in ways that are smart and sustainable. Readers will be empowered by Maia's practical insight on how to create effective systems that any leader can replicate and apply to their daily practice. The Together Leader is essential for central office leaders, principals, assistant principals, aspiring leaders, and principal supervisors, instructing them on how best to protect their time both personally and professionally.” – Michele Mason, executive director, Leadership Development, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
THE TOGETHER LEADER
Get Organized for Your Success – and Sanity!
Maia Heyck-Merlin
Copyright © 2016 by Maia Heyck-Merlin. All rights reserved.
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Acknowledgments
The Together Leader was a long time coming. And it would never have arrived without a ton of support. I certainly didn't invent the To-Do List, but I have been inspired and encouraged by many to share my own unique approach to Togetherness. Two Together and rapidly growing non-profits, Teach For America and Achievement First, collectively employed me for over a decade and let me observe, experiment and eventually train widely across both organizations while I was technically doing “other jobs.” So many people have invited me deep into their organizations, their schools, and even their homes to allow me to paint a rich picture of Together Leaders. And because of all of those observations, I've been able to curate and narrate effective practices back to you.
To the thousands of Together Leader workshop and webinar participants: thank you for sharing your stories, results, and passion. Every time I deliver a workshop, I'm reminded why we need so many more mission-driven leaders fighting the good fight. I'm especially grateful to organizations that have welcomed me in to share so much about their people and practices: The Achievement Network, TNTP, KIPP, the Relay Graduate School of Education, YES Prep, Achievement First, The Ewing Marion Kauffman School, Teach For America, Citizen Schools, and more. There are countless other organizations mentioned within the book, but the ones listed here tolerated my e-mails, visits, questions, and more over countless years. And a huge thank-you to the leaders I've coached who agreed to open the doors and share their tools, mind-sets, and routines throughout this text. There are too many of you to list individually but just know I have a spreadsheet and I'm thanking you all profusely. You've dealt with my requests for interviews, requests for documents, and requests for more interviews with grace and enthusiasm.
There are many pioneering authors on the topics of priorities, habits, rituals, energy, and productivity. To Tony Schwartz, Brigid Schulte, Tom Rath, Steven Covey, David Allen, David Levitan, and Laura Vanderkam: thank you for setting the stage, going first, doing the hefty research, and helping me apply your concepts to my particular sector.
I'm so grateful to those who have been brave (or unfortunate) enough to lead me: Antoinette Bienemy and Jim Geiser, my two principals; Jerry Hauser, Nicole Baker Fulgham, and Jeff Wetzler, my managers at Teach For America; Dacia Toll and Doug McCurry, my co-bosses at Achievement First. Thanks for consistently modeling why a leader needs to be Together.
Norman Atkins, Dan Konecky, Aaron Suffrin, the whole Relay GSE team, Jay Altman, and Mike Goldstein have always championed my work and served as wise mentors. I'm grateful to a team of professional supports, including Rusty Shelton and the entire team at Shelton Interactive, Lee Kirby, Nicole Garner, and Lee Weiner. We have been together for a long time now, and I'm grateful for your various areas of content expertise. Kate Gagnon and her wonderful team at Jossey-Bass supported this project from the very start. They joined me at workshops, refined the table of contents, ensured every ounce of text flowed smoothly and every image printed clearly.
Many people donated their most precious resource (their time) to read entire copies of this book. Allie Rogovin, you are the epitome of a Together Leader. Thank you for being my first cold reader. Trusted advisors Scott McCue, Randall Lahann, Kim Marshall, and Giselle Wagner brought their collective decades of leadership experience to offer wise feedback in the book's earliest stages. Genna Weinstein and Kate McCabe: thank you for serving as such trusted thought partners and consistently replying to my spazzy text messages. I also want to thank Kate Berger, Shawn Mangar, Erica Williamson, Chris Hines, Ron Gubitz, Emily Stainer, Maggie Goldstein, Sean Precious, and Amanda Cahn for being ever-available on the bat-phone; fellow author Elena Aguilar for being a source of practical advice and constant cheerleading in the home stretch; and many thanks to the countless others, too many to name, who gave input on the
