Leading for Excellence

Reviews / Votes

Brilliant! The moment I read the first assumption, I was hooked. When is the last time someone hit you right between the eyes with the obvious in an easy-to-read and relevant way? This comprehensive book on effective leadership is full of great examples with principles and practical suggestions at the end of each chapter. Literally, this is a road-map for implementing best practices that all leaders can use to move their organization to the next level. -- Lou Obermeyer, superintendent, Valley Center-Pauma USD; 2011 ACSA Superintendent of the Year What happens when you put two of the best researchers and organizational analysts, Thomas Harvey and Bonita Drolet, and team them up with a successful experienced superintendent, Douglas Devore? You get a valuable tool for leadership that is informative as much as it is practical. Leading for Excellence provides a guide of research-based best practices with a great twelve-step plan for implementation that every school leader should have in order to move their organization from one that has potential to one that is performing with great success. This work looks at some often forgotten motivational elements to team building and will provide the tools and activities needed for any leader who wishes to make a significant difference in their school organization. -- Arturo Delgado, Superintendent, Los Angeles County Office of Education Leading for Excellence is the essential toolkit needed for administrators who have the courage and strength to lead in these difficult times of school reform. It provides practical examples and applications illustrating what a leader should know and be able to do to successfully create an environment that will produce high-achieving results. Harvey, Drolet, and Devore have assembled the most effective principles that lead to a high-achieving environment into a "twelve-step program" that illustrates the path they have walked to achieve their many years of successful school leadership. -- Marg Watson, Ed.D., school improvement consultant, Montana Office of Public Instruction School leaders will love this book. Through extensive research, brought to life with vivid and inspiring real-world examples, the authors prove that crafting a high-achieving environment is no game of chance. They present a compelling twelve-step program guaranteed to transform a lackluster culture into a resilient, high-achieving organization. This is a book that I will read and re-read long after other leadership texts have been stored away, simply because the principles presented here are practical, timeless, and proven. -- Dr. Gary Rutherford, retired school superintendent; consultant, Education Support Services (ESS)