“I am overwhelmed,” they shared. “I am just...I have a lot to do. I’ll be working all summer, which is fine, I can cancel my vacation and go next year.”

As a coach and thinking partner for hundreds of school leaders, I hear comments like this every week. School leaders that are too busy, too overwhelmed, too engaged in everything to participate in a training session or prepare for their coaching session.

When the truth is, their feelings and emotions are not being overwhelmed. Their feelings and emotions are coming from being under-purposed. From not having clarity in their purpose, vision and goals. 

Your purpose is why you do what you do. The filter through which you direct your creative power and how you make decisions. Think of your purpose as the sun and everything revolves around it. From your purpose, you begin to see and create vision. I teach Purpose, Vision and Goals in our Empowerment Mentoring program. 

When you are not...

I don't believe people quit organizations. 

I believe people quit people. 

Here are some examples of why I quit jobs in the past. 

When I was a teacher I did not see a path for professional advancement from my principal and district. So I left for a charter school that showed me a two year plan to be the Director of Exceptional Children during my interview as a Special Education teacher. 

When I was a Grants and Special Projects Leader at a University I wanted to travel to local school systems and assist principals and utilize my skills as a trainer, I left because the Dean shut down all travel and asked me to "just do research".

When I was a middle school director of a charter school I wanted to was not considered for the head of school position by my superintendent, I left to become a state wide consultant for the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) that provided me a platform to be more and do more. 

When I was at DPI after three years my boss said to...

Recently I was leading a governance strategic retreat, which is one of my favorite professional training services I offer, and I asked a question to the board about how many board members does your bylaws allow.

A member replied, “nine”.

I counted the members in front of me, looked at the board and said, “Well there are 10 of you here, so I hope not. When was the last time you reviewed the bylaws?”

We pulled the bylaws and identified that seven was the max! They had been out of compliance for years based on their own bylaws.

This is just one of the many common mistakes I see in governance bylaws...many were written so long ago they are out of touch with the school's current structure. 

Here are some other common mistakes you might find in your bylaws.

• Bylaws having policies embedded: The bylaws should be structure in which the board operates. This includes number of members, terms, term limits, definition of quorum, and officers responsibilities....

Many people in our world feel devalued instead of valued by others, and it harms them deeply. It keeps them from enjoying life and reaching their potential.

Most of you know my story as a recovering gambling addict. It wasn't until I got a round a table, with other like-minded people, that I began to study and discuss words like honesty, humility, trust, accountable, loyal just to name a few from this little yellow combo book that fit in your pocket. I was 30 years old and had never been asked a question like, what are your values? What does it mean to be honest, to be trusted, to be trustworthy? It was a powerful experience. 

There is an old saying, a paper bag doesn't stand up straight. Without values a person is empty and weak. 

I had no idea that my lack of values was not just causing me pain internally, it was showing up in ALL of my results. My inability to advance in my career. My failing relationships. My failing finances, personal health and...

Nowadays, a greater number of people feel that a good way to liberate themselves with what they feel is by speaking themself out.

Everybody is so ready to take on the latest society prattle, be it about politics, economy or societal claims. Whatever opinion you had in mind, it will always be different from the other person you are talking to even if you are tackling the same subject.

When Mahatma Gandhi said, “I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet” it reminds me of the challenges of being in education.

It is not bad enough that a good percentage of our general public has nothing but negative comments to say about teachers and schools but many times, we teachers and fellow educators are the most guilty of sabotaging our own school culture by talking and tearing down each other.

Think about your current workplace and ask yourself these questions...

Where does the negativity come from? 

Do you need to adjust who you spend time with?

What do...

I have read that the two most important days in a person’s life are the day they were born and the day they figure out why.

Today I celebrate my 45th birthday and I have extreme clarity on why I was born, to be the differencemaker in the leadership development of individuals and organizations.

I love waking up each day to serve our School Leadership Community which you are apart of. So even though we have probably never met. basically I wake up thinking about how can I best serve YOU! 

Thank you for letting me live out my purpose.

As I reflect on the last 365 days, the challenges that so many faced, the loss of love ones and hate and anger shared, I cannot stop and be grateful for the extra hours, 100’s of extra hours, I got to spend with my family in quarantine. Great memories.

We did travel out of state once and visited my grandmother who had just turned 90! She was cleaning out her closets and handed me this folder that contained hundreds of sermons written by my...

I believe that something more important than an open door policy... Is an open ear policy.

An open door policy means that the people you serve have to trust you enough to come in the door.

An open door policy means that once they come into your office they believe you will listen to them and they will be heard.

You see, no one truly listens until they feel they have been heard. 

So today, and for the rest of the week, year, and your career, listen to other with the same passion that you desire to be heard by others.

This means leading by walking around, asking questions, being curious.

In fact, if you are not sure what questions to ask here are three:

1. How are you?
2. What are your working on?
3. is there any way I can help you?

Then just LISTEN. No interruptions, no added information, no “that happened to me too” just listen. 

I guarantee you learn how to lead that person at a higher level and you will have earned credibility with them. 

Keep making a...

Hey, I am Dr. Tom Miller and I have a big idea to share.

I believe that everything needs to fight for its life to get on your agenda. Here is what I mean.

I remember when I was a principal, just coming back from spring break, spending the last week reflecting and analyzing where we needed to go over the next 90 days to be fully prepared for the next school year.  

I would share these ideas with my team and instead of them showing excitement for a new idea they would think...oh no, that's one more thing! When will we find the time to do that? How will we do that? How will this impact ME?  

Like many school leaders, I struggled from "shiny object" syndrome. I love to learn about what is working in other schools and tinker with strategies. The more I learned, the more I put on my team, without taking anything away.   

My inability to prioritize, isolate, and focus on the most vital, game-changing actions that ensure significant improvement in teaching and...

Ever felt left out of a conversation filled with Education Jargon?

Especially all of those acronyms...

How did you handle not knowing?

How did you read the room and help others?

Did you just go with the flow? Or were you courageous enough to ask a questions? 

As the facilitator or speaker, did you even notice that no one understood? 

Be honest...

Personally, I’ve been on both sides. 

When I was a Special Educator I would lead meetings and talk to teachers as though they all had a degree in special education and psychology. Many parents never spoke during the meetings, they just signed and thanked us.

SILENCE is NOT AGREEMENT.

It wasn’t until recently when I was the LEA at an IEP meeting, watching the body language of the parents through the virtual meeting did I realized how we were not going a good job of keeping the communication simple. The parents looked lost and concerned but they were not seeing anything.

I interrupted the teacher to ask if we could...