A Conversation with AASA President Gladys Cruz

An Imperfect Leader

Book Update!

Imperfect Leaders! You can order my book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action. Click on the link here. Or if there is no hyperlink, please go to Amazon or Barnes & Noble or peterstiepleman.com to order a copy.

AND if you liked it, would you please leave a positive review? I’m hoping to get 35 positive reviews on Amazon. Thanks!

Imperfect Leaders!

In this episode, Dr. Gladys Cruz is my guest. Dr. Cruz is the District Superintendent for Questar III, based In Castleton, NY. In addition to that role, Dr. Cruz serves as a lead teacher for the AASA Aspiring Superintendents Academy for Latino and Latina Leaders and is a mentor in the AASA National Superintendent Certification Program. Dr. Cruz is also the President-Elect of AASA, the School Superintendent’s Association.

After reading her blog posts, and most recently, seeing her presentation in San Antonio, Dr. Cruz brings awareness (and a plan) for addressing superintendent turnover. As an aside, that topic is exactly why I created this podcast. The national average for school superintendents is around three years, and if you’re a woman or a leader of color, it’s even less. In her speech, she mentioned the turnover in New York and Maine and Oregon, so in our conversation, she took a moment to tell us about the theme for her presidency: “Leading in a New Era: New Challenges, New Approaches” and the foundation she hopes to lay for new and aspiring superintendents.

In her After Action Review, she describes the tensions she had to manage during a major construction project. The first site fell through, and she risked losing her the trust of her communities. Thanks for tuning in!

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An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is supported by ILAA, LLC, a firm dedicated to supporting aspiring, new, and established leaders. For more information, please find them at www.human-centeredleaders.com.

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

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

www.peterstiepleman.com

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