{"id":191,"date":"2018-11-03T15:24:19","date_gmt":"2018-11-03T15:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/principalmorrow\/?p=191"},"modified":"2018-11-03T15:24:19","modified_gmt":"2018-11-03T15:24:19","slug":"light-from-many-lamps-to-thine-own-self-be-true","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/principalmorrow\/2018\/11\/03\/light-from-many-lamps-to-thine-own-self-be-true\/","title":{"rendered":"Light From Many Lamps &#8211; To thine own self be true"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Timeless Words<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>From Act 1 Scene III of Hamlet, through the character Polonius, William Shakespeare speaks out sage advice. Make great friends and keep them, listen carefully to all before speaking, and finally for the benefit of yourself and others, be authentic (Shakespeare, 1951).\u00a0 Each of these pieces of advice are important for anyone in a leadership position.<\/p>\n<p>It is often said that it can be lonely at the top.\u00a0 For the leader, developing a trusted team who is there to face challenges and celebrate victories.\u00a0 Formally, my leadership team exists of just me. In practice however, I have had the privilege of bringing a variety of people into leadership roles within the school.\u00a0 Several key teachers, admin assistants and the chairman of the board all work together as trusted members of my leadership team.\u00a0 As advice givers, listening ears, and problem solvers, I trust and value each one.<\/p>\n<p>Polonius continues his advice as he challenges his son to be a good listener. &#8220;Give every man thy ear but few thy voice&#8221; (Shakespeare, line 68).\u00a0 As a leader this is so true.\u00a0 Whether I am working with students, staff, parents or board members there are times when the community simply needs a chance to be heard.\u00a0 Providing an opportunity for concerns or ideas to be voiced and then taking time to reflect, consider and strategize before responding is a healthy process. In this way, information comes forward but allows for wisdom to be applied.\u00a0 Even though I think well on my feet, delaying my response has often been a helpful practice.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the golden nugget, &#8220;To thine own self be true&#8221; (Shakespeare, 1951). For myself and for any leader, authenticity must be the hallmark of our work with people.\u00a0 While leadership often requires us to be all things to all people, we must\u00a0 not compromise our core values.\u00a0 At times I may need to work out of my comfort zone or balance fine lines socially and politically but I must must always be guided by three essential elements: the mission and vision of my organization, my faith in Christ, and the integrity of my character.\u00a0 To work outside the boundaries of these elements would be to drift toward my demise as a leader.<\/p>\n<p>As these words reach forward through history to make an impact, I am inspired to ask, which timeless words do you\u00a0 reflect on as a leader?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Reference<\/p>\n<p>Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 author. (1951). The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.. In L.E. Watson (Ed)\u00a0<em>Light From Many Lamps: a\u00a0 treasury of inspiration.\u00a0<\/em>New York, NY. Simon and Schuster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Timeless Words From Act 1 Scene III of Hamlet, through the character Polonius, William Shakespeare speaks out sage advice. Make great friends and keep them, listen carefully to all before speaking, and finally for the benefit of yourself and others, be authentic (Shakespeare, 1951).\u00a0 Each of these pieces of advice are important for anyone in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":350,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,30,33],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ldrs500","category-lightfrommanylamps","category-unit6","tag-light-from-many-lamps","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/principalmorrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/principalmorrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/principalmorrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/principalmorrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/350"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/principalmorrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/principalmorrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":195,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/principalmorrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions\/195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/principalmorrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/principalmorrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/principalmorrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}