Navigating Power, Harnessing Possibility: A Guide for Leading Schools Through Uncertain Times (Equity and Social Justice in Education Series)

Educational leadership is messy; every decision ripples beyond your office, touching schools, families, and communities in ways you can’t always predict. This book helps school and district leaders develop contextual intelligence: the ability to read their environment, navigate power and politics, and act with courage and clarity.

Across seven chapters, we’ll walk through the big questions that sit at the heart of your daily leadership, including:

• How to navigate the power dynamics that shape district leadership;
• How to read your environment, anticipate challenges, and take action;
• What it looks like to lead amid societal shifts: demographic changes, political polarization, economic pressures, and cultural divides;
• How to activate institutional levers that promote opportunity and access, even when the system resists change; and
• The daily actions you can take now to harness possibility by building trust, modeling inclusive practices, and moving your community forward.

Throughout, the book’s tools, real stories, and reflective questions will inspire you to lead with both head and heart in an uncertain world. You’ll come away with the skills, insights, and habits of mind that will help you stay steady in any storm so your students can thrive.

Mary Rice-Boothe, EdD, has more than 25 years of experience in education as a teacher, principal, principal coach, and nonprofit leader. She owns Leading-Within, LLC, a consulting organization which supports education leaders through advocacy, coaching, research, and writing. Her first book was Leading Within Systems of Inequity in Education: A Liberation Guide for Leaders of Color, published by ASCD in 2023.