The Road to Awesome: Transforming School Leadership with Dr. Darren Pepperd

Welcome to Your Booster Shot from the AWB Education Network. This podcast series is our opportunity to dive even deeper into the topics and skills that will help you lead your school with confidence. Check out information on our partners, along with additional resources and services at www dot AWB education dot org. Now here is your booster Shot. Well, hello, and welcome to another episode of Your Booster Shot. Today we are joined by doctor Darren Pepperin. He is from the Road to Awesome. Welcome Darren, thanks for joining me today. Yeah, absolutely, Adam, thanks so much for having me on. Well, the Road to Awesome. That name is well, I'm just going to say it, it's awesome. It's really catchy. Tell us a little bit about this program, and you know what in your background inspired you to create the Road to Awesome. Yeah, so, actually Road to Awesome goes back to my time as a high school principal. That's when we actually coined the phrase Road tom Awesome. And it actually goes back to a time when I was an assistant principle. That's the same time high school. And in a nutshell, the story is this the high school where I became an assistant principal, I was in charge of all discipline and attendance for the entire high school. So like, this is the job where you feel sorry for me, that's right? And it was. It was just the constant, right, just that cookie cutter discipline. Everything from kids who you know, we're skipping class to we had probably a fight a week at least in the hallways, you know, just you name it, right, and even all the way to the kid who wouldn't bring a pencil to class. Right. I did over twenty two hundred discipline referrals for eleven hundred kids my first year in this ro and we're our culture was all about catching people doing things wrong. And we're in a staff meeting, and it's the staff meeting we've all been in. Right, We're going to solve the most important issues in education, you know what I'm talking about? What are we doing about hats? What are we doing about cell phones? I was in that staff meeting, right, and part way through the meeting, somewhere between let's buy those calculator things and hang them on the wall and my shop teacher named Harvey, who said, let's just smash one with a hammer. The kids will get the message. A sane voice, A sane individual raised a hand and said, Darren, why does it always have to be about what they do wrong? Why can't it be about what they do right? And for me, and this is that that whole Robert Frost thing, right, you know, two roads diverged right for me? Wow, two roads. I mean, because I was the hammer, they're the nail. I mean, that's the road I was traveling. Maybe just maybe we start to do some things a little bit differently. And we didn't coin the phrase of then, but that's really when it happened, right, That's when we started to say, hey, let's let's shift the culture of our school. Let's start to look for the great things that are happening on our campus. Let's start to not that we didn't still have consequences for you know, be heres, all that kind of stuff, right, but just shifting our focus. That's that's really where the road to awesome began. And so fast forward a number of years. I was I was principal at that school for quite some time, and then I became a superintendent, and and I was writing my first book, and I met with a couple of different publishers, and both of them it was so funny. I had all these different titles in my head and this, oh, this is going to be about this kind of leadership. And sure both of them were like, Darren, you have used the hashtag road to Awesome for years on social media. Why would you call it anything but that? And oh okay. And so from that point forward, not only you know, my first to my first two books, we did a kid's book, Road to Awesome. The name of our company is Road to Awesome. I mean, that's just who we are, and I identify as a traveler of the Road to Awesome. Sure, you know, we have a choice every day, Adam, We have a choice every single day. You know. We can go down that road where we look for the negatives and you know, we want to be the complainer. We want to be the thermometer that just tells you what's wrong. Or we can take that other road and on that other road, that's where you know, maybe we look for the positive. Maybe we're more of a thermostat than a thermometer, right, and we actually help solve problems. And so I can riff on roadawsuin for hours. But there you go, that's in a nutshell. What road Dawsin is and what it's all about. Well, that's good. I mean, we know that if you chase that same road, you're just going to chase it forever. Right. If it's just always about the consequence, it's never going to have a positive impact. And if that's what you want to do all day, every day, then that's what you're going to get if you keep going down that road. Well, so you offer a ton of you know, a variety of resources for school leaders. As I've kind of looked through the stuff that you have here, there's a lot of stuff that's within the program that are there for school leaders to be able to succeed. Can you elaborate on a few of those different resources and maybe some of the professional development opportunities that are available? Right? Absolutely? So. Yeah. So one of my another one of my two road moments was as early in my principal career, I really struggled when I took the principal role on I found that I I was just constantly running around putting out fires, you know, trying to take care of everything. I thought I had to be the superhero, right, you know, which a lot of principles fall into that trap. So I was. I was very fortunate we had that we had a new superintendent who hired leadership coaches for all of us, and it completely changed me as a leader. So I fell in love with coaching, my assistant principles, I fell in love with, you know, with coaching aspiring leaders. And so the core work of what we do at Road Awesome is exactly that. It's that leadership coaching and consulting that really helping individual leaders, but then also leadership teams to get really crystal clear on what it is that they are trying to accomplish, you know, like what is that compelling vision that they have for their school? And then let's get really intentional. Let's let's backwards map this thing. Let's really figure out how do we get from point A to point B. And so as that person who struggled, as that person who did it at a high level and figured out how to go from point A to point B, that's where I'm coming in and working with leadership teams all over the country and actually all over North America because I work with some in Canada now too, to really figure out how we can be clear, how we can be intentional, and how we can really walk in our purpose instead of just be that firefighter. So that's kind of our core core support. The next level of stuff that we do really ties in with that culture piece, and that's culture piece or that culture work rather that we do with school teams, with leadership teams, with teacher teams, where you know, especially when especially when leaders are fairly new to the campus, you know, they say, hey, I want to help change the culture of my campus. They don't know how to get there right, they don't know how to you know, make that move. So a lot of that, that culture work, I lean a lot into that. I do a lot of speaking. I speak at you know, I speak at conferences, I keynote, you know, those types of things, and I talk about those two things that we discussed. And then the last thing, I guess not the last thing. The second to last thing would be the Principal Academy, which is our new digital element. I know we're going to talk about the Principal Academy maybe a little bit more. That's designed to be a resource for principles that you know, maybe aren't going to work with a full time leadership coach, but they're looking for you know, hey, give me something that I can lean into this particular thing. And then the final thing at Road Awesome is we're also an independent publisher. So we created the Road Awesome Publishing, oh almost four years ago, and that's actually my wife's half of our business. She is, she is one hundred percent, you know, running Road Awes and publishing. And so we've done We've done a lot of books, probably about thirty five books I think at the point in time, a lot of school leadership, a lot of things you know, related to pedagogy and related to you know, classroom and building culture, those types of things. So a lot of things happen in here at Road Awesome. That's good, you know you're talking about that working with principles and you know, mentoring them and moving through that process with them. You know, Like in the state of Iowa where I reside, there, there's a lot of mentoring programs for that first year principle, right the school administrators of Iowa, they've got a mentoring program and a lot of people sign up for that. And it's great. And you get hooked up with somebody that's done this job and you get a chance and you work with them. That's great. But that's usually the first year, and that, let's be honest, that first year is survival, right, I mean, we're just trying to get through the first year, and then then we can start dreaming about the real changes we want to try to make as we move on. But then a lot of times those built in mentorship programs they either kind of tail off a little bit or they're only going to be as good as you continue to make them, be right, And so yeah, I think some of the work that you're doing, and this Principle Academy, which yes, I'd like to talk about that here in just a little bit, I think these are those opportunities for all school leaders to continue to try to get better. I've been doing this quite a while now, I'm getting up onto my second getting on actually finishing my second decade in this work, and I still learn stuff every single day. There's always a new challenge, there's always another opportunity for me to be able to work with a colleague. And I have the luxury right now of having colleagues that are in the same work with me that I can touch base with. Not everybody has that luxury, and so hearing these opportunities I think is really important. So let's move on to that piece, the principal academy. How does that program align with the mission and the vision of Road to Awesome? So it aligns extremely well with it. I've been thinking about the addition of digital courses a mastermind, you know, just pure virtual coaching with individuals. Typically, the leadership coaching work that I do is a is a hybrid mix of me being on site with with principles but then also some time on Zoom. But this past summer, I don't know, I spoke at dozens of different conferences, but it seemed like every conference there were four or five leaders who would catch up with me after the conference, you know, have a conversation with me, and they really wanted that additional support. They're exactly what you're talking about, you know, Adam. There, They've gotten through that first year, but now they're like, Okay, how do I do this? You know, how do I how do I implement change? How do I you know, really drive impactful instruction, how do I empower student voice? What? Whatever? It might be? Right, But they weren't necessarily in a position where they could say, hey, I want to hire you as a you know, as a full time coach or something like that, you know, and I think, you know, we we certainly live in a you know, a day in an age where having digital content, you know, right there at our fingertips, right there, you know, on our phones where you know, we can we can go in and jump in and take a short little course or you know, listen to you know. I mean, obviously we've got free p D all the time. With podcasts, I mean, holy cow, there's so many great podcasts. You know, your podcast is wonderful. I've got I think a really good podcast, so many others. But but having that digital content where and right now there's one course, well there's actually two inside the Principal Academy. One that's kind of our signature course. It's like six modules long, and then there's one that's a free course. It's a one hour webinar that that we did here not too long ago, just just a little bit of the beginnings of the Principal Academy. And eventually I think we'll take that that signature course and break it into small modules that you can purchase just one module at a time or something like that. And then of course I mentioned the Mastermind too, where there's so much power in networking. There's so much power in being able to come together with a group of eight or ten or fifteen people who are in a similar situation to you and to be able to brainstorm and kind of work that stuff through. So just being able to help leaders gain clarity, be intentional, and walk in their purpose, which is which is the mission of ROT awesome. That is what we are all about, is helping leaders gain clarity, be intentional, and walk in their purpose. And I think the principal academy absolutely, you know, falls right in mind with them. You mention in your descriptions of that take control of your leadership piece, and I think that's kind of what you're talking about there is it's it's either going to happen or you're going to help make it happen, right, either one of those two. Right, That's awesome. Yeah, And I think I think let's maybe chase that just a little bit more. I mean, just that taking control of your leadership. When I reflect back to when I went from that NonStop firefighter to actually now the guy who is working on the high impact leadership things is delegating well as managing his time. Well, those types of things. It was because I was able to take control of that. And I think that's something that you know, I love how you talked about the one year mentorship, like like all of a sudden, after a year of gruntoring, you're going to be just hey, I've got at all. It was it was year three easily for me. Year three before it was like, okay, now I think I really am ready to really move this school, right. So I think I think that's a big piece right there, and for each of us as individual school leaders to really take control of our own leadership, we've got to take a step back. I call it balcony level leadership. It's a piece that I talk about my book where you know, we've got to kind of get up there, you know, up and look down on what is it that we're focusing on, Where are we spending our time? All of those types of things, And so that, to me, that's kind of how that taking control of our leadership is a key piece. Is there an ideal candidate for the principal academy, you know, or something maybe that somebody is struggling with or really needing some assistance down that would be maybe the best you know, candidate for this program. Yeah, absolutely, And I would tell you, you know one of my favorite quotes of all time. We are uniquely positioned to help the person we once were. And so the person who I once was was the new principal who couldn't get his head above water, then became that principal who at least had head above water but needed to know how do I go to the next level? And that, to me would be the ideal ideal client. I'm early in my career as a school leader, whether that's year one, year two, year three, typically for me, that's kind of that sweet spot for this is what this work is really all about. Now, if you're an experienced principle, can you benefit from Absolutely can't. It's a great refresher on some things that you probably have learned along the way. But ideally, I think it's those year one, two, and three principles who maybe they're breathing through the snorkel, you know, they still got the head underwater a little bit, but maybe also that the head has kind of popped up out of the water now and they're like, Okay, now, how do I go forward? What are some key benefits or outcomes that you would say if I'm kind of on the fence thinking about this, like, oh, I know that I'm going to get this out of this program. Yeah? Absolutely. Number one is how do you set that compelling vision? How do you get really clear about where it is that you're trying to go. Number two time management. You know, it's the number one struggle for early career leaders is how in the world do I manage my time? And there's some phenomenal pieces in there on the time management strategies with you know, with your secretary, strategies with your team, and then strategies individually with how do I actually structure my time so that I'm not just at the whim of whatever fire happens to be burning. Absolutely, and then I mean there's a lot of really great stuff in there. If I would say one more, I would say the school culture and Climate piece. That's actually the biggest module in that course is the school culture and Climate one. And let's be honest, that's one that we can all work on all the time, because as soon as we think we've got everything all figured out, then you know, COVID shows up or whatever else it is. Yeah, no kidding, right, Yeah, it just makes you have to adjust and keep working. No, that's good. Do you have any success stories or anything with the program that you want to share, in particular that people have gone through the program, how it's impacted their leadership. You know, I'll tell you obviously, I mean, it's only been out for a short period of time and heard some great pieces of feedback. But I'll tell you that I built the course right from essentially how I coach leaders and so I'll share I'll share this success story, and I'm going to give him all the credit, but I love that I've had the opportunity to work with him now for about three years. One of the schools that I work with pretty heavily is right here in the Omaha area. And with that particular school, it's a high school here in the area, about nineteen hundred kids. The principal, the principal actually connected with me, found out I was in Omaha. We got together, had a conversation. He's like, I want to hire you to coach me. And I coached him his first year and the next. For the last two years, I've been coaching him and his entire leadership team. They went from a group that really did just kind of run around from from fire to fire, the whole group. I would tell you I was in the building yesterday and the conversation that the principal and I were having, I was sharing with him how I think they have one of the highest functioning leadership teams I've ever been around. Just seeing that team all focused on the same outcome that that whole team when they make decisions. Now coming back to does this bring us closer to our goal or is this just a shiny object that's not going to help us. Watching that particular team, the outcomes from that particular school, not just on the you know, on the academic side, but the decrease in turnover on their campus, the increases in the positive culture, just the vibe in the building. It's I mean, it's it's one of those schools. When I'm in that school, I just I feel I feel something special when I walk in the door with them, and I see the relationships that they've built with their students and with their staff. And that's one that so much of what is in that course is built right off of the work that I've done with that and with many other schools, but that one, especially because I was in the building yesterday is really fresh in my mind. Well, that energy is contagious, and so if you're getting that out of your leadership team, that's just that trickle down effect is so positive. That's cool. That's awesome to hear that. While I got you here, Darren, talk a little bit about you've got a new book coming out, and you've got one coming out here in a couple months or so, can you let us know a little bit about what that's going to be and give us a little preview. Yeah. Absolutely, I'm super excited about this book, So thank you for asking. So a little while back, I partnered with an absolutely phenomenal educator from Oklahoma City named Katie Kinder. For people who maybe they're like that name is familiar, she's the teal glasses lady. So if you're on social media and you see the girl with teal glasses, that's Katie Kinder. Katie and I have some real shared passions around classroom culture, and so we really started pouring into these ideas around how do we move from this focus on classroom manage to classroom culture as the primary focus. And the book itself is titled Culture First, Classrooms, Leadership, Relationships and practices that transform schools, and in this book, we're really diving into what are those key elements that we need to be focusing on in each one of our classrooms. You know, how do we as teachers empower our students and for that matter, feel empowered ourselves to really take control of the culture in our classroom. And it's not just you know, it's not one of those books where it's you know, Katie and myself just saying here's what you need to go do. We actually have twenty one different contributors from mostly from the United States. There's a little bit from Canada. Phenomenal teachers, principles and superintendents who provide their own input, own take on how you build the culture and the classroom that you want to see that really takes that classroom to just unbelievable heights academically, socially, and just you know, it's an exciting book. We're really really stoked for that to come out. It's going to be out in late March, and it's it's another road to awesome books. So we're really really excited to have that thing coming out. That's cool, now, that's neat, Well, make sure we get that out there for our listeners as well, so they can find that when that comes out you said in March, late March, right, yes, it'll be March. Well, kind of to wrap up here a little bit, just kind of looking ahead, what are some of the trends you see shaping the future of school leadership? And then you know, how's the road to awesome going to be there to help us navigate those trends and navigate those adjustments. Yeah, for sure. You know, I think it's been interesting over the last couple of years. You know, when you take a look at school leadership, there's been a tremendous amount of turnover in school leadership. And there are a few different reasons for that. I mean, every year there's going to be retirements and that kind of stuff. But I think there were a number of people like myself who maybe stepped out of public education a little bit earlier than what the original plan was, and that kind of created a bit of a vacuum in leadership. And certainly the leadership pipeline wasn't emptied. You know, there were plenty of people to come moving forward in there. But as a result of that, we've seen a lot more school level leaders, first time school level leaders who are a little less prepared than perhaps what we traditionally would see. And I don't necessarily mean that, you know, they don't know what they're doing, That's not what I'm saying. But typically what we've experienced is as you kind of progress through your teaching career, you're given some opportunities to take on different leadership roles prior to jumping into a principal chair. Sure, and so many, so many leaders are jumping in a lot qui than previously was was the issue. And so I think I think one of the trends that we're seeing is a lot of leaders who just need a lot of support in order to support their teachers. Obviously, we know there's there's this you know, looming teacher shortage, and having leaders who who aren't prepared to build that culture in the organization where teachers feel like they're seen and heard and valued and trusted can perpetuate that. So I think I think a lot of the big need and I see this more and more and more districts are coming on board with the idea of you know what, let's not just get the other principle in the district to mentor the new principle, let's actually bring some support on board with them, because, let's face it, district level employees, they don't have time. I just just finished a call with a with another district that you know, both both superintendent and an executive director. They don't have time to go coach their principles. They need somebody else. And so so at Rodaws, some how we're providing that support, is really leaning into those opportunities to partner up with those schools, with those districts, to support those principles so they're able to not just get their head above water, but to really really have a great deal of success, which leads to them actually staying in the job. I mean, that's that's one of the biggest concerns, right, I Mean, we get people in there, we don't provide the support, and then it's okay, well we need to move on from them. Well, or they move on on their own. They're like I'm done, I've had it, I don't want to do this anymore, you know. So I think that's one of the biggest trends is leaders who just need a lot of support. And honestly, that's why I jumped out to do what I do. There's a lot of things that we offer, but I want to pour back into as many school leaders as I possibly can because I got that support and it made a huge difference for me. So I just want to do that for as many as I possibly can. That is great. Tell our listeners here how they find out more about you, how they can get hooked up with the Road Awesome, and what's the best way to get in contact with you to join your team. Absolutely so you can. There's a couple of different ways. You can go to the website, which is road too Awesome dot net. From there, literally every page has a contact us that's going to pop up. So so do that, get on our mailing list. You'll see, you know, our weekly newsletter and some of the other stuff that we're doing. If you're really interested, specifically in the Principal Academy, if you go to the Principal Academy dot com, that's the place to go. Then you'll see all the information on that there. And if you're just somebody on social media and you're like, you know, hey, I want to get you know, I want to get connected with Darren. I want to check out his podcast, all of that kind of stuff at Darren M. Peppered on literally every platform and the podcast is the Leaning into Leadership Podcast. Well, thanks, doctor Pepper, and I really appreciate your time today, and I just love the stuff that you're doing because again, I just don't think there's enough of this out here. There isn't enough support for all of our administrators to do a job that, let's be frank, is really really, really difficult, and there's only a few people that can do that out there, and we need all the few, We need every one of them. That's awesome. Yeah, absolutely, I appreciate that so much. Adam, thanks for having me on today. Absolutely well, thank you listeners for joining us again today. Each out to him if you have any questions, and again thanks for joining us today. We appreciate your time. Thank you for listening to this episode of your Boosters shot from AWB Education. Want to join in this mission. We are always looking for partners to help provide what our school leaders need to thrive and survive. Contact us through our web page at www dot AWB education dot org to get connected. Otherwise, remember you are doing the job that only a few are strong enough to do. Thanks for being one of the few. We will talk with you again next time.