Leadership+Is+Not+A+Solo+Act

Leadership is not a solo act!
//Viewing leadership as a group activity linked to practice rather than just an individual activity linked to a person helps match the expertise we have in a school with the problems and situations we face.// **Thomas Sergiovanni**

//It is time to let go of the myth of the charismatic individual leader who has it all figured out. No single person can unilaterally bring about substantive change in an organization.// **Marzano & DuFour** "Leaders of Learning" 2011

//In the thousands of cases we've studied,we've yet to encounter a single example of extraordinary achievement that didn't involve the active participation and support of many people. We've yet to find a single instance in which one talented person - leader or individual contributor - accounted for most, let alone 100 percent, of the success. Throughout the years, leaders from all professions, from all economic sectors, and from around the globe continue to tell us, "You can't do it alone." Leadership is not a solo act; it's a team performance....The winning strategies will be based upon the "we" not"I" philosophy. Collaboration is a social imperative. Without it people can't get extraordinary things done in organizations.// (**Kouzes & Posner,** 2003, p.22)

When **Kouzes** & **Posner** (2010) asked thousands of people who had the greatest influence on their lives, teachers were second only to parents. The wrote, //"If you're in a role that brings you into contact with youg people on a regular basis - say a parent, teacher, coach, or counselor - keep this observation in mind. Someone is looking to you right now for leadership//" (p.10).

//When you talk about school improvement, you are talking about __people improvement__. That is the only way to improve schools, unless you mean painting the buildings and fixing the floors. But that's not the school: it is the shell. The school is the people, so when we talk about excellence or improvement or progress, we are really talking about the people who make up the building.// **Ernest Boyer** (quoted in Sparks, 1984, p. 35)

//Public schools are being asked to do more with less for an increasingly more needy clientele.// **Larry Lezotte**