As 2025 comes to a close, I am taking time to think about my core leadership values. Most leaders have them and they show up in our daily leadership actions.

A leadership manifesto helps clarify values and helps me make important decisions like whether to join an organization, when to risk push – back, or when it is time to leave. It has also held me accountable when I have found myself tempted to compromise my beliefs, or when my actions do not align with them.

Over the course of the next several posts, I will outline my manifesto in brief, discuss the leadership metaphor that underpins it, share my thoughts on its strengths and weaknesses, present my revised manifesto, and communicate ways this process can enhance culture in urban school communities.

Join me on this journey as I deconstruct, rethink, and revise my manifesto. I promised this blog would contain compelling confessions. Get ready! Lead and learn along the way with me by sharing your thoughts and by penning your own manifesto.