Here’s a leadership test:

How far into your organization can someone make a good decision without asking you first?

If every important decision eventually comes back to you, you haven’t built leadership capacity.

You’ve built dependency.

Today, listen for:

“Can I…?”
“Should we…?”
“What do you want me to do?”

Before answering, ask:

“What do you think we should do?”

Sometimes the fastest way to develop another leader is to stop being so quick to lead for them.

Give one decision back today.

Experience is valuable.

So are the habits, decisions, and strategies that helped you get where you are.

Until they become the reason you stop growing.

What got you here may not get you there.

The next level of leadership may require you to stop doing something that once made you successful.

So ask yourself:

What am I still doing because it worked before—not because it’s what leadership requires now?

Growth often requires addition.

Sometimes it requires subtraction.

Identify one old habit your next level may require you to release.

A parent complains. You handle it.

A process breaks. You fix it.

A team member misses something. You step in.

Problem solved?

Maybe not.

If you keep solving the same problem, you haven’t solved the problem.

You’ve probably solved a symptom.

Today, take one recurring frustration and ask:

“What system underneath this problem is allowing it to keep happening?”

That question changes everything.

Our High-Performing School Systems Library™ was built for exactly this kind of work.

Bring the problem. Find the system. Know what to do next.

Explore the HPS Library.

You can accomplish a lot by yourself.

Work harder. Stay later. Solve more. Carry more.

But leadership changes the measurement.

You can be successful on your own. You cannot be a successful leader on your own.

Leadership requires other people to become better because you lead them.

So here’s today’s question:

Who is becoming a stronger leader because of your leadership?

Not simply following you.

Thinking better. Deciding better. Solving better.

Your capacity matters.

But leadership is about multiplying that capacity into others.

Identify one person you can intentionally develop this week.

Every school has them.

The person everyone goes to because they know how everything works.

We call them invaluable.

But there’s a danger when what they know lives only in their head.

Your best people should strengthen your systems—not become your systems.

Ask yourself:

If one of our key people left tomorrow, what knowledge, process, or capacity would leave with them?

Find one.

Document it. Teach it. Build it into the organization.

Great people create enormous value.

Strong systems make that value sustainable.

Identify one person-dependent process and begin documenting it.

There’s a version of you capable of leading at the next level.

But you don’t have to already be that leader to start becoming them.

Every significant season of growth in my life required me to do things I wasn’t completely ready for.

That’s leadership.

You don’t have to already be the leader you’re becoming.

Ask yourself:

What would the next-level version of me do differently today?

One conversation? One decision? One thing you finally delegate?

Don’t wait until you feel ready.

Take one step toward becoming that leader today.

Look at your calendar.

Is there any white space?

Or is every minute filled?

Meetings.

Calls.

Emails.

Problems.

A full calendar can make us feel productive.

Here’s the problem:

If every minute is scheduled, there’s no room for leadership.

When do you think strategically?

Notice emerging issues?

Coach someone?

Solve a small problem before it becomes a crisis?

Leaders need white space—not because there’s nothing to do, but because there’s too much that matters.

Protect 30 minutes today.

Put the phone away.

Close the laptop.

And ask yourself:

What am I too busy to notice?

The answer might be more valuable than your next meeting.

Don’t confuse activity with effectiveness.

Busy is not the same as effective.

Make today count!

You finished the presentation.

Everyone nodded.

Nobody asked a question.

Meeting over.

Successful communication?

Maybe not.

Here’s the problem:

Leaders often measure communication by what we said instead of what they understood.

Those aren’t the same thing.

Leave time for questions.

Then try something else:

Circle back 24–48 hours later.

Some of the best questions come after people have had time to process, discuss, and actually try what you asked them to do.

So don’t simply ask:

“Any questions?”

Ask:

“What’s still unclear?”

Then listen.

Communication isn’t complete when you’ve finished talking.

It’s complete when they understand.

Today, talk a little less.

Ask another question.

Listen a little longer.

Make today count!

Somewhere in your organization is someone who’s hungry.

Hungry to grow.

They’re asking questions.

Volunteering.

Seeking feedback.

Taking initiative.

Here’s the problem:

Leaders can spend so much time managing their most difficult people that their highest-potential people get whatever time is left.

Don’t make that mistake.

I have a rule:

Spend 60–80% of your development time with your top 20%.

Give hungry people resources.

Coach them.

Stretch them.

Give them meaningful responsibility.

Let them lead.

Then watch what happens.

Your best people get better—and eventually begin developing others.

That’s leadership multiplication.

Look around today.

Who keeps raising their hand?

Your next great leader may already be in your building.

Feed them.

Make today count!

One of the most powerful lessons Paul Martinelli has taught me is:

People crave certainty.

And when people don’t have information, they don’t leave the space empty.

They fill it.

With assumptions.

Fear.

Frustration.

And sometimes rumors.

That’s the problem with communication vacuums.

Especially during the opening weeks of school, communicate more, not less.

Repeat priorities.

Clarify expectations.

Explain decisions.

Celebrate progress.

And if you don’t have the answer?

Say:

“I don’t know yet, but here’s what I do know.”

You don’t need every answer to create certainty.

You need to be consistent, honest, and clear.

Your people don’t expect perfection.

They need clarity in the middle of complexity.

When in doubt, communicate.

Make today count!