This year the Center for Leadership and Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) are celebrating their 10-year partnership in offering the award-winning Principals Leadership Development Program. This program is designed to empower M-DCPS principals to become more effective leaders and change agents in their respective schools and in the South Florida community. The partnership is made possible through a generous endowment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
As part of this 10-year celebration, the Center for Leadership will be featuring one principal from each of the ten cohorts over the coming academic year. Martin Reid, principal, Arthur & Polly Mays 6-12 Conservatory of the Arts and Cohort III alumnus of the Principal Leadership Development Program (2012-2013), was our third interviewee to share his thoughts on leadership, the program, and his experience as a principal.
Q: What is leadership?
MR: Leadership is... the ability to inspire and motivate others to work together to achieve a common goal.
Leadership is... the ability to forecast organizational challenges and provide solutions before the organization can be impacted.
Leadership is... ownership as you are responsible for the organization's success and failures.
Leadership is... the ability to transform organizations to have a positive impact on the individuals they serve.
Leadership is... everything!
Q: Reflecting on your experience as part of the Principals Leadership Development Program at the Center for Leadership, what one lesson from that program would you share with other leaders?
MR: The one lesson I learned that I would like to share with other leaders is from one of the books we read titled, Six Thinking Hats by Edward de Bono. Each colored hat represented a different perspective or state of mind. As leaders, we utilize teams of people to address complex problems. It is critical that leaders are aware of the different perspectives of team members to utilize them to both resolve challenges and maximize advantageous opportunities for the organization.
Q: How has this been beneficial to you in your own leadership?
MR: Whenever I have to mobilize a group of people for any organizational task, I always try to assemble teams with various but complimentary perspectives to ensure the organizational task will be accomplished.
Q: Briefly describe a memory/moment that had a significant effect on you during your tenure as principal and any lessons you learned that would be helpful to share with others.
MR: Always provide performance support for your staff to improve performance. When individuals have performance concerns, it is a matter of if that individual has the "skill" or "will" to improve their performance. Both "skill" and "will" can be developed with organizational support and leadership but in my opinion, one cannot exist without the other in the realm of performance improvement.
Want to learn more?
Read the other principal interviews at: