Access Assured: A Conversation with Brenda Harrington

An Imperfect Leader

INTRO: As many of you know, I serve on the Board of Directors for Be the Change Volunteers. We build schools, teacher housing, and bathrooms all over the world (currently in Peru, Malawi, India, Rwanda, Puerto Rico, and Papua New Guinea). It’s an incredible experience – if you ever want to join a build, please let me know – and one thing we try to be mindful about is the return back home after a build. You’ve just seen a lot and experienced a lot, and there is a transition back to your regularly scheduled programming. When I was speaking with my guest today, she highlighted the importance of preparing employees for when they are relocated to another country.

Brenda Harrington is my guest. In Part 1, we talk about her book, Access Denied, which seeks to support the trailblazers in your organization, the one, and often the only one in a work space and the importance for peers to be aware of the cultural field they create, curate, and permit to persist.

In Part 2, we talk about an area of Brenda’s experience that many leaders will relate to: the need to move to a new community, sometimes in a new state (you’ll hear my initial confusion about the term global mobility). Brenda talks about the coaching needed before a leader changes locations and the call to companies to think about an employee’s success.

BIO: Brenda Harrington is the CEO and founder of Adaptive Leadership Strategies, a service business that offers coaching and consulting solutions to help companies develop and grow top talent. In addition to Brenda's work as a CEO, she is also the author of Access Denied.

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At the end of every interview we have for teacher candidates, we say, “What questions do you have for us?” And they always ask, “What kind of support can I expect?” And we always say, “Don't worry, we'll give you a mentor.”

But it's not real mentorship. I mean, it's support with the difficult kid, or the field trip form, or the grade card. But it isn't coaching.

That's where partners like EdConnective step in. Because they provide real coaching, observations and feedback with practice. EdConnective ensures that every student thrives by facilitating exceptional educator growth. If you're looking for support for your people, for your leaders, for science of reading efforts, for recruitment and retention initiatives, check out EdConnective.com.

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Music for An Imperfect Leader was written and arranged by Ian Varley.

Sam Falbo created our artwork, a wood-print inspired daruma doll butterfly.

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My book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is available at Amazon.com or peterstiepleman.com.