Leading Strategically: Achieving Ambitious Goals in Education

A practical, accessible framework to help education leaders at all levels turn goals into effective action

In Leading Strategically, Elizabeth A. City and Rachel E. Curtis introduce an actionable leadership framework that supports education leaders in developing and executing cohesive strategy and in taking action in their daily work in ways that make them more effective. Their approach helps leaders navigate challenges and dilemmas in ways that build ownership, collaboration, and capacity within their schools, school systems, and nonprofit educational organizations.

City and Curtis center their framework on five essential elements of strategic leadership: discernment, or figuring out what is important to achieve the organization’s vision; cultivation of relationships by tending to interpersonal interactions and social networks with intentionality; deep knowledge of organizational context and history; identification of where power resides, what it looks like in action, and how to marshal it in service of shared purpose; and maintaining a lean and flexible mindset by thinking big, acting small, and learning fast. Throughout the work, reflective questions and tools invite readers to interrogate how each element can apply to their work, guide decision-making, and inform their leadership. Real-world mini case studies show these principles in practice, and a final chapter synthesizes the book into a set of questions leaders can use to guide them to lead strategically.

Overall, this practical, hope-filled work encourages leaders--from teachers to superintendents and CEOs--to think expansively about what they can do on behalf of all students, their families, and their communities.

Elizabeth City is senior lecturer on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she is executive director of Reach Every Reader and where she previously served as director of the Doctor of Education Leadership Program. She is the author or coauthor of many books, including Data Wise, Strategy in Action, and Instructional Rounds in Education. Rachel Curtis is a consultant to urban school systems and their partners on strategy, senior leadership development, and professional learning. She is the director of the Aspen Institute’s Urban Superintendents Network, an advisor to the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, and a leadership coach to senior leaders in school systems and nonprofits. She is the coauthor of Strategy in Action and Skillful Leader II and a coeditor of Teaching Talent.