2P59: Finding Your Road to Awesome with Dr. Darrin Peppard

Leadership is about connections and relationships. Our guest today, Darrin Peppard, exemplifies this in his work and shares invaluable insights on leadership. Darrin transitioned from over 25 years in education as a teacher, principal, and superintendent into educational leadership consulting. He discusses the evolution of his career and how his experiences allow him to help the "person he once was." Darrin emphasizes the importance of listening, building trust, and forging genuine relationships in schools. He provides perspective on the heavy demands currently placed on principals related to mental health, politics, and being "fixers." Darrin offers advice to avoid burnout by staying connected to your purpose and "fire."

Today's conversation focuses on creating positive school cultures. Darrin stresses clarity and intentionality, starting with identifying core values and expectations. From there, he advises recognizing, rewarding and reinforcing desired behaviors. Punishment models often backfire, while positive reinforcement breeds risk-taking and innovation. Darrin shares how he transformed his school's culture from punitive to uplifting. He suggests calendaring time for culture-building activities like connecting with kids and staff. Principals can sustain positive cultures by being thermostats who take ownership rather than thermometers who merely state problems. Overall, Darrin provides impactful recommendations for principals at all career stages on improving school climate, relationships, and personal wellbeing.

 

Key Points:

• Education is about relationships - making people feel seen, heard, valued, and trusted. This should be a focus for leaders.
• Be intentional about how you spend your time - calendar specific blocks for your priorities like school culture.
• Check in on yourself regularly - are you staying true to your vision and what matters most? Get clarity.
• To avoid burnout, stay connected to your purpose in education and the "fire" that lit you up originally.
• You have a choice every day in how you show up - will you bring positive energy or drain energy?
• To build culture, be clear on what you value and respect, then recognize, reward, and reinforce those things.
• Develop systems and routines to maximize work-life integration and avoid always being "on."

Overall, this episode provides excellent insights from an experienced leader on sustaining positive school culture, avoiding burnout, and integrating your professional and personal lives. Darrin shares great advice for principals at all career stages

Where you can find Dr. Peppard:

Road to Awesome Website

Instagram

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2Principal Partner:

Healthwise Behavioral Health & Wellness

We want to take a moment to communicate our most sincere gratitude for our supportive sponsor Healthwise Behavioral Health and Wellness. This organization has believed in the 2Principals from the start and we couldn’t be more thankful. If you are looking for an organization that has a philosophy of considering the whole-person with comprehensive services that are rooted in evidence-based science while at the same time understanding the inter-connectedness of the mind, body, and experience, then look no further than Healthwise Behavioral Health and Wellness.

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