Category: Career lessons

I played golf with three men in The Villages last Sunday. They knew each other but I didn’t know them. We introduced ourselves and that’s when I noticed the logo shirt one of the guys was wearing. I waited until the second hole to say, “So, you’re a local celebrity.” he denied the status, but …

David didn’t like school and did his best to do nothing. He wasn’t particularly gifted, but he showed signs of progress from time to time. I never let him just coast, so sometimes we didn’t get along. He wanted to do as little as possible and just get through the day. On one particularly challenging …

When I was teaching middle school, we taught in four person teams. There were four certified instructors representing one of four disciplines: math, science, social studies, and language arts. While I had a double major in the social sciences and English, I taught language arts for seven of my eight teaching years. I taught seventh …

We had a half day of school that day, so as soon as the students departed, the staff got together one last time for lunch.  I spoke about my family’s plans, cried a bit, and ended the day with a challenge. We’d been a staff of risk takers.  We were innovators.  We mainstreamed special needs …

Thirty years ago this week I left my job as elementary school principal in Addison to become the Superintendent of Britton-Macon Area Schools. I started on Monday, November 4, 1991, the first day of the second nine week marking period.  I had been interviewed through-out the prior three months, received an offer, and gave my …

I retired from what I call my “real job” in January of 2008. I taught for eight years, was an elementary school principal for fifteen, and spent my last sixteen years as a school superintendent. I’ve had a contract with the Michigan Works system since then. During my tenure with Michigan Works, I’ve worked with …

About a dozen years ago, I found a note on our garbage can as I was getting ready to roll it up our driveway. It was written on the corner of an envelope I discarded.  I took it off, read it, and then went looking for a frame.  The framed note sat on a shelf …

We held a dedication for the track on Sunday May 28, 2005.  Shirley Herrick and Florence McNett attended.  It was the first, and perhaps the only, time they met.  Our words of gratitude were directed at the two.  About three hundred people attended.  Many were alumni who wished to know how to get involved.  Alumni …

The $400,000  provided the foundation for our success.  The two major gifts opened the way for others. I had two boards to work with, and luckily for me, everyone was on the same page.   Final decisions regarding the scope of the project were left to the two boards which meant we’d have shared meetings to …

I’d been to the country club to play golf and for business meetings, but none as important as this.  Mr. Herrick had a reputation for his generosity as well as his straightforwardness.  This turned out to be our only face to face encounter. Gene Cooley was the superintendent in Tecumseh when I arrived in Britton.  …