March 10, 2025
Episode 21: "Lead from Where You Are" – Insights from Dr. Joe Sanfelippo's Leadership Journey!
Fan Mail! Join us for an enlightening conversation with Dr. Joe Sanfelippo, a retired school superintendent whose experiences and insights are transforming the educational landscape. In this episode, we explore his journey from classroom to leadership, emphasizing the importance of authenticity and vulnerability in education. Joe shares how his daily “One Minute Walks” revolutionized his leadership, connecting directly with educators and building a community of support and recognition. As a...
Join us for an enlightening conversation with Dr. Joe Sanfelippo, a retired school superintendent whose experiences and insights are transforming the educational landscape. In this episode, we explore his journey from classroom to leadership, emphasizing the importance of authenticity and vulnerability in education. Joe shares how his daily “One Minute Walks” revolutionized his leadership, connecting directly with educators and building a community of support and recognition.
As a prolific author known for titles like "Hacking Leadership" and "Lead From Where You Are," Joe underscores the significance of using social media as a tool for school branding, enabling educators to celebrate their work and achievements. His perspective on how to create a positive narrative amid prevalent challenges offers essential guidance for educational leaders seeking to inspire change.
Listeners will gain valuable insights into the balance of leadership responsibilities and the power of recognition in the educational community. Joe emphasizes that great leadership is not just about making sound decisions, but also about cultivating relationships, fostering a sense of community, and celebrating successes. This episode aims to inform, inspire, and encourage aspiring leaders to embrace their roles within their schools.
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00:00 - Welcome and Episode Introduction
02:38 - Meet Dr. Joe Sanfelippo
12:28 - The Journey from Classroom to Superintendent
26:55 - Embracing Social Media and School Branding
43:40 - The Impact of One
01:04:10 - Advice for Future Educational Leaders
WEBVTT
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Welcome back everybody.
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I'm so excited to bring you guys today's episode.
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Today's guest is someone I've been following since 2022.
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I first saw him speak at the NETA conference in Omaha, Nebraska.
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I also got to see him speak at the ESU 11 fall workshop that we did, and it was really great to see him as that keynote speaker.
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He's also been at the Nebraska Administrator Days.
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I've also seen him speak nationally at the National Convention as well, and so I'm really excited to bring on Dr Joe Sanfelippo onto the show today.
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Just so you guys know, he is a retired superintendent of Fall Creek School Districts in Wisconsin.
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He's an educational leader and author.
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During his tenure at Fall Creek School District, they were recognized as the innovative district twice by the International Center for Leadership and Education.
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Joe authored multiple books, including bestsellers such as Hacking Leadership and Lead From where you Are, He's also got a brand new book out called One Minute Walk to Work, which is a collection of his 100 walks to work that he posted on his Twitter and Instagram accounts, and so you actually can still see some of that work going on today as well, and so he actually created this book and it's really great read.
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I encourage you to pick it up.
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He's been honored as one of the 117 future-ready superintendents and among the 50 personalized learning leaders by the US Department of Education.
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Joe was also named one of the 100 most influential educators by District Administration Magazine in 2019.
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Educators by District Administration Magazine in 2019.
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Education Dive awarded him the National Superintendent of the Year.
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So I'm really excited to bring you this episode where Joe and I got to sit down.
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We got to talk about his educational journey.
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Without further to do, here's our conversation with Dr Joe Sanfelippo.
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Hey there, educational leaders.
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It's great to be back to bring you guys another episode of the Educational Leadership with Principal JL podcast.
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Today I have a special guest.
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He has been around the block a while for being an educational leader, someone that actually I have looked up to over my leadership journey, and I'm really excited to bring to you guys today Dr Joe Sanfelippo.
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Welcome, joe, to the show.
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Oh, thanks so much for having me.
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I appreciate the opportunity.
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It's great to see you, Jeff.
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We're going to go ahead.
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I'm going to dive right in to your story.
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So what was it that?
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What was the reason for you to get into education?
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What is it to?
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Hey, I want to be a teacher, you know, into the principal side and then eventually into the superintendent's day.
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Can you kind of just take us back and tell us that journey through your educational journey?
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I think the first thing was I just liked working with kids and I think that was probably the biggest thing.
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And I had a coach that at one point I was doing a basketball camp for him and he saw me doing a drill with a bunch of kids and they were all excited about stuff that we were doing and he just kind of came over to me in between drills and said, have you ever thought about like doing this for real, like for a real job?
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And I was still in high school at the time and um, and I said, well, yeah, you know I want to coach.
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I don't know if I want to teach, but I like being around kids.
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And he's like you should really like at least look into it, because you know these kids really respond to what you're telling them and they all gravitate towards you during the breaks and you know if you can make some, some kids happy and help them, it's a pretty good life.
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So that's kind of.
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So that's kind of where it started and then it just kind of kept going.
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I liked leading as a second grade teacher and then I liked it as a fifth grade teacher and then I started doing some counseling because I wanted to have a little bit bigger impact.
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And then a principal job opened up in a place that my wife was really interested in moving to at some point.
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It just kind of came up faster than we had anticipated, and so we get there and everything's worked out since then.
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All right, and then from your principalship.
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Then what got you into being a superintendent?
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Well, I was in a really good principal position and, um, like, just good people in claire, wisconsin, really good people, a great school, we were just everything was going really well and I kind of felt like I needed um, you know, I liked building it, I liked helping build it and it was.
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I think it was at that point where I think, um, you know, they didn't need what I could provide at that time.
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They kind of needed something else to to keep moving forward for other jobs, you know, in that same area, and applied for one and it didn't work out.
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And the next day after it didn't work out, I got a call from the superintendent in Fall Creek and he said hey, why don't you come on out and take a look?
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This place is pretty special.
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He had been the superintendent for a while and then he came back to kind of help out in an interim role and he said come on out, just take a look at it, it's pretty special.
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And I walked in and it was.
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It was from the second that I walked in I knew it was special.
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So I was principal there for a year and he told me he was going to stick around for a while and then maybe the superintendency would be something that, if I was interested, we could talk about what it looks like.
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And after a year he decided that he was done.
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He said you're going to be great, you don't need me around, you're going to be fantastic.
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So he moved on and I took the superintendency and then I did that for 12 years.
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That ended up being the job that I did the longest.
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Oh, wow.
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So how long were you a teacher, then a principal, and then I know you were 12 years into the superintendency
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I was a teacher for eight?
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uh, counselor for eight, counselor for four, that can't be right.
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Teacher for eight, counselor for four, and uh, and a principal, no, that's right.
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Teacher for six.
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Counselor for three, uh, principal for like what would be, because I did both roles for a while.
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So principal for like six and then a and then a superintendent for 12,
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awesome, awesome
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to get to 26 trying to do math.
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I'm sorry if I'm, yeah right on the spot on that one.
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Yeah, so this is kind of where, like I know, like Fall Creek is kind of where I've seen you, because I follow you on Twitter or X now, where you kind of do your daily walks and you do your little daily one minute talks and so I really find those things really valuable and kind of been following your career for, I would say, a good five, five, six years roughly.
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One of the things is is I have seen you do presentations, doing workshops and different things.
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I saw you in I think this was the book that you co-authored Hacking Leadership 10 Ways Great Leaders Inspire Learning that Teachers, students and Parents Love.
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I remember, you know you being at ESU 11 in Holdridge doing those things.
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That's where I got the book.
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But I also seen you kind of like in the Nebraska Administrator Days.
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I've seen you kind of like in the Nebraska Administrator Days.
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I've seen you at the national conferences.
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So you know just your body of work.
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You know with you know your hacking leadership.
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You know you got the lead from where you are.
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You have the Changing Narrative series and now the One Minute Walk to Work book that is coming out, kind of like what took you from, how does that all intertwine, from being an educational leader, superintendent at Fall Creek and how did that all just transpire.
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And you can kind of take one thing after another and kind of layer it out just to give people an idea of kind of what, how that all came about.
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I think the books kind of just started as a we.
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You know, it's funny because the book started my friend Tony and I, who wrote the books, we wrote the books together.
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We were at an Ed camp in New Jersey and it must've been in 2000, man, I want to say 13, something like that.
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And uh, we were.
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We I had been a superintendent for like three years or two years and he was a principal and so we were talking about some stuff.
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But we went to an ed camp in New Jersey because my in-laws lived out there, my brother and sister-in-law lived out there, so we were going out for Thanksgiving and there was an ed camp prior to Thanksgiving.
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So I thought, well, I'm going to go check this out.
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So I did and get me.
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So I thought, well, I'm gonna go check this out.
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So I did, and uh, and we started.
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We did a kind of a breakout session on changing the narrative and a day later, um, we had some people from like the um ed tech chat group reach out and, um, ask us if we wanted to run a chat, like on that monday.
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And so then that turned like everybody had a great time with the chat and there was a ton of people there.
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And then the next thing, you know, we had Corwin Peter DeWitt from.
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He was doing a series with Corwin, the Corwin group, and decided to and gave us a call and asked if we would be willing to write like a mini book on branding, on school branding.
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So that kind of took off and that went really well.
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And then we wrote another book with that series called Principal Professional Development.
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And then Tony and I connected with a guy named Mark Barnes who's a fantastic leader and does a great job with Times 10 Publishing and we were to uh connect with him and he had a great process for writing uh, and the process, uh was the hacking series.
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So we jumped in on the hacking series and uh wrote the, the hacking leadership book, and it was just, it was a really fun project and so we kind of did that and and then, um, you know, that's kind of how those, those kind of books came apart and then the other ones Lead From when you Are came up, because I started doing those walk to work videos.
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Then we tried to figure out ways that we kind of put them into a series of of you know, you know like sequence, and try to figure out that ways that we could put them into a situation that you know, or into a, into a text that would work out.
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And uh, I am press published that one with George Curls and and he was fantastic to work with too I've had, I've been very lucky to work with, publishers that were really good I've worked with, connected with Jimmy Casas and Jeff soul and his group as well, and you know, there everybody's just been really good, um, and really kind of lets you get your voice out there.
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So I've been extremely blessed to be able to work with the people I've worked with.
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Yeah, you kind of mentioned something about school branding, right?
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I remember you doing a session on that and you just talked about, you know, hey, doing these quick videos or these quick things to kind of highlight the great things that are going on in your school.
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And, to be honest with you, I took that and ran with it as a, as a principal, because, you know, one of the things that I took away from that was, hey, people don't see what's going on behind our closed doors.
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So let's lean into the social media aspect, let's show people all the great things that are going on so people get a positive you know view of what's going on in the education building, because you know as well as I do people, you know, they know school from when they were in school.
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It doesn't mean it's the same as a one-time yeah, probably not.
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But at the same time, yeah, and with some of the negativity you see in education, being able to have that positive brand is super important.
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I know for my current position, one of the things we really stress is getting our message out, because the high school I'm a principal out right now um, there was hardly any social media, uh, footprint, but after three years we got a lot bigger footprint, a lot of really good things, um, people are getting out pushing out really great content for our community, for our kids, and really celebrating all the great things in our building.
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So that all transpired.
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Because I sat in that one session that you kind of talked about, and so I would say thank you for that, because that's something I took and ran for sure.
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And I kind of want to go back to your one-minute walks.
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You talked about how the one-minute walks kind of put you into the lead, where you are, stuff.
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So what was it that?
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Hey, I'm going to press record, I'm going to do these one-minute walk to work stuff.
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What was it that?
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Hey, I'm going to press record, I'm going to do these one minute walk to work stuff.
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What was it that inspired you to do that?
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That's a great question.
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I think it's good and it's good.
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The answer is is like you know, it's, it's, it's not groundbreaking.
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Let's just be honest about it.
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I mean, the thing is like I live across the street from school and on Saturday mornings I'd get up and I'm super loud, so I'd have to figure out a way to just get out of the house.
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So I'd just walk over to school and just hang out at school until my family woke up, because I didn't want to wake them up.
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And so on my way over there I just started recording some videos and then people started to like them after a while.
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So I kept making them and then, after I was making them, then people liked them more and then I just kind of kept them going.
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I think that was at about the time.
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I think it hit at the right time because there was a lot of people on Twitter at that time, a lot of people on X that were, you know, a lot of educators that were engaging and the and the views there's like a ton of people watch those videos.
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So then it kind of inspired me to do more, because I kept getting asked when I was going to do the next one when I was going to do the next one, and so to be able to just keep it going, uh was was pretty, pretty important for me, and so I kind of I did ended up doing a hundred walks between 2019 and 2023.
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And then, um, I just started doing them again.
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Um, recently I took a year off because I didn't want people to think I was still walking to school, cause that's not fair to the people that are doing real work.
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So I didn't want to make that a thing.
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So now I started doing them again.
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Now I do them in different places.
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I rarely do them in Fall Creek anymore.
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We have a place in northern Wisconsin.
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I'll do them there, or my in-laws house or whatever.
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So just changes.
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Yeah, well, I know those one minute to walks were a lot of fun for a lot of people to look at and just, you know, hey, you know this guy gets it.
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This guy is somebody that I can, you know, really you know get understand.
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Like, hey, he understands what it means to do, what our, what we're doing, and and so there's a lot of value in those one minute walk to works.
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And let's kind of get into, you had to balance things right.
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You're a superintendent, you start doing these speaking engagements, you start being keynotes, you start, you know, traveling a little bit.
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Talk to us about you know, being the superintendent at Fall Creek but still going out and doing these workshops, these speaking engagements.
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How did you balance that between you know doing the work but then going out and helping other people learn how to do the work, and so that's something I'm really interested in your story on how you balance?
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I don't know if I balanced it very good.
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I think that at some point people they were they kind of make fun of me because they're like you know, at some point you're just in the explode and like be all over the wall and that kind of thing, and I'm I couldn't disagree with them because I just kind of kept going.
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I said we'll deal with me breaking down when I break down.
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So I wasn't doing a great job taking care of myself because I was always trying to help and like if I could get to one more group or get one more opportunity.
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And it kind of came down to like I knew it was helping other people, but I also knew it was keeping me sharp to make sure because I couldn't talk about stuff that we didn't do.
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And because that's that's the biggest problem with speakers, I think, is what is when you get that side eye from the audience saying do you really know what that feels like?
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Because that doesn't sound right.
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So the cool thing about me speaking in groups to groups was when I would go to conferences as much as I could.
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I'd write into the conference contract that the conference would pay for some of my staff members to come and present, and so they knew like, first of all, they're in the audience, which means that I can't lie about anything.
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We can talk about what's really happening.
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They get a chance to present on something that they're really passionate about, and then they bring back what they learned, uh, to the from the event.
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So all of it is just really it was really helpful in and just trying to get some momentum for our group and for the message.
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Yeah, I remember seeing the people that you brought with you on occasion.
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So I've seen some of those breakout sessions and their stories that they would share, and I think that's what people resonated with you or they still do, is like they know you're doing the work because you're showing them the evidence.
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Hey, here's the evidence of doing the work.
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I know this works because I actually have done it right.
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You're not just somebody that's blowing smoke.
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So you know, that's what I think made you unique and that's where people start going.
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Hmm, this guy understands some things that some people may not understand, and so with that, you know, you start doing this public speaking.
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You're a superintendent of the school.
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What was it that said?
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You know, I'm going to step away, I'm going to retire from being the superintendent and then pursue, you know, some of these speaking engagements and the things that you are doing now.
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What kind of led to up to that?
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I think it was just my.
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It was somebody else's turn to run the district.
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To be really honest, we have a great school district with great people.
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I still live across the street from school, you know.
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We have unbelievable teachers and incredible support staff and the administrators are great and the board the school board's phenomenal.
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The community is extremely supportive and I thought it was just like it was just somebody else's turn.
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You know, I I could have stuck around for two or three more years and nobody would have said anything.
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Everything would have just been fine.
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But they didn't deserve that and I didn't want to be looking over my shoulder and I never did not once that.
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I look over my shoulder and think, what are people saying?
00:19:33.291 --> 00:19:35.644
Because everybody was really transparent.
00:19:35.644 --> 00:20:01.395
If they liked it or they didn't like it, whatever, they weren't holding anything back, which was great, but at least I knew where I stood and when I left, I left in just a really good situation and I knew that we could leave it to a person to run it that was ready and who had been there for a while and that was going to be really fantastic for the next chapter.
00:20:02.265 --> 00:20:15.034
So it sounds like you had somebody there that understood the culture and you just knew, like you know what, they're going to be fine and this thing was, you know, in a good place and you felt confident about that.
00:20:15.034 --> 00:20:25.416
So that's really interesting on how you came to that decision, because that's not true all the time and you're able to leave a place you know in a good spot for the next person.
00:20:25.416 --> 00:20:30.192
They just come in and kind of carry the torch, so that's really really great to hear.
00:20:30.192 --> 00:20:40.747
So when it comes down to let's just talk about educational leadership in general, you have some inspired educational leaders that are out there.
00:20:40.747 --> 00:20:44.818
What kind of advice, what advice would you give them?
00:20:45.361 --> 00:20:50.556
You know, if they're thinking about getting into educational leadership, what are some things that are like you know what.
00:20:50.556 --> 00:21:01.653
These are things that are really wish I knew before getting in and maybe if you knew these things, maybe I could keep you from some of the hard lessons I learned as a leader.
00:21:01.653 --> 00:21:09.017
So what are some advice that you'd give to aspiring leaders that are looking at um becoming a principal or even a superintendent down the road?
00:21:09.805 --> 00:21:10.326
Right.
00:21:10.326 --> 00:21:16.148
The first one is that you don't know everything and don't pretend to know everything, because they know you don't know everything.
00:21:16.148 --> 00:21:22.452
And so when you pretend to know everything and they know that you don't know everything, then you lose credibility for the stuff that you do know.
00:21:22.452 --> 00:21:37.356
So keep in mind that you know the more vulnerable you are with the group and be the honesty that you have with them is going to carry you a long way when it comes to building the capacity to lead in that, in that spot.
00:21:42.664 --> 00:21:42.965
Awesome, Awesome.
00:21:42.965 --> 00:21:43.386
So building culture.
00:21:43.386 --> 00:21:44.209
I think sounds like you've done that.
00:21:44.209 --> 00:21:47.376
What would you say is the best advice to building culture in your school?
00:21:48.445 --> 00:21:52.757
The first thing is your willingness to recognize that great things happen in the school.
00:21:52.757 --> 00:21:58.106
The second thing is acknowledge to the people who are doing the great things that they're doing great things.
00:21:58.106 --> 00:22:03.650
And the third is to extend those great things to somebody who didn't see them.
00:22:03.650 --> 00:22:21.960
So if you're always in that spot where you put yourself in the right mindset to see great things and then you tell the person that's doing the great things that they're doing them, but then also tell somebody else who doesn't see them, every day Everybody walks with a little bit more confidence in that building.
00:22:21.960 --> 00:22:28.323
And I would say a fourth one would be extended to somebody that person that was doing great things.
00:22:35.565 --> 00:22:39.017
Extend that conversation to somebody outside of school that they care about, that they don't get a chance, that doesn't get a chance to see what they do every day.
00:22:39.037 --> 00:22:49.153
So it sounds like celebrating your people and all the great things and making sure that they're being recognized not just internally but externally, and so it's a community thing, not just an in the building thing.
00:22:49.153 --> 00:22:50.957
Is that what I'm understanding?
00:22:51.538 --> 00:23:01.926
Yeah, but I think you also have to know your people well enough to know how they want to be celebrated, because some people don't want public praise, and that's fine, there's nothing.
00:23:01.926 --> 00:23:14.885
You know, I don't want to put people in a tough spot, but there's a difference between public praise for doing a great thing and calling somebody's husband or wife or kids or parents and telling them that their kid or their wife or their husband is awesome at their work.
00:23:14.885 --> 00:23:15.948
That's not public praise.
00:23:15.948 --> 00:23:20.556
That's just making sure that when they go home, somebody values what they did during the day.
00:23:20.556 --> 00:23:22.900
Awesome, that's different.
00:23:23.644 --> 00:23:24.929
Yeah, that's really great.
00:23:24.929 --> 00:23:26.152
Great advice there.
00:23:26.152 --> 00:23:27.015
Yeah.
00:23:27.015 --> 00:23:36.037
So with everything, what are you up to now, what is Joe doing in retirement and what keeps you busy?
00:23:37.025 --> 00:23:42.238
Well, I'm still speaking a lot, so I think that's probably.
00:23:43.406 --> 00:23:51.791
You know I'll do a lot of events this year, but I'm trying to figure out ways to just kind of keep relevant, to be honest, because I think I've got.
00:23:51.791 --> 00:24:08.112
You know, the farther that you get from it, the harder it is to tell people how to do it, and even if you have 26 years in the building, the farther that you get after three years like, well, you didn't lead through this or it didn't you know, you don't know what it feels like here or whatever.
00:24:08.112 --> 00:24:22.232
And so I'm just trying to connect with as many schools as I can to ask questions about what they're going through and how I can help, and I try to keep my stuff really, really simple, partly because I'm not very smart.
00:24:22.232 --> 00:24:29.705
But the second thing is like I don't want people to have to think they have to go through like a 10 step process to get better at X, y or Z.
00:24:29.705 --> 00:24:38.876
It's really three things, it's that I mean, it's that recognizing knowledge, extend model and then, with their willingness to, you know, to take care of every interaction.
00:24:40.224 --> 00:24:41.229
Awesome, awesome.
00:24:41.229 --> 00:24:49.077
Well, yeah, that's really really great to hear Sounds like you're staying busy Even though you're retired.
00:24:49.077 --> 00:24:51.506
You're out there, you're doing the work, you're helping people.
00:24:51.506 --> 00:24:53.628
I see you all the time on X.
00:24:53.628 --> 00:25:00.625
There's this thing going on and it's really fun to just kind of watch your journey as it unfolds.
00:25:00.625 --> 00:25:17.115
And so with that, I mean I really appreciate your time today for coming on the Educational Leadership Podcast and I really appreciate just your openness about your journey and all the things that you are doing for educational leaders out there.
00:25:17.817 --> 00:25:18.337
Well, thanks, jeff.
00:25:18.337 --> 00:25:26.932
I appreciate the opportunity and good luck, and if anybody needs any help with anything, please tell them to reach out and see if we can help and if not, I can probably connect you to people who could.
00:25:27.594 --> 00:25:32.289
You bet so, Joe, if people wanted to reach out and connect with you, how can they do that?
00:25:33.692 --> 00:25:36.816
I'd probably just go to the website jsanfelippocom, J-S-A-N-F-E-L-I-P-P-O.
00:25:36.816 --> 00:25:40.941
com, and you can get ahold of me there.
00:25:41.805 --> 00:25:46.656
Perfect, and what I'll do is I'll put that in the show notes so people make it real easy to find you.
00:25:46.656 --> 00:25:49.053
Hey Joe, it was great to see you.
00:25:49.053 --> 00:25:51.949
It was great to have you on the show.
00:25:51.949 --> 00:25:57.896
We're going to go ahead and go ride off in the sunset on this one.
00:25:57.896 --> 00:25:59.638
I really appreciate your time today.
00:25:59.638 --> 00:26:00.621
No problem.
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