Vijay Manuel

There is a drastic difference between positional authority and leadership. I remember my first year of being a vice principal. I had the title but was exercising the accompanying responsibilities in a new school where very few people had ever even heard of me. In the beginning, much of my leadership clout was borrowed from any trust accumulated by the principal who had been there many years and chosen me to be his vice principal. Over the past 14 years, my formal leadership experience now extends to 5 schools (head, principal, vice principal), 2 churches (executive, music), and a 4 non-profit organizations (board member). Here’s a key piece of learning for me: When you begin in a ‘leadership’ role, you must recognize that it’s actually a positional-authority role. Until the people know and trust you, it will remain in that gear. To get to the next and limitless gear of ‘leadership’, your decisions and tangible practices must reflect something that is trusted by the peo...

I have loved working with the teams that I've been privileged to be a part of. Here's what I've learned about working within a team... so far. Good teams are good listeners. Poor teams are filled with talkers. Have you ever needed to talk about something and felt like you didn't have the opportunity to fully express yourself because the listener jumped in with their own thoughts too soon? Around the team table, it's important to Listen first, Process next, and then Share if appropriate. Good teams are filled with people that operate in this way. Poor teams have discussions where everyone is trying to get their own two-cents-worth in; each person is waiting for a pause so they can speak. This leads to a rapid-fire discussion that lacks wisdom and knowledge. Instead, it is filled with instant feedback that hasn't been processed or filtered. Things are easily said that speakers wish could be taken back; of course, they can not. Good teams are op...