The Private School Leader Podcast

I got the phone call that every school leader dreads. One of my students had died. It was a Wednesday night in September, 1998. I got a call that one of my 9th Grade students, a 14 year old boy, had died. We will call him Caleb. Caleb and his 13 year old friend were playing at a park near his home. Tragically, they were also playing with a gun. Caleb’s friend was not a student at my school. Caleb’s friend was holding the gun. The gun went off and Caleb was killed instantly. Nothing could have prepared me for what happened over the next few hours, the next few days, the next few months after Caleb was killed. The next morning, all three local TV news stations had their vans sitting in our school’s parking lot. Reporters from both major newspapers were there too. Our HS students and our teachers looked like zombies as they walked through the front doors of the school. That awful phone call happened almost 25 years ago. As I look back, I can see that we did a really good job taking care of our students and staff. We handled things really well. But, that was not because we were ready. We did not have a crisis management team, we did not have a plan. What we had were a lot of really smart people that jumped into action and I believe that we got a lot of help from God. One of my teachers has a saying, “We were lucky, not good.” When Caleb died, we handled things very well. But, we were lucky, not good. I hope that you never have to deal with the death of a student or a staff member, but I want to help you to be super prepared. I want for you to have a plan and then pray that you NEVER, EVER need to use the plan. On today’s episode, I am going to teach you 10 Steps to responding to the death of a student: Establish a School Crisis Team Create a Plan in Advance Gather Facts Notify Staff, Students and Parents Deploy Mental Health Professionals Equip your Teachers Prepare For Media Coverage Funerals, Spontaneous Memorials and Memorials Special Circumstances (suicide, drug overdose) Conduct an After Action Review I pray that you will NEVER have to use this plan. That said, now you will be ready if you do. Thank you for listening to the podcast and thank you for making a difference in the lives of the kids at your school. Mark Minkus I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode22 Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at mark.o.minkus@gmail.com Thanks!!

You know how this works. You earn money, it gets deposited in your bank account and then you use that money to buy groceries, pay bills or eat out at a restaurant. You make deposits. You make withdrawals. You also know that if you don’t have enough money, the little screen at the grocery store will say “insufficient funds” or “card declined”. If you are of a certain age, you also know what it means to bounce a check. There is an important truth that every private school leader should know: Your Teachers Have Emotional Bank Accounts And You Are The Banker. On today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast, you are going to learn 10 ways to make deposits in your teachers’ emotional bank accounts: Smile Treat them like people Recognize their hard work Offer practical help Listen and validate their feelings Notice, Remember, Encourage Communicate clearly Protect their teaching time Say “thank you” Apologize This is going to be hard work, but it will be worth it. When your teachers feel heard, seen, valued and emotionally safe they will work harder, stay at your school longer and bring their best selves to school every day. Everyone wins when that happens! I know that you are super busy, so be sure to listen while you are doing something else. I hope that you will get value from this episode as you serve and lead your school community. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to listen to the podcast! Thanks for making a difference, Mark Minkus I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode21  Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at mark.o.minkus@gmail.com Thanks!!

About once a week, I ask my wife the same question, “Hey do you wanna know what song is stuck in my head?” She always says, “not really” and then I tell her anyway. It is usually some 80’s pop song unless it is the morning after the Middle School Dance and then it might be The Cupid Shuffle or Love Story by Taylor Swift. Why do songs get stuck in our heads? It’s because our brains HATE open loops and our brains will do anything to close an open loop. Our brains will even finish an 80’s pop song. The elements of storytelling are incredibly powerful because a compelling story opens a loop and then holds your attention until it closes the loop. On today’s episode, you are going to learn how to open a “Story Loop” for current and prospective parents and the only way to close that story loop is for their child to graduate from your school. Donald Miller wrote an excellent book called Building a Storybrand, which was a Wall Street Journal Bestseller. Miller describes the 7 components of a great story. We are actually going to discuss just 5 of those: A Character Has a Problem And Meets A Guide Who Gives Them A Plan That Ends in Success So many great stories follow this framework, including: Star Wars, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, The Odyssey, Interstellar, Beowulf, The Lord of The Rings, Moana, Marvel’s Spiderman, The Wizard of Oz and thousands more. You are going to learn how to use these elements of storytelling to increase enrollment and retention at your school! Thank you for taking me along with you when you are walking the dog, driving to school or running errands. I appreciate you and what you are doing for the lucky kids and teachers at your school. Thanks so much for listening and thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is an 8 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode20 Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at mark.o.minkus@gmail.com Thanks!!

The longest year of my life was between my 15th birthday and my 16th birthday.   It was only 365 days, but it felt like 5 years. I couldn’t wait to get my driver’s license. My first car was a 1977 Dodge Volare Station Wagon with no hubcaps and a bright yellow paint job. My friends at school called it “The Cream Puff”, but I didn’t care. I had a car and I could drive!   Why am I taking you on this trip down Memory Lane? Well, it’s because I want to ask you a very important question. Do you treat your car better than you treat yourself?   You are probably saying “Of course not!”, but I want you to really think about it before you answer. Just think of the things that you do daily, weekly and annually to make sure that your car keeps running safely.   Obviously we are talking about self care and most private school leaders don’t do a very good job with that. On today’s episode, you are going to learn 4 Ways That You Can Treat Yourself Better Than You Treat Your Car:   Fill the Tank Check The Oil Pass The Annual Inspection Heed the Check Engine Light   What you do is emotional work. Unrelenting, emotional work. The only way that you can thrive and not just survive at your school is to prioritize your self care. I know that sounds like fiction right now, but please just listen to the episode, apply one or two of the strategies and see if it makes a difference.    I hope that you will listen to the podcast for your weekly dose of motivation, inspiration and PD. Thanks so much for listening and thanks for making a difference!   Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode19   Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at mark.o.minkus@gmail.com Thanks!!

Every school has them. The teachers discuss them, but do everything they can to avoid them. Administrators cringe when they walk through the front door or call them on the phone. Of course, I am talking about difficult parents at your school. I acknowledge that not every upset parent is a difficult parent. But, if nearly every parent gets upset about something at least once, that means that you are meeting with a lot of parents every year that are unhappy and emotional about something. When you meet with an upset parent, you are trying to “listen through the noise”, not get defensive, not get upset, prioritize their child, support your teacher AND calmly come up with elegant solutions to their problems.  I know that sounds impossible. It IS extremely difficult, but there ARE intentional strategies that you can use to make these meetings have MUCH better outcomes. On today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast you are going to learn How To Have A Successful Meeting With An Upset Parent. These strategies are broken down into the following stages: Setting up the meeting Preparing for the meeting Mindset Shift Beginning Middle End Post-Meeting I have been using these strategies for a long time. There is no such thing as an “easy” meeting with an upset parent, but these strategies DO make a BIG difference and I hope that they will help you as you serve and lead your school. Thank you for taking me along with you when you are walking the dog, driving to school or running errands. I appreciate you and what you are doing for the lucky kids and teachers at your school. Thanks so much for listening and thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode18 Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at mark.o.minkus@gmail.com Thanks!!

I want you to use your imagination. It is the end of the day, you’re getting ready to leave school and you are sitting at your desk. You look back on your day. You feel good about everything that you accomplished. You feel like it was a productive day because you actually got some meaningful work done. Does that sound like something straight out of a fantasy novel? If that sounds impossible, it is probably because you have fallen into “The False Productivity Trap”. On today’s Episode of the Private School Leader Podcast we are going to discuss: What is the “False Productivity Trap”? The 4 reasons that we are actually addicted to False Productivity The 9 ways to avoid the “False Productivity Trap” There is an old saying, “It’s easy to be busy, it’s hard to be productive”. We have never been busier than we are today with our job, our family responsibilities, driving our kids to practices and games, church, errands, car repairs, home repairs, pet care, paying bills, trying to work out and the list goes on and on and on. We have never been busier, but we have never been less productive. Let’s make a new start today, get out of the productivity trap and start engaging in meaningful work more often! I hope that you will listen to the podcast for your weekly dose of motivation, inspiration and PD. Thanks so much for listening and thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode17 Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at mark.o.minkus@gmail.com Thanks!!

One of the most embarrassing moments of my life happened on a Thursday afternoon in the fall of 1999. I was driving home from school and my cell phone rang. It was my Administrative Assistant and I will never forget what she said, “Mark, Danielle is here in the Main Office. Are you coming back for her?” I had forgotten my 6 year old daughter at school…. Fortunately, school was like a second home to her and she was happily playing with a toy next to my office. My family still brings this up to this day, more than 20 years later. One of the biggest regrets of my life was when I didn’t do more to help one of my daughters when she was in Elementary School. She had ADD and her teacher that year was not effective working with kids with ADD. I just kept telling myself it would get better and I didn’t get involved and my daughter suffered. One of the biggest joys in my life was having my daughters attend my school. All of the car rides and hallway hugs and home volleyball games and drawings on my office door and concerts and just hanging out with them after school are memories that I will cherish forever. Having my three daughters attend the school that I led was one of the most complex experiences of my career. I am SO glad that we did it, but it was VERY complicated and took a tremendous amount of work to make it a (mostly) positive experience for them, for me, for my wife and for my teachers. If you have school aged children or you might have children someday, then today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast is for you! We are going to discuss what it is like: Being a Principal/Parent Being the Principal’s Kid Being the Teacher of the Principal’s Kid You will also learn several strategies that will help you successfully navigate these complex relationships in a way that will allow you to be an awesome parent AND an awesome Principal! I know that you are super busy, so be sure to listen while you are doing something else. I hope that you will get value from this episode as you serve and lead your school community. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to listen to the podcast! Thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode16 

Recently, I was driving home from school and I heard an ad for a debt consolidation company on the radio. The announcer asked, “Are you drowning in debt?” Later that week, I was talking to one of my teachers who told me, “I can’t get caught up. I feel like I am drowning in the deep end of the pool.” The word overwhelmed actually means “to be completely submerged by your thoughts and emotions about all of life’s current problems, to the point where you lack productivity and feel frozen or paralyzed.” (talkspace.com blog post 02/10/22) In other words, when you feel overwhelmed, you feel like you are drowning. The good news is that it doesn’t have to stay that way. On this week’s episode of the Private School Leader Podcast, you are going to learn The 8 Ways To Feel Less Overwhelmed At School: Ride the wave of emotion Revisit your “compelling why?” More dopamine, less cortisol Do a brain dump Focus only on the next thing Build capacity then delegate Fill your tank daily Talk to someone What we do is emotional work that takes an emotional toll. The cumulative effect of expending that emotional energy can make us feel like we are drowning. The next time that you feel overwhelmed, I hope that you will try one or more of these strategies and I hope that they help! I know how busy you are and that’s why I created a podcast so that you can listen while doing something else. So, while you're driving to school or walking the dog, pop in your earbuds for your weekly dose of motivation, inspiration and PD! You can check out a bunch of free resources at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources and you can grab the show notes at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode15 Thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks! Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at mark.o.minkus@gmail.com Thanks!!

Since I was a kid, I have always been fascinated with The Death Zone. No, that is not some zombie movie. I actually don’t like zombie movies or horror movies. Give me an action movie or an inspirational sports movie or a comedy or a superhero movie. Just not a zombie movie. Anyways, The Death Zone is a term used by mountain climbers. In mountaineering, the death zone refers to altitudes above 26,000 feet where the pressure of oxygen is insufficient to sustain human life for an extended time span. All 14 mountains that are 26,000 feet or higher are in the Himalayas. As soon as a mountain climber goes above 26,000 feet, their body starts to die. The summit of Mount Everest is 29,031 feet. Since I was a kid, I’ve been fascinated by people that would choose to do that to themselves. Why would someone climb into an area where you need bottled oxygen just to survive? Even today, 70 years after the first successful expedition, climbing Mount Everest is still considered one of the world’s greatest feats of physical endurance. On today’s episode of the Private School Leader podcast, I am going to share with you 5 Leadership Lessons from the top of Mount Everest: Your teachers need to see very clearly that they are part of something bigger than themselves. Get super clear on your goals so that you can make better decisions when you are stressed out. Your leadership skills will only take you so far. What will take you the rest of the way comes from your heart. Becoming a better leader is a process and it is OK to fail. Leaders should always see farther than everyone else. You won’t need an ice axe, a climbing harness or special boots, but I promise that you will learn some important leadership lessons from the highest point on planet Earth. I’d like to ask you for a quick favor. Can you please rate and review this podcast? This will help the algorithm push this podcast out to more leaders who might benefit from this content. Thanks! I hope that you will listen to this week’s episode. Maybe while you're driving to school or walking the dog, just pop in those earbuds for your weekly dose of motivation, inspiration and PD! You check out a ton of free resources at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources and you can grab the show notes at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode14 Thanks for making a difference! Mark Minkus

In November of 2016, my family and I were going through a difficult time. Shortly before Thanksgiving, my wife and I were given a VERY unexpected gift of $600.00 in cash from some VERY kind friends. There were no strings attached and we were told to use the money in any way that we wanted. Within the next 6 days, we had two VERY unexpected car repairs. The total bill for those two repairs was $597.00. We were overcome with gratitude for the kindness and generosity of our friends and for the perfect timing of this practical gift. Over the next few months, we thought about this gift all the time. But as the months passed, the memory of that moment faded and we thought about it less and less often. We had good intentions to continue to express gratitude to our generous friends, but then life got busy and…….. Are you grateful for your loved ones? Are you grateful for your home? Are you grateful for your job? Are you grateful for your students and your teachers? Of course you are! We have so many good things in our lives and we have a very long list of things for which to be grateful. The problem is that a lot of the time we don’t FEEL grateful and most of the time we don’t EXPRESS gratitude for most of the things in our lives. On today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast we are going to talk about How Gratitude Can Make You A Happier And More Effective Leader. Episode Highlights: The 31 benefits of gratitude backed by over 40 research studies. A recent Glassdoor survey says that 81% of employees work harder for a grateful boss. Why “hedonic adaptation” makes it so difficult for us to be intentionally grateful. The 3 ways that gratitude can make you a happier leader. The 3 ways that gratitude can make you a more effective leader. The 3 strategies that will help you be more grateful at school and at home. I know that you are super busy, so when you are driving to school, working out or running errands, pop in those earbuds and listen. I hope that you will get value from this episode as you serve and lead your school community. Thank you for taking the time to listen to the podcast! Thanks for making a difference! Check out a bunch of free resources for you at www.theprivateschooleader.com/resources and grab the show notes at www.theprivateschooleader.com/episode13