This is NOT a leadership book. If you want to be the leader of a growing, profitable business that positively impacts the lives of employees and clients, it'll take more than leveling up your capacity and capabilities as leader. It will require a leadership team of A-players who can work with you to create a vibrant, winning environment that cas.

“By deconstructing learning science and making the connection to technology, Hess and Saxberg have outlined key strategies for school leaders as they work to transform traditional practices in schools. Whether it is whole-school reform or targeted interventions, principals will be motivated to rethink or‘re-engineer’ the use of technology to optimize teaching and learning.” —Gail Connelly, Executive Director National Association of Elementary School Principals.

Bridge the achievement gap with proven strategies for student success Breakthrough Principals debunks the myth of the 'superhero' principal by detailing the common actions and practices of leaders at our nation's fastest-gaining public schools. Based on the authors' Transformational Leadership Framework, which they developed through in-depth study of more than 100 high-gaining, high-poverty schools, the book distills findings into a practical, action-focused plan for diagnosing school needs and implementing structures, systems and practices that accelerate student achievement. Brought to life by case studies of principals who have led dramatic gains in student achievement, the book is a how-to guide for increasing the quality of teaching and learning; improving school culture; attracting and supporting high-performing teachers; and involving parents and community to help students achieve. You'll learn how breakthrough principals make the school's mission a real part of both strategy and practice, and set up sustainable systems that support consistent, ongoing improvement. High-impact practices are organized into five broad categories: learning and teaching, school-wide culture, aligned staff, operations and systems, and personal leadership. The primary job of school leadership is to help students succeed. It begins with first recognizing and prioritizing areas of need, then finding and implementing the most effective solutions. Whether you work in a turn around environment, or want to make a good school better, this book will give you a set of concrete practices—illustrated through examples of real principals in real schools—that have been proven to work. Discover the primary drivers of student achievement Work toward the school's vision in staffing, operations, and systems Set the tone for all relationships and practices with good leadership Closing the achievement gap is a major goal of educational leadership, and principals are forever searching for viable methods that help them better serve their students. Breakthrough Principals unveils the details behind the success stories from across the nation to provide a roadmap to transformative gains.

Transform the Way You Lead! Leadership Rigor offers innovation in leadership through its breakthrough approaches for transforming the way you lead. The simple truth is that "how" you lead is the precursor to "what" you can achieve as a leader, yet it is often underestimated, dismissed, or not given a conscious consideration. In March 2014, Bersin by Deloitte published their latest Global Human Capital Trend Survey stating: Building leadership capability is by far the most urgent need for companies today... and companies see the need for leadership at all levels, in all geographies, and across all functional areas. In addition, this continuous need for new and better leaders has accelerated. Leadership Rigor views your development as a journey with a road map rather than a black-box mystery! It is both a practice and a philosophy designed to accelerate your leadership performance and productivity across the life cycle of your career. Already becoming a movement, Leadership Rigor prepares you to lead yourself, teams, and organizations. The essence of Leadership Rigor is creating "change-ready" leaders who can embrace challenges because they have the tools, models, and language to assess, structure, and facilitate aligned actions. They also have the mindset and emotional skills to lean into the change process despite its uncomfortable nature. By innovating on their preparedness first, these "change-ready" leaders are equipped to realize the growth in themselves and in their teams or organizations. Are you ready to take on your personal journey of Leadership Rigor?

Break through to your peak performance! Whether you're navigating your way on a new team, expanding your leadership role, or just trying to get heard in a meeting, you're facing the kind of workplace challenge we all run into sooner or later: you need a new performance. In Performance Breakthrough, Cathy Salit presents the revolutionary strategies that she's proven successful through over twenty years' experience custom-creating workshops for powerhouse clients including American Express, Nike, Coca-Cola, and DIRECTV. Artfully blending techniques from theatrical performance with the new science of performative psychology, Salit guides readers through forging new relationships guaranteed to yield greater success and satisfaction. Performance Breakthrough outlines proven techniques, including taking an emotional inventory; crafting new scripts for greater confidence, stronger relationships, and better outcomes; building ensembles; improvising; and listening -- really listening -- including accepting others' criticism and input. No matter what your challenge, Salit's innovative philosophy, case studies, practical exercises, and inspiring advice will help you deliver your own top performance.

For the last twenty-five years, Steve Ritter has helped professional sports teams, businesses, and community organizations create breakthrough results. Now, his groundbreaking tool, the Team Clock, is available to teams everywhere. The Team Clock gives teams a concise language they can use to communicate their journey. Your teams will learn how to harness the power of conflict, build trust without getting too comfortable, and go beyond existing limits to create new possibilities. Packed with compelling examples, both personal and professional, Team Clock will change the way you approach every team in your life.

Now is the time for Breakthrough Leadership This book was borne out of urgency. We face the consequences of a raging pandemic, coupled with an unprecedented call to end racial injustice. COVID-19 has exposed longstanding structural inequities, while at the same time offering a rare "breakthrough" opportunity to dismantle inequitable systems that have harmed our most marginalized students for generations. Breakthrough Leadership is rooted in moral courage and calls us to act upon a new discovery, or epiphany about a fundamental truth that challenges previous beliefs. While this book offers examples of schools that were "beating the odds" pre-COVID-19 as well as strategies for changing those odds in the future. Breakthrough Leadership also spotlights professionals now leveraging crises like this to shape local and national priorities toward a more equitable and healthy society for our children in order to: Create and sustain Equitable Learning Communities (ELCs) that are grounded in relational trust Establish comprehensive systems to ensure that all students thrive Implement cutting-edge principles of effective curriculum, instruction, and assessment including culturally responsive teaching, trauma-informed practice, and blended learning Meaningfully engage families and community Leadership from the classroom to the board room is needed to advance an agenda of equitable and successful outcomes for our students. The facts stakes couldn’t be starker. Good leadership saves lives both in pandemics, and in our profession. "The critical variable that determines whether or not our schools can respond adequately to the numerous challenges that they and their children face is leadership. . . This book is about the work of such leaders. In big cities, small towns, and rural areas, a small number of principals and superintendents are showing that progress can be made when leaders have the resourcefulness and courage to address equity challenges directly. The educational leaders profiled in this book have a clear sense of how to systematically build the capacity of teachers and schools to meet the needs of the students they serve. I urge other leaders to learn from them so that great schools that serve all children well, will be the norm, rather than the exception." ~Pedro Noguera "With all its devastation, COVID-19 also presents the opportunity of the century to transform the public education system that, to say the least, has become stalled and stagnant in the past 50 years. . . . Breakthrough Leadership makes a significant contribution to our next phase, which must be one of definable and targeted transformation of equity-based learning. ~Michael Fullan

Praise for Mike Russill, Vice-President, Retail, Sunoco Inc. Catherine Neville, President, Quality Management Institute Dan Plashkes, President, S&P Data Philip C. Brown, Senior Vice-President, Telebanking and Alternate Channels, Bank of Montreal Brenda Anderson, Executive Director, International Customer Service Association J.A. Sinex, III, Manager, Global Integrated Services Team, External Affairs, DuPont Breakthrough Customer Service Best Practices of Leaders in Customer Support "An impressive array of experts and industry winners provide a virtual road map through the major changes necessary to achieve real breakthrough customer service. A must-read for those determined to make great customer service a competitive edge!" "Breakthrough Customer Service scores a direct hit on how to differentiate a business through strategic customer service." "If companies implemented just a few of the great ideas found in this book, they would enjoy world-class leadership positions not only in their own industry, but across all industries." "A stimulating look across industries and channels, the way customers actually experience service, and a very useful way to identify breakthrough opportunities." "A great management tool, it provides real-world examples and effective solutions that can be applied to your business." "This book is must reading for companies that want to be more competitive. It provides businesses with thought-provoking solutions to consider in their quest for superior results."

Traditional team building doesn't work and hasn't for decades, if ever. Reimagine Teams highlights why and provides a clear roadmap to create effective teams that get breakthrough business results. Using a multitude of case studies describing decades of implementations, you will learn how teams around the globe achieved transformational business outcomes and culture change in 3-6 months. Reimagine Teams teaches how to be accountable and accomplish goals, and how leaders can develop high-performing, positive relationships that produce sustainable results for years to come. These teams are flexible, adaptable and pivot quickly in response to the never-ending changes in the business environment, such as new technology, societal transformation, and industry competition.

Turn Potential into Performance! Gallup Organization research has concluded that only 29 percent of employees are truly engaged in the work they do. That's like an engine running at less than one-third of its power! How can a team reach its potential, or even come anywhere close, with that level of engagement? Imagine the impact of injecting more passion into your team. Revised and enhanced from the popular first edition, Performance Breakthrough reveals the four secrets for creating a more passionate, productive, and profitable organization. This book's message is communicated in the form of a fictional story to help make these ideas real and implementable, as opposed to fuzzy concepts. That is augmented by valuable new case studies, summaries, checklists, and other tools that will help you create positive energy, find passion, and achieve your own Performance Breakthrough!