It’s Professional Development Season! Our Summer Institute workshops are heating up, and other ISM leaders are preparing for Advancement Academy and the Business and Operations Academy. Still, we know many readers won’t have the opportunity to join us on the East Coast for in-person education and networking. In the interest of including you in the professional development festivities, The Source asked the ISM Consultants for book recommendations for your personal edification this summer.
The Ajax Dilemma: Justice, Fairness, and Rewards
by Paul Woodruff
When this book was recommended to us, we blinked at the title. “Ajax Dilemma?” What did that have to do with anything?
For anyone who needs a quick refresher on Greek tragedies like we did, Ajax was a loyal soldier who had served the Greeks his entire life and was subservient to Odysseus, the mastermind strategist who came up with the Trojan horse concept that won the Trojan War. They both had equal claim to a spectacular suit of armor. Agamemnon, the king, declared that they would hold a contest for the suit of armor. Skill won out over loyalty, and Odysseus was granted the armor. Cue Ajax’s feeling of betrayal and despair; he committed suicide, after going on a rampage through the middle of the Grecian war camp.
At the heart of this tale lies the central question of The Ajax Dilemma. Who should be rewarded in an organization: The person who leads the troops and strategizes for victory, or the people who do the grunt work to make the vision come to life?
Several ISM Consultants say that Woodruff’s book should be required reading for all those who must balance their responsibilities as both managers and leaders. Recognizing and grappling with the dilemmas of these occasionally opposed administrative roles is critical if both sets of responsibilities are to be acknowledged and dealt with effectively.
Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization
by Dave Logan & John King
In each organization, Logan and King’s analogy begins, there are dozens of different “tribes”— separate groups of people responsible for different tasks. People work within their tribes and between them, joining together and breaking apart as responsibilities (and internal politics) require. Schools are particularly apt settings for the “tribal leadership” analogy, and this book can help teach your school how to manage both the tribe that you lead and how it interacts with the broader “nation” of the school community.
Beyond Measure: Rescuing an Overscheduled, Overtested, Underestimated Generation
by Vicki Abeles
This updated book from the director of the 2010 educational documentary Race to Nowhere offers a research- and anecdotally based argument for the failure of the current educational paradigm. It dives into how students are being pushed toward “rigorous” academic paths that ultimately lead, well, nowhere.
But Beyond Measure doesn’t end with simply further exposing the problem thoroughly outlined in documentaries and previous books. Its primary mission is to present concepts and systems that have quantifiably positive impacts on student performance through seemingly counterintuitive teaching and evaluation methods.
While ISM doesn’t agree with everything in this book, particularly its assertion that later school start times benefit students in the long-term, it’s a solid call-to-arms with an equally powerful call-to-action that should be read by every private school administrator.
The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies
by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee
We have discovered a book that optimistically synthesizes the advances of technology with the need to progress society, rather than decrying the coming of the “I, Robot” era!
Perhaps that’s a bit hyperbolic, but The Second Machine Age is nonetheless a refreshing take on an old theme of “modern technology changes everything.” It’s a discussion about how to handle the inevitable change of this era of rapid communication and invention, connecting all the elements of progress.
For schools looking to teach students for the “next economy”—rather than the one that existed yesterday—this is a must-read.
Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life
by William Deresiewicz
Are today’s schools producing thinkers and leaders—or merely “excellent sheep” skilled at parroting information and taking tests? Deresiewicz believes the current educational system has been designed to “turn out conformists without a compass,” and uses Excellent Sheep to examine the high-stakes game that higher education has become for many of the country’s academically and financially elite students.
Thankfully, Deresiewicz has suggestions on how to instill purpose and creativity in our students. Schools looking to re-examine their Portraits of the Graduate and curricula could find great insight in Deresiewicz’s presented studies and stories.
Engage!: Setting the Course for Independent Secondary Schools In The 21st Century
by Carolyn Kost
While not all independent schools are hopelessly “in peril,” as Kost claims in Engage!, this book discusses ways in which schools can adapt and change their programming at need. It encourages “disruptive” and beneficial innovation, rather than what Kost calls “forced” innovation that never quite sticks properly. As with the other books, Engage! uses research-backed findings to support its recommendations, and offers another perspective from which to view your mission-based curricula as adapted for today’s students.
Additional ISM resources:
The Source for Private School News Vol. 13 No. 6 2014 Summer Reading List for Private School Administrators
The Source for Private School News Vol. 12 No. 9 Must-Reads for Aspiring Leaders in 2014
