Q&A: Everyone Wins When You Get Better

Q: You are the co-host for the Transformative Leadership Summit and had the opportunity to interview lots of interesting educators. What can educators expect to gain from participating in the event?

Daniel Bauer: Like the previous two years, this year’s TLS is jam-packed with amazing leaders from the education industry. Educators can expect to gain valuable insights and actionable tips that will lead to greater impact within their respective classrooms, schools, and districts. I think the biggest value is that it is online. Participants can watch the new sessions as they drop each day or whenever they want, like Netflix. They can also enjoy the sessions from their office or in their pajamas. Take the content anywhere!

Q: On your podcast, Better Leaders, Better Schools, you aim to connect leaders in education and promote leadership development. Who are the “leaders” you refer to and what does development look like?

DB: When I refer to “leaders,” I use the term very broadly — all my listeners are included. In my humble opinion, a classroom teacher, instructional coach, assistant principal, principal, and more, are all leaders. If you desire to make an impact and are hungry to grow and get better — you are definitely a leader. There is a quote, “Everyone wins when a leader gets better.” I added to this quote, “Everyone wins when YOU get better,” to really focus in on taking ownership of your own leadership development. Development can look like many things, from listening to podcasts or attending summits and conferences (both in person and virtually). At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how you develop yourself, what matters is that you take ACTION. “Vision without implementation is merely hallucination.” Truer words have never been spoken in the context of leadership!

Q: The focus of the summit is transformation through the empowerment of four distinct groups within the education sector — teachers, administrators, students, and parents. How does empowerment for each group look the same and how does it differ? What role, if any, does technology play in this transformation?

DB: What I want everyone to get out of the TLS are practical tips and mindset shifts that they can apply to their context. So let’s say you watch Randy Watson’s session on how he empowers leaders as the Kansas Commissioner of Education. I don’t know that anyone else attending the summit will have that kind of high profile role, and that’s okay! What I want TLS attendees to do is ask themselves the same questions Randy asks himself and then be creative as to how it applies to their context, whether that is a classroom or an entire district. In terms of technology, we discuss how the Silicon Valley golden child, Adam Pisoni, is taking on master scheduling or how administrators can improve the way they tell their school’s story using tools like social media and video.

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