EPISODE #317

The 2025 Summer Reading List

You're listening to the School Leadership Reimagine podcast episode 317.

Hey, builders. Before we begin today's episode, I want to tell you about something really cool we're doing. If you have been trying to get PLCs going in your school and they have fallen flat, they haven't worked, you've faced a lot of resistance, then you are going to want to join us for the PLC Reboot. It's a masterclass that we are doing inside of Buildership University and the 100% Collective, and it's all about how to make PLCs work. So this is a very practical course.

Not a lot of theory, really focused on what's just rebooting your PLCs and making them do what they were designed to do in your school. We have a format for you. We have the whole PLC playbook, everything you need. So we have the structure, the meeting protocols, the emails that you need to send to get people on board, the slides that you need to use to present the new PLC, everything that you need to do it. So that workshop is coming up shortly. And

And if you are a member of BU or a member of the collective, you'll get an email about it for you to be able to sign up. And it's absolutely free. It's included in your membership. If you're not a member of BU or the 100% collective, but you want to join us for this masterclass, then you just need to go to buildershipuniversity.com slash masterclass. Masterclass and grab one of the tickets. Now we are capping this at 75 people. And so the BU people and the collective people get first dibs. So if you don't see anything for the ticket, it means that we're already full. But if you do see the link and it's available, it means we still have space and we'd love for you to join us. So again, it's buildershipuniversity.com slash tickets. Now, on with the show. You're listening to the School Leadership Reimagined Podcast, Episode 318. 

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Hey, Builders. Welcome to another episode of the School Leadership Reimagined podcast. 

I'm your host, Robin Jackson. And today we are doing our annual summer reading list. You know, this is one of the most popular episodes that we do all year long. And we do it every year. We pick three to five books that are non-education books that I believe every educator should be reading. And this year's list is, I have to admit, it is pretty good. Some years, you know, I am scraping, but this year, these are books that I think are, really provide a lot of value. So I'm going to share the books with you today and I'm going to share them with you in order. I think you should probably read them. You don't have to read all five. You just pick one that really kind of sparks your interest, but try to read at least one of these books this summer because I think it could really shift things for you as you're thinking about your school. And it's always nice to get outside of the education bubble for a little bit and see what else is happening in the world. But these books have some really strong implications for the work that we do in schools. And so I can't wait to share them with you. Now, this first book is, this book kind of blew me away. You know, like, I don't know if you've felt things kind of shifting in your students.

I am Gen X and sometimes I look at the kids nowadays and I'm just like, what is wrong with you? I don't like I don't get it. Right. And so if you're feeling like these kids are just built differently, you are not imagining it. A lot of the kids nowadays, you know, I was just talking to some millennials the other day and they are so anxious. And I talked to the Gen Z's. They're really distracted, anxious. They have a lot less resilience. And we're just kind of looking at them and blaming them.

But there's a really important reason why they feel that way. 

And the more we understand it, the more we're able to do something about it, which is why I love the book, The Anxious Generation. Now, this book has been kind of, you know, he's been making the rounds on all the podcasts, Jonathan Haidt. And so people are talking about it. Parents have been reading it. But this is not a parenting book. This is a book that really helps us understand our students because they are really built differently. And it names the systems that have created this anxiety in these kids. And it's really a must read for any builder who wants to create a school that doesn't just serve students, but protects them from the forces that are actually undermining their development. So here's what the book's about.

In the book, he lays out a really clear evidence-backed case that something went wrong in 2010, somewhere around the 2010s. And that was that there was this rise in a phone-based childhood, right? So kids stopped playing outside and they started just being on their devices all the time. And so when we shifted from this play-based childhood that was rich in independence and interactivity action and risk. You all remember this, being able to just... My parents would say in the summertime, go outside. They would not let me stay inside. And then we were just bored. Listen, we were feral. I'm not feral, but I just think Gen X kids were different. We were outside, we were drinking from water hoses. Our parents didn't quite know where we were. We were just running around and then we'd come in when the street lights were on. And somewhere along the 2010s, we shifted from, you know, childhoods that were about play and exploration and independence and figuring things out to phone-based childhoods that are very screen heavy and very isolated. And they're saturated with a lot of surveillance. And this shift...He makes the case that this shift in childhoods coincided almost perfectly with this explosion of anxiety and depression and suicidal ideation of preteens and teens, especially among our young ladies. And so he helps us kind of understand it. He talks about how childhood got rewired and that we lost the four foundations of adolescent development, which are connection and play and agency and competence.

And he talks about what we do about it. Now, some of the things we can't fix, right? Because one of the things he talks about is delaying kids getting smartphones. We can't control that. But he does talk about ways that we can redesign school, that we can bring back free play, and that we can empower families. And so that helps us to kind of address this issue. So you know, this is something I've been thinking about a lot. It's something I've been seeing in the, in, in the kids in my own life. Um, there's this thing happening. And up until now, I haven't been able to name it. And so I just sound like one of those old people, you know, you kids get off my lawn. You kids don't know anything about hard work. You know, I've been doing that. But now after reading this book, it gave me a new level of compassion and empathy for kids. Because even though I say kind of flippantly, these kids are built differently, they really are built differently, right? And, you know, we're seeing a lot more behavior challenges. We're seeing a lot more motivation issues. There's a lot more social trauma. There's a lot more emotional dysregulation happening. And we've been blaming, you know, parenting and COVID, right? But he makes a compelling case that we're actually responding to a generational disruption that we helped create. And it wasn't anything we did maliciously, but we allowed the phone to be the central organizing tool of childhood. And so that has created this phenomenon. You know, the kids that we have today. Now, we're not going to undo it, but we can design schools that will compensate for it, right? So, this book really helps you rethink your school's approach to phones and social media and screen time. 

So if you're struggling with that right now, you need to read this book, right? 

It's not about just reacting with rules, but proactively thinking through how you design your school culture, how you do family partnerships so that you can really address this issue. And it also helps you understand how many student behaviors are not about defiance, it's these kids are really experiencing a developmental delay. And because they didn't get the experiences that they needed to build executive functioning and social skills and self-regulation, you know, in their childhoods, then they're coming to school really delayed, which means that we have to be a lot more intentional about teaching these to our students. And it helps us to really kind of understand, reintroduce real world play and agency and connection with kids. So whether it's through our recess or advisory and how we redesign that or how we structure classrooms with collaboration, we can start to fill some of the holes that technology has really hollowed out for our kids. What I love most about it is it helps us to move past the mental health crisis buzzwords, right? Like I've been kind of frustrated with it because, you know, every time a child does something, we're like, well, we have a mental health crisis and we make all these excuses.

This is really about understanding that kids nowadays are wired differently. And so it helps us to be more proactive in our culture so that we're not just responding to student anxiety, but we can start preventing it by design and the way that we design schools for kids. Now, let me tell you what just stopped me in my tracks, right? He says this, he says, a generation raised with safetyism, surveillance and social media is more vulnerable to authoritarianism, both by accepting it and by demanding it. So here's the thing that I was like, whoa, because I think it has.

I mean, I think he's got really good insight into what's happening right now in our world, right? Because we have overprotected kids from healthy risk through either over-parenting or over-regulation or just this relentless adult supervision, Gen Z has had fewer chances to build autonomy and emotional toughness. So as a result, they have lower resilience, they have more anxiety, and they have this, they don't have the same ability to navigate conflict or uncertainty independently. So that's why we see a lot of students having, you know, these and we're like, what is going on? They just have never learned how to have healthy conflict, right? And we've also replaced real world risk-taking with digital risk. So, you know, kids aren't climbing trees, they're on TikTok. They're living in public, they're surveilling each other, they're constantly comparing. So instead of freedom, they get algorithms and echo chambers and,

And so this environment that has been created has made uncertainty feel really dangerous. And so Gen Zs grew up associating discomfort and disagreement with actual harm. That's why they're saying everything is trauma, right? Like, it drives me nuts. I'm like, oh my goodness, this is traumatic. No, no, no, no. Because they messed up your order at Shake Shack, you are not experiencing trauma. This is just life. And so emotional safety has become the same thing as ideological comfort. So anybody who has an idea different than theirs, oh, you're traumatizing me. And because they feel like they can't be emotionally safe unless they're also comfortable with your ideology, they're never confronted with anything that challenges them, it becomes this dangerous state where they've been primed to see uncertainty as dangerous. They're primed to see conflict as trauma. And it's comforting to have somebody promise simple answers, clear rules and total safety, even if it means giving up some control. Right. So this generation doesn't want freedom. They want protection. And authoritarianism sells protection, right? So what we have is this weird paradox. 

We have this generation that's been raised with maximum freedom.

Right. They they they have the Internet. They don't have curfews. They don't have limits. They've got infinite videos and infinite voices and infinite choices. Like, you know, I was talking to somebody the other day and I was like, you've never had to hear music you didn't want to hear. You want to hear a song, you go pull it up. I remember waiting, listening to the radio, listening to songs I didn't even want to hear, waiting for them to play my song. Do you remember like a video jukebox where you could like, you know, the first thing where you could like dial in to a 1-900 number and, you know, pay money to get your video played on your TV or sitting through commercials and waiting. These kids have never had to feel that, right? So they have all of this freedom, all of this choice. The world's kind of curated for them. And It's almost too much. And so the paradox is that they have all this freedom, but it's left them craving structure and order and control. And sometimes that isn't healthy. 

So as you can see, I have been, you know, I've been thinking about this book a lot. And I think it matters for us because if we're not intentional, our schools will become practice grounds for authoritarianism. We are resorting to more and more, exerting more and more control over kids. And we are, and what I've been noticing in schools is that kids are no longer curious. They're just compliant. And we've got to be intentional about sparking that curiosity again, right? A lot of kids are just quiet, and we reward them being quiet and as opposed to rewarding them for speaking up. We are making things very comfortable for kids rather than showing them how to navigate discomfort and the messiness of learning. We are, when kids act up, we're doing more and more top-down control rather than building real communities. So this book kind of helps us see how really critical it is to do what builders do anyway, which is to create spaces for discomfort where students can practice disagreeing and they can navigate complexity and they can build the muscles of critical thinking that are going to be really important if they're going to navigate our increasingly complex world. If we don't do that, then the kids just get more and more complacent with the way things are, and they don't become the world changers we want them to be, right? So instead of more rules, we need to be giving kids more responsibility and more voice and the structures that build strength and not dependence.

So if you're a builder and you're trying to help your kids thrive, I cannot recommend this book enough because of the ideas that it can help spark. When you look at your school, is your school rewarding compliance or is your school really building critical thinkers? I know we always say we want that, but there are so many things in our schools that you know, kind of fight against it. I could make this whole, and I may do this, I may do another episode where I just go deeper into this idea. But this book was really kind of eye-opening for me, and I really encourage you to read it. Okay, second book, it's a book called Reset, and it's by Dan Heath. Now, you know I love the Heath brothers. Usually if they write a book, it's probably going to end up on the list, and this is no different, right? 

This is a book to read if you feel like you are stuck solving the same problems over and over and over again. 

Now, that is anti-builder because builders, we are about eliminating problems altogether. And so... the reason that this book is such a good builder book is that it helps you understand that a lot of recurring problems are really problems with our systems, right? And so this book is such a practical systems thinking book that it had to come on the list, right? So in this book, what Dan Heath does is he looks at a group of people who are fixers. They're people working inside of broken systems who decide to stop treating the symptoms and start really dealing with the root cause. So builders, does that sound familiar to you? Like, you know, we need to look at that, right? And so what he does, he takes you inside of schools and courts and hospitals and foster care agencies and police departments. You know, these are, you know, these are places that are drowning in recurring problems. And he shows you how a small group of people reset the system itself instead of endlessly reacting to the system, right? And one of the things he talks about is this idea of upstream thinking. Now, I love his book, Upstream. I think it is probably, I think it's been overlooked. I think we should all read that book too. But, you know, he talks, if you don't want to read the book Upstream, he talks about upstream thinking in this book, right? And so the idea of upstream thinking is that whether than waiting until kids are failing or staff is already burning out or discipline is already out of control, we need to go upstream and ask, why is this happening in the first place and how can we prevent it?

I mean, this is a builder book. Dan Heath is a builder, right? So the big thing I like about this book is that he talks about the problem isn't always what it looks like. So teachers that are disengaged, maybe it's not their attitude. Maybe it's the incentive structure that we have around teacher engagement, right? If your new reading initiative flop, maybe it wasn't the PD, maybe it was the timeline, or if attendance is down, maybe it's not student motivation or transportation. Maybe the kids and the families just don't trust school enough, right? So what he does is he helps us look at our problems differently. He shows us in this book how to zoom out, reframe the problem, and build a system that produces better outcomes by design. This is a builder book, right? And so this is why I chose it, right? So this book is - It's about changing. It's not about changing minds. It's about changing the machine itself, right? And what I love about his writing is that he takes like messy and really complex problems You know the ones that we deal with every single day and he says, okay, let's break them down Let's figure out how to fix it for good. Let's eliminate the problem altogether, right? So he is speaking my language, right?

So this is why I think you should read it, right? This is a book you should read if you want to sharpen your lens around the systems in your school, right? So if you start, if you're dealing with a lot of recurring issues, and you are just sick and tired of trying to get people to do the right thing, you know, this is a book that helps you to stop blaming people and start really examining the process. And that can be really empowering because you can't always change people, but you can change the process and the process can change everything, people, right? So this is a book to read if you want to stop firefighting and reacting to the same issues and you're ready to eliminate them. And this is also the book that you want to read if you want some practical tools, right? So you're going to walk away with what questions to ask, the steps to take, and then you'll have a couple of stories that can help you kind of really think about things differently, okay? And I think that that can be really empowering But most importantly, I love this book because it reminds you that you are not Doc, right? 

Even if your district's a mess, even if your policies in your district are pretty rigid, you have more power than you think you do. 

And you can redesign broken systems and build ones that actually serve you and serve your students and serve your teachers and help you to achieve your vision. So if you're feeling stuck, this is the book for you.

Hey, builders, real quick, before we get on with the rest of the episode, I want to talk to you about the 100% Collective. If you are interested in becoming a builder and developing that 100% mindset, then the 100% Collective is for you. Not only do we have monthly updates, masterclasses, live masterclasses, where I show you how to take some work that you are already doing, but do it like a builder. Do it in a way that is more effective, more efficient, in a way that takes the work and stops it from being drudgery and makes it actually something that feels meaningful, that moves you forward. We also have done-for-you toolboxes with all the tools you need to be able to implement. And we have step-by-step playbooks that lay out the entire process for you. So you don't even think about it. You just take the playbook and you can implement it right away in your schools. And we have a supportive community. So this is a safe place where you can bring your challenges. And there are other people, other builders, just like you who are encouraging you, who are applauding you when you win and who are giving you their experiences as well so that you can learn from each other. If you are tired of just kind of going through and doing the work the way you've always been doing it, and you're ready to stop being a leader and to start building something amazing, the 100% Collective is where you need to be. Join us at buildershipuniversity.com slash community. Now, back with the program.

Now, this third book is by someone who's been on the list before, too. This is a book by Jonah Berger, and it's called Invisible Influence. Right. And this is this is not a brand new release. Like I came across it a few years ago, but it came back up on my radar a little recently because I started thinking, you know, like some of the concepts in this book are even more relevant today than they were when he published it, right? Because we're in this moment where sometimes our students and our staff's behavior feels really unpredictable and culture is starting to feel a little messy. And we keep trying to kind of push through with logic and rules and incentives and things like that. 

But what this book does is it reframes culture completely. And we understand that if you're going to make kind of changes in your school, that It's that a lot of times it's the subtle influences that make the change, right? It's about what people see. It's about who they're around. It's about what behaviors are being modeled. Whether we realize it or not, that's what is influencing our culture. And so that's why I chose this book because this book helps us to think about the invisible forces that are really shaping what's happening in our school and then gives us some ways to kind of our culture differently, okay? So he talks about this idea of social influence. And to me, it's so important because it's really about the unseen ways that our choices and our habits and our behaviors are shaped by other people. So whether it's the car we buy or the risk we take or the strategies we adopt in our classroom, they're not really personal decisions like we think they are. 

They're really social decisions. 

In fact, most of our behavior is shaped not by logic or intention, but it's shaped by the people around us. So you've heard the phrase before, you know, show me the five people you're around the most and I'll show you your priorities. And, you know, if you want to be more successful, you have to hang around successful people. We've heard this all before but he actually goes into deep about why that happens, right? So everything from what we wear to what we buy to how hard we try, that one blew me away, how hard we try, it's all quietly influenced by what's modeled and what's normalized and what's socially rewarded. So the big idea of this book is that we imitate others more than we think we do, especially people that we consider similar or successful or socially connected.

So he goes through the research and shows us. He says there's he shows us research things like, you know, people run faster when someone just ahead of them speeds up and that students perform better or worse, depending on who sits next to them. That one blew me away. And even tiny signals like who speaks first in the meeting, who praises what, who gets what gets displayed in the hallways. all these things shape behavior, right? So I started immediately thinking about staff meeting and why that one voice kind of shuts everything down or PLC meetings and maybe why they work or don't work, right? And so there was some really good insights that I liked. 

Like, I love this idea that we're wired to mimic others those of us, those who are around us. And that behavior spreads not through mandates, but through exposure and emotional resonance. I mean, think about that. Think about the last initiative you tried to get your teachers to adopt and think about why it didn't work. Because if you are not being intentional about exposure and emotional resonance, it's not going to work. So, you, You know, the flip side of that is that things that you want to get off the ground this year, this is the book that shows you how to create something the kind of environment that will make your initiatives actually work, right? I love this one. When people see someone else succeeding with a new behavior, they're more likely to try it themselves. Not because they were told to, but because the path looks safe and possible. I talk about this all the time when I'm talking about how when you are trying to get something moving, well, the mistake we make is we try to get everybody to move at the same time. That's leadership.

Buildership says, we're not going to try to get everybody moved at the same time. I'm not even trying to convince everybody at the same time. I'm looking for my audience, early adopters and my innovators. I want to get them moving first because once they start moving, the rest of the people start moving. So we're actually thinking about bringing that idea back to our summer. You know, we do a summer event every year, five days free training. And I'm actually thinking, I mean, I want to talk about that and go deeper because after reading this book, I just see how much people see that and they don't, they don't do it right. We still try to roll it out to everybody. And, we're banging our heads against the wall. 

People are not going to move at the same time. 

And this book just reinforces that idea that people have, some people will not move until it feels safe and possible first. And that's why I love being a builder because you're not waiting for everybody to buy in before you move forward. You move forward first, prove to people that it's safe and it's possible. And after that, then they will move forward, right? And so that's, I mean, that's kind of the power of this book, right? So what this book helps you do is it helps you shift from telling to to showing, right? And paying attention to what's really being modeled in your building. Oh, that one hit hard, right? What am I really modeling? Because once you understand what's being modeled in your building, you'll understand why people aren't listening to you. You'll understand why behaviors are pervasive. And then you can do something about it. And then the other thing is that it helps you to design culture strategically and to understand resistance differently, right? You might think somebody's being difficult or uncooperative, but they may just be waiting to see what's socially acceptable. Like they're not resisting the idea sometimes they're resisting the social cost of going first. Oh, there's a value bomb right there. I love that. I've been thinking about that a lot. And how do we make it safer for people? And how do we set it up so that people go first? because a lot of times you're not going to get your staff moving until somebody goes first, right? And so this is about helping you build momentum and use peer effects to your advantage and to engineer influence instead of enforcing compliance, right?

This is the biggest takeaway. It'll teach you to stop focusing so much on what people should do and start paying attention to what's actually shaping what they do, because then you can reshape it. Oh, my goodness. This is like this book is going to give you superpowers. Right. And so this is a timely reminder that culture change matters doesn't happen by force. Stop trying to force culture to change or feed cultures, you know, feed people enough they'll change. No, culture change happens by design. And we all need to be a little bit more intentional about designing the kind of culture we want. All right. This next book is the newest title on our list. And I'll be honest, I haven't even finished it yet because it just came out. It's called Lean Learning and it's by Pat Flynn. And I included it because, you know, I find Pat Flynn's books to be pretty practical stuff you can do right now. You know, things that are that are tools that you can use in real life. His concepts are really smart. And I wanted to include a book about creating a culture of learning, especially in light of everything that we've been talking about so far. And and. and not just a culture of learning for your students, but a culture of learning for your staff.

So lean learning, it's a clear action-oriented approach to helping teams learn better and faster and do it together, right? So he talks about this idea of lean learning, you know, it's popularized in manufacturing and in software, but he talks about how organizations can design professional learning and feedback loops and team innovation using these same lean principles. So a couple of key takeaways. Like it's about the first thing he talks about is that he says we should not over plan perfect PDs or initiatives. And hey, some of us need to hear that because we're over planning. Me included, right? I am the queen of over planning and over delivering. And so this was a good reminder for me as well. Instead, he says build a minimal viable version, test it, get feedback and improve, right?

I love that because it's iterative. 

And so we're trying to get it perfect. And if we create this culture where we're just putting it out there and we're trying it and we're improving, and then we do it and our teachers do it, imagine how much innovation could happen in our school, right? And he also argues that we need to shorten the learning loop. And Again, guilty, right? We need to replace long one and done trainings with small targeted iterations that your team can try and reflect and refine. You know, we're doing these two day trainings and then it's just after a while, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We should be doing shorter trainings than go try it. And then let's come back and talk about it and creating these cycles of learning. So I really like that. 

And then the thing he talks about, this is like John Hattie talks about this, but he Like we don't do this, we try to do it with kids, we don't do it with adults, which is that we have to make learning visible, right? So we're not just sharing our wins. We should be sharing what we're learning along the way, what we're trying, and we should be doing it in public so other people can learn from it too. We have kind of teams kind of doing PLCs kind of in private, and then we never ever have a mechanism for our PLCs to kind of go out and share things publicly. And so other PLCs can learn what's working. And that has been a big part of our work has got my mind just really going. And I'm thinking about that a lot. You'll see some of that in the PLC training we have coming up, right? All right. So here's why I think you should read it. It's a breath of fresh air. because it talks, helps us rethink our PD. Some of you are writing PD plans right now. You need to read this book before you do another thing, because a lot of what we do for PD is wrong. And because teachers are being trained this way, they are now taking that into the classroom and teaching students that way. And, and, It's wrong. It's not the way we really learn, right? So you're going to get in this book a framework for agile professional learning where you get small moves, big feedback, and constant growth. And you're going to get tools for building teams and cultures around curiosity and iteration. Again, PLC training coming up. We're going to be incorporating some of that so you can see how it works. And then what I like about it is that you empower staff as a co-creator of their learning.

These are professionals. These are people into school, have degrees. We're not inviting them to be professionals. We're creating a top-down management structure. That's what leadership does. Builders say, we're all builders. Let's come together. You're inviting them to join you in the process and to figure stuff out, right? So if you're ready to stop wasting time on like PDs that don't stick and you want to smarter and faster and, more practical approach to learning at the adult level, this is the book that's going to help you reimagine how you do PD this year and create a culture where everybody is learning. Okay, last one, Building a Second Brain. And this is by Diego Forte. Okay, now I'm going to be honest, this book is a little more intense, right? Because he, You know, he's got a whole different organizational system. So it's not a light weekend read. An entrepreneur friend recommended it to me. I started reading. I love the, you know, I watched a couple of YouTube videos by him and then I bought the book. The YouTube videos are easier to digest in the book. I'll be honest, but the book is great. goes into more detail and really helps you kind of implement it. So that's why I like it. It's really about productivity, right? So I talk to builders all the time and they're always talking about how do I be more productive, right? Now, I haven't even implemented the whole system yet. I've done pieces of it, something that I want to do this summer. So I am still in the process, but this is why I think you ought to read this book, right? Because the big idea is simple and powerful. The idea is that you cannot do the things that you were destined to do, like build 100% school, if you're holding everything in your head, right? Right. So again, guilty. I do this all the time. 

So what he does is he says, you need a second brain. 

You need to offload your ideas, all of your notes, all of your resources, all of your unfinished tasks into a digital second brain. So your real brain is freed up to think and to create and to solve problems. And he's got this really cool system. It's a four-part system and it's called CODE. So the C stands for capture what matters most. So it's not about hoarding everything, right? So we all used to have the file cabinets full of stuff that we were afraid to throw away. It's not about that. It's really about capturing what matters most then organizing it not by topic, but by action. And that was a game changer for me. Like here's the information and you're organizing by what you're gonna do with it. So you're not just digging through it. Like, so for instance, my Google Drive is a mess and this is something that I'm going to really work on and use this code system to get my Google Drive together this summer. And then he says you want to distill the information so you can quickly recall the essence of what you save and then express your ideas when it matters most. Okay, so that's the code system, right? So it's less about collecting and more about creating a system that makes your past thinking usable.

This is what I need, right? I don't need another organizing strategy to help me kind of take all the junk and just put it in folders. This is really about taking all the stuff you've been collecting and making it usable. And boy, do I need that, right? Because I'm always thinking about stuff and ideas and I hold onto it and I grab something and I want to use it later. And I have a very specific way that I want to use it. Like I'm not just grabbing like, oh, this is cool. Maybe this will be useful. I'm grabbing it because it makes me think about something later, but then I forget where I put it or forgot why I originally grabbed it. And so this system is about helping to take all that stuff you've been collecting and make it actionable, right? So this is going to help you stop searching your inbox for something you know you saved or losing track of a good idea or recreating the same thing over and over and over again. Guilty, right? So it's really about helping you work smarter and to take action on all the stuff you're doing, which is why I love it, right? 

And the reason I included it is because it speaks to the organizational side of what it means to be a builder and building the 100% school. And, you know, you listen to this podcast and you get an idea from the podcast. Like one of the tips that I've immediately implemented, I listened to a lot of podcasts, but he showed me how to capture not the whole podcast, but the piece of the podcast that I really want to keep and put it somewhere so that I can use it later on. Which was a game changer for me. And you can do it right there on your phone and then grab that piece and use it to, you know, like a lot of ideas. Sometimes in the middle of listening to a podcast, it's not something they say, but something they say sparks an idea in me. And then like, I want to grab that idea and save it and use it later on to write a Monday Morning Mind Steps or something happens. You know, like a lot of the Monday Morning Mind Steps are about stuff that happens. Grabbing that in the moment and saving it and being able to use it is so important, right? So this book is about streamlining your systems and capturing and reusing your best thinking so that your insights don't vanish, right? 

It's about designing workflows. 

I know that sounds all technical or whatever, but it's really about making you feel more in control over your day. And it's shifting how you work so that you can be mor productive. And the best part is you don't have to implement it perfectly to get value. Like I've already implemented pieces and gotten value. And so now I just want to go all in over the summer. Right. So even if you just, you know, he's got this thing where he's how to set up folders where he's, it's a para P-A-R-A structure. And so it's projects, areas, resources, and archives. Those are the only four folders he has. Right. And, and, Like that's what I'm going to do with my Google inbox this summer is just set them up into those things. Even that it's just, again, it's, it takes your stuff and it makes it actionable. So if you've ever ended the day exhausted, wondering what you actually got done, or you spend 20 minutes looking for that thing, you know, you have, but not sure where you filed it or your Google files are a mess like, like mine are, or you've got, you know, I've got like all these notebooks with ideas, you know, But every time I'm like, which notebook did I put it in? And, you know, it's almost like my demons always teasing me because I'm like, Miranda Priestly, where's that piece of paper I had in my hand yesterday? Like, if that's you, this is the book that is going to help you take all of that and create a system that helps you to kind of be better. Take action. All right. I know this is a longer than normal episode, but I hope it's been useful for you. You can read all five. You can pick and choose one. It's totally up to you. But these are I'm really confident about the list this year. 

All of these books are so much value for us as educators. And just as a bonus, here are a couple of books that I am, I have on my summer reading list. These are books that I plan on reading this summer. The first one is a book called Imagination and it's by a woman named Ruha Benjamin. I heard her on a podcast and she's got a really interesting perspective on how imagination shapes society. And I can't stop thinking about it. So she argues that imagination isn't just for dreamers, but that it's a critical tool for reshaping our systems and changing old power structures. And, you know, one of my frustrations is that a lot of times when I talk to people about buildership and about what's possible in their schools, there's just such a lack of imagination. Leadership has just It stopped us from imagining something different. We feel like we're just stuck with what is. And it's one of my biggest frustrations when I'm talking to school administrators because I'm thinking, no, there's so much more possible. So I'm going to read this book to figure out how I can do a better job of sparking imagination. 

And, you know, this podcast, School Leadership Reimagined, right? So how can I do a better job of helping people reimagine these old structures and to put better structures in place that are more equipped to deal with the kids of today, to deal with the challenges that we're facing today, and to build a school where 100% is really possible. So I am, I'm looking forward to figuring out how to stretch the way even I think about change, making sure that I am continuing to imagine new stuff as well. So that's Imagination, a Manifesto, and it's by Ruha Benjamin. And then the other one that I am excited to dive into is a book called Emergent Strategy, and it's by Adrienne Marie or Marie, Marie, Marie Brown. It's not written for educators, but it's really about how real change happens, not through big top-down moves, but through small, intentional actions.

You had me at small and intentional, right? 

That is, she's looking at how do you take systems thinking and mix it with radical imagination in a way that will make it very practical, right? So I want to read it because I just feel like I need to be challenging my assumptions about school transformation and how it really works and, you know, making sure that I'm delivering the best for you. And I guess this is the point. This is why I love this episode because, you know, If you are really a builder, part of our work is to continue to expose ourselves to new ideas, to new thoughts, to different ways of thinking, and to take that and immediately leverage it for the benefit of our staff and students.

And so if you're not reading this summer, if you're not, if you're spending the summer just kind of bogged down or spending the summer saying, I just need to escape from everything. You know, there's a place for relaxation. Like this isn't a curriculum, you know, there's not going to be a test, but there's also a place for relaxation, refilling our own cups and challenging and stretching our own thinking. You've got to continue to be your best self because how are you going to show up for your kids and your staff? So my challenge to you is to pick one of these books and read it. Now, I'm biased. I pick these books. I think you should read them. You could pick another book. It's fine. But, you know, take the... Spend some time sharpening your own saw. Spend some time thinking about

Just thinking, not like what's the lunch schedule going to look like and, you know, how are we going to, you know, get all of our special education teachers to get their paperwork done on time or let me tweak the discipline system and then you spend hours working on it. It looks exactly like the one you had before. But spend some time thinking away from education and allow those ideas to filter back and inform how you do the work. You will benefit from it. So, yeah. 

This is 2025 summer reading list. 

I'd love for you to tell me which books are you reading? And I'd love to hear what you think about it. The idea is read something this summer and continue to expand your ideas and your thinking so that you are equipped to continue to pursue your 100% vision and to eliminate the problems along the way like a builder. I'll talk to you next time.

Hey, if you're ready to get started being a builder right away, then I want to invite you to join us at Buildership University. It's our exclusive online community for builders just like you, where you'll be able to get the exact training that you need to turn your school into a success story right now with the people and resources you already have. Inside, you'll find our best online courses, live trainings with me, tons of resources, templates and exemplars, and monthly live office hours with me where you can ask me anything and get my help on whatever challenge you're facing right now. If you're tired of hitting obstacle after obstacle and you're sick of tiny little incremental gains each year, if you're ready to make a dramatic difference in your school right now, then you need to join Buildership University. Just go to buildershipuniversity.com and get started writing your school success story today. Hey, real quick before you go.

If you enjoyed today's episode and you know someone who would really benefit from what you heard here today, maybe they're struggling with a thing that we talked about in today's episode, would you take a moment and share this episode with them? You see, not only will it help us get the word about buildership out to more people, but you're going to look like a rock star because you're going to give people something they can really use to help them get unstuck and be better at building their schools. Plus, it would mean the world to me. Thanks so much, and I'll see you next time.

Thank you for listening to the School Leadership Reimagined podcast for show notes and free downloads visit https://schoolleadershipreimagined.com/

School Leadership Reimagined is brought to you by Mindsteps Inc, where we build master teachers.