Tag: leadership

Writing Tips for Leaders

Posted on by MichaelPortas

The dedication ceremony for the Gettysburg cemetery in 1863 included a keynote speaker, Edward Everett, who spoke for over two hours. Abraham Lincoln followed with an address that lasted two minutes. 

Writing is an intensely personal exercise in expression. Professional writing, however, needs to focus on your audience. While you don’t want to appear impersonal, your focus has to be on inviting your audience to engage with your message. My goal is to help writers apply the lesson from the Gettysburg Address to more successful communication experiences. Enjoy!

Know Thy Audience

Educational leaders need to write to meet the needs of myriad audiences with differing needs and attention spans. With every piece, remember this one critical truth: it’s not about you. If your audience isn’t engaged, your writing means nothing.

Stay Current

Language changes and so do grammatical conventions. Underlining went the way of the typewriter. So did the rule about two spaces after a period. Diaereses (reëvaluate) look cool but are essentially long gone, and we seem to have followed our germanic linguistic cousins in making compound words out of everything possible1. Roll with the changes.

White Space

Open up a book and look at a page that has a solid block of text with no paragraph breaks. Now, find a page that is loaded with dialogue. Which one looks more appealing? Our eyes and brains love white space and find it much more inviting. Knowing that, keep your paragraphs short, preferably 2-3 sentences long (yes, I know this one is 5).

Be Direct

A landscape design principle dictates paving the shortest path between where people exit their car and the main entrance. If you don’t, they’ll take that route anyway. As writers, pave the path you want people to take. If possible, add lights. Get to your point quickly. A related process tip is that the first two sentences of any first draft will be awful. Expect to revise them.

Stay Strong

Avoid progressive verb tenses; they end in –ing and suggest a lack of confidence. Instead, use active verbs in present and past tense as much as you can. Also, every verb in our language suggests action except to have and to be, so look to propel your language with other verbs whenever possible.

Be Clear & Concise

It doesn’t matter if you know what you’re saying if your audience does not. One tip is to challenge yourself to use a noun after the word this. Another is to apply Stephen King’s logic that “the road to Hell is paved with adverbs.” If you use effective verbs, adverbs are unnecessary; to wit, consider the difference between “he ran quickly” and “he sprinted.”

Never Say Never

Avoid absolutes and other forms of limiting language. Never, always, everybody, no one, and the like tend to overstate and are rarely, if not never, accurate.

Simplicity Is Good

If you don’t know how to use a semicolon, then don’t. And don’t worry about it; few others know anyway. Simple punctuation, including avoiding unnecessary apostrophes, and language that doesn’t require a thesaurus are particularly helpful in writing to a wide ranging audience.

“You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression”2

Starting a piece isn’t easy, but remember that a lost audience rarely returns. I largely inhabit the email world and have some tips borne out of positive and negative observations. Inspired by a board member who reminds me of her affinity for bullet points, here are some tips on salutations:

  • Begin with a salutation appropriate to the audience. Use “Dear” or, if you’d prefer to sound less chummy, “Good Morning.” Avoid “Hey” unless you want to sound chummy.
  • Identify the person to whom the email is addressed. This point of clarification helps when multiple people are cc’d on an email and helps identify which recipients should respond. As a superintendent who is cc’d on 8,675,309 emails per day, I appreciate knowing when I’m expected to take action or simply nod appropriately.
  • Punctuate correctly. A salutation of a more formal or rigid message should conclude with a colon. Otherwise, a comma is fine.
  • Never, ever open with “Greetings and salutations.” To expand on that, never. I mean it. Never.
  • Similarly, at the end, keep your signature brief. Guess who cares about most of the information listed after your name? Actually, don’t guess. It’s probably no one.

Break Rules Intelligently

I’m the youngest of three children who were born within 39 months3 so this principle of wise mischief has been the cornerstone of my existence, and it’s relevant to effective writing. Don’t use a fragment? Please. Can’t start a sentence with a coordinating conjunction? But it works. Just apply the paprika rule: a little can spice up a dish, but too much will ruin it.

It’s not really a rule, but I recommend having fun as well. Sometimes we have to write difficult messages or items that we just can’t phrase the right way. What’s helped me is to loosen up by taking a walk (get away from the piece), say out loud what you want to say and then jot some notes, and depend on the kindness of good colleagues (I have an English teacher friend who is fearless with his feedback). If your prose feels constipated, the reading experience will be similarly uncomfortable. I’m not going to extend that analogy, but will encourage you to relax and have an authentic voice. 

  1. My favorite is the Dutch verantwoordelijkheidsgevoel (sense of responsibility) ↩︎
  2. I’m pretty sure this line comes from an old Head & Shoulders commercial ↩︎
  3. Yes, we’re of Irish extraction ↩︎

Sand Castles & Struggle: A Leadership & Parenting Observation

Posted on by MichaelPortas

This entry, my first in a while, was inspired by a casual conversation with my wife while walking on the beach in the Outer Banks. It really did unfold as described and then just stuck in my head as I felt there was something much larger than sand castles going on. I ended up writing a lot of this in my head on the drive home a few days later, and am really excited to finally deploy the word shambolic. Enjoy!

My wife and I enjoy morning strolls on the beach, which sounds like a cheesy line but is true. We talk about a lot and, really, nothing much at all while we dodge beached jellies, scan the horizon for dolphins and observe people enjoying the sun and surf. In our conversations, my success rate in expressing opinions with which she disagrees is close to 70% and a recent warm Wednesday morning added to that. The topic? Sand castles.

I noted that we were seeing more sand castles that morning (agreed). I then added that it seemed like the builders were more parents than kids (quiet disagreement). I waited a few steps and then summoned the courage to say, “That’s really not a good thing,” which elicited outright disagreement.

She’s a teacher so she’s well versed in the “I-do, we-do, you-do” continuum and countered that the parents were just being nice and helping their kids.

But in taking over the work, are they truly helping their kids? In the long run, I don’t think so.

I contend that our children’s construction skills, no matter how shambolic they might be today, should be reflected in what they produce. Their labor might not inspire passersby to gasp in amazement and take pictures, and might even dissuade you from snapping a few shots to post on social media, but at least the sand castle will reflect their work authentically.

For perspective, I’ve long advocated for the 10-and-10 Rule by which no school project can require more than $10 spent at Michael’s or 10 minutes of parent labor. When our kids were little, I also made it a point to compliment my wife on how much her work improved on dioramas she crafted for third son. I got away with the irony, but still believe that life has taught us that we learn by doing. More importantly, we learn by experience, which tends to consist of the mistakes we learn from.

On the beach, I took a gentle swipe about how our aspiring sand castle builders are being denied opportunity by well-intentioned parents and wanted to craft an argument based on a syllogism, which is that if A=B and B=C, then A=C.

My A=B logic is that struggle builds strength. The B=C is that we want our kids to become strong. Where the equation and explanation get a little messy and drift into applying negation, is that if we don’t want our kids to struggle, then we don’t want them to build strength. That’s problematic. Not intentional, but problematic.

Instead of framing that argument, I elected instead to read the room/beach and my audience, and opted to pivot: “So the Red Sox game was really exciting last night.” The experience of 26 years of marriage has taught me to cut bait.

Truthfully, I don’t care about sand castles, but am looking at a bigger picture of mindset and agency. I submit to you that we do well by allowing our children or the people we lead to endure the messy early stages of developing their skills. Be there as the safety net and provide a helping hand, but let them grow by doing the work to their own ability and vision. As they endure, we can guide them to become more durable and confident, and, ideally, celebrate in the brilliant sand castles they can eventually create.

Leadership: Presence

Posted on by MichaelPortas

This 4th entry in the Leadership thread, Presence, addresses a social concern (phone distraction) that has made its way into the workplace. As with any apparent negative, the temptation of the distraction (tuning out real life) can be spun into a positive (assert your focus by locking into the moment). As an author’s note, this entry underwent a significant revision after I read an article that asserted that flowers are more beautiful because their bloom does not last. Enjoy!

“Wherever you are, be there.” – Attributed to many

We live in the age of distraction. While life has always been full of distractions, we now have them condensed into a handheld device that grants access to just about everything you can imagine. It’s easy to be seduced to scroll, search or send, and essentially escape the moment.

And therein lies a problem. No moment lasts forever. Every experience is fleeting and has potential, and that potential doesn’t wait.

Most of our experiences are destined to be ordinary. Realistically, everything we do can’t be memorable, but all those fleeting moments could lead to something, whether a new awareness, something strikingly beautiful, or just pretty cool. So why lose that to checking your phone (unless you’re reading one of my posts, then it’s a good idea).

It is not uncommon to have your phone out in a meeting, and social graces have evolved to the point at which that is frequently considered acceptable. Leaders, and I suspect all of us, feel like they’re on call perpetually, so the concession to having phones out makes sense. 

The challenge, however, in a meeting, over a meal or during a conversation is to resist the temptation to check out the likes on your social media post, or the injury updates for your fantasy football team, or to send a humorous meme to someone who probably has also checked out. The pull of all those distractions is strong, but in this context, true leaders define themselves as being present in the moment.

In full disclosure, I cannot multitask and don’t bother trying to do so. There are loads of arguments on the topic of multitasking, but all research seems to agree on one point: we can only truly concentrate on one thing at a time. 

Yes, we can manage several things simultaneously, some to a better extent than others (school secretaries are generally the most apt, while this author could conceivably be the most inept), but that level of focus becomes compromised as more things pull from our attention. When on a call or in a meeting, or any situation in which there is an expectation to be responsive, leaders should determine whether they are simply there or truly present. 

It’s not hard to detect those who have checked out as they will need things repeated or clarified, miss conversational cues, fail to follow up on topics addressed in the meeting or on the call, or smirk while looking at their own crotch (never a good look). Considering that educational leaders are constantly modeling what we want from our staff and students, none of those outcomes should be viewed in a positive light.

We have experienced some variation of this scenario: you’re meeting with a staff member in your office, the phone rings, you both stop for a moment and look at each other. What do you do? There’s not a hard-and-fast correct answer, but in that moment, you can define your level of presence by telling the staff member that the call can wait. 

Of course if someone from the office staff tells you it’s urgent (we apply the “bleeding or burning rule” – if someone is bleeding or something is burning, interrupt), that changes things. Otherwise, you gain a lot of currency by reinforcing to that other person that they are the most important person in your professional world, at least for that moment.

Overall, the image we convey with our presence will determine how our leadership is received. Much of that demands that we lead with empathy and embrace contradictions (appearing strong yet vulnerable, juggling the competing needs to be firm and flexible). But to engender real followership, we need to demonstrate that we are genuine and that wherever we are, we are truly there with the people who count on us to be exceptional.
Vision Statement: Be present.

Leadership: How Leading Is Like Driving (Safely)

Posted on by MichaelPortas

The third entry in the Leadership thread of my Vision Statements series, How Leading Is Like Driving (Safely), develops an analogy that connects two of life’s great challenges: leading and driving. The structure of this post applies audience input (some of my readers really like short, quick points) and reflects the fun of developing an a-ha recognition. Enjoy!

Leadership, like life, is similar to driving: you need to check the rear view mirror to be mindful of what is behind you, but need to focus primarily on what lies ahead through the windshield.

I first thought of that little kernel of wisdom while I was out running, and was so proud of my spasm of brilliance that I left a breathless voice memo on my phone. Before I could anoint myself as the smartest person ever, however, a quick Google search revealed that others had apparently made the same analogy. 

Sigh.

Still, I was inspired by how the image captured the mindset of being in the moment while also considering the twin needs of looking ahead to the future and staying aware, though not fixated, on the past. I set to work generating the structure of this entry and was particularly jazzed to employ this driving extended metaphor as a relatable speaking point. And then I sat down to write the first draft. 

It wasn’t good. 

I couldn’t get the ideas flowing beyond what I felt was a strong opening paragraph. So I thought about it more, looking through the proverbial windshield at what else could connect driving to education leadership. Here’s what I realized:

  • When in unfamiliar areas, drivers need some type of navigation to guide them. In this sense, even the person in control needs support.
  • Building on the navigation point, drivers need to appreciate that there are myriad routes to most destinations. Leaders need to be flexible to consider that multiple possibilities can get you to the place you need to be.
  • This might be a byproduct of living and driving in North Jersey, but most danger is incurred by the carelessness of others. Educational leaders need to be prepared to clean up the messes created by others, and to treat each near miss or actual collision as an opportunity for growth and learning for themselves and the staff members involved. The problem in both driving and leading is that we don’t always know where the driver of torment is coming from; with experience, we become better equipped to anticipate likely incidents, but will still get blindsided at times.
  • If you engage in road rage, there is really only one logical outcome that can ensue, and it’s a bad one. The message here is to keep your cool and look to what outcome you hope to achieve. Screaming and carrying on have been proven to be remarkably ineffective in the long run; however, the leaders who remain calm and maintain perspective when somebody cuts them off or otherwise encroaches in their lane are less likely to engage in the workplace equivalent of a high stakes tit-for-tat that jeopardizes the safety of everyone.
  • Since I mentioned it, the phrase of staying in your lane doesn’t completely work in educational leadership. Sometimes we have to depart our lane to pitch in as needed, but it is also important to know your role and fulfill it without stepping on other people’s toes.
  • American writer Anne Lamott made a great point about how writing is a lot like driving at night in that you can only see as far as your headlights can project but still have an idea of your ultimate destination. Leading in an educational environment is similar. Rare is the day that goes according to plan, or the week that leaves you saying “Boy, that sure was predictable” on Friday. Know where you want to take your team, and stay the course even if you can’t see exactly how you’re going to get there.
  • Take breaks. Truck drivers have to keep logs and are limited in the hours that they can drive for good reason. We’re much more accident prone when we’re drained, and the greatest mistakes can often be attributed to tired minds and bodies. Give yourself permission to step out of the car sometimes and stretch your legs. It is noble to have great stamina and drive, but that doesn’t typically endure for the long run.
  • Be safe. Driving too fast is dangerous. Likewise, driving too slow can be equally hazardous. Adapt according to the conditions and assess how much risk can be sustained. There is risk inherent to every type of movement, and there is healthy risk that can lead to reward. So maybe this point would be better made as “be safe and be smart.”

Thanks for reading. Drive carefully and lead fearlessly! And have fun.

Vision Statement: Be the driver who moves things forward, but do so responsibly and intelligently. And sometimes bulleted statements do the trick.

Leadership: Accountability & the Diffusion of Responsibility

Posted on by MichaelPortas

This 5th installment of my vision statement series is the 1st in the Leadership thread. Accountability & the Diffusion of Responsibility focuses on the natural tendency of people not to take action when they are in a group and can look for someone else to step up. My challenge to leaders is to move counter to the sheeple and be the one to act. Enjoy!

“The New York Times published an article indicating that 38 people witnessed the murder of Kitty Genovese, but none took action.”

The social phenomenon of the diffusion of responsibility essentially dictates that the more people there are who can take action, the less likely it is to get done. In other words, if one person witnesses an incident, that person is likely to take action. If there are 30 witnesses, the odds diminish significantly.

As with anything in life, these are not hard and fast rules, but you have likely observed a version of the phenomenon at some point in your experiences. One of the more famous examples is the murder of Kitty Genovese in New York in 1964. 

While the New York Times article that reported that no one took action has been largely debunked, the truth remains that if someone had had the courage and leadership to take charge of the situation, she more than likely would have survived the attack.

Leaders define themselves by their willingness to step forward and take responsibility. There are certainly situations in which there is great comfort in staying in the shadows or hanging in the rear, but those are also the situations in which those who you expect to follow you most need for you to assert your role. 

Acting fearlessly does not mean that leaders lack fear; rather, it means that they put aside that fear for the sake of supporting those who depend on them. If it means taking a few hits to protect your stakeholders, so be it. The difference between the average person and a leader is determined by who steps up to initiate action.

Leaders are also able to recognize the perils of the dreaded Sheeple Effect, which I can define easily with a personal anecdote. My wife and I were in Kohl’s with our children, who were very young at the time, and an alarm sounded, presumably from a smoke detector. 

As people around us stood still with bewildered expressions, and looked at each other for guidance on what to do next, we began to make our way towards the exits. We never exited the store (false alarm announced when we were at the door), but when my wife asked me why so many people didn’t move, my response was “They’re sheeple.” 

As leaders, you have the ability to change the course that others will follow. If there is a shoddy resource or practice in place because “that’s what we’ve always used/done,” someone needs to step forward to intervene. Sure it’s easy to stay the course and not risk being chastised for implementing something different that might not work, but that alternate resource or practice that might fail could also produce the benefit of improving the experiences of our students and the staff who provide for them.

In breaking the ranks of the sheeple, leaders do run the risk of incurring blame for decisions that are not perfect in their outcomes. Fine. Keep in mind that assigning blame is a generally stupid and evasive act, and often done by those who aren’t willing to accept responsibility. True leaders can further define themselves by demonstrating a willingness to accept and even embrace accountability. 

If things go well, credit those who work with you. Deflect praise. 

If things don’t go well, take the hit. Accept the criticism, but don’t allow it to be a terminal point. Instead, without excuses or apology, express that you will work to ensure that things improve. 

It stinks to be the lightning rod, but that’s the leader’s role. Your willingness to step in front of conflict also usually helps to engender loyalty and support, and encourages others to be willing to take smart risks without the fear of being undermined.

Ultimately accountability boils down to how someone embraces one of these two options: giving excuses or getting results. One is certainly preferable, and the hallmark of successful leaders. 

A relentless focus on results, which are sometimes simply incremental gains, helps to prevent getting trapped in the quicksand of productivity, which is excuse making. 

Success demands outcomes, and those positive results demand recognition as well as celebration with those responsible for the accomplishment. Recognizing how that work bore fruit should employ inclusive language (the pronouns we and us go a lot farther than do you and I) and commend the efforts of those who followed your lead. 

Here the leader might find comfort withdrawing into the shadows to allow the team to bask in the spotlight, all while quietly knowing that the group’s attainment reflects that someone provided leadership. Someone needs to take that first step towards success. That’s leadership.

Vision Statement: Most people are comfortable being bystanders. Leaders are not most people.

Mindset: Pathological Correctness

Posted on by MichaelPortas

My 4th entry in the Mindset category of Vision Statements, Pathological Correctness, employs some self-deprecating humor to call attention a behavior and mindset that, unfortunately, is not terribly uncommon. Hopefully this post stimulates some awareness and even more so, self-awareness. Sure we all like to be correct. But all the time? At what cost? And maybe two people can have differing opinions and both be correct. Enjoy!

“I was wrong.” -Mike Ness

Few things more effectively destroy a conversation or a relationship than pathological correctness. Even worse, most (if not all) practitioners are oblivious to their condition, and miss the wreckage left in the wake of their smug satisfaction and need to always be right.

Simply defined, pathological correctness is the condition in which individuals have the obsessive need to always be correct. Always.

As is the case with any obsession, pathological correctness is not a healthy condition, nor is it generally intentional. It is, however,  pointless and worse than useless. 

If you are worried that I might be talking about you, here’s the test. Consider any disagreement with someone in your personal world, and pass it through the “What do I want out of this?” test. If the answer is that you just want/need to be right, and that seems valid, maybe stop reading now. But if your thinking is that sometimes it’s best to cut bait on the argument, or better yet employ silence, or even say the remarkably disarming “I didn’t think of that,” read on.

What applies to your personal existence is certainly relevant to your professional life. An effective leader needs to recognize that outside of elementary arithmetic there are few instances in life  in which there is one right answer. Rather, most situations involve a degree of sophistication, appreciation of perspective and the ability to step back to consider why other people think the way they do. In this context, different does not mean better, nor does it mean worse. Simply, it means different.

Applying an awareness of pathological correctness demands that you silence your ego and perhaps employ a degree of self-deprecation. If you are involved in an argument, detach yourself from emotion and view the situation through a wide lens to determine the outcome that you hope to achieve. Again, ask “What do I want out of this?”

If your goal is to change someone’s mind to your way of thinking, I would recommend setting the bar lower. If your goal is to make your position clear and to understand the other person’s perspective, there’s hope. 

As parents, educators and leaders, sometimes we need to make unpopular decisions, which explains part of why effective parenting/teaching/leadership do not appeal to everyone. You are not going to sway someone from a passionately held belief nor do you need to “agree to disagree” (there is no consent required to stand by different beliefs). Instead, it is critical to listen, respond and understand. Take notes on what the other person is saying and clarify that you get what they’re saying, but have a different take on the situation. 

Situational awareness is critical to avoiding unnecessary escalation of a disagreement. As parents, we tend to advocate for our kids (my boys are likely shaking their heads if they read this) and probably have no interest in being told that we’re wrong; as an administrator, I have to advocate for all kids, as well as the program, school and district that I represent. 

Leaders do not need to change a parent’s mind nor should they try to prove that one side is right. They do need to recognize and appreciate the perspective of the person on the other side of the phone, and respect that few things make us more irrational than our kids.

It’s important to maintain that culture of calm, which also helps us to convey our perspective. Experienced parents/educators/leaders understand that your first exception is generally your biggest mistake, and I have certainly learned that the hard way in those roles. This concept can be explained to those who disagree with you, whether colleague, parent, student or other partner in education, but only if there is a tenor of mutual respect rather than a zero sum struggle for absolute correctness.

In short, if you tell people that they are wrong, you are guaranteed to raise their hackles and endure a sensationally unproductive interaction. Let’s avoid that. Instead, embrace difference in a culture of civility and mutual respect, and expect a more positive interaction. It’s ok to disagree. It can actually be incredibly productive.

Having the self-awareness and intellectual discipline to cast aside the desperate need to be correct will not ensure that all interactions are productive, but can certainly help limit the frequency and intensity of frustration and conversational futility. 

And, speaking from experience, it’s quite a relief to let go of the need to be right all the time.

Vision Statement: You’re not always right. Focus on listening and considering rather than stubbornly insisting, and be mindful of that trait in others.