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Introduction to Stand Tall Leadership

Obviously, Stand Tall Leadership has something to do with being tall, or not being tall enough, or a desire to be tall. What's the hook? There has to be more to it. If that is what you're thinking, you are kind of right. There is a connection to me being tall. Personally, I am 6′7″ tall. I have been this height since my first year in college. I was 6′6″ and then jumped one inch in college, lucky me. I look like I walked right off the college basketball courts into the NBA. Throughout most of my life, being a taller person was just something that I lived with. At times I loved it and at times I hated it. It isn't something that I could run away from. Just like you, your height is something that was given to you by your parents and ancestors. There isn't much you can do about it. But unlike most people my height started to truly define who I was as a person and ultimately as a leader within the schools.

Becoming a tall person wasn't something that I wanted. I fought the process as much as possible. Eighth grade was the year that everything went nuts. At the start of eight grade I was 5′8″. At the end of eight grade I was 6′3″. Basically, puberty kicked in and beat the hell out of me. I was constantly in pain. All of my joints hurt. I started having back pain. At night I would have muscle cramps so bad that I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get up the next morning. Because I was growing so quickly and standing out from my friends, I started to slouch. I hunched my shoulders over and bent. I figured that if I did this I wouldn't stand out as much as I was.

One day during my eighth-grade year I was walking home from school with Danielle. Where I grew up, everybody walked home from school. Danielle and I kind of liked each other, so we would walk home together most days. I lived on Ninth Street and Danielle lived on Seventh Street. Once we turned onto Seventh Street, Danielle said, “Steve, stop.”

I said, “Stop why?”

She said, “Just stop where you are.”

I said, “Okay, why?”

She walked around behind me, and I was thinking, “What are you doing?”

She said, “Just stay still.” She took one hand and put it on my shoulder. She took her other hand, balled it up into a fist, and punched me in the middle of my back.

I arched my back and yelled, “Girl, are you crazy?”

She said, “You are a tall person. Stop slouching and trying to be small – STAND TALL!”

At that moment it clicked. Everything changed in my entire world. I stood there and stared at her and I realized I wasn't being who I was supposed to be. Just to give you some perspective… my father is six foot six, my mother five foot nine, my brother is six foot six. I'm going to be tall! This is happening! Regardless if I was fighting it or not. When she punched me in the back, I realized I was not becoming who I was supposed to be.

I also realized that I was a leader. I was in student council, Boy Scouts, band, art club. I had leadership positions within them. People looked to me, they listened to me, and they observed the things that I did. I also realized that leaders are not supposed to blend in. Leaders are supposed to STAND TALL. Not necessarily physically tall, but within their actions and relationships. Standing Tall is all about your state of mind and how you operate within the world around you.

The start of my career was as a lower elementary visual arts teacher. Yes, kindergarten to third grade visual arts teacher. The little guys barely came up to my hip. I must admit, I did step on a few of them down there. They were just so small, and they move so quickly, it's hard not to step on a few and knock a couple down from time to time. I truly enjoyed being an art teacher. It was a dream job. Basically, every day I would host a party every 40 minutes throughout the day. Additionally, I was growing as an artist. My illustrations were being purchased and I even owned a mural painting business. As a visual arts teacher, I realized very quickly that my height was an amazement to the students and families. The students saw me as a giant. Most of the learning spaces within the school were designed for the little people. For me to maneuver and work within those spaces was difficult at times. In the beginning, the families were shocked that I was there. You don't often see a 6′7″ African American man teaching visual arts in a predominately white lower elementary school. Teaching at that school was a different learning experience for me on many levels. Eventually, I moved to the upper elementary school within the same district and then became the supervisor of visual and performing arts.

Most of my professional career was as a school principal. Fifteen years to be exact. There was some time as a curriculum supervisor, assistant superintendent, director, and superintendent. But the bulk of my time within the world of education was in the role as a principal. I must admit, I loved every second! There is nothing like heading your own building. The reason I became an administrator was because I didn't like administrators. I found them to be unimaginative, unwilling to take risks, uncollaborative, and just way too stiff. Usually you would think that if this is the norm for administrators, I'll just stay far away from it. Not me! My goal was to change what I saw in school administration. My goal as an administrator and specifically as a principal was to be creative, take smart risks, collaborate with others, and just loosen up.

As I moved through my career as a school principal, I continually made the connection between how I lived my life as a tall person and the leadership as a building principal. I was amazed at how the things that I did in order to adjust my life to fit within the world as a tall person and as a creative artist assisted me as a leader. Over many years I came to the understanding of what I now call Stand Tall Leadership. It is a blend of beliefs and lifestyles of tall people, the creativeness and risk of artists, and the practicality and strength of a school principal. Ultimately, it breaks down into nine areas that lead to the philosophy of Stand Tall Leadership:

 Stand Tall Leaders Should Not Blend In

 Stand Tall Leaders Have Influence

 Stand Tall Leaders Get Results

 Stand Tall Leaders Value Relationships

 Stand Tall Leaders Make Strategic, Smart, and Creative Decisions

 Stand Tall Leaders Take Action

 Stand Tall Leaders Use Their Voice

 Stand Tall Leaders Are Reflective

 Stand Tall Leaders Have Vision

Throughout this book we will explore each of these areas as it relates to the world of tall people and the role of being a school administrator, specifically a building principal. It will blend between developing strategies to improve, personal reflection, how to help others, and just have fun and be creative. Many of the areas of focus can be implemented into your life well beyond the role of principal and administrator in a school. Look at your life overall. See how it can help, improve, or maintain areas that you want to become better.

My motto is, “When you stand TALL you don't think small.” This statement is the backbone of Stand Tall Leadership. A giraffe is the tallest land animal on the planet. The giraffe only knows how to see the world from the perspective that it has. It operates through the world confidently. It sees everything around. It has a level of vision and perspective that is unique. It knows so much more about the world that it lives in because of its perspective. The giraffe is unable to think like a gazelle. It does not have the lower level of vision like the gazelle. The giraffe operates at a much different level. The giraffe can see potential threats, food, and can answer the eternal tall question, “How's the weather up there?” This is true with Stand Tall Leaders. Once you see the world from a taller perspective … Once you see your role as a leader from a taller perspective … Once you experience your life from a taller perspective. You are unable to think small ever again … You now know what it is like. You know how to operate at a different level. Stand Tall Leadership will provide you that opportunity to see the world of school leadership at a new perspective. It doesn't matter if you are 4′3″ or 7′2″, you can Stand Tall as a leader and in your life. It's all a matter of perspective.

When you Stand TALL, you don't think small.

#standtallstatement

Stand Tall Statements

Throughout the book I've added “Stand Tall Statements” that highlight some of the book's main themes, ideas, and takeaways. All of the Stand Tall Statements are Twitter-friendly and include the hashtag #standtallstatement. Please join me in the social media conversation about the Stand Tall Statement you found most helpful. Here's an example of a Stand Tall Statement.

Stand Tall Ideas

Here's the deal. As a school leader we are continually looking for new, fresh, and original ideas to improve our schools. We attend workshops and conferences with the hope of locating and finding a different way of doing what we do. Many times, we go to get training or go to a conference and we hear ideas that just reaffirm what it is that we already know, or the outcome of the idea isn't impactful enough to make the effort to do it. On the other hand, there are times that we hear amazing ideas, but we are unwilling to put forth the effort to actually do the idea properly so that we get the proper outcomes. Every now and then we get that one idea that is perfect! The ideas that we can easily or quickly implement into our leadership that will provide the outcomes that we are hoping for.

The opposite becomes true as well. We attend conferences and get a TON of amazing ideas that can be implemented quickly and effectively. We leave each training or session with pages and pages of notes. Each idea is better than the last idea. You are pumped up and excited about how your school and leadership will be transformed almost overnight. The people you meet and the conversations you have are rich with professionalism and pedagogy. There are others who think the same way you do, and you vow to stay in touch and keep the synergy going. Then when you get back to your school, reality kicks in. You put down your notebook and start working on the daily tasks that you usually do. You may do one or two follow-up emails with that other amazing leader you met, but eventually you lose touch. After about a month or two, you come across your notes and read them through. Your thought is, “Oh yeah, that was a good idea. It's too late now to start that.”

This was what I experienced for years as an administrator. I would attend conferences continually searching for that one idea or get a ton of ideas and never do anything with it. I found my notes with tons and tons of ideas in them, but never did anything. I started to really think about what to do with them. I decided to take all of these ideas and turn them into a keynote, training, and workshop. I realized that educational leaders were looking for these ideas. They wanted to find that one idea that could work. Additionally, I started to figure out the best way to move from gathering a bunch of ideas in a notebook into real actionable items that can actually happen within my leadership. Therefore, throughout this book I will share a plethora of realistic and actionable ideas that can be easily implemented into your leadership and school to help improve the climate, culture, and relationships. By improving the climate, culture, and relationships throughout the school you will ultimately improve your leadership. Your level of influence will expand extensively.

Here's an example of a Stand Tall Idea.

Stand Tall Idea

High-Five Monday

At the entrance of the school, every Monday morning have a different group give high fives to students entering the building. Be sure to have music and bubbles as well. If you don't have different groups, you do it! The groups could be sports groups or clubs. Be sure to preassign the week they need to do it and have someone send a reminder out on the Friday before you start. It's a great way to kick off the week.