Let me know if you’ve heard this story…Our schools are rich with stories. Stories about students, stories about faculty, stories about the school’s history. There are all kinds of stories! Sometimes the stories are the ones the school wants to tell, the ones the school promotes, the one the school wants everyone to hear. Sometimes, they are none of the above.  

As search consultants, when we visit a school for our Discovery Visit, we try to do just that. We try to discover everything we can to help us better serve the school. We want to hear all the stories: the good, the bad and the ugly. It helps us get to know the school and better understand what the school needs. It helps us formulate the qualifications and skills the school should look for in its next leader. It helps us help the school determine “best fit”.

A few months ago, I was on a Discovery visit at a school. The school was looking for a new Head. I had spoken to several adults in the community – administrators, faculty, staff and parents. Most gave the typical responses when we discussed what they were looking for in their next leader. Then I spoke to a few students and asked them, “What makes your school special? What are the stories you want to tell about your school?” One student told me the story of going to the grocery store one evening and running into the Head of School as he was leaving. The student had had a negative experience that day and although he didn’t mean to, he ended up telling the Head about it, in great detail. They ended up talking for an hour and the student noticed that the ice cream the Head had purchased was melting through the grocery bag. The student apologized for detaining the Head and told him he was sorry about the ice cream. The student said the Head responded, “This conversation is way more important than ice cream.”

This is a story that will not appear on the school’s website. It will not be written in the school’s newspaper, and it probably won’t be retold, but it is an important story nonetheless.

For anyone who knows me, they know I celebrate stories. I love hearing them, reading them, and occasionally, writing them. As a search consultant, I encourage schools to tell their stories. All of them.