can’t save me, you can only spend me. What am I? Before I give you the answer, I have to tell you two things. First, I have never been very good at riddles. Second, the answer is the subject of today’s podcast episode. What am I? Time. As Private School Leaders, we all wish that we had more time. More time to spend with our loved ones. More time to spend on things at school that really matter. More time spent taking care of ourselves. More time spent on doing meaningful and fulfilling work that will make a difference for years to come. Every once in a while, we also wish that we had less time. Less time putting out fires. Less time working on other people’s priorities. Less time dealing with parents making unreasonable requests. Less time cleaning up messes created by someone else? So, how do we spend more time on the things that matter and less time on the things that don’t. Well, over the last 32 years, I have read dozens of books about productivity and time management. On today’s episode of the Private School Leader Podcast, I am going to share The Top 10 Time Management Books For Busy Private School Leaders. I know that you are VERY busy during the summer, but if you are going to read a leadership book (Episode 33) or a time management book, it is most likely to happen during the summer. I know how busy you are. That's why I created a weekly podcast that you can listen to while driving to school, working out or running errands. Think of this podcast as your weekly dose of inspiration, motivation and PD, all while doing something else! I hope that you will listen. More importantly, I hope that what you hear helps you thrive at your school. Thanks so much for listening and thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus I want to give you a gift to say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. I have created a FREE guide for you called “5 Strategies To Help You Work With Difficult Parents”. We know that working with parents is part of the job and most of our parents are great, but some of them can be very demanding and emotional and difficult. This guide will give you the tools that you need to build better relationships and have better meetings with the difficult parents at your school. Go to theprivateschoolleader.com/parents to grab the guide. Thank you again for listening every week! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode34. If you have gotten value from listening to the podcast, I would love to work with you 1-on-1. I would love to take my experience and help you to feel less overwhelmed and frustrated or help you have success if you are a brand new leader. I also work with private school leaders who are aspiring Heads of School and want to accelerate their leadership growth or experienced leaders that are moving on to a new school and they want to get off to a great start. If I’m describing you, then head over to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/coaching to learn more about working with me 1-on-1. Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!! I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks!

Summer means different things to different people. For my family it means 4th of July fireworks, cooking burgers on the grill, fireflies, playing a little golf (badly), reading a book in the backyard hammock and one glorious week on the beach and the boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ. Summer also means the same thing for me as it does for you. Summer means wrapping up this school year and then immediately preparing for next school year, trying to find teachers to interview, overseeing maintenance and cleaning of the building, buying books, meeting new families and the list goes on and on and on. But speaking of lists, there is another thing that many of us email to our families at this time of year. The Summer Reading List. On today’s episode of the Private School Leader Podcast, I am going to share a summer reading list for you: The Top 10 Leadership Books for Private School Leaders. I hear what you are saying, “Mark, I don’t have time to read a book.” I know. But, I also know two things: You have a LITTLE more time now than at any other time of the year. You care about growing yourself as a leader or you wouldn’t be listening to this podcast. Reading one of these leadership books this summer will help you grow as a leader. Thank you for taking me along with you when you are walking the dog, driving to school or running errands. I appreciate you and what you are doing for the lucky kids and teachers at your school. Thanks so much for listening and thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus I want to give you a gift to say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. I have created a FREE guide for you called “5 Strategies To Help You Work With Difficult Parents”. We know that working with parents is part of the job and most of our parents are great, but some of them can be very demanding and emotional and difficult. This guide will give you the tools that you need to build better relationships and have better meetings with the difficult parents at your school. Go to theprivateschoolleader.com/parents to grab the guide. Thank you again for listening every week! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode33   If you have gotten value from listening to the podcast, I would love to work with you 1-on-1. I would love to take my experience and help you to feel less overwhelmed and frustrated or help you have success if you are a brand new leader. I also work with private school leaders who are aspiring Heads of School and want to accelerate their leadership growth or experienced leaders that are moving on to a new school and they want to get off to a great start. If I’m describing you, then head over to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/coaching to learn more about working with me 1-on-1. Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!! I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks!

The windshield on your car is MUCH, MUCH bigger than your rear view mirror. That makes sense, right? When you are driving down the road, your focus is on what’s ahead. Over the last several years, I have become a much more defensive driver. Unfortunately, there are way too many people on their phones. So, I am always watching for someone swerving into my lane. I am always looking ahead and it is VERY RARE for me to check my rearview mirror while I’m driving. This is EXACTLY what we do as private school leaders, ESPECIALLY at this time of year. We are wrapping up a school year and it is all about what’s next? I say that out loud and to myself all the time. What’s next? What’s next? We are always looking forward, always pushing ahead, moving ahead. Here’s the big problem with that. We usually don’t take the time to stop and reflect on the school year that we just completed. Just like that HUGE windshield and that tiny rearview mirror, private school leaders often don’t take the time to STOP and reflect and then use that reflective practice to change our practice moving forward. On today’s episode of the Private School Leader Podcast, we are going to discuss the 6 questions you can ask yourself today to make sure that next school year is better. If you have gotten value from this podcast, I would love to hear from you! You can email me at [email protected]. Send me a couple of sentences about what you have found helpful and also let me know your biggest pain point from this school year. This valuable feedback will help me to better serve you in future episodes. I know that you are super busy, so be sure to listen while you are doing something else. I hope that you will get value from this episode as you serve and lead your school community. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to listen to the podcast! Thanks for making a difference, Mark Minkus I want to give you a gift to say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. I have created a FREE guide for you called “5 Strategies To Help You Work With Difficult Parents”. We know that working with parents is part of the job and most of our parents are great, but some of them can be very demanding and emotional and difficult. This guide will give you the tools that you need to build better relationships and have better meetings with the difficult parents at your school. Go to theprivateschoolleader.com/parents to grab the guide. Thank you again for listening every week! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode32 CLICK HERE to learn more about 1-on-1 Leadership Coaching with me. Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!! I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks!

Has this ever happened to you? You are sitting at your desk at school, working on something and you just “feel off”? You aren’t sure what’s wrong. Maybe you feel agitated or grumpy. Maybe you feel a little bit queasy or dizzy. Maybe you feel out of sorts. Maybe you feel really fatigued. You can’t really describe it. That’s why we just say, “I’m feeling off today” or “Not sure what’s going on with me today” So, I’ve had this happen to me dozens of times and it is not a great feeling. Well, over the years, I have figured out some strategies that have worked really well for me. These strategies help me go from feeling “off” to feeling much better. On today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast you are going to learn 7 strategies for when you are "feeling off" but don't know why. Thank you for taking me along with you when you are walking the dog, driving to school or running errands. I appreciate you and what you are doing for the lucky kids and teachers at your school. Thanks so much for listening and thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks! I also want to give you a gift to say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. I have created a FREE guide for you called “5 Strategies To Help You Work With Difficult Parents”. We know that working with parents is part of the job and most of our parents are great, but some of them can be very demanding and emotional and difficult. This guide will give you the tools that you need to build better relationships and have better meetings with the difficult parents at your school. Go to theprivateschoolleader.com/parents to grab the guide. Thank you again for listening every week! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode31 Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!!

Have you ever heard this quote? “No good deed goes unpunished.” What about this one? “If you want something done well, ask a busy person.” One more quote: “Once you do the impossible it becomes part of your job description.” What do these three quotes have in common? They are all describing “Performance Punishment”. Performance punishment is the negative consequences that high performing individuals may face as a result of their exceptional productivity. This can include being given additional tasks or responsibilities, being expected to work longer hours, or being subjected to additional scrutiny or criticism. These are usually recurring tasks that someone else has failed to do well or do on time and are therefore falling into the laps of people who have demonstrated their ability to pull through at the last minute. This is something that I have done before and regretted it. On today’s episode, we are going to discuss: What is Performance Punishment? How it could be destroying the morale at your school The “Performance Punishment Cycle” Why is it a problem? What are some of the warning signs? 7 Ways to avoid Performance Punishment at your school I know how busy you are. That's why I created a weekly podcast that you can listen to while driving to school, working out or running errands. Think of this podcast as your weekly dose of inspiration, motivation and PD, all while doing something else! I hope that you will listen. More importantly, I hope that what you hear helps you thrive at your school. Thanks for listening! Mark Minkus I want to give you a gift to say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. I have created a FREE guide for you called “5 Strategies To Help You Work With Difficult Parents”. We know that working with parents is part of the job and most of our parents are great, but some of them can be very demanding and emotional and difficult. This guide will give you the tools that you need to build better relationships and have better meetings with the difficult parents at your school. Go to theprivateschoolleader.com/parents to grab the guide. Thank you again for listening every week! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode30 Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!! I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks!

Every so often, one of my students asks, “Mr. Minkus, how old are you?” I always come back with the same answer, “Well, I was born before man walked on the moon!” That answer usually gets the desired reaction: mouth open, eyes wide, etc. I then tell them that I was only two years old in July of 1969, but that does little to reduce their utter disbelief. When Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon, he uttered one of the most famous phrases in recorded history. “That’s one small step for man, one giant step for mankind.” Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about “first words” and how important they are: Neil Armstrong’s first words on the moon. Baby’s first words. (I wanted my daughters to say “Daddy”, but one of them said “Hi!” and two of them said “No!” for their first words….. The first words that you say to your spouse or partner when you get home from school. For example, do you say “How was your day?” or do you say “What’s for dinner?” (The rest of your evening hangs in the balance!) On today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast, we are going to discuss The “3 Little Words” That Will Change The Way That You Lead. As private school leaders, we do a lot of listening. We listen to teachers, students and parents tell us about complex problems and complex feelings. We often will immediately go into our “problem solving mode”. Unfortunately, that is not always the best thing to do. We need to stop and think about the first words that we should say and then say “three little words”. I know that you are super busy, so be sure to listen while you are doing something else. I hope that you will get value from this episode as you serve and lead your school community. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to listen to the podcast! Thanks for making a difference, Mark Minkus I want to give you a gift to say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. I have created a FREE guide for you called “5 Strategies To Help You Work With Difficult Parents”. We know that working with parents is part of the job and most of our parents are great, but some of them can be very demanding and emotional and difficult. This guide will give you the tools that you need to build better relationships and have better meetings with the difficult parents at your school. Go to theprivateschoolleader.com/parents to grab the guide. Thank you again for listening every week! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode29 Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!! I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks!

One of my least favorite subjects to discuss is student discipline. One of my most favorite subjects to discuss is classroom management. Most school leaders know that there is a BIG difference between student discipline and classroom management. You may be super happy with the level of school-wide classroom management at your private school. Maybe it has some room for improvement. Maybe you want to scrap what you have and try something new. On today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast, I am going to share with you a plan for school-wide classroom management that I have been using for over 20 years, in two different schools, with two very different student demographics, and this plan has been pretty successful. I hope that you will listen to this episode. More importantly, I hope that this content will help you as you serve and lead your school. I just want to take a moment and say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. In just over six months, the podcast has almost 20,000 downloads from school leaders in 39 countries. You are making a difference in your school and your passion and hard work inspires me to keep making new episodes every week. Thank you! If you have gotten value from this podcast, I would love to hear from you! You can email me at [email protected]. Please send me a couple of sentences about what you have found helpful and also let me know your biggest pain point currently. This valuable feedback will help me to better serve you in future episodes. Thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus I want to give you a gift to say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. I have created a FREE guide for you called “5 Strategies To Help You Work With Difficult Parents”. We know that working with parents is part of the job and most of our parents are great, but some of them can be very demanding and emotional and difficult. This guide will give you the tools that you need to build better relationships and have better meetings with the difficult parents at your school. Go to theprivateschoolleader.com/parents to grab the guide. Thank you again for listening every week! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode28 Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!! I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks!

When I was a kid, I loved to Trick or Treat on Halloween. I loved dressing up like Darth Vader, walking around my neighborhood and filling up my pillowcase with free candy. The only thing that I didn’t like was the mask. I don’t know what masks are like today, but in the late 70’s and early 80’s they were not great. Two tiny holes to breathe. Two tiny holes to see. A tiny elastic band that was ready to snap at any moment. I don’t like wearing masks, but I wore one to school every day for the first 10 years of my career as a private school leader. I was terrified that someone would find out that I didn’t know what I was doing. So, I put on a mask of competence and confidence and went through my day. All the while, my insides were churning because of my self doubt, my self talk and my belief that I was an imposter. Some recent studies reveal that over 75% of leaders in all industries have dealt with feelings of imposter syndrome at some point during their careers. This is especially true for private school leaders early in their careers or experienced school leaders that switch to a new school. On today’s episode of the Private School Leader Podcast, we are going to talk about The 6 Ways to Overcome Imposter Syndrome: Understand Maslow’s 4 Stages of Learning Shift your mindset Admit to your team that you don’t know it all Remind yourself that you know what you’re doing Grow your skills Clean up your self talk I hid behind a mask for 10 years. I don’t want that for you. There are tangible strategies that you can use to overcome imposter syndrome. I can’t wait for you to listen to this episode because I want you to realize that you are right where you belong, you have what it takes and you are worthy of the leadership role to which you have been called. Thank you for taking me along with you when you are walking the dog, driving to school or running errands. I appreciate you and what you are doing for the lucky kids and teachers at your school. Thanks so much for listening and thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus I want to give you a gift to say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. I have created a FREE guide for you called “5 Strategies To Help You Work With Difficult Parents”. We know that working with parents is part of the job and most of our parents are great, but some of them can be very demanding and emotional and difficult. This guide will give you the tools that you need to build better relationships and have better meetings with the difficult parents at your school. Go to theprivateschoolleader.com/parents to grab the guide. Thank you again for listening every week! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode27 Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!! I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks!

5% is a pretty small number. If you lived in a place where it was cloudy only 5% of the year that sounds pretty good, right? What if I told you that your favorite team would only lose 5% of their games? You’d sign up for that, right? 5% is a pretty small number. That’s true most of the time, but it sure doesn’t FEEL that way when you think about the 5% of your parents that are trying to destroy your school community. Most research on private schools shows that 95% of our parents are usually workable, or pretty good or even fantastic. BUT, that 5% takes a disproportionate amount of your time and emotional energy. They take a disproportionate amount of your teacher’s time and emotional energy. These are the parents that everyone talks about, but everyone tries to avoid. These are the parents that just the mere mention of their name causes your heart to speed up and your blood pressure to rise. In their excellent book, Hopes and Fears: Working With Today’s Independent School Parents, Dr. Robert Evans and Dr. Michael Thompson refer to these parents as “The 5 Percenters” and they place them into three distinct groups: The Anxious and Incompetent The Unresponsive The Intimidators On today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast, we are going to discuss the “5 Percenters”, look at the reasons they may act the way that they do and consider some strategies to work with these parents more effectively. I know how busy you are. That's why I created a weekly podcast that you can listen to while driving to school, working out or running errands. Think of this podcast as your weekly dose of inspiration, motivation and PD, all while doing something else! I hope that you will listen. More importantly, I hope that what you hear helps you thrive at your school. Thanks for listening! Mark Minkus I want to give you a gift to say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. I have created a FREE guide for you called “5 Strategies To Help You Work With Difficult Parents”. We know that working with parents is part of the job and most of our parents are great, but some of them can be very demanding and emotional and difficult. This guide will give you the tools that you need to build better relationships and have better meetings with the difficult parents at your school. Go to theprivateschoolleader.com/parents to grab the guide. Thank you again for listening every week! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode26 Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!! I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks!

A 2015 Gallup poll revealed that 50% of all employees are unclear about the expectations for their jobs. That’s 50% of Americans showing up to work every day and crossing their fingers, hoping that they are doing the right thing. I want to ask you an important question. In which 50% of that poll do your teachers fall? Now, before you quickly answer that question, I want you to think about this quote from George Bernard Shaw: “The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” Most of us are fairly certain that we have very clear expectations for our teachers and that we have effectively communicated those expectations to our teachers. Are you 100% sure that’s the case? On today’s episode of the Private School Leader Podcast, I am going to: Discuss why clear expectations are more important than you think Give concrete examples of how to effectively communicate those expectations Share a template called “6 Things You Can Expect From Me & 6 Things That I Expect From You” Effectively communicating clear expectations to your teachers can improve morale, increase productivity and create a more positive work environment at your school. I know that you are super busy, so be sure to listen while you are doing something else. I hope that you will get value from this episode as you serve and lead your school community. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to listen to the podcast! Thanks for making a difference, Mark Minkus I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode25 Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!!

I have a rule for myself when I engage with social media. Never read the comments! I usually follow this rule, but every once in a while I get sucked down that rabbit hole of negativity. It seems like everyone on social media is angry about something. The local and national news seems to focus only on bad news and the worst of humanity and it is easy to view life through a very negative lens. As a private school leader, somehow you must rise above the negativity and sprinkle your students and staff with hopeful optimism. While you are doing that, you also have to be SUPER careful to not let yourself drift into the danger zone of toxic positivity. How are you supposed to walk this tightrope of encouraging your staff without having them think that you are completely out of touch with reality? Well on today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast we are going to discuss The 8 Ways to Avoid Toxic Positivity By Displaying Hopeful Optimism: Accurately assess the current situation Acknowledge the current situation Paint the picture of a different future "We are going to get through this" Set the example Perform a "belief transplant" Validate your teacher’s feelings Get to work I am confident that these 8 strategies will help you be a more enthusiastic and optimistic leader, while maintaining credibility with your staff. I know how busy you are. That's why I created a podcast that you can listen to while driving to school, working out or running errands. Think of this podcast as your weekly dose of inspiration, motivation and PD, all while doing something else! I hope that you will listen. More importantly, I hope that what you hear helps you thrive at your school. Thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode24 Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!!

I believe that not all mistakes are created equal. There is the “I got home from the store and forgot to buy milk” kind of mistake and then there is the “Ronald Wayne” kind of mistake. Who is Ronald Wayne? I’m glad you asked! Most people know that Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple back in 1976. What most people don’t know is that Apple actually had a third founder named Ronald Wayne. 12 days after founding Apple, Wayne sold his share of the company to Jobs and Wozniak for $800.00. Apple is now worth over one trillion dollars. Ouch! One of the reasons that I created the Private School Leader Podcast was so that you can learn from the mistakes that I've made in my career. On today’s episode, I am going to share with you My 5 Biggest Leadership Mistakes And How To Avoid Them: Not prioritizing my health Believing a story that wasn’t true Letting my integrity slip Being a positional leader Not setting boundaries I hope that you will listen. More importantly, I hope that you will avoid these mistakes and be a happier, more effective and more fulfilled leader! Thank you for taking me along with you when you are walking the dog, driving to school or running errands. I appreciate you and what you are doing for the lucky kids and teachers at your school. Thanks so much for listening and thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode23 Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!!

I got the phone call that every school leader dreads. One of my students had died. It was a Wednesday night in September, 1998. I got a call that one of my 9th Grade students, a 14 year old boy, had died. We will call him Caleb. Caleb and his 13 year old friend were playing at a park near his home. Tragically, they were also playing with a gun. Caleb’s friend was not a student at my school. Caleb’s friend was holding the gun. The gun went off and Caleb was killed instantly. Nothing could have prepared me for what happened over the next few hours, the next few days, the next few months after Caleb was killed. The next morning, all three local TV news stations had their vans sitting in our school’s parking lot. Reporters from both major newspapers were there too. Our HS students and our teachers looked like zombies as they walked through the front doors of the school. That awful phone call happened almost 25 years ago. As I look back, I can see that we did a really good job taking care of our students and staff. We handled things really well. But, that was not because we were ready. We did not have a crisis management team, we did not have a plan. What we had were a lot of really smart people that jumped into action and I believe that we got a lot of help from God. One of my teachers has a saying, “We were lucky, not good.” When Caleb died, we handled things very well. But, we were lucky, not good. I hope that you never have to deal with the death of a student or a staff member, but I want to help you to be super prepared. I want for you to have a plan and then pray that you NEVER, EVER need to use the plan. On today’s episode, I am going to teach you 10 Steps to responding to the death of a student: Establish a School Crisis Team Create a Plan in Advance Gather Facts Notify Staff, Students and Parents Deploy Mental Health Professionals Equip your Teachers Prepare For Media Coverage Funerals, Spontaneous Memorials and Memorials Special Circumstances (suicide, drug overdose) Conduct an After Action Review I pray that you will NEVER have to use this plan. That said, now you will be ready if you do. Thank you for listening to the podcast and thank you for making a difference in the lives of the kids at your school. Mark Minkus I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode22 Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!!

You know how this works. You earn money, it gets deposited in your bank account and then you use that money to buy groceries, pay bills or eat out at a restaurant. You make deposits. You make withdrawals. You also know that if you don’t have enough money, the little screen at the grocery store will say “insufficient funds” or “card declined”. If you are of a certain age, you also know what it means to bounce a check. There is an important truth that every private school leader should know: Your Teachers Have Emotional Bank Accounts And You Are The Banker. On today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast, you are going to learn 10 ways to make deposits in your teachers’ emotional bank accounts: Smile Treat them like people Recognize their hard work Offer practical help Listen and validate their feelings Notice, Remember, Encourage Communicate clearly Protect their teaching time Say “thank you” Apologize This is going to be hard work, but it will be worth it. When your teachers feel heard, seen, valued and emotionally safe they will work harder, stay at your school longer and bring their best selves to school every day. Everyone wins when that happens! I know that you are super busy, so be sure to listen while you are doing something else. I hope that you will get value from this episode as you serve and lead your school community. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to listen to the podcast! Thanks for making a difference, Mark Minkus I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode21  Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!!

About once a week, I ask my wife the same question, “Hey do you wanna know what song is stuck in my head?” She always says, “not really” and then I tell her anyway. It is usually some 80’s pop song unless it is the morning after the Middle School Dance and then it might be The Cupid Shuffle or Love Story by Taylor Swift. Why do songs get stuck in our heads? It’s because our brains HATE open loops and our brains will do anything to close an open loop. Our brains will even finish an 80’s pop song. The elements of storytelling are incredibly powerful because a compelling story opens a loop and then holds your attention until it closes the loop. On today’s episode, you are going to learn how to open a “Story Loop” for current and prospective parents and the only way to close that story loop is for their child to graduate from your school. Donald Miller wrote an excellent book called Building a Storybrand, which was a Wall Street Journal Bestseller. Miller describes the 7 components of a great story. We are actually going to discuss just 5 of those: A Character Has a Problem And Meets A Guide Who Gives Them A Plan That Ends in Success So many great stories follow this framework, including: Star Wars, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, The Odyssey, Interstellar, Beowulf, The Lord of The Rings, Moana, Marvel’s Spiderman, The Wizard of Oz and thousands more. You are going to learn how to use these elements of storytelling to increase enrollment and retention at your school! Thank you for taking me along with you when you are walking the dog, driving to school or running errands. I appreciate you and what you are doing for the lucky kids and teachers at your school. Thanks so much for listening and thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is an 8 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode20 Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!!

The longest year of my life was between my 15th birthday and my 16th birthday.   It was only 365 days, but it felt like 5 years. I couldn’t wait to get my driver’s license. My first car was a 1977 Dodge Volare Station Wagon with no hubcaps and a bright yellow paint job. My friends at school called it “The Cream Puff”, but I didn’t care. I had a car and I could drive!   Why am I taking you on this trip down Memory Lane? Well, it’s because I want to ask you a very important question. Do you treat your car better than you treat yourself?   You are probably saying “Of course not!”, but I want you to really think about it before you answer. Just think of the things that you do daily, weekly and annually to make sure that your car keeps running safely.   Obviously we are talking about self care and most private school leaders don’t do a very good job with that. On today’s episode, you are going to learn 4 Ways That You Can Treat Yourself Better Than You Treat Your Car:   Fill the Tank Check The Oil Pass The Annual Inspection Heed the Check Engine Light   What you do is emotional work. Unrelenting, emotional work. The only way that you can thrive and not just survive at your school is to prioritize your self care. I know that sounds like fiction right now, but please just listen to the episode, apply one or two of the strategies and see if it makes a difference.    I hope that you will listen to the podcast for your weekly dose of motivation, inspiration and PD. Thanks so much for listening and thanks for making a difference!   Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode19   Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!!

Every school has them. The teachers discuss them, but do everything they can to avoid them. Administrators cringe when they walk through the front door or call them on the phone. Of course, I am talking about difficult parents at your school. I acknowledge that not every upset parent is a difficult parent. But, if nearly every parent gets upset about something at least once, that means that you are meeting with a lot of parents every year that are unhappy and emotional about something. When you meet with an upset parent, you are trying to “listen through the noise”, not get defensive, not get upset, prioritize their child, support your teacher AND calmly come up with elegant solutions to their problems.  I know that sounds impossible. It IS extremely difficult, but there ARE intentional strategies that you can use to make these meetings have MUCH better outcomes. On today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast you are going to learn How To Have A Successful Meeting With An Upset Parent. These strategies are broken down into the following stages: Setting up the meeting Preparing for the meeting Mindset Shift Beginning Middle End Post-Meeting I have been using these strategies for a long time. There is no such thing as an “easy” meeting with an upset parent, but these strategies DO make a BIG difference and I hope that they will help you as you serve and lead your school. Thank you for taking me along with you when you are walking the dog, driving to school or running errands. I appreciate you and what you are doing for the lucky kids and teachers at your school. Thanks so much for listening and thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode18 Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!!

I want you to use your imagination. It is the end of the day, you’re getting ready to leave school and you are sitting at your desk. You look back on your day. You feel good about everything that you accomplished. You feel like it was a productive day because you actually got some meaningful work done. Does that sound like something straight out of a fantasy novel? If that sounds impossible, it is probably because you have fallen into “The False Productivity Trap”. On today’s Episode of the Private School Leader Podcast we are going to discuss: What is the “False Productivity Trap”? The 4 reasons that we are actually addicted to False Productivity The 9 ways to avoid the “False Productivity Trap” There is an old saying, “It’s easy to be busy, it’s hard to be productive”. We have never been busier than we are today with our job, our family responsibilities, driving our kids to practices and games, church, errands, car repairs, home repairs, pet care, paying bills, trying to work out and the list goes on and on and on. We have never been busier, but we have never been less productive. Let’s make a new start today, get out of the productivity trap and start engaging in meaningful work more often! I hope that you will listen to the podcast for your weekly dose of motivation, inspiration and PD. Thanks so much for listening and thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode17 Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!!

One of the most embarrassing moments of my life happened on a Thursday afternoon in the fall of 1999. I was driving home from school and my cell phone rang. It was my Administrative Assistant and I will never forget what she said, “Mark, Danielle is here in the Main Office. Are you coming back for her?” I had forgotten my 6 year old daughter at school…. Fortunately, school was like a second home to her and she was happily playing with a toy next to my office. My family still brings this up to this day, more than 20 years later. One of the biggest regrets of my life was when I didn’t do more to help one of my daughters when she was in Elementary School. She had ADD and her teacher that year was not effective working with kids with ADD. I just kept telling myself it would get better and I didn’t get involved and my daughter suffered. One of the biggest joys in my life was having my daughters attend my school. All of the car rides and hallway hugs and home volleyball games and drawings on my office door and concerts and just hanging out with them after school are memories that I will cherish forever. Having my three daughters attend the school that I led was one of the most complex experiences of my career. I am SO glad that we did it, but it was VERY complicated and took a tremendous amount of work to make it a (mostly) positive experience for them, for me, for my wife and for my teachers. If you have school aged children or you might have children someday, then today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast is for you! We are going to discuss what it is like: Being a Principal/Parent Being the Principal’s Kid Being the Teacher of the Principal’s Kid You will also learn several strategies that will help you successfully navigate these complex relationships in a way that will allow you to be an awesome parent AND an awesome Principal! I know that you are super busy, so be sure to listen while you are doing something else. I hope that you will get value from this episode as you serve and lead your school community. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to listen to the podcast! Thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode16 

Recently, I was driving home from school and I heard an ad for a debt consolidation company on the radio. The announcer asked, “Are you drowning in debt?” Later that week, I was talking to one of my teachers who told me, “I can’t get caught up. I feel like I am drowning in the deep end of the pool.” The word overwhelmed actually means “to be completely submerged by your thoughts and emotions about all of life’s current problems, to the point where you lack productivity and feel frozen or paralyzed.” (talkspace.com blog post 02/10/22) In other words, when you feel overwhelmed, you feel like you are drowning. The good news is that it doesn’t have to stay that way. On this week’s episode of the Private School Leader Podcast, you are going to learn The 8 Ways To Feel Less Overwhelmed At School: Ride the wave of emotion Revisit your “compelling why?” More dopamine, less cortisol Do a brain dump Focus only on the next thing Build capacity then delegate Fill your tank daily Talk to someone What we do is emotional work that takes an emotional toll. The cumulative effect of expending that emotional energy can make us feel like we are drowning. The next time that you feel overwhelmed, I hope that you will try one or more of these strategies and I hope that they help! I know how busy you are and that’s why I created a podcast so that you can listen while doing something else. So, while you're driving to school or walking the dog, pop in your earbuds for your weekly dose of motivation, inspiration and PD! You can check out a bunch of free resources at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources and you can grab the show notes at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode15 Thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!!

Since I was a kid, I have always been fascinated with The Death Zone. No, that is not some zombie movie. I actually don’t like zombie movies or horror movies. Give me an action movie or an inspirational sports movie or a comedy or a superhero movie. Just not a zombie movie. Anyways, The Death Zone is a term used by mountain climbers. In mountaineering, the death zone refers to altitudes above 26,000 feet where the pressure of oxygen is insufficient to sustain human life for an extended time span. All 14 mountains that are 26,000 feet or higher are in the Himalayas. As soon as a mountain climber goes above 26,000 feet, their body starts to die. The summit of Mount Everest is 29,031 feet. Since I was a kid, I’ve been fascinated by people that would choose to do that to themselves. Why would someone climb into an area where you need bottled oxygen just to survive? Even today, 70 years after the first successful expedition, climbing Mount Everest is still considered one of the world’s greatest feats of physical endurance. On today’s episode of the Private School Leader podcast, I am going to share with you 5 Leadership Lessons from the top of Mount Everest: Your teachers need to see very clearly that they are part of something bigger than themselves. Get super clear on your goals so that you can make better decisions when you are stressed out. Your leadership skills will only take you so far. What will take you the rest of the way comes from your heart. Becoming a better leader is a process and it is OK to fail. Leaders should always see farther than everyone else. You won’t need an ice axe, a climbing harness or special boots, but I promise that you will learn some important leadership lessons from the highest point on planet Earth. I’d like to ask you for a quick favor. Can you please rate and review this podcast? This will help the algorithm push this podcast out to more leaders who might benefit from this content. Thanks! I hope that you will listen to this week’s episode. Maybe while you're driving to school or walking the dog, just pop in those earbuds for your weekly dose of motivation, inspiration and PD! You check out a ton of free resources at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources and you can grab the show notes at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode14 Thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus

In November of 2016, my family and I were going through a difficult time. Shortly before Thanksgiving, my wife and I were given a VERY unexpected gift of $600.00 in cash from some VERY kind friends. There were no strings attached and we were told to use the money in any way that we wanted. Within the next 6 days, we had two VERY unexpected car repairs. The total bill for those two repairs was $597.00. We were overcome with gratitude for the kindness and generosity of our friends and for the perfect timing of this practical gift. Over the next few months, we thought about this gift all the time. But as the months passed, the memory of that moment faded and we thought about it less and less often. We had good intentions to continue to express gratitude to our generous friends, but then life got busy and…….. Are you grateful for your loved ones? Are you grateful for your home? Are you grateful for your job? Are you grateful for your students and your teachers? Of course you are! We have so many good things in our lives and we have a very long list of things for which to be grateful. The problem is that a lot of the time we don’t FEEL grateful and most of the time we don’t EXPRESS gratitude for most of the things in our lives. On today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast we are going to talk about How Gratitude Can Make You A Happier And More Effective Leader. Episode Highlights: The 31 benefits of gratitude backed by over 40 research studies. A recent Glassdoor survey says that 81% of employees work harder for a grateful boss. Why “hedonic adaptation” makes it so difficult for us to be intentionally grateful. The 3 ways that gratitude can make you a happier leader. The 3 ways that gratitude can make you a more effective leader. The 3 strategies that will help you be more grateful at school and at home. I know that you are super busy, so when you are driving to school, working out or running errands, pop in those earbuds and listen. I hope that you will get value from this episode as you serve and lead your school community. Thank you for taking the time to listen to the podcast! Thanks for making a difference! Check out a bunch of free resources for you at www.theprivateschooleader.com/resources and grab the show notes at www.theprivateschooleader.com/episode13   

Have you ever had this conversation with your spouse or partner? “Where do you want to go for dinner?” “Oh, I don’t know, you decide.” “How about sushi?” “No, not sushi.” “OK, how about Thai?” “No, definitely not Thai food tonight.” “Well, then where do you want to go?” “Oh, I don’t know, I want you to decide.” Has this ever happened to you? You get home from a long day at school, you sit down for the first time and you say to yourself, “I am not making one more decision today”. Then one of your kids walks up to you and says, “What’s for dinner?” If either of those scenarios sounded familiar to you and/or made you cringe a little, I have a theory that I would like to share with you. I think that these situations have less to do with how you communicate with your partner. I think that you may have succumbed to decision fatigue. As an independent school leader, you make hundreds of complex decisions a day. Some of them are high stakes decisions. Many of these decisions will be second guessed by teachers, parents, students, board members or all of the above! Your ability to make decisions is FINITE. As the day goes on, the research shows that your ability to make good decisions falters. This phenomenon is called decision fatigue. On today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast, you are going to learn The 7 Best Strategies For Overcoming Decision Fatigue: 1) Acknowledge that it is real 2) Plan your day 3) Have an index card on the corner of your desk 4) Proactively reduce the number of decisions that you make 5) Clarity is your friend 6) Give yourself fuel 7) Schools are not emergency rooms If you implement just one or two of these strategies, you will make better decisions at school and, hopefully, have a little left in your tank so you can decide what to eat for dinner! So, while you're driving to school or walking the dog, pop in your earbuds for your weekly dose of motivation, inspiration and PD! Check out a bunch of free resources for you at www.theprivateschooleader.com/resources and grab the show notes at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode12 

If you have had the time to watch any TV during the last week of the year you have probably noticed commercials for gym memberships, smoking cessation programs and storage bins that will help you get more organized. Tis’ the season for self improvement! We make New Year’s resolutions because we are always trying to better ourselves. The “clean slate” of a new year seems like the perfect time to lose weight, stop smoking or make ourselves better in some meaningful way. As leaders, we are always trying to make our schools better, our teachers better and ourselves better. On today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast, you are going to learn The 4 New Year’s Resolutions That Every Private School Leader Should Make: !) I will follow the 15/30 rule of self care, 2) I will always know what to do next at work, 3) I will practice intentional encouragement once a day, 4) I will have an intentional plan for my leadership growth. I know that you are SUPER busy, so when you are driving to school, working out or running errands, pop in those earbuds and listen. I strongly believe that making even one of these New Year’s resolutions will significantly impact you and your school in 2023. I hope that you will listen. More importantly, I hope that what you hear will help you THRIVE as you serve your school community. Check out a bunch of free resources for you at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources and grab the show notes at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode11

I want to ask you to use your imagination about something that COULD be true one year from today. I want you to imagine what your school would be like if, over the next year, the quality of teacher parent communication improved SIGNIFICANTLY. I’m not talking about a small improvement, I’m talking about a massive improvement. What COULD your school look like one year from today? Happier kids? Happier parents? Happier teachers? Higher student retention rates? Higher parent satisfaction scores on your annual survey? All of this is possible and I’m going to tell you how to get there. On today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast, I am going to teach you The 5 C’s of Effective Parent Communication: 1) Competence, 2) Confidence, 3) Care, 4) Consistency, 5) Collaboration I can hear what you are saying: “Mark, this is great, but the people that really need to be taught these strategies are my teachers.” Well, I’ve got you covered! I have created a free “Plug & Play PD” for you. This is a 45 minute webinar complete with guided notes. It contains everything from this episode as well as everything that I taught back in Episode 2 (The Top 5 Ways To Build Effective Relationships With Difficult Parents). You can use it at a staff meeting or to just coach up a teacher that needs to grow in the area of teacher communication. You can grab the free webinar and guided notes at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode10. I know how busy you are. That's why I created a weekly podcast that you can listen to while driving to school, working out or running errands. Think of this podcast as your weekly dose of inspiration, motivation and PD, all while doing something else! I hope that you will listen. More importantly, I hope that these strategies will help you as you serve your school. Thanks for making a difference! Please follow, rate and review this podcast. The rating helps this podcast to be heard by more leaders and your review gives me valuable feedback so that I can better serve you in future episodes. If you got value from this episode, please text the link to an aspiring leader at your school. Also, you can check out all of the free resources available to you at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources Thanks!

In the Summer of 2014, our school was in the midst of a retention crisis. We had families leaving for local public schools, local private schools and some families that were moving out of the city to have their children attend suburban public schools. But then we got to work. By the summer of 2015, we had decreased our attrition rate by 35%. By the spring of 2016, our parent survey results were off the charts with an overall level of parent satisfaction of 97.75%. By the summer of 2016, our retention rate school-wide was over 90% In fact, the turnaround was so profound, we were invited to speak at the National Jewish Day School Conference in February 2017. My HOS, Admissions Director, Marketing Director and I traveled to Chicago to talk about what we did to turn things around so quickly. How did we go from a CRISIS in the summer of 2014 to a 97% parent satisfaction rate in spring 2016 and a 90% retention rate in summer 2016? On today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast, I am going to tell you EXACTLY what we did and give you the 8 ways to increase student retention that ACTUALLY WORK. Those 8 strategies are: 1) Be Proactive, 2) Ask, ask then study the data, 3) Identify “Decision Years”, 4) Treat every family like a new family, 5) Create a “culture of anticipation” and “paint a climactic scene”, 6) Surprise and Delight, 7) Say Goodbye, 8) Retention is everyone’s responsibility Research shows that it costs 7 times more resources (money, time, advertising, etc.) to find and enroll a new student than to keep an existing student. If you use these 8 strategies, you will keep the students that you have worked so hard to get. I know that you are SUPER busy, so when you are driving to school, working out or running errands, pop in those earbuds and listen. I hope that you will be motivated and inspired as you serve your school! You can head over to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources to check out all of the free resources available to you. Show notes can be found at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode9 Please follow, rate and review this podcast. The rating helps this podcast to be heard by more leaders and your review gives me valuable feedback so that I can better serve you in future episodes. If you got value from this episode, please text the link to an aspiring leader at your school. Thanks!

In May of 2017, my oldest sister, Cathy, passed away from breast cancer. In July of 2018, my twin sister, Ruth, passed away from breast cancer. In February of 2019, my sister Marcia passed away from a heart attack. Three sisters in three years. Fortunately, my school has an excellent Employee Assistance Program and I was able to connect with an outstanding grief counselor named Virginia. We talked a lot and she helped me a lot. So, when my 92 year old father passed away in September of 2021, I reached out to Virginia again. I talked and she listened. After about 20 minutes, she said, “Mark, I don’t think that you are only dealing with grief. I think that you are experiencing severe burnout.” Over the next 11 months, I went on a journey of learning about burnout, what it is, what it isn’t and learning how to get better. It was a long process, but I am doing much, much better now. On today’s episode of the Private School Leader Podcast, you are going to learn “How to Overcome Burnout With Boundaries”. You are going to hear some shocking statistics about the state of independent school leaders. Many of you are “not OK”.  You will also learn the five ways that you can prevent or overcome burnout by creating some boundaries in your life. These 5 strategies are: 1) Establish your priorities, 2) Take a mini-sabbatical, 3) Use a designated workspace at home, 4) Beware the “Electronic Leash”, 5) Clearly and assertively communicate your boundaries. These strategies took me from depleted, burnt out and miserable to energized, happy and optimistic about the future.  I know how busy you are. That's why I created a weekly podcast that you can listen to while driving to school, working out or running errands. Think of this podcast as your weekly dose of inspiration, motivation and PD, all while doing something else! I hope that you will listen. More importantly, I hope that these strategies will help you prevent or overcome burnout in your life. Thanks for making a difference! You can get show notes at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode8 and you can check out a bunch of free resources for you at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources

Do you ever get to the end of the day and feel like you didn't get anything done even though you worked really hard? Does the "tyranny of the urgent" control your day? Do you wish that you felt productive during the day instead of feeling exhausted from putting out fires all day long? Do you ever sit down at your desk and not know what to do next, so you start checking email? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, I have two pieces of good news for you. First, you are not alone. Nearly every independent school leader feels this way almost every day. Second, it doesn’t have to stay this way. On this episode of the Private School Leader Podcast, you are going to learn The Top 4 Productivity Hacks For Busy Private School Leaders! There is a better way and this IS POSSIBLE! I promise you that if you apply these strategies to your day at school that you will feel more productive, less discouraged and more energized. I hope that you will listen, but more importantly, I hope that what you hear helps you to THRIVE as you lead your school. Thanks for making a difference!

In Episode 5, we talked about the five characteristics that every Servant Leader displays: Demonstrates humility Displays integrity Helps others grow Encourages safe participation by being approachable, visible and having a predictable mood. Inspires others through influence rather than position. I strongly believe that adopting the characteristics of a Servant Leader can dramatically change your school culture. In this week’s episode, we are going to get super practical and turn these characteristics into action. Episode 6 is called: “The Top 10 Things That Servant Leaders Do”. If you do even some of the things on this list, you will transform yourself and transform your school. I know that you are SUPER busy, so when you are driving to school, working out or running errands, pop in those earbuds and listen. I hope that you will be motivated and inspired as you serve your school! Thanks for making a difference!

Nelson Mandela was once asked, “What makes you a good leader?” Mandela said that he was the son of a tribal chief and, when he was a boy, his father would take him to the tribal council meetings. Mandela watched his father closely at these meetings and said that he learned two important things:  1) They always sat in a circle  2) His father was always the last to speak. Nelson Mandela's leadership style can transform you as a leader and it can also transform the culture of your school. In fact, when employees are surveyed about the preferred leadership style of their boss, there is one answer that is always at the top of the list.  Servant Leadership. Serve first and lead second. That may sound easy, but it's not. Teachers don’t want to work at a top down, command and control, “do it because I said so” organization. They want to feel emotionally safe at school. They don’t want to follow someone because of their position, they want to follow someone that they know cares about them as a human being. In today's episode of The Private School Leader Podcast, you will learn the 5 Characteristics of a Servant Leader. You will also learn that Servant Leadership is not a tip or trick or leadership hack. It is a way of life. So, when you are driving to school, working out or taking your dog for a walk, pop in those earbuds and listen. I hope that you will be motivated and inspired as you serve your school! You can head over to www.theprivateschoolleader.com to check out all of the resources available to you. If you got value from this episode, please text the link to an aspiring leader at your school. You can grab the Show Notes at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode5 Thanks! Please follow, rate and review this podcast. The rating helps this podcast to be heard by more leaders and your review gives me valuable feedback so that I can better serve you in future episodes. Thanks!

Do some of your students give up easily when faced with a challenging problem or concept? Are your students sometimes too worried about “looking smart?” Do any of your students get extremely upset when they make a mistake on an assignment or get a question wrong on a test? Do any of your students attach their self worth to the grades on their report card? This is a very common problem in our independent schools. Some of the children at our schools have been told all of their lives: “You are so smart!” Many of our students cruise along with their natural intelligence until they come up against a concept that they’ve never seen before and WHAM, they shut down, they cry, they literally slide the piece of paper back across the desk to the teacher and say, “I can’t do this.” Do you want to know how to fix this problem at your school? I have watched this problem almost disappear at our school. We have sustained this change for six years. I have heard a 4th Grader say, “Wow, now I don’t have to keep acting smart.” If you are curious about how you can make this transformation take place for your school, today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast is for you as we learn how to Turn “Pedestal Kids” Into “Gritty Kids” By Implementing Growth Mindset. About 30 years ago, Stanford University psychologist Dr. Carol Dweck and her colleagues began researching attitudes about failure. Those findings led to more research that showed a student’s underlying beliefs (mindset) about learning and intelligence significantly impacted motivation and achievement. Dweck coined the terms “growth mindset” and “fixed mindset” to provide a frame for her research that could be more easily understood. Implementing Growth Mindset at our school was the most impactful decision that I have made in my career. I hope that you will listen to this episode and find it valuable. More importantly, I hope that you will see that this can have a positive impact on the kids at your school. After you listen to this episode, you might want to consider implementing Growth Mindset at your school. If so, I’ve got you covered. For Episode 4, I have created a free “Plug & Play PD” for you called Turn “Pedestal Kids” Into “Gritty Kids” By Implementing Growth Mindset. This is a 45 minute webinar complete with guided notes and 5 Mini-lessons with Google Slideshows and Student Handouts. You can use it with your teachers at a staff meeting and begin your Growth Mindset journey at your school. You can grab the free webinar and guided notes over at theprivateschoolleader.com/episode4 Thanks!

So, let me ask you a few questions. Have you ever gotten to the end of a day at school and felt discouraged and overwhelmed? Have you ever had a day when you worked really hard, but at the end of the day it felt like you hadn’t accomplished anything? After you walk in the front doors of your school, Does the tyranny of the urgent keep you from working on the parts of your job that are actually the most important? When your Head of School or board president starts to talk about “work-life” balance, do you think to yourself, “that sounds nice, but it also sounds impossible”? Well, if you answered “yes” to any of these questions I have good news and bad news for you. I’m going to give you the BAD NEWS first. If you keep doing this, you are going to put yourself in the hospital with physical problems or mental health problems or both. I know, because I've been there. I’ve been at the lowest of all low points. I’ve been in the hospital with ulcers. I’ve had lousy relationships with my family because they never saw me. I’ve worked really, really hard and felt discouraged and overwhelmed at the end of the day. That's the bad news. The GOOD NEWS is that it doesn’t have to stay this way and I am going to give you tangible, actionable, bite-sized steps that can transform your life at work and at home. By the end of this episode of The Private School Leader Podcast, you are going to be equipped with seven strategies, seven habits that can change all of this. Today you are going to learn the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Private School Leaders! These habits are based on Stephen Covey’s international best seller and I am convinced that if you develop even just one of these habits it will change your school year and it will change your life! For Episode 3, I have created a free “Plug & Play PD” for you called “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Private School Teachers”. This is a 45 minute webinar complete with guided notes and discussion questions. You can use it at a staff meeting or to just to coach up a teacher that needs to focus more on these habits. You can grab the free webinar and guided notes over at theprivateschoolleader.com/episode3 You can head over to www.theprivateschoolleader.com to check out all of the resources available to you. If you got value from this episode, please text the link to an aspiring leader at your school. Thanks! Please follow, rate and review this podcast. The rating helps this podcast to be heard by more leaders and your review gives me valuable feedback so that I can better serve you in future episodes. Thanks!

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your teachers on the quality of their relationships with the parents at your school? On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your teachers on the quality and frequency of their communication with the parents at your school? Well, if you said anything other than 10 out of 10 for those questions, I’ve got great news for you. Today’s episode of the Private School Leader Podcast is entitled: “Teach your teachers: The Top 5 Ways to Build Effective Relationships With Difficult Parents". I promise you that if your teachers implement these 5 strategies, you will see measurable results at your school. Results like higher scores on your parent satisfaction survey, higher retention rates and lower teacher turnover. The 5 Strategies Are: See The Wall Of Mutual Distrust Remember The Child In The Chair Turn Listening Into Your Superpower Build Trust By Keeping Your Promises Surprise and Delight I know what you’re thinking: “That’s all well and good, but my teachers are the ones that need to hear this.” Well, I’ve got you covered! I have created a free “Plug & Play PD” for you. This is a 45 minute webinar complete with guided notes and discussion questions. You can use it at a staff meeting or to just coach up a teacher that needs to grow in the area of teacher communication. You can CLICK HERE to grab the free webinar and guided notes. I know how busy you are. That's why I created a weekly podcast that you can listen to while driving to school, working out or running errands. Think of this podcast as your weekly dose of inspiration, motivation and PD, all while doing something else! I hope that you will listen. More importantly, I hope that what you hear helps you thrive at your school! You can CLICK HERE to check out all of the resources available to you on my website. If you got value from this episode, please text the link to an aspiring leader at your school. Thanks! Please follow, rate and review this podcast. The rating helps this podcast to be heard by more leaders and your review gives me valuable feedback so that I can better serve you in future episodes. Thanks!

As a private school leader, do you ever feel overwhelmed and exhausted at the end of a long day at school?   Do you wish that your job energized you the way that it used to?   Do you ever feel isolated and lonely as a leader?   Do you ever feel like your job as a private school leader is impossible?   I know that I answered "yes" to all of those questions! The good news is that it doesn't have to stay that way!   On today's episode, I'm going to take my 30 years of experience as a private school leader and give you three strategies to help you get back to THRIVING at your school.   The three strategies are: Throw Some Starfish Live The Quote Lift Your Lid    Do you want to get back to  feeling energized and excited each morning and feeling fulfilled at the end of each day? Do you want to tame the "tyranny of the urgent" and get back to making a difference in the lives of the kids at your school? Well then today's episode is just for you!   The Private School Leader Podcast exists to help you THRIVE and not just SURVIVE at one of the most difficult jobs on Earth.   CLICK HERE for the show notes for Episode 1 and you can CLICK HERE for more resources.    Please subscribe to The Private School Leader Podcast. Please rate this podcast and leave a review. I would love to get your feedback so that I can better serve you!