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FOREWORD

By Michael Fullan

IN THE 1980s, I said that systemic change in schools and districts requires five to seven years of work. Now we know that change can happen at a much faster pace. Since then, research has shown that leaders armed with practical knowledge and partnering within their communities can achieve remarkable changes within a year or two. (See Fullan and Pinchot [2018] for a case of powerful change in culture within a year.) Douglas Reeves and Robert Eaker, in this excellent resource, provide a framework for how leaders can establish success within one hundred days. Few books combine moral purpose and practical success so readily.

Reeves and Eaker begin by showing leaders how to strip away the superfluous distractions, and what to specifically focus on to get results. They smartly observe if a seven-year-old can’t explain your mission statement, then you are in trouble. Readers quickly discover not only how to establish the right values but also how to “clear the decks” with an initiative inventory in which leaders take a hard look at what initiatives are underway so as to identify those that are the most critical.

Reeves and Eaker supply strategies and tools to help leaders get on course and stay there. After clearing the decks, leaders find out about the importance of keeping a not-to-do list. Reeves and Eaker follow with guidelines that support the leader each step of the way to short-term wins: defining high-leverage practices, assessing specific results, energizing people with what matters most, breaking down the hundred days into doable chunks, and ensuring accountability and persistence. They advocate collaboration where it counts to leverage their practical ideas. And they provide an account of what effective collaboration looks like in practice, ensuring—not just encouraging—collaboration; creating a shared understanding of teamwork; and building aligned teams districtwide to get continuous results.

Reeves and Eaker have written a powerful and inspirational resource. My recommendation is that, before reading 100-Day Leaders, you take a moment to reflect on the following questions.

• Do I find myself doing things that don’t have much of a positive impact?

• How energetic and focused are those in my organization?

• Are we getting anywhere?

• What results can I point to?

• What can I do in the short term to change things for the better?

Now you are ready to benefit from this practical and thorough book on leadership. Take a hundred days at a time, and follow the lead of these two authors who combine more than a century of practical leadership experience in these pages. They share the wisdom they have collected by working with hundreds of leaders who have found their way one hundred days at a time.