Leading from the Trenches

Leadership doesn’t mean leading from afar. In fact it’s difficult to lead effectively without modeling up close and personal.

As parents we are supposed to lead by example. Our children watch us. They watch our body language and listen to the words we speak in context.

The same constitutes for every area of a professional workplace. Especially a place that also models behavior and learning… school.

In order to believe in something and truly make a difference, we have to live it everyday. We have to be in the trenches. We have to feel and empathize. We have to understand a different perspective than our own.

Every morning that I drop my older son off at school, his Elementary School Principal is helping students out of their cars and welcoming them to school along with several teachers and staff members. She is in the trenches. She is leading by example, and it flows through the entire school.

The teachers are genuinely happy to be teaching.

The children are genuinely happy to be learning.

The parents are genuinely happy to be sending their children to a school filled with love and acceptance.

As a former teacher, I have been through my fair share of Administrators and none of them did what Ms. Conlin does daily. She is present for all special events. By present, I mean she welcomes every child by name. Even during a pandemic with masks and extra guidelines, she makes school feel like the safe place it is supposed to be. She makes school feel like a second home.

In a world that changed dramatically in the course of one year, Ms. Conlin has been a constant for her staff, students, and parents. They look to her for guidance, direction, and true leadership.

So, she leads by example.

She leads with love.

She leads side by side.

She is in the trenches, gladly…

and it shows.