Episode 54: Year-In-Review 2025 (Part 1): Leadership Lessons From 14 School Leaders

This episode distills one powerful insight from each of our standout guests this year, practical moves you can use the moment you’re back in the building. From consistency and clarity to purpose, recognition, and sustainable habits, these strategies strengthen culture and improve outcomes fast. If it helps, share with a colleague and subscribe for Part 2 of our Year-End Review Series.

Click below to listen to all the Part 1 episodes mentioned:

Episode 14: Principal Mo

Episode 18: Angela Kelly

Episode 21: Dr. Joe Sanfelippo

Episode 22: Kurtis Hewson 

Episode 23: Coach Tony Kimble

Episode 26: Dr. Josh Wilken

Episode 28: Dr. Cynthia Rapaido

Episode 29: Dr. Rachel Edoho-Eket

Episode 31: Dr. Darrin Peppard

Episode 32: Leroy Slanzi

Episode 33: Dr. Frank Buck

Episode 34:Josh Rowan

Episode 35:Todd Bloomer

Episode 36: Casey Watt

Teach Better Mid Roll Network Ad

Chapters

• 1:57 Why A Two‑Part Year In Review
• 3:47 How The Recap Will Work
• 5:54 Ep 14 Principal Mo: Authenticity
• 9:56 Ep 18 Angela Kelly: Reflection
• 13:58 Ep 21 Joe Sanfelippo: Lead From Any Role
• 18:10 Ep 22 Kurtis Hewson: Collaborative Response
• 21:54 Ep 23 Coach Tony Kimble: Model Consistency
• 26:16 Ep 26 Josh Wilken: Purpose As Compass
• 29:40 Ep 28 Dr. Cynthia Rapaido: Identity And Why

Transcript

Principal JL: 0:59

Today's episode is special. It's the first of a two-part series looking back at the incredible lineup of leaders who have joined us on this podcast in 2025. This year was full of wisdom, full of honesty, full of reminders that leadership isn't a title. It's a choice we make every day to serve our schools, our staff, and our students. So today we're going to revisit each guest and pull out one powerful leadership takeaway and talk about how we can apply it when we get back into our buildings after the holiday break. Without further ado, let's get to part one of this two-part series. Welcome back, everybody, to another exciting episode of the Educational Leadership Podcast. I am so excited to do this year-in review with you guys. I'm doing part one of a two-part series where I'm going to recap every guest that we've had on this show over the last year, in the year 2025. And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to talk about, you know, key takeaways and something you can do to apply something from that episode. Now, with these episodes, I'm actually going to hyperlink each episode that I talk about in this episode. So you can go to that episode and listen to the full episode if you want to learn more about that guess, or when you're interested in more of what I've talked about here today. So I'm going to get things started off with episode 14, Principal Mo from the Classroom to Princ Fluencer. Now, the first time I saw Principal Mo, she's on TikTok, right? I'm following her. I'm like kind of new to this stuff. This was like way back in December of last year. And I'm really starting to really get into my podcast and really looking around what other people were doing. And I ran across her and I started following her. And we talked a little bit back and forth, not too much. But then I got this idea to bring her on the show and she did. So I was like grateful. Like, all right, cool. I got someone to be a guest on my podcast. So with Principal Mo, what she really talks about, some big takeaway you could take about or take from that episode is being your authentic self. Be an authentic, build trust faster than perfection. You're not going to be perfect. So Principal Mo reminds us when leaders show who they truly are, when they show their joy, they show their struggles, they can be silly, all those different things that make us human. People connect more deeply. So in this episode, we kind of talk about her journey and how that her authenticity really builds those relationships. So I would encourage you to go back and listen to that. But the one thing I want you to really challenge yourself from this episode is I want you to share one authentic moment with your staff when you get back into the building. You know, you want to share a challenge, share a win, share a story that makes leadership human. You got to show people you are who you are and makes you more human. You're not always this, yeah, you're a leader, but you're not, you know, someone that they have to fear, but they can show that you are a normal person. So that's one takeaway from episode 14 that I would love to share with you guys on that. Now I'm gonna go ahead and move along to episode 18. Angela Kelly. Angela Kelly, I've known her for about now three, almost four years now. I'm in her Empower Principles group. I am in her EPCs and I engage with those the Facebook format. I engage with those things off and on, but I really enjoy listening to her and somebody that actually has helped me in my leadership journey, but also helped me with, you know, I wouldn't be here podcasting if it wasn't my relationship with Angela Kelly, making me a better principal and learning some things from her. So things I want to really point to on this episode is reflection is a leadership accelerator. You gotta be able to reflect on the things you do. You gotta be able to go, hmm, how does this impact all these different things? Angela talks about slowing down long enough to examine your practices, not just to survive it, but actually to thrive, right? And so what you want to do is the challenge is let's build a weekly 10-minute reflection routine. Ask, what did I learn? What did I need, and whom did I serve well? So those are three different things you can ask yourself on a reflection. So when you reflect on your leadership, that's gonna help transform your leadership. And Angela talks a lot about you know her journey, but then how she found coaching and how she's helping other people in the leadership role with her coaching. So I really love that episode and love you guys to check that one out as well. Of course, I want you to check out all these episodes within this year-in review. Like I said, all the links will be hyperlinked down in the show notes. So episode 21. Now, if you notice, I've bounced around on these numbers. They're not like I have them lined up because I've done some solo episodes in between these. But episode 21, Dr. Joe Sanfelippo lead from where you are. I think this episode is great to where you can understand, you know, you don't have to be a principal or administrator to lead from where you are. So I think that's really important to take away. Now, I've seen Dr. Joe Sanfelippo speak at conferences, at different engagements, and so I've seen him for a few years, but I one of those things. I just reached out and said, hey, would you be interested? And he was gracious enough to come on, and so that was great to have Dr. Joe Sanfelippo on. So the big takeaway is every role matters. People need to feel seen in the moment they are in. Joe reminds us that leadership is influence, not position. He also talks about find the joy. If you're running around being miserable at work, you're not very joyous. So if you can find the things you can be joyful about, that's something he also talks about as well. So I really want you guys to go back and listen to that episode and you'll learn more about his journey and kind of what he's been up to lately. The thing you can do with this from this episode, one thing you can apply is you can make a list of three staff members you haven't done a shout-out lately, or you want to tell them I see you. So you don't have to like make a big announcement, I want to do these things. Like, okay, there's three people, I'm gonna write them down. I'm gonna make sure I intentionally sit, you know, tell them something positive, or go out of my way and say, hey, I really like this, or I really enjoyed this. Hey, you did really good job at this, right? Go and you know, do a shout-out, maybe not in front of people, but just like one-on-one in person. I think those are good things to do to help build up your staff morale as well. So that's episode 21, Dr. Joe Sanfelippo. And episode 22, Kurtis Hewson. Now, I got a hold of Kurtis, it was another one of those, like on you know, in the social media. Got connected with him with Dr. Darrin Peppard. And so I believe that's kind of our connection there. Him and I started chatting. He's from Canada. He talks about collaborative response and all these different great things, talking about yes, we have PLCs, but what can we do to strengthen those PLCs as well? So the big takeaway from episode 22 with Kurtis Hewson is teams solve problems better than individuals, right? Kurtis shows us a framework where clarity, collaboration equals improved outcomes for kids. So when you're clear about something and you collaborate, you put those together, you improve the outcomes for kids. So here's what I want you guys to think about. This is an application piece. Ask your PLC one question. What's one thing we can fix together that none of us have fixed alone? Now, this doesn't have to be a PO secret, but this could be a team leadership. So I have a leadership team, I have a school improvement team. You can ask this question what's one thing we can fix together that none of us can fix alone? That's a really powerful thing. Get people together, get them collaborating, and that would be a great episode for you to go back and take a listen to. Now I'm gonna go ahead and trek along here, episode 23 with Coach Tony Kimble. Now, Coach Tony Kimble leading the transformation. You know, at the time I was following him on YouTube, he was doing these transformational leadership uh for all 50 states, and it was really cool because you got to listen to all that. I got to be on his show. I asked him to be on mine, and he really graciously accepted it. He usually doesn't do a lot of podcasts, so I was really fortunate that he would come on and show share his story as well. Now he's from the you know, from Mississippi Delta, and we talked about that. We talked about his career, but one thing I really want to the big takeaway in this episode is culture changes when adults model the behavior we expect from students. Tony's coaching background proved that consistency beats intensity. So being consistent is better than how intense you are about it. So that's really an important takeaway. So I want you to apply this in, you know, coming up. Pick one expectation you want to tighten up and model relentlessly for the next 10 days. So, what is it out there that you as a leader can say, you know what, this is something we really gotta get tight on. I have to remind our staff, hey, remember our expectations. We gotta get tight on these things and really focus and being relentless and intent on those things for the next 10 days. And these are all things that you can do that you can apply right away. And if you'd like to learn more about his episode, that's episode 23. Now, episode 26, all right, Dr. Josh Wilken. Now, leading with purpose. The big takeaway here, now I've known Josh for a long time. We actually graduated college together. We've known each other on a personal level as well as a professional level. And, you know, Josh has been in the seat, Rand. He's been a principal, he's done all these things. But the one thing that I learned from Josh, or a big takeaway, is the purpose is the compass when the challenges get loud. Okay, when your purpose is what drives you, right? When challenges get loud. Josh taught us to anchor our decisions and missions, not noise. So the application piece is when facing a tough call, pause and ask yourself. Does this decision honor our purpose? So, what is your purpose? What is your vision or mission? Is it gonna align with that? And when you have to make those tough calls, as long as you know what that is, you can make those decisions and make them easier. So think about those things when you're making those tough calls the next time. Episode 28, Dr. Cynthia Rapaido. Now, her and I, we actually pod match is where I got her information from and learned about her, and we talked a little bit, and she came on the show. So, what was really cool about her is you know, it was one of those deals where I didn't know a lot about her, but we learned about her, and now bringing her on the show is a lot of fun to learn from her. So, with her, identity, culture, and leadership is kind of like the theme, overarching theme in that episode. Leaders must know who they are before they can lead others. So that was something she was big on. You have to know who you are before you can lead others. Cynthia also made it clear that identity isn't a buzzword, it's a leadership strategy. So here's the application from this episode. Write your leadership why, or purpose in this case, is another way you can look at it in one sentence. Use it to guide conversations and decisions. Very similar to what we talked about with Dr. Josh Wilkin, Cynthia Rapaido kind of reinforces that idea is to understand who you are, what your why is, or your purpose, and use it to guide conversations and decisions that you make down the road. So that's something I want to challenge you with from this episode. Episode 29, Dr. Rachel Ed oho-Eket. Now, she was somebody I met on LinkedIn, started following her, started knowing more about her work, and then just reached out and said, Hey, would you like to be on the show? And she's like, Yeah, I'd love to be on the show. And so really grateful to have her come on as well. The big takeaway, and I've actually seen Dr. Edoho-Eket speak in person at the National Principal's Conference this past summer. Joy is fuel, not fluff, right? You know, she talks about the joy keeps schools energized and sustainable. So, us as principal, we gotta find joy. We gotta find our we gotta find balance, right? We can't be go, go, go, go, go and wear it ourselves down. But we also gotta find the joy in the job so we can be energized and sustain the job we do. So something you can do is celebrate one staff member publicly this week. Joy multiplies when shared. So when you can share people's joy and you show your joy with other people and they share their joy with you, that brings a lot of purpose for you guys. But also, she talks about work-life balance a little bit or another, you know, a lot of people, you know, with that, she talks about how she puts parameters in place. Hey, this is these are my non-negotiables, these are things I'm gonna do because I gotta make sure I take care of my family on top of taking care of my responsibility as a leader. So I would check out that episode as would be a great one to talk about that work-life balance as well and kind of her journey when she discovered how to do that. And what I love about her, she talks, she gets really real about what her her uh struggles were. And so, really check that episode out as well. Moving on to episode 31, Dr. Darrin Peppard. He's a one, the road to awesome, right? So he used to be a principal, they call him a recovery now high school principal. He also is a superintendent, but he has his own educational consulting business as well. Now he's out there helping leaders like you become better at what you do. And so with Dr. Darrin Peppard, when he shared his stories, some big takeaways. And I actually met him online. He actually reached out to me first and said, Hey, want to do a podcast swap? I'm like going, sure, and haven't done that yet. And so we did a podcast swap. Ours on his show, he was on my show. And so what was cool about that, the one thing you'll if you have listened to Leaning Into Leadership, you'll understand you probably hear a lot of what I'm getting ready to say a lot because this is his per his purpose, right? His driven, what he's driven to do. Culture is not a poster, it's a practice. So Darrin taught us that the small moments of intentionality shape the climate of a building. Now, when he's also talking about intentionality, he's talking about clarity too. He talks about clarity and being clear is kind. And I think that's really important. When you're intentional and you're clear, you're gonna be able to build that school culture the way you intend it to be, or people love coming to work. Now, it's not gonna be all rosy all the time, but at the same time, it's gonna be much better than if you didn't build that intentionally. So here's one thing you can do. Identified one daily habit that reinforces your school culture, protect it fiercely. So, what's one thing you can do that reinforces your school culture, protect it fiercely? So, something I like to do with I like to get out, I like to greet people, I like to talk to people, I will give fist bumps, I will talk to staff, hey, how's things going? You know, have those little little uh moments with everybody, talk to kids, talk to staff. I like to get out of the building. That's one habit I have that reinforces our school culture. But they also see me having fun, being joyous as well. Even on my bad days, I will do my best to, you know, have a great attitude, even though there's times that I don't want to, but I have to, you know, show people, you know what, even when I don't feel like it, I can still find the joy in this job. I think that's really important to do. So there's the challenge. Five one, habit to reinforce your school culture. Now, episode 32 with Leroy Slanzi, emotional schools. Now, Leroy and I, he was another guy I found on PodMatch when I was uh using that site to try to find guests on the show. Now, he's from Canada, just like Kurtis Hewson was, but he really talks a lot about emotional intelligence. And, you know, that is really great stuff that I would really encourage you guys to go back and and listen to again. So he talks about emotional intelligence is a leadership superpower. So Leroy helps us see that when we lead with empathy, student behavior and staff morale shifts, right? So when you can be empathetic, you can use your emotional intelligence to see things, you can help those things, you can actually solve those conflicts much better. So here's the application, right? When conflict arises, they ask what emotion is underneath this behavior? Respond to that, not the service. So this is where you really gotta be in tune with hey, this staff member, you know, they're upset, but I'm gonna try to figure out the root cause of that so I can help solve that so they don't have that that feeling anymore. That's the same with kids, how we w interact with kids as well. And if you have the ability to recognize people's emotions and find the root causes and help them through those things, and not just because they're mad, you know, take it personally, I think you go a long ways with building the emotional intelligence in your school. So he really he really talks about emotional intelligence, emotional schools, and how to lead in a capacity that really helps turn those schools around and build that culture. So really encourage you to check out episode 32 with Leroy Slanzi. Moving on to episode 33, Dr. Frank Buck. All right, Dr. Frank Buck, another one off of Pod Match. So if you notice, I've had a few different ways I've found these guests, either social media, me, you know, a contact that I had previously, you know, PodMatch was another way I was looking around, finding guests, you know, as well as doing the other ways as doing it. So Frank, Dr. Frank Buck, get organized. He's our organized guru guy. He really has been in the game a long time and he helps people get organized, be productive. He's got a few books out I would encourage you guys to get. The key takeaway is productivity is not about doing more. It's about doing what matters most. It's not about doing more, it's doing what matters most. And staying organized is the key. So Dr. Buck shows us how. Systems create freedom. And if you have things in place, how that could take some things off your plate, but create freedom for you as well. So the application from this episode, I really want you to think about is pick one system to automate or streamline this week. Emails, walkthroughs, notes, or tasks, whatever. Make it simple. Try to automate that, streamline it so you can get more time back. So you're not doing these, you know, these time-consuming tasks. Try to do something to streamline that. So I'd really encourage you to take a listen to episode 33 and learn more about that as well. We're getting close here to the end of part one. We got about three more guests that we'll go over. So I'm going to go ahead, episode 34, Josh Rowan. Now I've known Josh since he was in just a kid, right? I actually helped coach his baseball team or my brother. I can't remember if I coached it or my brother, but he's actually a catcher, right? For a baseball team that I helped coach one time. Or it might have been my brother. I can't remember. I've known him since he was a kid. We grew up in the same town. Now, what's cool about Josh is he was a first-year assistant principal in 2023, 2020, well, 24, 25. So he's a first-year principal. And so I brought him on the show to talk about his experience as a first-year administrator and the things you can learn. Here's the big takeaway from Josh's episode. Your first year will stretch you, but reflection turns survival into growth. So he spent a lot of time reflecting on his the lessons he was learning that first year. And because he reflected, he was growing through the process. He didn't know exactly what was going on half the time. I mean, he was learning on the job like we all do as principals. And so he did a lot of reflecting to help himself grow. He reminds us that new leaders need to give themselves grace and stay curious. So you have to go. You know what? I'm not going to be perfect. I'm not going to do everything right. So I have to give myself grace. But I want to stay curious. Ask a lot of questions. Get to know people. You know, don't, you know, think like you got all the answers. Those are really important things from that episode you can take away. So here's the application. Start an admin learning log. So three sentences per day, you'll think yourself later, right? So at the end of the day, write three sentences about the day. Something, you know, something that you learned, something you could do better, something that worked really well, you know, something like that to really log those things out. And then really see how you grow and how you reflect over time and see where you're at in a month, three months, a year, and see how that goes for you. Episode 34 with Josh Rowan. Go ahead and take a listen to that as well. So episode 35, Todd Bloomer. The blueprint for leadership and family balance. Now, Todd Bloomer. He's been around, he's got a new book out. He's been on all these lot of different podcasts, but he's also on TikTok and Instagram. You know, got to know him through Darrin Peppard. He connected us, and that's how I got him on my show. Uh but it's really great about Todd. He's just a down-to-earth dude, man. He he's been through it, he's done it. He just retired. He's doing now where he's actually helping other leaders get better. So he's doing some coaching with leaderships, you know, with other principals. And so it's really great to see his TikToks and Instagrams. I would encourage you to follow him. He does like a daily thing every day. So it's really inspirational. I'd really love for you guys to take a listen to that as well. But here's a big takeaway from episode 35. You can be a great leader without sacrificing the people you love most. He really talked about how his family wasn't, you know, at the forefront. He was putting his job over his family, and he learned that he can actually do the job and still have time for his still be able to be a good dad. And he talks about you know his struggles with that and how maybe he wasn't the best dad at times, but he talks about his growth through that. So he reminds us that boundaries aren't barriers, they're commitments. And I think that's really something you have to really appreciate from this episode. One application you could do is protect one non-negotiable each week, like a family dinner, a workout, coaching your kids' team. Something that is not principal related, right? Something that you need to be able to do. He talks about playing four square with his wife every night, right? And something that he does that helps him, you know, reset and helps him connect with his his wife every night. And he goes, I wish I would have done this sooner. And he'll talk about that in the episode. Really encourage you to check that out. That's episode 35. And the last episode in part one is episode 36 with Casey Watts. Another great person I met through Darrin Peppard, you know, he helped me get some of these guests on, so it's been really a great relationship with him. Leading with clarity. Casey Watts, if you know anything about her, if you've seen her on LinkedIn, TikTok, or LinkedIn's mainly where she hangs out. She talks about clarity a lot. Like her and Darrin Peppard talk about clarity. It's really important to understand. And the big key takeaway with Casey and talking about her journey is clarity calms the storm. Casey taught us that staff thrive when expectations are simple, consistent, and predictable. So bring in clarity, clear as kind, all those things is really important. The final application for this episode in part one for episode 36 is write down one confusing system or process in your building and make it like really clear what that system should be, right? If teachers are coming to you and saying, I really don't understand this part of the system, really take the time to think about it. Well, how am I communicating that? And then get really, really clear with the communication, what that system is supposed to do. And that's there's times I've had to do that. I've had this take a step back and go, okay, what are they asking? Why, what, what is it that they're not quite understanding? Because to me it sounds like it's so simple, right? But maybe not simple for them. So I take a step back and I'm able to re or just clarify what that system is or what you're trying to communicate. And I think that's really important to do. So find something that's people are having a hard time understanding and bring clarity to that. Well, everybody, that's a wrap for part one of our 2025 year-end review. 14 great leaders, 14 lessons, 14 ways to get 1% better when we get back into our abilities from the holiday break. So I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. And I'm gonna have hyperlinks down at the bottom of this episode so you guys can go in and you can listen to the full episode and see you know what your key takeaways are from those episodes as well. So I really encourage that. If this episode really resonated with you, I would ask you guys to please share it with someone that needs to hear it. And I also like if you really like the work that I'm doing, I really love it if you leave a review because the more reviews that I get, the more this podcast will be out, pushed out by the algorithm so it could reach more people. And I really appreciate your help if you can do that. Thank you guys for tuning in. I hope you guys have a great holiday break. And always remember to be curious and one percent better.