Technolandy

Day 21 (of 2025/26) Thoughts on @optimus_rime A Year of Leading (by Kevin Reimer)

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Love the subtitle: A 40 Week Leadership Compass for Principals and Vice Principals. And fair notice that I am a big fan of Kevin’s – both of his leadership of our BCPVPA but also in how he models and shares – the least of which his annual school photo that makes his mother cringe – a tradition I have picked up when school photo opportunities are available to me… as a promotion for this book, here is my stream of consciousness for “the book every school leader didn’t know they were waiting for”….

Kevin does a fabulous job (as those of us who know him would safely assume he would…) highlighting the volexity (volume and complexity) of educational leadership in the 21st century. Some great metaphors and reflections on his own practices and experiences of others help provide a great summary of both what you need to know if thinking about educational leadership as well as some reflective synthesis for experienced educational leaders for transformational practices. 

And off to a great start – I love the opening which prompts good reflection… when a primary student tugs on a pant leg to ask “what do you do?” – more than a job title… and a great synthesis: I help everyone do their best. 

Appreciate that its not just me who finds value in metaphors…

Great job embedding the research based leadership competencies (my ‘one word’ summation for each in parenthesis):

• Authentic Leadership (trust)
• Visionary Leadership (motivation)
• Relational Leadership (relationships)
• Instructional Leadership (growth)
• Operational Leadership (ethics)
• Equity-Centred Leadership (inclusivity)

I love the concept of “architect” when building leadership – ethics that confirm your dedication to values and principles have to be evident (I know I take some hits from time to time with my leaning in to inclusion…) also why I brainstormed some “non negotiabled” à la The Bear for this years thinking around personal/professional growth (blogging more soon, but my teaser was: https://technolandy.com/2025/08/28/day-2-of-sol-2025-pre-thinking-about-goals-rules/)  

Love the key words: ‘honouring collective core competencies”; transparency; consistency; commitment; 

Appreciate the share/encouragement of sharing our resiliences and embracing them along our journey; and the danger of getting too far out of balance and ending up ‘being physically present yet mentally absent’. 

Markers for my checkbacks (I know I’m going to return to this book throughout the 40 week school year):

• blind spots sections! (love this as it connects to some work I am doing learning from Will Richardson focused on some key systemic denials within education)
• Kintsugi leadership – love the metaphor of the art form that embraces fixing things that break (on purpose or accidental) 
• Mindful pauses through the day – including formal starts and ends to the day to set some boundaries – maybe ‘strategic’ pauses is better than mindful…
• Reflective leadership and watching for silent challenges
• Bridging eras: tradition with modernity (unless we think the 1960 classroom was the zenith of education furor… 
• Orchestral harmony – I wonder what Kevin would think about my occasional blogs encouraging more jazz in education (orchestras/classical are about set notes and prescribed ‘order’ whereas jazz bucks the trend of ‘research supported’ to chart new ways that may only work out once… and might not work at all, but are easier to pivot from/with) <— really looking forward to looping back on this section!
• Oooh – horizon leadership and balancing the good and the bad… even bigger – taking on the systemic denials that might need a bit more push back… 
• Chisel and mallet – does the block turn into art because of the artists vision, or does the artist unlock what’s not yet discovered in the block?
• Relational Leadership – I liked the transparency of my first principal partner who articulated regularly that he and I were ‘the least reliable people in the building’ – which had many layers… we may commit to visiting a classroom, but an urgent issue is going to make us cancel (often without advanced warning) … we also work on behest of the board and superintendent and could be reassigned with very little notice as well yet they could rely on trust, support, etc to be consistent in our inconsistency!
• I do like the share of PVPs being the metaphorical ‘base camp’ – I’m not a climber, but I definitely appreciate the rationale!
• Love the blind spot section when considering ‘building bridges’ in relationships – rich area for dissection and discussion!
• Gotta model risk taking if you want others to take risks in their practice! Even I will say, the only do as I say, not as I do comes to taking time when not feeling 100% well… sore throat, but a few big deadlines (there’s only a few that are actually real and the end of September is a real one…)
• Great push into building leadership capacity and what blind spots to watch for (burn bright… don’t burn out…)
• Some great tips and ideas for ‘peackeeping’ as well! Check out chapter 21! And don’t mistake kindness for weakness!
• Love the concept of CLO – Chief Learning Officer (one of my favourite principals had ‘lead learner’ on her office door) though I might prefer to move away from the CxO titles that perpetuate a factory/industrial/business model of education and would prefer to shift to a more ‘artsy’ title… i used to like Imagineer… 
• Ugh – my dad was a gardener (and principal) – the green thumb seemed to be causing me a rash… don’t like, but can appreciate, this metaphor. Hmm, what if we took a different view of weeds and embraced them, you know, much as we have with other invasive species like blackberries? I do like the reminder that some things (such as pruning) have to happen at the right time… but I wonder if we break apart our agricultural based systemic school structure and embraced more of a greenhouse (24/7/265) mindset if we might be able to better address and assess issues at different times, rather than seasonally… metaphors should lead to metaphors much as the right response to a good question… is another question!
• Great metaphor and message about principals having to be great synthesizers to determine if the output is worth the energies being inputted… or if the juice is worth the ‘squeeze’. Why am I thinking about Steinbeck novels right now…?
• Very mindful of the reminder for routine pulse-taking over random/one-time checkups – but that is in no small part due to my own cardiac event that definitely has me taking my medicine AND monitoring the parts a lot more mindfully and regularly – what is good for the principal is good for the system!
• Hmmm that also makes me consider that the signs to watch for and monitor for cardiac events is different (usually) between genders… which makes me also recognize a blind spot that could be us looking for key information in one area, whereas it might appear in a different location since all schools (like brains and bodies) are different… 
• Fun look at school culture – keeping it positive and not engaging in toxic behaviours which can be infection with how quickly and deeply it can spread. Especially with many ingrained cultures (eg toxic masculinity) being looked at a bit differently now – (eg no more ‘boys will be boys’ nor ‘don’t wear that because it will distract the boys’) … cultures based on inclusion can be challenging at times (why not just expel them and not have to continue working with them?? In the same way we don’t just fire people because we disagree with them…) antivirus leadership
• Great reminder that leading a school requires constant calibration… slow cooker metaphors rarely end well…
• Synthesis of accurately assessing the severity of challenges – not everything needs an immediate response – wait time is good for the classroom and goood for the school
• Differentiate problems vs battles… exercising the restraint muscle
• Costs of intervention AND non intervention
• Boundary leadership is a nice term, and I like the river metaphor used, because even rivers change the way they flow over the years
• Liminal spaces definitely led me to do some aside thinking of AI… personal screens… climate change… future of work… and the distortions fogs can enable\
• Trust the process more often than rushing the process…
• Ontological humility… 
• Subversive leadership…
• Balancing subtlety with direct action (Vygotsky or Occam?)
• Understanding unspoken messaging
• Calmness and stability = don’t panic (unless you see me panicking)
• Oooh: pressure and tectonic friction (I love Kevin’s metaphorical language!)
• WAIT: why am I talking (practicing silence aka wait time… as a leadership tool
• Gentle influence (don’t mistake kindness for weakness)
• Steps and missteps are both part of the journey forward!

Dear Kevin: one of my takeaways that I think Kevin will like (admittedly could be wrong) Ugh – my dad was a gardener (and principal) – the green thumb seemed to be causing me a rash… don’t like, but can appreciate, this metaphor. Hmm, what if we took a different view of weeds and embraced them, you know, much as we have with other invasive species like blackberries? I do like the reminder that some things (such as pruning) have to happen at the right time… but I wonder if we break apart our agricultural based systemic school structure and embraced more of a greenhouse (24/7/265) mindset if we might be able to better address and assess issues at different times, rather than seasonally… metaphors should lead to metaphors much as the right response to a good question… is another question!