Hello Insightful Educators
One of my favorite things to do is grab coffee with someone and catch up on the books, podcasts, TED talks, articles, shows, and people influencing them.
So, alongside the full newsletter, I push out a weekend edition of insights I think you will find influential in your journey as an Insightful Educator.
Think of it as you and I grabbing coffee and jamming on what’s influencing us at this time.
Feel free to reply with what you are finding helpful and invite a friend to subscribe! The more people around the table…the better!
Thought Leaders Worth Reading
A good friend and colleague sent me this beautiful piece by Maria Popova titled “The Light In Between Us” and it hits home in all the right ways
“No one ever really knows what it is like to be somebody else, that between one consciousness and another there always gapes an abyss black as the inside of a skull, and though we may try to reach each other with love and reason, they twine but a tenuous footbridge across it. The best we can do is hold on to the ropes and hope that they will not fray before we reach the rim of understanding, the outer edge of the other, which is all we can ever touch — and still it is enough, this sliver of salvation from the loneliness of being ourselves, this outstretched hand across the icy blue”
In this essay, Popova argues that there is an unbridgeable gap—an “abyss”—between each person’s inner experience of reality, meaning we never truly perceive the world the same way as anyone else. Even shared moments, sensations, and language are filtered through radically different consciousnesses, making perfect understanding impossible. But rather than despair, this limitation invites a more meaningful kind of connection: not trying to merge or fully “feel what others feel,” but learning to translate our experiences for one another with care and humility. In that effort—naming what we see, offering our perspective, and honoring difference—we create a fragile but real bridge between minds, where love is not sameness but the act of recognizing and illuminating each other’s unique way of seeing.
She writes, “in the end, the measure of understanding — which is “love’s other name” — is not seeing the same light but seeing the light in each other, the shy light shimmering over the ocean of our singularity”
That seems to be extremely educative and extremely important for those of us tilling the fields of education, where the work is to cultivate deep roots whereby acorns become oak trees
Thought I’m Pondering
I’ve been writing about this a lot, but, after reading Paul Rosolie’s great book on his work to save the Amazon rainforest, Junglekeeper: What It Takes To Change The World, I was reminded what it takes to truly follow one’s passion
I will write a deeper essay on this later, but the idea that following one’s passion means to follow what makes one feel good is not correct, especially in light of the fact that, in Latin, passio means “suffering” or “endurance”. What Rosolie reminds me is that to follow one’s passion is to ultimately decide on which suffering you are willing to endure
This is the thought I’m pondering is this:
There is certainly a thought in there worth unpacking for those of us in education and educational leadership, so I’m curious what you think
HOW CAN I HELP?
I work with school leaders from around the world, helping them strategize, energize, and find their mojo again
In other words:
I Help School Leaders Clarify Their Vision and Lead the School They've Always Dreamed Of
My 1-1 Executive School Leadership Coaching is a relationship — built around you, your school, your dreams, your obstacles, and the specific season of leadership you find yourself in right now.
Each month, we sit down together for a dedicated 90-minute coaching session — your time, fully protected, with my complete and undivided attention. No agenda imposed from the outside. No generic frameworks applied without context. Just focused, rigorous, imaginative thinking about the things that matter most to you and your school
And the work doesn't stop when the call ends.
Between sessions, you'll receive curated thought leadership, readings, and resources handpicked just for where you are in your journey. And I'll be available for touch points and guidance along the way
You don’t have to go it alone
