I was the keynote speaker to kickoff the 2023-2024 School Year for The North Central Ohio Educational Service Center Administrative Retreat 2023. Wow! What a fantastic group of leaders and phenomenal organization!

It was an honor to speak at The North Central Ohio Educational Service Center Administrative Retreat 2023 in Tiffin, Ohio this August to kickoff the school year with these amazing educational leaders. As an educator I always felt the praise from students and families for my work in the classroom; I am not certain that is quite the same for administrators. They work long hours and the messages they receive are too often urgent and not always as positive. Still, without a doubt, educational leaders such as principals, assistant principals, superintendents and all of the various Director roles are 100% needed and positively impact the lives of everyone in the district. If they are doing their job well, they aren’t getting the spotlight and their positions are probably misunderstood because they are intentionally directing the recognition to teachers and others. In many ways our educational leadership teams are the unsung heroes.

It is for those reasons and many more, that it is such an honor to be a keynote speaker to them. To give them the praise, recognition and acknowledgment they really do need, but do not seek. In my presentation, I try to get them to laugh and have some lighthearted look at the zaniness but importance of their work, and to keep them aligned to their true calling: to make a difference in the lives of children. Educational leaders clear roadblock for teachers, so teaches can do their best work. They create learning environments so everyone can do their best work.

It was a privilege to speak to these leaders to kickoff their year, acknowledge their work, inspire and help set the stage for their best year yet.

Educational Service Center kickoffs  are particularly inspiring because of the opportunity for people across the area to meet, share, inspire and network solutions to our greatest challenges. Sometimes they don’t get to see each other in person very often.

This conference was memorable because I got to see some familiar faces I have not seen in a long time. Wow, does time fly. So many amazing leaders. I even had lunch with a team from Richwood Schools.

Everyone at this Administrative Retreat was able to choose one of my two books to take home with them for free. I signed a lot of copies of Along Came a Leader and Unthink Before Bed. That was really fun. I also got to meet BASA’s spokesman on legislative updates.