Some things are best told and understood by using a story. The Bible calls them “parables.”

I often hear that my books are unique in that I provide the readers with useful case stories. Based on my many years of experience focused on independent school leadership and governance, I share many true stories and scenarios that serve to creatively demonstrate a specific issue or challenge faced by the head and board. While these stories reflect actual events and circumstances, they are designed to point to a particular school or individual. The point of these case stories is for readers to identify with situations which they know have happened or could happen. The truth is revealed in the legitimacy of each scenario. And the questions for discussion are designed for heads and boards to gain additional insight by discussing the questions and how they might apply to the school. The poignance of what I describe in the stories rings true and hits home. I see it time after time. My passion is to help school leaders avoid both the pesky and the catastrophic.

All of us can put ourselves in someone else’s shoes and especially when someone is giving you that opportunity while telling a story you immediately relate to and embrace.  I believe strongly in the power of a story to relate basic truths and convey a simple, profound truth. Stories provide “real world” context for what board members, board chairs, and heads of school face every day in schools all around the country. Few schools are immune from the principles that are shared through the stories. Though you may not be experiencing a particular situation at a particular moment, a story can help you grasp and retain a “lesson learned” long after the reading.

I am committed to helping school leaders recognize the value and importance of best practices and encourage them that working together will yield the results that  results that uncorrected and poor leadership practices can bring about. Healthy Boards-Successful Schools was developed to offer real support, encouragement, counsel, and guidance at times of need, and also at those times that surface every day, month, and year; when its time to identify board members, plan retreats, and do the meaningful work of independent and faith-based schools.

Let’s all begin implementing best practices throughout our schools; beginning with our governing boards.

Copies of Healthy Boards-Successful Schools can be ordered at www.williamrmottphd.com.