#ELB 62 with Shohola PA Elem Principal Diana Bixby

Blog & Podcast #62 with guest Shohola Elem Principal Diana Bixby

This weeks sponsor: 1106 Design Website for 1106 Design

Thanks to Michele DeFilippo and her company 1106 Design. They did a great job helping me get my book off the ground and into print, online, and ready to go at all sellers. She provided awesome customer service to me, especially as someone who was brand new to all of this: book writing, websites, etc. They specialize in all things self-publishing: book formatting, editing, cover design, website creation, etc etc…& most important honesty, fairness, and integrity! Give her a shout out and let her know you found her by listening/reading on Education Leadership & Beyond and she’ll take care of you!

This week on the show we meet Shohola Elem Principal Diana Bixby…huge Beatles fan by the way (see ending quote). Diana shares the journey of her school and her steps from Assistant Principal of Special Education to head Principal. She is full of love, learning, and a passion for kids and schools.

To open the show, I talked about a blog post from our good friend Dan Rockwell, The Leadership Freak: The toughest challenges of leadership. Whether you are a Principal, AP, teacher, or outside the world of education, these points are relevant and pertinent to leader’s lives. We face these hurdles and it is how we respond. I chose to feature 7 out of the 12:

Humility during success
Confidence during setbacks
Stepping back so others can step up
Admitting mistakes
Listening…with the goal of learning
Leading change: leaders don’t just do things, they change things
Learning from criticism

The two that I struggle with the most are 5 & 6. I work on listening, and I remind myself each time I engage in a conversation. My wife has been my greatest support and teacher. As far as #6, if your work in schools, you know that change can be difficult. The only people that like change are babies with a wet diaper. We are creatures of habits, routines. The same schedule each day moving in the same areas and when that gets changed, people can become frustrated and doubting of what you may be trying to do. I am a believer that once you & your team make the decision to move forward with a change, you get rolling, and work out the kinks as you go. Maybe it’s the ADD. Just with time constraints, schedules, and other obligations, it can be a change to get everyone in the same room to keep on planning. Go with it and work out the kinks as you go. Adapt, add, change, and continue to tweak your change as you go. Go get ’em!

Enjoy the Podcasts: #ELB 62 live on facebook

#ELB ITUNES link

Book Recommendation: The Energy Bus/The Power of Positive Leadership by Jon Gordon