"Leading from the Middle"

reactions to the above discussion from the following webtext: http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/community/chair/membership/July2006TipsandTools.pdf.

"Joseph Badaracco, author of Leading Quietly, distilled 150 case studies into simple guidelines for leaders. Badaracco’s descriptive strategies like, “Buy a Little Time,” “Bend the Rules,” and
“Nudge, Test, Escalate Gradually” are the daily mantra of post-secondary leaders. These leadership practices are quiet, modest, behind-the-scenes—persuasive and effective. Badaracco’s research points out that quiet leaders practice restraint, modesty, and tenacity."

As a Composition Director, I lead from the middle. I nudge, test, escalate gradually toward change, toward improvement, toward consistency, toward excellence. I do not lead my department, but I lead its most important course. The course that comes into contact with more students. The course at the heart, at the middle of the institution. I am not behind-the-scenes, but underneath them, leading up and out. I am tenacious but quiet, active but restrained, visionary but modest.

"Pull the Weeds Before You Plant the Flowers"

comments on the this article by Douglas Reeves in the September 2006 issue of Educational Leadership from the DISC perspective:

Ds--> "Forget the weeds. We don't have time to pull them. Plant the flowers NOW!"
Is--> "But what about the weeds? Yes, we need to plant the flowers, but what can we learn from the weeds first? Weeds have feelings too, you know."
Ss--> "What is the best process for pulling the weeds and planting the flowers? Let's be consistent in our treatment of both, ok? Slow and steady."
Cs--> "We will only plant the flowers when we fully understand why we have weeds!"

Update

I had my first meeting with my mentor last week. We reviewed my IPDP and set up monthly meetings for the Fall 2006 term. I have already accomplished and assessed many of my leadership objectives for this year. Wow. I now just need to spend more time writing and reflecting in this blog. I have some topics that I want to discuss; now, I just need to find the time.