What was that quote again?

I love finding inspirational quotes about leadership.  I am often inspired by the words of others, these great pearls of wisdom that help you reflect and hopefully refine you.  The only problem is there are very few I remember.  “Oh, that’s a great quote. I need to remember that one.”  Then, within a few hours (Who am I kidding, it’s usually only a few minutes.), it’s lost – forgotten. 

One of very few that I remember is the following:

“Work for a cause, not for applause.
Live life to express, not to impress.
Don’t strive to make your presence noticed, make your absence felt.”

I probably had heard it before, but found it again in a gas station in eastern Washington on my way to our family cabin in Montana.  I made my wife take a picture of it with her iPhone so I could refer to it later, just in case I forgot it.  Knowing me all too well, my wife printed the quote and framed it for me for Christmas last year. 

While I certainly agree with the quote and I think it’s a good reminder for all leaders, I can’t help but question some of the underlying messages.  Of course, every leader has a cause. For us educators, our cause is a great one – make the world a better place, inspire the youth of our schools/districts, bring hope to the disadvantaged – all valiant purposes!  However, leadership can be a thankless job.  We often have to take appreciation in indirect, less tangible forms because we are supposed to be on some pedestal where direct appreciation for our work, time, and dedication is unwarranted, undesired, and unnecessary.  While this appreciation is not the reason for our drive in leadership, we have to stop and appreciate it when it comes our direction.  We should be giving applause to our teams regularly, but we shouldn’t be above receiving it, relishing it, and being motivated by it.

Leadership in the realm of education is, of course, about doing what’s best for our students – no matter what.  It’s about inspiring a common mission/vision for education within a community.  It’s about expressing yourself as a leader in ways that build individuals, teams, colleagues, and the larger community.  Yet, I feel a good leader should also impress those with whom he/she interacts.  I feel leaders should impress others with their knowledge, dedication, humility, desire to learn, and relentless pursuit to make a difference.  Effective leaders impress others not through an intentional focus on being perceived as great, but as an unintentional byproduct of being great.

Finally, good leaders build capacity and try to work themselves out of a job.  As effective leaders transition, they ensure that the work continues in their absence.  They strive to make their departure not impact the great work happening within the school community.    During my experience as a principal, I’ve transitioned to several different schools.  Each time, I’ve wondered and secretly hoped that the teachers, students, and administration would miss me when I left – that my absence would be felt.  If I’m doing my job well, the school will continue to flourish with students and teachers continuing to learn and improve, teams will work collaboratively around improved student learning, the community will keep a focus on the future – despite my departure.  Moreover, they’ll have the tools and capacity to do this independently.

I still love the quote and will hang it in my new office next year - it’s still one of my favorites.  The ebb and flow of leadership is a crazy, but awesome thing.  We have to seek inspiration, motivation, and wisdom from whatever sources we have available.  Sometimes, this means understanding that we can get multiple perspectives from the same thing, based on what challenges this wonderful opportunity called “leadership” brings us.