3-2-1: On the power of trees, celebrating others, and how to have better ideas
I.
“Your first attempt might not be very good, but nobody’s early work is good. There will always be a gap between where you are and where you want to be. And the bridge between that gap is courage. The courage to look foolish in the beginning. The courage to show up again when your early work is criticized. The courage to look yourself in the mirror and say, “I realize I’m not good enough yet, but the only way to get better is to keep working on it.”
II.
“One of the more effective ways to force yourself to have better ideas is to create an artificial constraint.
For many years, I wrote two articles per week and it would often take me over 20 hours to complete each article. Then I said, “If I only had 2 to 4 hours per week to write my newsletter, what would I do?”
That artificial constraint led to the creation of the 3-2-1 newsletter, which has become an incredibly popular format. Sometimes you can improve by cutting your options off.”
How to find the leadership talent already in your classrooms
Many districts approach leadership development reactively. A principal retires, an assistant principal leaves, or a department chair position opens, and only then does the search for leadership begin.
The problem is that by the time vacancies appear, districts are often competing for a limited number of candidates while overlooking leadership talent already developing inside their own schools.
In many cases, future school leaders are not first identified through formal applications or administrative internships. They are identified through responsibility. Leadership often begins quietly inside classrooms long before educators ever hold official titles.
Summer Leadership Summit is One Week Away!
Join Us for the TALAS & Central TALAS Summer Leadership Summit
TALAS and Central TALAS invite you to the annual Summer Leadership Summit, a powerful two-day gathering of superintendents, senior district leaders, and educational partners dedicated to advancing Latino leadership across Texas.
“Fuerza in Our Roots, Poder in Our People” celebrates the cultural heritage, collective strength, and shared commitment that unite Latino educational leaders. This summit honors the power of our history, values, and purpose in driving student success and shaping the future of education.
June 22–23, 2026 | Concordia University
June 22, 2026
Lunch and two breakout sessions
Evening Inaugural President’s Dinner (additional cost) recognizing outstanding chapter leadership and L3 Cohort 12 participants
June 23, 2026
Breakfast and lunch
Three breakout sessions
Featured breakout with Miguel Cardona, former U.S. Secretary of Education
Closing keynote and book signing with author Robert Alfaro, Baloney, Baloney, Baloney!
Together, we will explore how our roots ground us, our people uplift us, and our unity empowers the future of education.
Early Bird registration is available through March 30, 2026.Don’t miss this inspiring and impactful leadership experience!
Cancellation & Refund Policy
All registration and sponsorship fees are non-refundable. If you are unable to attend, your registration or sponsorship fee will be considered a donation to TALAS. Upon request, a donation acknowledgment letter will be provided for your records.
3-2-1: On improving the world, feeling wealthy, and managing your three selves
.
“You don’t need to solve every problem right now, only those that stand in your way.”
II.
“If you are bummed by the state of the world, go build something.”
III.
“Be forgiving with your past self. What’s done is done. No sense in beating yourself up about it.
Be strict with your present self. Win the moment in front of you right now.
Be flexible with your future self. There are many paths to success. You don’t need life to be a certain way to live well.”
Why Principals Are Key to Solving Schools’ Biggest Problems
Schools face numerous pressing challenges, from chronic absenteeism and falling grades to more structural problems like retaining teachers and workforce development. District and state-level leaders have approached these problems separately, but often they neglect the most strategic lever in the education system: principals.
Effective principals, in both high- and low-performing schools, play a critical role in retaining teachers, improving students’ academic outcomes, and maintaining a positive school culture, according to a new report by the Learning Policy Institute, a California-based research organization and think tank. Released in May, the report, titled “The Principal Effect: How Investing in School Leaders Is Key to Solving Education’s Challenges,” synthesizes several studies on principal effectiveness and school performance.
Summer Leadership Summit Open for Registration
Join Us for the TALAS & Central TALAS Summer Leadership Summit
TALAS and Central TALAS invite you to the annual Summer Leadership Summit, a powerful two-day gathering of superintendents, senior district leaders, and educational partners dedicated to advancing Latino leadership across Texas.
“Fuerza in Our Roots, Poder in Our People” celebrates the cultural heritage, collective strength, and shared commitment that unite Latino educational leaders. This summit honors the power of our history, values, and purpose in driving student success and shaping the future of education.
June 22–23, 2026 | Concordia University
June 22, 2026
Lunch and two breakout sessions
Evening Inaugural President’s Dinner (additional cost) recognizing outstanding chapter leadership and L3 Cohort 12 participants
June 23, 2026
Breakfast and lunch
Three breakout sessions
Featured breakout with Miguel Cardona, former U.S. Secretary of Education
Closing keynote and book signing with author Robert Alfaro, Baloney, Baloney, Baloney!
Together, we will explore how our roots ground us, our people uplift us, and our unity empowers the future of education.
Early Bird registration is available through March 30, 2026.Don’t miss this inspiring and impactful leadership experience!
Cancellation & Refund Policy
All registration and sponsorship fees are non-refundable. If you are unable to attend, your registration or sponsorship fee will be considered a donation to TALAS. Upon request, a donation acknowledgment letter will be provided for your records.
3-2-1: On responding to challenges, winning the day, and lessons from a baseball coach
I.
“Your response to a challenge defines you more than the challenge itself.”
II.
“Compete against yourself.
When you look outside — your rivals, your industry, your luck — there is always something to blame.
When you look inside — your process, your effort, your rate of learning — there is always something to improve.
Average looks out. Elite looks in.”
An Immersive Approach to Getting Feedback as a School Leader
It’s tough being the boss. Many people have expressed this sentiment over the years, from William Shakespeare (“Heavy is the head that wears the crown”) to Voltaire (“With great power comes great responsibility”). And yes, both of those lines have been invoked to describe the profound weight carried by Peter Parker in his lifelong solitary mission as Spider-Man.
School administrators are not superheroes, of course, but we are often expected to perform at superhuman levels. To be a great administrator, however, requires good, ongoing, and actionable feedback on your own performance and on the performance of the school in general. We all know that tracking student achievement data is important, and many of us follow demographic trends, suspension data, and budget cycles, and use other metrics to reflect on how things are going. But there are also many intangibles, like teacher morale, parent impressions of the school, and student experience, that won’t be captured in test scores but are nonetheless central to a school’s success.
Not Every Teacher Should Be an Administrator. Here’s How to Decide
When I considered the switch from being a kindergarten teacher to an administrator, I thought about the impact I wanted to have on a school’s culture. As a teacher, I prioritized relationships with students, often conducting home visits and partnering with families to ensure academic success. I engaged students in inquiry-based learning opportunities that were a catalyst for growth as evidenced by data. There were initiatives and partnerships that I established in my classroom that I knew could benefit the larger school community.
Superintendents who recognized my efforts and nudged me into school leadership often encouraged me to document my impact on students and what was working in my practice. Additionally, supervising administrators challenged me to consider how I could scale my practices into specific action steps or a road map to transform instructional systems.
You Can’t Be Too Kind
Forget Balance
Don’t balance tough and tender. 50% truth is a lie. 50% kindness is manipulation.
Don’t show up being gentle one minute and a sledgehammer the next.
Kindness makes you miserable when you can’t confront difficult situations. Stress goes up. Relationships are fake. Pleasing sucks the life out of you.
Truthfulness without kindness pushes people away. Expectations are billy clubs. Anger permeates interactions.
Kindness and truth don’t compete; they’re glorious together.