Skip to main content

Intent vs. Impact

As my career steam rolls on, I am amazed at how frequently my job forces me to confront the gap between intent and impact. Certainly as adults, we have all heard some version of this as it relates to issues like harassment in the work place. Probably even more so, we have all experienced having a joke misunderstood, a comment taken out of context, or an email’s tone come back to haunt us. As Head of School, I confront this gap not only in the world of human resources with well over 100 employees, but also in terms of student discipline. How much does it matter whether or not the student intended to cheat? Does it matter that a student did not intend for their comment to be racially offensive? Are we responding to the behavior or the intention?

Far more compelling that any of this complexity is my emerging realization of this gap for me as a leader. Sitting in my pristine perch in Burleigh Davidson, surely I know that I operate with the best of intentions, right? Whether it is curriculum development, campus improvements, hiring, admissions – you name it – I generally enter my decisions and actions with the best of intent. But there are so many times when my impact is revealed to me in surprising ways. Perhaps a comment I have made at a presentation felt dismissive or intimidating, or maybe by highlighting someone’s great work on our campus I have in fact offended someone else who was not recognized. Sometimes by leading the school into a well-intended conversation around cultural competency, I am made aware of my own limitations and biases as a white male of privilege sitting in the position of power that I hold.
         
It can be exhausting for all of us to exist in a world where we need to be accountable not merely for what we intend, but for how everyone around us interprets what we do. This strikes me as a particularly scary proposition for teenagers heading off to college, where social media also leaves a breadcrumb trail of our impact. All of this reminds me that our work in emotional intelligence is essential. Perhaps above all else, self-awareness is the most essential ingredient of leadership. If I were completely inept at considering how others might interpret or react to my decisions, I would have been sunk along time ago. Even with my slightly compulsive ability to focus on this area of my leadership, I make mistakes constantly. Building relationships that are girded with trust and understanding help all of us when we slip up. This is yet another reason why the closeness of relationships at this school -teacher to student, teacher to teacher, and student to student - is so essential to its DNA and its 225 years of survival. There is resiliency embedded in trust and understanding.


Good luck on your own journey into self-awareness, and hopefully it won’t vex you so deeply that you feel compelled to share your reflections publically like I do. Otherwise, you will find yourself in my spot once again– awaiting to understand your unintended impact.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Piercing the Bubble

This week we were so fortunate to have former NH Senator Kelly Ayotte address grades 7 – 11 in our theater about Civil Discourse in a time of Political Polarization. Senator Ayotte spoke to the need to take the high road in tough conversations and put an incredible primacy on building relationships with people who hold different opinions. She was able to speak to some of her own successes in working across the aisle to develop legislation to address the opioid crisis in New Hampshire as one powerful example of how this can be possible. Additionally, Senator Ayotte offered a strong reminder to our students of the need for more women in positions of leadership within our government, citing that she had only been the 53rd woman to serve in the US senate during her tenure. With a down-to-earth style and but an appropriately impassioned call to action, she challenged our students to become the leaders that they could be. Her call to action and example of service were powerful reminder...
Post a Comment
Read more

Arts Underground

One of Berwick’s great strengths is its arts culture, and I have always felt that there is both a public and private face of this culture. The public face includes our amazing concerts, our ambitious productions, and the various art shows we produce throughout the year. The private face tends to include things like private lessons, coffeehouses, assembly performances, murals painted on walls, and unexpected artistic expressions that emerge on campus throughout the year. One of the great traditions I will miss at Berwick will be the annual recital week in April. So many of our students hone their craft on private music lessons throughout the year in the hopes of having a public performance at this time. Simultaneously, we have a week of performances in the theater and in Chip Harding’s coffeehouse lair – the space he likes to refer to as his “smoldering ruins,” referring to the carnage left there after every Middle School electric guitar class. This year, for my second and final time, I...
Post a Comment
Read more

Senior Arts Night

We often say in the Admissions office that it is hard to truly bottle the Berwick experience for prospective families to understand. Senior Arts Night is one of those magical Berwick moments that is difficult to fully explain. One certainly feels the power of a PK-12 community when kids announce they will be playing the song they last played in the fourth grade talent show. When I spend time with these young adults, I feel such optimism for the future. Last night I was able to sit with some senior parents, some of whom I have known for over a decade. Whether it was hearing their own child sing or a peer sing, it did not take long for the tears to roll. What I have always loved about Senior Arts night is that it never fails to offer surprises – a voice I didn’t know about or an artist that had been working in the shadows. It is a night when I often most appreciate the value of the “whole child” education that we preach on this Hilltop. Beyond the reality that being able to play guitar ...
Post a Comment
Read more