There is an unprecedented need for effective leadership at all levels in our public education system due to higher expectations, demands for improved results, changes in students’ lives, technology, increased competition, extensive legislated mandates, and ever-expanding knowledge and access to it.

Current organizations, resources and programs are not sufficient, nor are they particularly focused on or effective at responding to this need.

The challenge is not only one of improving the development of current district and school leaders, but also one of being prepared to support the successful development and introduction of new leaders to replace as many as 40-50% of current superintendents and school principals who are retiring over the next five years.

An “out of the box” dynamic organization dedicated to collaborating with public education systems is needed to respond to this leadership development challenge.

In order for our “education reform” efforts to achieve the desired impact, we must dramatically increase our focus, investment, and commitment of resources and time in the development and support of effective local level leadership.

Central to this leadership development issue is the concept of renewal — of energy, hope, beliefs, possibilities, and mental models.

We believe it is important to distinguish leadership from management or administration, the more common term in public education. Zaleznik and Kotter provide comparisons delineating the differences between the two domains of education leaders:

M A N A G E M E N T Tried and proven way of doing things Doing things right Persistence, tough mindedness, hard work, intelligence, tolerance and good-will, responsive to ideas, rational, tinkerers Passive attitude toward goals Work within what people think is desirable, coordinate, and balance Conservative problem solver Maintain existing relationships and order Works within the existing culture	L E A D E R S H I P Taking of risks and striking out in new directions Doing the right things Vision, imagination, transforming conflict into broader goals and commitment, shapers of ideas, emotional, breakthrough Personal and active attitude toward goals Change the way people think about what is desirable Open issues for new options, create excitement in work Changes relationships and structures Works to change existing culture
M A N A G E R S Do things right Cope with complexity Planning and budgeting Organizing and staffing Controlling and problem solving	L E A D E R S Do the right things Cope with change Setting direction Aligning people Inspiring and motivating
Both sources acknowledge that all executives, managers or administrators have both management and leadership aspects of their work. These are seen as complimentary aspects in their organizational roles. Kotter points out though that what research has shown is that as the pace of change in organization increases the need for leadership also increases. Our position is that improving the leadership capabilities and capacities is critical to the future of local schools and school districts in these demanding and challenging times of school change.
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* This is excerpted from an article by Abraham Zaleznik in the Harvard Business Review, May-June, 1977