Happy Friday Reader

Episode 151 went out this week. And I did something I probably should have done a long time ago. I properly introduced myself.

If you’ve been here a while, you might have the same experience as a lot of my readers and listeners. You know the podcast, you’ve heard the conversations, but you’re not entirely sure what I actually do on a Tuesday morning. So this week felt like the right moment to fill that in.

Here’s the short version.

Education Leaders is three things now: the podcast (151 episodes and counting), a community for school leaders who want to think alongside people who genuinely get what the job feels like, and an academy where I spend most of my working time. That includes direct work with schools on leadership development and organisational change, and online programmes like the Education Leaders Intensive.

There’s also a second organisation that most people don’t know about. It’s called the Work Collaborative, a not-for-profit I co-founded with my co-author Efraim Lerner. Its mission is restoring organisational confidence in schools. The idea that schools should trust their own expertise, lead their own change, and stop outsourcing their thinking to the next external initiative that comes through the door. That one I care about deeply.

What I didn’t expect, when I sat down to record this week’s episode, was how much I’d reflect on the fact that none of this was planned. There was no grand vision. I started because I wanted better conversations. The rest grew from conviction, not strategy.

I think there’s something in that worth sitting with if you’re a school leader. The things that actually stick rarely start with a perfect plan.

​Episode 151 is out now. I’d love to know how you found the show.

And if any of this is new to you — welcome. Glad you’re here.

Shane

P.S. Two new courses are arriving soon through the academy: one on demystifying data in schools with Chris Scorer, and one on leading neurodiversity with Sarah Battersby. More on those very shortly.