Change...

Recently, I finished my next to last semester of course work for my doctorate in educational leadership. I also passed the School Leaders Licensure Assessment. I'm qualified, but not exactly certified. Once I finish this fall semester, and complete the paperwork, I'll be certified as a school administrator.

I have learned a great deal during my tenure as a doctoral student. I've learned that leaders are made, that change takes time and involves constant management, and as Andy Stanley so pointedly states, "direction determines destination."

Lots of things have captured my attention over the years, but what I've noticed about this journey is that there are those things that can reap rewards for you and those things that are detrimental to your success. My next steps in life are laid out before me, and I daily ask God to make the decisions easy for me to see.

I have applied for assistant principal jobs, I have begun evaluating whether to focus my dissertation study on directors of schools or on principals, and I am intensely evaluating the concepts set forth by Dr. Phil Schlechty, in his book Leading for Learning: How to Transform Schools into Learning Organizations.

I am very familiar with Peter Drucker's concept of the knowledge worker, and I want to capitalize on that principle as I begin to make modifications to my research design. The next six months of my life are going to be transformational for me as I enter into a new level of leadership, one that according to my Strengths Assessment from Buckingham and Clifton's Now, Discover Your Strengths is working with thoughts and ideas.

I am excited about the deepening of my capacity for leadership, and I hope that you'll share in my excitement by following me both here and on Twitter.