Chapter 7 - Moving Through Chaos

“Leaders learn by doing – they learn where there are challenges, where the task is unprogrammed, where the job is being done for the first time.” (Bennis, pg 134) I agree that leaders learn by doing, but I don’t think there is a need to re-invent the wheel. In this quote is says “where the job is being done for the first time”, but in education it is easy to see that there are successful schools so often time it may be the first time the principal is actually doing the job, but not he first time a job like this has been done. We even have data that compares like schools, from this we should in fact “learn by doing and collaborating”. I know that this is a little off the mark of what this chapter is about but it is something that I feel is very important and clearly stated in my mission.
The chapter also talks about learning to lead. The ability of a leader to develop a mission/vision and create a culture to support it. I think the guest speaker Mr. Erpelding really illustrated this idea wonderfully. His tips on how he came into a school and created a culture were very interesting and clearly showed how a leader learns to lead. He also touched on the idea of learn by doing, by allowing students and staff to try out their ideas. Not only is he learning by doing as a leader, but also allowing students and staff to also learn by doing. This chapter motivated me to seek out leadership opportunities in my everyday. These experiences will give me the ability to learn about myself.