Episode 55: Year-In-Review 2025 (Part 2): Leadership Lessons From 12 School Leaders

Ready for a fast, no-fluff leadership reset that actually translates? In this 2025 Year in Review, we highlight twelve standout leaders and the single move from each that shifted trust, culture, and learning in real schools.

You’ll hear how visibility strengthens belonging, why behavior is communication, and how a “no visible student” mindset transforms climate. We unpack the systems that steady culture—clear expectations, reinforced routines, and a peer-observation engine that generated thousands of teacher visits to boost collective efficacy.

We also explore the inner work: identity statements that keep you authentic, deep listening that accelerates trust, and purpose that protects your passion when the job gets hard. Plus, stories from classroom leaders who prove you don’t have to leave to lead and student models that turn responsibility into a shared habit.

Walk away with a simple plan: pick one idea, make it visible, make it consistent, then stack the next one. Leadership shifts through compounding wins—not big gestures. What’s the one action you’ll take first?

Episode 37: Josh Tovar

Episode 39: Dr. Dana Goodier

Episode 40: Erin Jones

Episode 41: Jerry Mack

Episode 42: Jayme Braida

Episode 43:Bill Curry

Episode 45: Beyond the Classroom: Dr. Donovan Smalls II

Episode 46: Shannon Seale

Episode 48: Dr. Salome Thomas-EL

Episode 49: Tony Cattani

Episode 51: Dr. James Lane

Episode 53: Dr.

New and Improve 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome Back & Review Setup
• 3:43 Presence Builds Credibility With Josh Tovar
• 6:18 Consistency Over Crisis With Dana Goodier
• 9:00 Behavior As Communication With Erin Jones
• 11:53 Bull Elephant Culture With Jerry Mack
• 14:51 Belonging By Design With Jayme Braida
• 18:06 Systems Protect Culture With Bill Curry
• 20:54 Identity Shapes Influence With Donovan Small II
• 23:16 Listen First, Lead With Heart With Shannon Seale
• 25:32 Purpose Protects Passion With Principal EL
• 27:56 Peer Observation At Scale With Tony Cattani

Transcript

Principal JL: 1:20

Today is part two of the 2025 Year in Review. In part one, we looked at 14 incredible leaders who remind us that leadership is influence, not position. Today we finish this journey by highlighting the remaining 12 guests from the past year of 2025, from episodes 37 through 53. Each bringing wisdom we can apply right away. Now let's get to the episode. Welcome back, everybody, to another exciting episode of the Educational Leadership Podcast. Today is part two of our 2025 year-in review. In part one, we looked at 14 incredible leaders, and today we're going to talk about 12 incredible leaders as well. Had a total of 26 awesome leaders on the show last year that brought a lot of wisdom, a lot of value to the show, but also a lot of insights on their leadership and how one thing that we can take away from them can we apply? And so that's what this year-end review is about is talk about each guest and talk about the big takeaways and what's one thing we can apply because we're always looking to be one percent better. So I'm gonna go ahead and I'm gonna start off in episode 37 with Josh Tovar, the street cred principal. Now, I got to know Josh through social media. We also share a mutual friendship with Dr. Darrin Peppard as well. But what really caught my attention with Josh is this guy started leaving reviews on social media about episodes from my podcast. Now he would do this for other people, and I started learning that he would go and listen to podcasts while he's lifting, and then he would do a little short review about the episode and why it was great. And we talked about podcasts being free PD. Now, Josh also has his own podcast, the PGP podcast, which I have been fortunate to be a guest on twice for him as well, and he's been a guest on my show, and so really it was really great to get to know Josh more, but I've gotten to know him throughout this year in other ways as well. And so with Josh Tovar, the big takeaway with his episode is presence creates credibility. Josh taught us when leaders show up in the hallways, in the classroom, community events, trust skyrockets. Now, what's one thing we can apply? Increase your visibility. Visibility is not optional, right? You gotta be in the classrooms, you gotta be out talking to students, you gotta be out talking to the teachers and staff and and having those relationship building moments because when you are able to do that, you're able to build buy-in and get to know your people at a personal level. So the first time isn't just you walking in for observation or something like that. I think it's really important that you you know increase your invisibility, and that's one big takeaway we could take from episode 37. Now, just like I did in part one and part two here, I'll have all the links to every episode in the show notes so you can go right to them and check them out as well. Now I'm gonna move on to episode 39, Dr. Dana Goodier. Now, I met her climbing out of the trenches is her big thing, but she also has Out of the Trenches podcast, which I've been a guest on as well. And she's been we did a podcast swap. I actually met her through PodMatch. That's how we got going. But also, we're a part of the Teach Better Network as well. So if you notice the little Teach Better emblem on my logo for the podcast, we both are a part of that, so there's a lot of other great podcasts that you can check out through the Teach Better Network. Now, Dr. Dana Goodier, her big takeaway was consistency beats crisis, right? Dana's work shows how leaders can rise above burnout when they stay grounded in routines, reflection, and purpose. Well, what's one application we could take away? Well, one is we can identify one area we're reacting too much. We need to build a routine that prevents the reaction. So we're actually being proactive, then reactive. And so that's one big takeaway from that episode. I'm gonna go ahead and move on here to episode 40, Erin Jones from psychologist to assistant principal. Now it's great to have Erin on. Her and I actually are in the same region in Nebraska Region 4. Shout out to those peeps right there. She's actually the current president of Region 4, as well as I am the current vice president of Region 4. And so we're working together within that region to do some great things. Now, Erin Jones has just been named the 2025, no 2026 Nebraska Assistant Principal of the Year. So congratulations to her. So with Erin being on the show, big thing to think about, and her big takeaway is behavior is communication, right? So she reminds us that digging a little deeper, understand the why a kid is acting a certain way, changes the way we can support students, but also the way we can support staff, right? If it's good for students, also good for staffs. Now, with her being our assistant at principal row, she really does a lot of discipline with the students. So a lot of we talked about a lot of those things. So the next time, so this is the application you could take away. So during your next discipline conversation, ask what problem is the student trying to solve, right? What is the underlying cause of this student's behavior? Because a lot of time their behavior is a symptom of what's really going on. It's just it's the mask, it's not real, it's just the reaction to what's going on. And so that's another thing is how can you figure out what's going on and digging deeper and finding the why to support that student in those conversations. But we also could do this with our staff, right? If our staff is, you know, upset about something, we want to figure out what is the root cause so we can help solve that issue. So that's another great takeaway from Erin Jones episode in episode 41, Jerry Mack. So he's the 2025 Nebraska High School Principal of the Year, and we talk about creating bull elephants, right? And so Jerry's big takeaway, and actually, Jerry was out at the national NASSP convention. Um, I actually ran into him actually at the Nebraska Educational Advocacy Workshop where I got to meet him and his wife. They're both principals out in Shatteran, Nebraska. And so I got to talk up to him and I got him to come on our show or come on the show and talk about just his experience as a principal. And so what he talks about, strong schools are built on strong adult relationships. So Jerry describes the bull elephant philosophy. Leaders stand together, support each other, and model unity for kids. Now, with this bull elephant philosophy, he's really talking about his kids, right? He's talking about, you know, you have to have order. And so his seniors actually help transition those freshmen into high school. They actually help, hey, this is the rules, these are the expectations, and the seniors will actually be the ones making sure the freshmen are in line or making sure there is order in the school. So he's not doing it all with Jerry's philosophy. It works really great. I really hope you check out that. It's a he explains a lot better than I just did, right there. But what's the application here? Reinforce your leadership, name strengths, celebrate wins, and push solutions together, right? So you want to take your team and you want to make it as strong as you can. You want to name the strengths, celebrate wins, and push solutions together. Because when everybody works together, when they have order, they can achieve more. And so that's really what episode 41 is about. I hope you check that one out as well. So I'm just moving along here. I'm down to episode 42 with Jayme Braida. She's actually the 2025 elementary school principal of the year in Iowa. And she talked about seeing her and valued, and she's got a really great Instagram following now. That's actually where I saw her first was Instagram, and I just messaged her, hey, would you like to come on the show? Boom, she came on the show, and now she's off doing all these great things. It's a lot of fun to see her grow in her leadership and all the endeavors that she's doing. Now, with Jayme's takeaway, nothing changes a school faster than intentional belonging. Jayme showed us the power of ensuring every student and staff member feels notice, right? It's all about the scene valued and heard, and she talks about a lot of that. So, what is the application we could take? Start with a no visible student initiative. Ask teachers to identify and connect with two overlooked kids. So, what could you do to reach out? You know, hey teachers, if you see a kid that's not as visible, how could you make sure they're seen, heard, and valued? In principals, how can you make sure your staff's seen, heard, and valued? How do you intentionally connect with those staff members? Like for me, I'm connecting with everybody. I'm not just connecting with my teachers, but administrative assistants, my custodial staff, my you know, bus driver, but anything that is in underneath the high school umbrella, I'm connecting with them as much as possible. So I think that's the thing is you want people to feel seen, heard, and valued. And so I think that's really, really important message to get out of that episode. Now, episode 47, Bill Curry the Cardinal Way. Now, Bill and I, we actually ran into each other out at Seattle. It was after the social event that there was out there, the NASSP or the NASSP put together, and we ran in together, and we go, you know what, we want to still keep going, having some fun. So we actually drove around on electric bikes and electric scooters all up and down in Seattle and went down to the to the ocean and did a bunch of fun stuff, and we actually saddled down and had a few drinks and just got to talk about just being a principal, what does it mean, and all the great things that we were seeing at the conference and how appreciative we are being there. Now, Bill Curry is the 2025 Nebraska Middle School Principal of the Year out of Boone Central Middle School in Albion, Nebraska. So it's really good to catch up with him and have him on the show too. Now, the one thing Bill talked about in his episode is Clear Systems Protects Culture, right? Bill's work proves that discipline, behavior, and learning improvement, when expectations are consistent, communicated and reinforced, right? So those things can all come together when you are consistent, when you communicate, you reinforce those things. And so he's talking about having clear expectations. We talk about clear being kind, right? That's really important. So what's an application you can take away from this episode? Review one system this month. Is it parties, phones, passes, tighten it with staff input? Hey, this is something we're struggling with. Staff, you what can we do to try to solve this problem? And so getting everybody together, working together is really important, and that's what his main theme was. And I really am checked, I really encourage you to check that episode out as well. Episode 45, Dr. Donovan Small II beyond the classroom. Now, Dr. Donovan Small's social media, he has a podcast. I was on his podcast, he was on mine, that's how we met. You know, I follow his work, he follows mine, and it's been a lot of fun to see him grow throughout this year as well. So the big takeaway with Dr. Donovan Small II's episode, is your identity shapes your influence. Donovan reminds us that leaders can't pour from empty identities. Confidence, authenticity, and self-awareness matters, right? And so those are some big key takeaways from his episode. Application. Write your leadership identity statement down. Who are you at your best? Who are you? Like figure out who you are. Because then you can have this little identity statement, so you can have something to remind yourself. This is what I stand for, this is who I am. So who are you at your best? Is a question you can ask yourself. And you get a lot out of that episode as well. I encourage you to check it out. Now we're moving along. Episode 46, Shannon Seale. Listen first, lead with heart. Now with Shannon, she actually I met her on TikTok. I've sort of followed her. I started watching her reels, and she will do actually some live TikTok streams and do some really really neat things there. And so I follow her, I talk to her, but then I got her on the show, and so that was a really great episode to get to learn more about her leadership journey and you know why she does what she does as well. And so the big takeaway with Shannon is listening is leadership's most underused skill, right? Shannon emphasizes that people will follow leaders they trust. And trust starts with listening. So make sure you get those listening ears out and listen to other people. So application. Find three staff members this week or when you get back from school. What's one thing we can improve to make our work easier? What's something that you can help staff make their jobs easier with? So that's something out there to start. It could be anything, though. Just ask three staff members what's one thing we can approve and figure that out together and get some feedback and listen to what they have to say. So that's a really important skill when we talk about that. Now, moving on to episode 48. Dr. Salome Thomas -EL. I choose to stay. Principal EL is his aka is his other name, and so I refer to him as Principal EL a lot in this episode because that's how I know him. But Principal EL, like coming from Philadelphia, he's done a lot of great things in his life, and it's really awesome to have him on the show. The big takeaway is purpose protects passion. Principal EL taught us that anchoring your work in meaning, choosing to stay, keeps you grounded through adversity. So he chose to stay instead of moving on because he knew he had things he wanted to accomplish. And he's glad he did because he also talks about choosing to stay in the profession because there's a lot of people bouncing, right? Bouncing left and right because you know it's this is hard work, but it's good work. And then he talks about that as well. So choosing to stay and helping these kids, it's not easy, but if you choose to stay and you're grounded, you're gonna get through those adversity times and you're going to you know be better for that, and you're gonna have a meaningful career. So this is one thing you can apply from this episode. Revisit your purpose, right? Revisit and share it with your staff. So revisit your why is what a lot of people talk about, but I like to talk about it being your purpose. Share it with your staff, let them hear your heart behind the work. Staff understands your heart, they're gonna follow you. And I that's one thing I really try to stress is like, guys, hear my heart. This is what we're trying to accomplish, and here's the purpose behind what we're doing, why we're doing it. So find your personal purpose and share it with people and hang on to that. Write it down and have something that you can reflect on as you go through this tough job. It's not easy to sit here and be an educational leader, a principal, system principal, a superintendent. It is just not an easy job to do. And when you have all those negative things out there, you got to remember your purpose and why you're here to do that job, and how you're there to help affect people and make them better. So I think that's one big thing to think about from episode 48. Now, episode 49, Tony Cattani, Proud Principal. He has the Proud Principal podcast, which you know it's really great. I encourage you to listen to it. Now, Principal Cattani is also the national, he's also the New Jersey 2025 New Jersey Principal of the Year, but he's also the national 2025 high school principal of the year, and actually got to meet him when I was out in Seattle because I actually listened to his episode with Dr. Darrin Peppard and leaning in the leadership. I learned about his peer observation system through that, and I started talking to him, and that's one thing that I am actually continuing to work or talk to him about is his peer observation and how he does that. So his big takeaway is peer observation fused collective efficacy. So Tony creates a culture where teachers learn from teachers, they have over 3,000 classroom visits. That's teachers going to other teachers' classrooms and learning from each other. That's really important to understand. They have over 3,000 teachers visiting teachers to learn from each other. So that was one big takeaway. So this is the application you can think about. This is something I think about too as well. Start with this question. What if teachers could visit two peers this semester? What if they just went in and lot watched somebody teach? Or watch something that someone does really, really well. What can that do for your staff? What can that do for that growth of that teacher? So that's something to really think about. How can we utilize the talents in your building to make each other better? And that's episode 49 with Toddy Katani. So I'd appreciate if you'd check that one out if you're interested in that peer observation stuff. All the information's in that episode. Now I'm gonna move on. I only have two more guests left for the 2025 year. So I'm gonna move on to episode 51, Dr. James Lane leading with Blazor Focus. Now, I got met him through Pod Match. It's kind of weird because we played tag team a lot to get him, just to even get him on the show. But we finally got him on the show, and he has a great story. He talks about being a teacher, becoming a principal, superintendent. He's also the state superintendent, which would be like the basically like the commissioner of the education department. That's what we what we call him in Nebraska. But he was that that person for the state of Virginia, but he also worked at the federal level as well. And so his story is really interesting and really something I'd really love you guys to check out. Now, he talks about leading with laser focus, right? So the big takeaway is every role you hold prepares you for what's next, right? From teacher to national leader, Dr. Lane reminds us that leadership growth is sequential and intentional. So he talks about how he grew in every stage and where it got him today, and he's got his book out. I encourage you to check it out. So, application map your own development story, identify a lesson each season taught. You and how your Shaping your next chapter. So really think about how you are identifying the things that you're learning. Maybe write them down. You know, figure out like, hey, these are things I'm learning, these are things I need to get better at, or things I need to do. And so pleasing with laser focus is a great episode for you to check out. Now I'm gonna go ahead, I'm gonna move on to my final guest for the 2025 year, episode 53, Dr. Chris Jochum. Now him and I kind of have a special bond. We're both from Nebraska. He actually grew up in Sutherland. I actually taught out in Hershey, so we kind of know some common people. But he talks about you don't have to leave the lead, right? His big takeaway is leadership is influence, not position. Chris shows us that teachers shape schools daily, long before they ever consider a formal title. So talking about leading from where you are, right? Lead, you don't have to leave the lead. Like you can be a teacher leader, right? You can be a leader from where you're sitting in that seat on the bus in your school. You just gotta step up and do it. And you know what? When you do those things and you lead from where you are, and you know that you don't have to leave the classroom to lead, and you're leading right there, you're just gonna make your school better. And so that also prepares you for the next step if you want to get into administration. You understand how to lead because you've done it before you even got the title. So that's really important to kind of think about, wrap your head around. Now, the application with that is tell a teacher this week, are you ready to lead? Here's how I see it, right? How can people in your building become more leaders, right? And for me, I know I have some teachers that want to be a minister someday. So I talk to them about, hey, here's something to help you with that, here's something that you can lead that you can take on. Yeah, it's a little bit extra, but it's something that you get to be a leader about and sharpen their leadership skills. So think about that teacher, you know, that is ready to lead. How can you help them become a leader for where they're at at that time? Everybody, I hope you guys enjoyed this episode, part two, being able to kind of recap all the great guests. In part one, I recapped the first 14. Today I recapped the last 12, and I really, really appreciate you guys taking a listen to this episode. With that said, I hope you guys are having a great break. Hope you guys had a great Christmas and you're ready for 2026, right? As we close out part two over 2025 year in review, remember this. You don't need a new role to lead. We need a renewed commitment to lead well. Apply one idea from these leaders this week, one habit, one mindset shift, one intentional move. Because leadership doesn't change all at once, it compounds. That's something you got to do. Talk about atomic cabbage, right? A little bit every time. How do you stack these little wins to get 1% better every time? So I hope you guys enjoy this episode. If you got something out of this episode, I really hope you would share it with somebody else that needs to hear it. Hope you guys, if you have time, go down and hit a review for me. That'd be great. It makes the show more visible to people and the algorithm. But at the same time, if you have any questions, reach out to me. I have my little text uh message app on the episode. Just hit that, it shoots me a message, I'll get the message and we can connect. I'd love to hear from my audience as well. So I hope this episode is impactful for you. I love sharing these stories, and I can't wait to see what 2026 brings. I already have a few episodes lined up for the 2026 season, and I hope you guys are having a great break. Until next time, be curious and 1% better.