Principal Reboot

I presented at a conference last weekend. As I left the room, my backpack over one shoulder, asking myself, again, if I’d remembered to pack my clicker— how many clickers have I left in conference rooms over the years?— I was approached by a gentleman who kindly thanked me for my presentation. “It was inspiring,” he said flatly. We walked toward the escalators. “I just…” he hesitated. “I’m just struggling to get behind any inspiration these days,” he said. “I’m in year 15 as a principal. I have 15 left until I retire. I don’t know if I can make it.”

I stopped and looked at him. I estimated I was a good decade older than he. I did the quick math, then just asked him: “How old were you when you were first a principal?”

“Twenty-five,” he said. He fiddled with his conference-issued shoulder bag. “And I’m tired,” he said. “Did I mention that?”

There was a coffee kiosk nearby. “Would you like to grab a quick cup of coffee?” I asked.

Yes, he said. He would. We found a place to sit. “I came to this conference hoping to catch some more energy and enthusiasm, and when I’m listening to the presenters, I feel a stirring of my old enthusiasm. Mostly, though, I feel deflated and cynical. As in, I don’t think that will work in my building. That seems like a ton of work for very little payoff. My staff will never get behind this. I wish someone else would have the energy to try that thing, because I certainly don’t. I find myself sitting in these sessions wondering how I can make it ten years.” He looked down. “I hate hearing myself say that, but it’s true.”

Burnout is an overused word. There have been times I’m grumpy and say I’m burned out, but I don’t really mean it— I’m just having a crappy day, that’s all. But I think real burnout is… well, real, and it very well might be when we begin counting the days, months, and years until we can retire.

We sipped our coffee and talked for quite awhile, and I gave him some things I thought might help. We plan to stay in touch, and I might even travel to visit his district and help him implement some ideas. In the meantime, let me share some of the ideas I have for burned-out principals.

Think about this. 

If you’re unable to summon the energy lead your school the way you’d like, here are a few things you might consider.

Rebrand: Recommit to your school’s values and mission. If you don’t remember (or care about!) your school’s values and mission, it’s likely others in your school have, too. Maybe it will help to revisit what you’re trying to do, why you’re trying to do it, and how you will know you’re doing it.

Reconnect: If you’re feeling lost and burned out, maybe it’s because the ways you connect with your school community have grown stale. How can you find new ways to connect with them?

Reinvest: Being burned out means you have lost a reason to be invested in your staff, students, and community. There are ways you can ignite that investment again. Trust me— I’ve done it.

Revamp Instructional Leadership: Principals are being told, again and again, that they need to be instructional leaders, first and foremost. More work? Yes. Worthy work? Yes! This is a beautiful time to be an instructional leader because technology, communication, and resources have never been better.

Reenvision Teacher Potential: Are you doing all the insiring, cajoling, directing, helping, guiding, training? If so, well, yikes. Stop. Teachers can (and will! and want to!) do some of this leadership, too.

Reframe Data: We all got pretty tired of talking about “data-driven decisions,” but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still be making them. Let’s re-think some of the data sources we’re using and what it is telling us.

Revisit Operations: If things have gotten a little loose and your school isn’t running as smoothly as it could be, tightening and improving your systems can be a way to commit to something and increase your energy.

Relax, Rediscover, and Revive: I mean, if you are hating your job, there are two ways to go: Learn to love it again, or sit in the misery. I have been there. Trust me. I’m not Tigger, bopping around being all happy all the time. I have been miserable, and I have bounced back (multiple times!) from that misery to rediscover what’s so awesome about being a school leader.

I wrote a book called The Principal Reboot. It was released on March 17, 2020. (Yeah. Look at that date again). It didn’t sell well at all. No wonder; principals weren’t in any mood to buy a book at that time, especially not one who walked them through how to reboot their leadership. On March 17, 2020, we were all just trying to keep the lid on the pot. Figure out how to keep kids safe? Yes. Buy and read a professional book? Nah.

But there is some good stuff in there, stuff I really want to talk about now that we’re in 2025 and school leadership is getting more complicated by the minute. In this newsletter, I’ll be touching on a lot of the themes from that book. Subscribe today and each week you’ll get a li’l update about what I’m thinking about.

Let’s Stay Curious—

Jen