Matt's Ink Blog
Masters
I have just started a MBA with Coventry University. Part of the requirements is to complete a learning log. I have decided to use my blog to achieve this.
Hope and rats
Curt Richter conducted a series of experiments looking at how long rats survive drowning. It is an interesting, albeit a bit sick, paper. Most wild rats dies between 1 and 15 minutes after being...
School improvement planning
Traditional A long plan with a multitude of priorities and things to do. Impact? Very little! Across multiple schools I have seen that these plans simply gather dust. They certainly don’t help guide decision...
Leadership Behaviours
Model High Expectations and no excuses Be clear and explicit about your personal values, drive and mission and those of the school Model outstanding teaching and learning Be visible around school, supporting and showing...
Fierce Practice: From Legislated Optimism to Radical Transparency
Based on Susan Scott : Fierce Leadership Weak leaders want agreement. But fierce leaders want to know the truth. As leaders, we need to encourage those we lead to tell us the whole truth,...
Fierce Leadership
Fantastic book based around Susan Scott’s idea that you change the world ‘one conversation at a time’. Highly applicable to school leadership. Key Takeaways: Squid Eye. Squids are impossible to see. So instead you...
Right to Lead Maxwell (Kindle)
A good summary of Maxwell’s other leadership books. This is also its weakness as if you have read his other works it is primarily quotes from those books. Summary Men are alike in their...
David & Goliath – Underdogs, Misfits and the art of battling giants by Malcolm Gladwell
Point 1: Play to you’re advantages and strengths Sometimes what we think is an advantage is actually a disadvantage. The key point of this book is that trying to play the Giant’s game will...
Strategy
I would suggest that strategy is fundamentally the ‘HOW’ of an organisation. It is likely to be fluid and changed based on the prevailing conditions and ought to be crafted to the organisations strengths....
The importance of WHY
I have previously read Sinek’s books about finding your Why. So I was unsuprised to see the starting point of the course. For those that don’t know Sinek’s argument in a nutshell: Most companies...
