RG175 Blog

The relationship between a head of school and the board chair is often referred to as a marriage, and the analogy has some validity. You spend a tremendous amount of time together. Working in concert to lead and manage a school community is not unlike dealing with a large family, complete with share... read more

Strategic plans can be effective tools for charting the course of a school’s future, for getting key stakeholders on the same page, and for appropriately allocating time, energy and resources for the purpose of helping the school do a better job of living its mission. But despite these potential ben... read more

Recently, my wife and I were signing up on the whiteboard at the YMCA to use the cardio equipment. With eraser in hand and knowing that my wife wanted to row, I quickly saw that no one was on one of the rowers and yet a name and time were written down. I erased the name and started to write my wife’... read more

Sitting with an independent school board president and a head of school search committee chair a while back, I was asked, “What makes a search for a new head of school triumphant or tragic?” I asked them to clarify their terms a bit – what would constitute triumph or tragedy in their minds? Swift to... read more

In my 21 years as a Head of School search consultant with over 100 searches under my belt, I have done thousands of reference checks. Here is what I have learned:Lies of commission are very rare in our world. Generally, folks don’t tell untruths. It’s not what they say that is the problem; it’s what... read more

Not long ago, a trustee of a prominent independent day school groused to me that the Head of School doesn’t lead “he just goes around asking other people what they think. No one knows where he stands. We need a vision of where the school should be in five years, ten years, and he needs to spearhead... read more