Episodes

Barb Schwamman has been Superintendent of Schools of the Osage Community School District since July 1, 2015 (7 years) and is completing her 5th year as a shared superintendent of both Osage Community Schools and Riceville Community Schools in northeast Iowa. Before taking over in Osage, Barb served as PK-8 Principal at South Winneshiek from 2007-2015. Previously she taught/coached at Howard-Winneshiek (2000-2007) Hampton-Dumont (1996-2000) and Newman Catholic (1995-1996). At Osage, Barb has bee...

Bobby Pollicino is the Head of Upper School at Bullis School in Potomac, MD. He has served as a school administrator for over 15 years, also in dean of students and assistant principal roles. He has taught high school courses in science, leadership, and public speaking while also serving as a varsity assistant soccer coach and varsity head coach of the lacrosse program at Bullis School. Bobby’s academic leadership career is grounded in a healthy interest in leadership which has led to conferenc...

Teacher Appreciation Week 2022 - this is the time of year when we say thank you to our teachers. While we should do this every week, this is a special episode with my heartfelt thank you for teachers!! You make a difference every day!! My apologies to you all - I'm sure you'll notice I said this is episode 16.5 in the podcast, well unfortunately Captivate won't let me have a .5 episode so this became (after the fact) episode 17. Live and learn, right?!? News from Road to Awesome Now is the ti...

Dr. Lori Koerner has been in the field of education for three decades. She spent the first 26 years of her career as an elementary school teacher, having taught every grade. She is a Fulbright Specialist Scholar, and served as an adjunct professor of special education at several universities in New York. Dr. Koerner is currently the Assistant Superintendent in a large public school district on Long Island in New York. Her research has been centered on educating the whole child; that is, developi...

Bethany Hill: Bethany has been an educator in Arkansas for 23 years. Her experience includes teaching grades kindergarten, one, two, and three, instructional coaching, literacy trainer for her district, assistant principal, and principal. She is currently the Teacher Retention and Recruitment Specialist at Arch Ford Education Service Cooperative, and an adjunct professor at The University of Central Arkansas. She is the founder of #JoyfuLeaders, a hashtag that promotes the positive in education ...

This week on the podcast, my guest is Dr. Jared Smith. Jared is the Superintendent for the South Tama County School District. Jared holds a BA in Elementary and Middle Level Education from the University of Northern Iowa, an MS in Educational Leadership from National Louis University, and a PhD in Educational Leadership from Iowa State University. Jared has taught and coached at both the middle school and high school levels. Prior to taking his current role of superintendent, Jared worked as an...

Yes, that is right. It is Masters week at Augusta National and right here on the Leaning into Leadership podcast. We have all worked around those master leaders, the ones who seem to do amazing things with very little effort (or so it seems). In this episode I will pay tribute to three master leaders I've worked with over the course of my career and share how I tried to add those traits into my leadership bag. Just like the true master golfers, veteran leaders have a knack for knowing when to ...

An educator for 34 years, is the founder of the G.O.A.L. TEAM (Getting Others to Achieve Higher Levels). The G.O.A.L. TEAM, was created for helping high school students and young adults to maximize their personal leadership potential. Jeff, a former Texas High School Head Football Coach and eleven-year veteran of the classroom, is also formerly the Principal at Magnolia High School (2002-2016). In 2013 Jeff was selected as the State of Texas TASSP State Principal of the year. Besides founding S...

Leadership can be a lonely business. They say you should be one with, not one OF the team. Leaders have so much pressure on them and it can be so difficult to navigate the journey on your own, especially as a new leader. I know, I have the battle scars to prove it. I spent the better part of my first two years as a building principal breathing through a snorkel (or actually drowning). In this week's episode, I dive into the lonely life of the new leader. More importantly, I hit the two most imp...

Based on what transpired in a few short moments in early 2006, Coach Jim Johnson is now an authority on the subject of realizing your dreams. In his many public-speaking appearances, the Rochester, New York resident relates his role in a basketball game that got Hollywood calling. He also emphasizes the importance of teamwork and sportsmanship, delivering his talks with a heartfelt style that has brought audiences to their feet. Coach Johnson has developed winning high-school basketball teams f...

Today's episode takes us back to the roots of the podcast. Yes, a solo episode has returned to the lineup and I'm talking about intentional leadership. Through this episode, I recap our episodes 4-8, each of which had a guest and a common theme of being intentional about something in their leadership. From Alex Carter (ep 4) we were reminded to simplify and focus, something that brought me back to work done during the change of instructional leadership that was critical to our school and distri...

Robert Breyer resides in Broadway, NC with his wife and their four children. He serves as an elementary school principal for the past 5 years and an assistant principal at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels for the 5 years before that. He is a graduate of King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, PA where he received his Bachelors of Arts in Elementary Education. Later he received his Master’s of School Administration from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. When Robert made ...

Episode 7 features Eric Lillis. Eric is the Executive Director of the Kingman Academy of Learning. He is in his 29th year as an educator and is one of the very best in the business. Eric leads from his heart and truly cares about everyone he serves. You'll hear that very clearly in this podcast. You'll also learn a term that was new to me, grace swagger. It's worth tuning in to find out more. You can connect with Eric through the following means: Social Media handles: facebook.com/elillis Twit...

Wade Stanford is the Superintendent of Westwood ISD in Palestine, TX. Wade and I sat down for a conversation about leadership, and what a conversation it was!! In this episode, we share some of our common background, passions for leadership, as well as some amazing accomplishments Westwood ISD has achieved under Wade's leadership. Connect with Wade on Twitter @wadestanford on LinkedIn @Wade Stanford or contact him via email: wstanford@westwoodisd.net High Performance Leadership Teams: Leadersh...

New from Road to Awesome, it's High Performance Leadership - a 2 day intensive leadership workshop designed to take leadership teams to the next level. High Performance Leadership increases team efficiency enhances production, and sharpens focus through a focus on 5 keys to building an awesome leadership team: Clarity of value, mission, and goals Knowing the house (strengths, fit, leveraging each other) Getting work done (workflow and sandboxes) Team dynamics (trust, delegation, and communic...

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Alex Carter to talk about leadership in challenging times. Alex brings his energy and inspiration to Leaning into Leadership. Among the great things you will hear from Alex are thoughts around simplifying and focusing to lead for impact. Below is Alex's bio and contact information. Alex Carter joined the CEI team in 2016. Alex leads the field implementation team to support districts, schools, and educators in their work to accelerate educational improvement ...

What does it take for a leader to drive change? The answer might surprise you. Leaders have a responsibility that often leads to the trap of doing it all. Actually a leader's role is to create conditions in which change can occur. Darrin's focus in this episode is leading leaders toward collective efficacy. How do we include more voices in the change process leading to more ownership of the necessary change? Want to work with Darrin in YOUR school? Interested in having Darrin lead a two day le...

In episode 2, Darrin opens with a big thank you to his listeners for making the show a success after only 1 episode. Darrin talks in this episode about how a trip derailed by snow and flight cancellations led to four awesome leadership lessons. As a leader, be aware of the systems we put in place and ensure they work well together Do not be the leader who gets frozen in place, doesn't follow through, or is stuck in the mud. Be mindful of communication and having too many, too loud, or compet...

Episode 1 of Leaning into Leadership Who is Darrin Peppard and why should you listen to him about leadership Darrin shares the six things he focused on as a leader Darrin challenges you to find what it is that you are focusing on in your leadership Darrin goes a little further in depth with school culture and why it should be in the forefront in the minds of today's leaders This week's #PepTalk challenges listeners to take a step back and remember why they do what they do to make it through...

Hi, I'm Dr. Darrin Peppard and this is the Leaning into Leadership podcast. As a 26 year educator, I have been a leader as a coach, teacher, assistant principal, principal, and superintendent. It is my goal with this podcast to bring to you every week an organic conversation all about leadership. Great leadership is great leadership regardless the context it exists in, so you will find guests from all walks of life. Everyone who is in a leadership capacity will learn something every week. Togeth...