Transformative

 Jethro Jones HOW TO BE A TRANSFORMATIVE PRINCIPAL 

I first met Jethro Jones through a mastermind group he hosted just after being assigned as a principal for a turnaround school. Jethro’s ability to guide me and new colleagues in reflective conversation on our school leadership practices was instrumental to my growth. I was also an avid listener to Jethro’s Transformative Principal podcast in its early stages of momentum. His conversations with his guests during each podcast were genuine, informative, and reflective of the engaging learning and leading actions needed for our schools. 

We remained connected over the years, and I continued to listen and follow as he interviewed school leaders worldwide. I nudged him to capture these stories and leadership lessons in a book for school principals. Their wisdom, stories, and transparency could act as a guide for prioritizing what we value. Jethro Jones’s new book How to be a Transformative Principal does that. 

Leadership insights from known and unknown school leaders inspire the reader to take the next step and be the leader our students, staff, and families need us to be. I hear his voice in my head, “It’s hard, but it’s worth it.” “Being a principal requires you to serve many different people. The job can feel overwhelming. But it does not need to feel that way. Because many principals have already figured out what works and how to be great” (bc).

Here are a few of my favorite leadership lessons from the book’s excerpts selected from the now almost 500 episodes of the Transformative Principal Podcast. Well done, Jethro!