What will be said of your career? - President's Corner - Brief Article

School Administrator, May, 2002 by Don W. Hooper

Time passes each of us quicker than we think. I've been superintendent for 25 years and in many respects it seems to have passed quickly. Sure, I remember the trying times, the endless meetings, the relentless parental pressures, the daunting schedule and the all-consuming weight of the job's responsibilities. It is precisely these things that make the time pass quickly.

One wonders where our lives have gone. To some, the passing blur of these roles seems as if we have little or no control over our careers and our destinies. To others, we know that we must shape our own career for it belongs to us and to no other. Those who get the best jobs and always seem to have the best opportunities for professional activities and advancement are those who work at planning and shaping their career.

You make your own luck through preparation, hard work and development of a keen sense of trends by keeping up with what is happening in the world around you. You establish and maintain extensive networks of people from all sizes of districts and all roles in education.

Knowing what you want to do is not always an easy task. It certainly requires some thinking time. You probably have an idea of the geographic location in which you prefer to work, and you no doubt have given some thought as to the size of school district you wish to lead. You might even have created a profile of the perfect jobs on a career ladder and how long you would like to hold each spot.

Perhaps you've given thought as to how much longer you intend to work in your current capacity and therefore can predict how soon you should make your strategic moves. If you decide that you want a 35-year career and you are 20 years into it before you become superintendent, you have a short 15 years to be superintendent in districts with the characteristics you prefer. With an average tenure of five years per posting, you can count on three superintendencies--one in which to learn the ropes, one in which to try new ideas and one in which to excel.

Therefore you should determine what contribution you would like to make as a superintendent or other key leadership position, the skills that you have or will need to develop to make that contribution and then strategically decide where to work and for how long. Find your passion and play to your strength. Take the time to write your retirement epilogue well before it is written for you. Stephen Covey refers to this in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People as "beginning with the end in mind." Be courageous enough to dream big dreams and make big plans for what you want to accomplish. Become the leader that younger educators aspire to become and that older educators wish they had been.

There has never been a more exciting time to be in education, and particularly to be in a leadership position. We have a chance to lead. We have the opportunity to answer the call of a demanding public and provide leadership to design and deliver successful systems for the new and challenging millennium we find ourselves beginning.

Education is the beginning of opportunity. Americans want every child to be educated up to his or her full potential. And in spite of the decades of criticism and fingerpointing, they want us to lead the way in returning high standards and accountability to all our public schools.

We can compete in this arena. I believe we can and will rise to this challenge and history will record that this generation of educational leaders will be the one that makes it happen. It is time to "Raise the bar and close the gap." We have many exciting career choices to make. What an opportunity!