Reframing the Path to School Leadership : A Guide for Teachers and Principals

"Here is a rare blend of storytelling and analysis, brought together in a book that is both insightful and inviting. Lee Bolman and Terry Deal allow us to see our schools, and ourselves, through the lens of imagination rarely found in educational literature, offering embattled and discouraged educators the precious gifts of vision and hope."
Parker J. Palmer, author
Let Your Life Speak and The Courage to Teach

"I love this book! Reframing the Path to School Leadership is full of great spirit, liveliness, and energy. Bolman and Deal are master storytellers, and this tale will inspire every school leader, whether administrator, teacher, coach, parent, or student."
Jim Kouzes, coauthor
The Leadership Challenge and Encouraging the Heart 

The key to becoming a highly effective leader is to develop powerful habits of mind!

The best leaders use multiple frames or lenses to view common challenges and to solve their most difficult problems. Through a series of dialogues between a novice and a master teacher, and between a new and a seasoned principal, best-selling authors Bolman and Deal demonstrate how framing―and then reframing―challenges brings clarity, helps to anticipate problems, and leads to more comprehensive and powerful leadership strategies.

The four frames most commonly used by teachers and administrators are:

• The political frame―conflict and compromise are a constant source of renewal
• The human resource frame―sharing individual needs and motives nurtures a sense of ownership
• The structural frame―clear organizational standards and goals lead to greater productivity
• The symbolic frame―culture, rituals, and beliefs cultivate shared values and meanings

By reframing situations, educators ultimately gain more confidence and certainty in their decisions, and reduce the anxieties that can arise with difficult choices. In Reframing the Path to School Leadership, Bolman and Deal provide an optimistic view of what can go right in schools today, and what possibilities lie ahead for classroom and school leadership!

Lee G. Bolman is the Marion Bloch/Missouri Chair in Leadership at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. An author, teacher, con­sultant, and speaker, he has written numerous books on leadership and organizations with coauthor Terry Deal, including best-sellers   Leading With Soul: An Uncommon Journey of Spirit (1995, 2001) and Reframing Organiza­tions: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership (1991, 1997), as well as The Path to School Leadership (1993) and Becoming a Teacher Leader (1994). Bolman holds a BA in History and a PhD in Organizational Behavior from Yale University. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri, with his wife, Joan Gallos, and the two youngest of his children, Christopher and Bradley.

Terrence E. Deal is the Irving R. Melbo Professor at University of Southern California’s Rossier School. He is an internationally known lecturer and author who has written numerous books on leadership and organizations. In addition to those written with Lee Bolman, he is the coauthor of Corporate Cultures (with Alan Kennedy, 1982) and Shaping School Culture (with Kent Peterson, 1999).