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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.

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