The Principal as Chief Empathy Officer

Book excerpt: What role does empathy play in your success as a school leader? A principal’s skills, knowledge, and experience are important when it comes to leading schools. But whether interacting with staff, students, or parents, principals also need empathy—a key social-emotional skill—to be effective and drive continuous improvement. In this book, veteran school leader Thomas R. Hoerr makes the case for why schools need a Chief Empathy Officer as principal and how to become one. Discover how to grow your own empathy, as well as that of others, and the enormous positive effect this can have on your school. Explore how to view differences of opinion as opportunities to learn. And learn how empathy can help you * Build strong relationships with and among staff members. * Better connect with students' parents. * Reduce conflict by eliminating problems before they get out of hand. * Model and pursue the crucial issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. * Improve instructional leadership. Hoerr includes self-assessment and feedback tools, strategies for incorporating empathy schoolwide, and lively anecdotes that will walk you through the do's and don'ts of empathic leadership. If you're interested in taking your leadership skills up a notch (or two or three), The Principal as Chief Empathy Officer is for you!