SMS Principal Blog

Research indicates that employees have three prime needs: Interesting work, recognition for doing a good job, and being let in on things that are going on in the company.  -Zig Ziglar It is interesting how sometimes certain themes or ideas will dominate our lives for days or weeks. Sometimes I wonder if I'm unwittingly part of the cast of some television drama and these themes are just the writer's way of organizing things into episodes. Then I realize The Truman Show  is fiction, and the reality is that all of these themes are constantly present, it is only my awareness of them that ebbs and flows.  Right now, recognition is a theme that is on my mind. We found out last week that the Sullivan Chamber and Economic Development is recognizing Sullivan Schools as their Business of the Year at their annual luncheon later this month. As a leader within this organization, I am incredibly honored that we will be receiving this award. For me, it is a sign that our effo...

“When setting expectations, no matter what has been said or written, if substandard performance is accepted and no one is held accountable — if there are no consequences — that poor performance becomes the new standard. Therefore, leaders must enforce standards.”  – Jocko Willink I love to read. More specifically, I love to binge read. I'm generally not content or even remotely interested in picking up a book and reading a few pages or reading for a few minutes. If I cannot read for at least half an our, uninterrupted, I don't want to read at all. What I really like to do is read for several hours at a time, consuming an entire book in one sitting whenever possible. However, my life doesn't always allow this, so I decided to try something new over break. I downloaded my first audiobook. I figure that I spend a lot of time driving to ballgames and soon show choir competitions. Once I am there, I generally have a fair amount of time to sit and wait for the game to star...