Nice Guys Finish Last

I shared this article from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern about leadership with Mark and Judy of Triangle Associates, the co-facilitators of the NAIS Fellowship for Aspiring Heads week in Atlanta that was so inspiring and transformative for me this summer. It has an interesting take on the idea of personal dominance and projection that is incorporated into the SymLOG tool, which I wrote about last month. This idea came up for me again this week when I was writing a column for next week's NewsNotes, and I was told to "toot my own horn" more in terms of my work with faculty and my role in the school. I am simultaneously very reluctant to do so - a reluctance heightened by my awareness that I can sound arrogant and condescending - with an understanding that there are times when I need to assert my vision and understanding of a situation within my role as a school leader. It's a workout for me to be able to be assertive without being aggressive, and to be directive when I prefer to be democratic!