Get to Know Leading Simply

It all started when…

I realized that I was working in ways that not only provided little leadership to our district, but frankly, didn’t even allow me to lead myself towards improving my own effectiveness.

I was fortunate enough at that point to be connected to 4 people who transformed how I began to think, and ultimately about who I became. Those people were Linda Alton and Irina Fursman, from Minnesota, who taught me about how focused facilitation could drive richer and deeper conversations that would empower and solicit contributions from all voices, and would create a community of inspired problem solving. At nearly the same time, my world was opened to coaching, by Dr. Nancy Stanford-Blair and Sandye Brown. These two taught me how to be humbly inquisitive, and put the “client” at the forefront of conversations and truly be present in a more loving and caring way with that person or persons.

Add in a dose of Lyle Kirtman, who was able to impress upon me that systematic value of building trust, an incredible team of school and district administrators, teacher leaders, and my colleagues of the “Geneseo Six” (Gary Tipsord, Mark Hansen, Matt Stines, Tad Everett, and Tom Bertrand, Paul Swanstrom) and all the pieces of my own disorganized sense of leadership began to coalesce.

It is with all of those friends and life-touchers and their help and drive, and through a wonderfully thought provoking dissertation journey; where I was finally able to build mental models in a more meaningful way to bring utility to my thinking and actions. And when I really got tired of that question, ‘Are you a leader or a manager’— I realized that my purpose was to lead myself and help others lead “SIMPLY”. And none of this matters or would be possible without the love and support of my Feesker, who sometimes reminds me that “we don’t need to make things more difficult than they already are”.

Leading Simply is a mantra that can become part of your daily words, deeds, and thoughts. And I’d love to be a partner on that journey.