RG175 Blog

In an interview for school headship by a search committee, it is an exercise in futility to walk a candidate through their resume if you are trying to understand whether someone is ready for leadership. It is easy to fall into this trap. The resume is readily at hand – it is simple and obvious to ut... read more

There are several reasons why so many heads of school are being dismissed early in their respective tenures—declining enrollments, undisciplined boards of trustees, entitled and entrenched faculty, a disconnect between leadership style and the culture of the school, a failure to properly calibrate t... read more

Superlative Country Day School is looking for a new Head of School. There at the end of the “God-on-a-good-day” list of wished-for traits for its new leader is “sense of humor.” Really? Indeed, Superlative’s earnest search committee is serious about this list of traits, and they’re deadly serious ab... read more

In the rush to form a search committee, many board chairs fail to consider some important factors that can ultimately determine if the search is successful or not. When one considers that the selection of a new head of school and the subsequent management of the leadership transition is the most imp... read more

The relationship between a head of school and the board chair is often referred to as a marriage, and the analogy has some validity. You spend a tremendous amount of time together. Working in concert to lead and manage a school community is not unlike dealing with a large family, complete with share... read more

Sitting with an independent school board president and a head of school search committee chair a while back, I was asked, “What makes a search for a new head of school triumphant or tragic?” I asked them to clarify their terms a bit – what would constitute triumph or tragedy in their minds? Swift to... read more