RG175 Blog

“I’m not feeling he has enough gravitas.” “I can’t tell if her energy is accompanied by the ability to pace herself.”  “He’s got exactly the experience we need, but there’s something a little rigid about him.”  “She’s calm, which I appreciate, but I can’t tell if she rises to challenges.”  All thes... read more

With thousands of books claiming to know the secret sauce of successful leadership, it feels overwhelming to distill all those critical attributes in an effort to predict a successful headship. To be sure, the alignment between the challenges of a particular school and the strengths of a candidate s... read more

If you’re a fan of professional basketball, you might remember when the Philadelphia 76ers began using the phrase “Trust the Process.” It happened when their new general manager wanted to emphasize process over outcome. When the team suffered several losses, many fans wanted to abandon the idea of p... read more

Quietly and unobtrusively: that is how Boards of Trustees usually conduct their work. Indeed, few members of the community are aware of its functions or its members. In the face of a Head of School transition, however, the spotlight is on the Board, and people become aware of its responsibility to r... read more

In my role as a search consultant leading and observing head of school search committees, I am conscious, now more than ever, of the importance of the cover letter in a candidate’s application. In fact, I consider it the single most important component of an application. I have met excellent candida... read more

The role of the chair of a board of trustees in a head of school search process can seem to be a bit of a conundrum. It is correctly and frequently asserted that the most important job for a board of trustees occurs when a head of school departs from that community and the next head must be identifi... read more