“We've all seen the most earnest, well-intentioned leaders miss the mark because they lack an airtight plan to get their most mission-critical work done. The Together Leader provides a clear, groundbreaking roadmap for maximizing systems, structures, people, and most all of, leaders themselves, in order to yield excellent results. This book is as useful for a not ‘together’ novice, as it is for a high-functioning leader with undiscovered blind spots to fine tune. I'm not exaggerating when I say that regardless of where you are in your leadership journey, Maia's book will change your life.”—Paula White, executive director, Regional Achievement Centers, New Jersey Department of Education
“Maia Heyck-Merlin has proven her ability, on so many stages, to help teachers reach their goals on student development, time management, and personal balance. And now, with The Together Leader, she is inviting leaders to join the movement. This book pairs practical advice with compelling anecdotes to help mission-driven leaders revolutionize the way they do business, and the way their organizations reach their ambitious goals.”—Emily McCann, president, Citizen Schools
“No one on the planet is better qualified to write about ‘togetherness’ than Maia Heyck-Merlin. Her book is a gift to mission-driven leaders who want to be more effective, more reliable, more productive—in other words, who want to have a bigger impact on the world. It is filled with easy-to-use, concrete, practical tools and advice, and on top of that it is a joy to read. I love this book!”—Jerry Hauser, chief executive officer, The Management Center
“As someone who has clung to her copy of The Together Teacher, The Together Leader is a welcome addition to my professional library. In The Together Leader, Maia reminds us that mission-driven work is done in service of the greater good, and that the mission-driven leader needs a strong foundation of organizational support to effectively reach that goal. The Together Leader enables leaders to create that foundation of organizational support within their team. I'm grateful to Maia for helping my team establish ‘togetherness,’ as it has aided our ability to work in service of students with disabilities, their families, and the schools that serve them.”—Christina Foti, chief executive director, Special Education Office–Division of Specialized Instruction and Student, New York City Department of Education
“There's not a mission-focused leader out there who wouldn't benefit from reading this book. Whether you are trying to change the world on a shoestring or leading from within a major institution, The Together Leader delivers the comprehensive customizable set of tools you need to manage your time and that of others for maximum impact and minimum burnout.”—Alex Johnston, founder and president, Impact for Education
“The Together Leader is the real deal for leaders and leadership teams who want concrete tools to help manage their time and for execute their priorities in our age of information overload. The tools and techniques outlined in this book will bring clarity and organization to anyone who uses them. It will be a tune-up for some and a lifesaver for many.”—Jay Altman, chief executive officer, FirstLine Schools
“Maia is uniquely qualified to support educators in this critical arena. Her framework has benefited our staff tremendously in separating the urgent from the merely important, focusing our time and energy on what matters most.”—Paymon Rouhanifard, superintendent, Camden City School District
“With clarity and compassion, Maia delivers strong advice on being a ‘together’ leader in the mission-driven workplace. Filled with smart storytelling, clear examples, and actionable steps, The Together Leader, is a must-read for anyone in the nonprofit sector.”—Elisa Villanueva Beard, chief executive officer, Teach for America
“Maia tells it like it is—leading a school or team requires a level of ‘togetherness’ and ‘with-it-ness’ that is just never taught. Leaders are too often overwhelmed or even blindsided by the daily demands of their jobs. Maia provides the mindset and tools necessary for leaders to prioritize, plan, and protect their time. Her approach has helped hundreds of our team members—they will help you as well.”—Dave Levin, cofounder, KIPP: Knowledge is Power Program
“The Together Leader has helped me maximize my time as a leader. Not only do I have more time dedicated to supporting my team, I have developed the systems necessary to think both short and long term, review critical plans with care, and make better decisions on behalf of the children I serve. Maia's tips on organization have helped me become a better leader.”—Jennifer Cheatham, superintendent of schools, Madison Metropolitan School District
“You can have all the vision, dedication, and talented team members in the world, but if you can't organize yourself as a leader, you can't possibly reach maximum impact. Using the techniques Maia describes in this must-read book, hundreds of Leading Educators' teacher leaders have improved their team management abilities. The payoff of their ‘togetherness’: increased student learning and opportunity in life.”—Jonas Chartock, chief executive officer, Leading Educators
“As nonprofit leaders we must do the work that matters most. Trouble is, precious time can get swallowed up by out-of-control inboxes, endless meetings, and urgent requests. To keep important work on track, The Together Leader gives leaders the practices and tools to connect the big picture with their daily work. Our Education Pioneers team regularly uses Maia's teachings and trainings because we believe strongly in their effectiveness to drive mission-critical work forward.”—Scott Morgan, founder & chief executive officer, Education Pioneers
“What Maia did for teachers in The Together Teacher, she has now done for leaders. As our best teachers transition into leadership roles, their lives change in ways that require new levels of ‘togetherness’—they have to be responsive, mobile, and reliable without the comfort of their own classroom or a predetermined schedule. Her practical, bite-sized, applicable tools and techniques are the difference between surviving and thriving as a school leader. This book goes well beyond time management. It helps leaders successfully ensure that ‘the right things are done by the right people at the right times’ so they can spend their time doing what matters most – helping teachers and students be successful.”—Gail McGee, career pathways senior manager, Houston Independent School District
“The Together Leader is an invaluable resource for our organization in helping individuals and teams align and maximize their time in service of schools. Whether it's the weekly worksheet or the long-term comprehensive calendar, our teammates rave about Maia's resources—they're practical, timely, and can be put to use right away. Personally, I've learned an immense amount from Maia on how to maximize my own time to best benefit my organization. I know leaders everywhere will put the practices in this book to use for themselves and for their organizations.”—John Maycock, cofounder and president, The Achievement Network
“The Together Leader provides incredibly useful strategies that empower leaders to manage their priorities more effectively. We use Maia's strategies and guidance in leadership teams across our network to ensure that our leaders are executing our vision in the most skillful and strategic ways.”—Katie Severn, president & chief academic officer, DC Prep
“The ideas and systems Maia provides are practical yet life-changing. She understands the unique demands of mission-driven leadership. This book provides the tools necessary to tackle challenges head on. By reflecting on and implementing these thoughtful strategies, leaders are guaranteed to save time and energy, enacting a strategy this is sustainable and that allows them to retain their passion for leading in the long-term!”—Amanda Delabar, principal, Tubman Elementary, DC Public Schools
“Empowering…Tool agnostic…Balanced… Maia is more than just a great presenter and a treasure trove of tools. She empowers leaders to meet their professional goals by balancing their personal priorities in ways that are smart and sustainable. Readers will be empowered by Maia's practical insight on how to create effective systems that any leader can replicate and apply to their daily practice. The Together Leader is essential for central office leaders, principals, assistant principals, aspiring leaders, and principal supervisors, instructing them on how best to protect their time both personally and professionally.”—Michele Mason, executive director, Leadership Development, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
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To Doug McCurry and Dacia Toll, who modeled the entire leadership package and enabled this book to happen
Acknowledgments
The Together Leader was a long time coming. And it would never have arrived without a ton of support. I certainly didn't invent the To-Do List, but I have been inspired and encouraged by many to share my own unique approach to Togetherness. Two Together and rapidly growing non-profits, Teach For America and Achievement First, collectively employed me for over a decade and let me observe, experiment and eventually train widely across both organizations while I was technically doing “other jobs.” So many people have invited me deep into their organizations, their schools, and even their homes to allow me to paint a rich picture of Together Leaders. And because of all of those observations, I've been able to curate and narrate effective practices back to you.
To the thousands of Together Leader workshop and webinar participants: thank you for sharing your stories, results, and passion. Every time I deliver a workshop, I'm reminded why we need so many more mission-driven leaders fighting the good fight. I'm especially grateful to organizations that have welcomed me in to share so much about their people and practices: The Achievement Network, TNTP, KIPP, the Relay Graduate School of Education, YES Prep, Achievement First, The Ewing Marion Kauffman School, Teach For America, Citizen Schools, and more. There are countless other organizations mentioned within the book, but the ones listed here tolerated my e-mails, visits, questions, and more over countless years. And a huge thank-you to the leaders I've coached who agreed to open the doors and share their tools, mind-sets, and routines throughout this text. There are too many of you to list individually but just know I have a spreadsheet and I'm thanking you all profusely. You've dealt with my requests for interviews, requests for documents, and requests for more interviews with grace and enthusiasm.
There are many pioneering authors on the topics of priorities, habits, rituals, energy, and productivity. To Tony Schwartz, Brigid Schulte, Tom Rath, Steven Covey, David Allen, David Levitan, and Laura Vanderkam: thank you for setting the stage, going first, doing the hefty research, and helping me apply your concepts to my particular sector.
I'm so grateful to those who have been brave (or unfortunate) enough to lead me: Antoinette Bienemy and Jim Geiser, my two principals; Jerry Hauser, Nicole Baker Fulgham, and Jeff Wetzler, my managers at Teach For America; Dacia Toll and Doug McCurry, my co-bosses at Achievement First. Thanks for consistently modeling why a leader needs to be Together.
Norman Atkins, Dan Konecky, Aaron Suffrin, the whole Relay GSE team, Jay Altman, and Mike Goldstein have always championed my work and served as wise mentors. I'm grateful to a team of professional supports, including Rusty Shelton and the entire team at Shelton Interactive, Lee Kirby, Nicole Garner, and Lee Weiner. We have been together for a long time now, and I'm grateful for your various areas of content expertise. Kate Gagnon and her wonderful team at Jossey-Bass supported this project from the very start. They joined me at workshops, refined the table of contents, ensured every ounce of text flowed smoothly and every image printed clearly.
Many people donated their most precious resource (their time) to read entire copies of this book. Allie Rogovin, you are the epitome of a Together Leader. Thank you for being my first cold reader. Trusted advisors Scott McCue, Randall Lahann, Kim Marshall, and Giselle Wagner brought their collective decades of leadership experience to offer wise feedback in the book's earliest stages. Genna Weinstein and Kate McCabe: thank you for serving as such trusted thought partners and consistently replying to my spazzy text messages. I also want to thank Kate Berger, Shawn Mangar, Erica Williamson, Chris Hines, Ron Gubitz, Emily Stainer, Maggie Goldstein, Sean Precious, and Amanda Cahn for being ever-available on the bat-phone; fellow author Elena Aguilar for being a source of practical advice and constant cheerleading in the home stretch; and many thanks to the countless others, too many to name, who gave input on the initial table of contents.
A big thanks to Shelby Lee Keefer and Evan Jenkins, who functioned as my work best friends while in graduate school and looking for acting work on Broadway, respectively, for handling social media, travel booking, and myriad other thankless tasks that kept us moving. A deep shout-out of gratitude goes out to Kendra Rowe Salas and her rotating cast of actors (including, occasionally, her husband!), who seamlessly handle every back-office part of my work, from project management to inventory to website to newsletters to accounting. Kendra, this book would not be possible without you doing so much to free up my brain to think and write. To Meghan Pierce, book production coordinator, researcher, fact checker, art logger, recipe sharer extraordinaire: thank you for handling my creativity with such flexibility and encouragement. You can make a spreadsheet, spot an inconsistency, and find a million solutions like no other. And to Marin Smith, my dear friend and colleague of almost a decade: thank you for your editorial support. You bring more of my voice to my stuff than even I do sometimes! And last, to Josh Lowitz, my pretend boss: here's to another five years.
I'm eternally grateful to have a strong group of people who support my home life, especially my dear girlfriends who don't mind late-night phone calls when I return from airports, provide vacation memos with meal plans, and potluck planning documents. And WoMos: thanks for all the gold stars over the past few years. You keep me going. Daysi Espinoza takes wonderful care of my children, especially when I'm on the road for multiple days at a time. My husband, Jack Levner, tolerates my musings, reflections, and practice sessions—and maintains a strong commitment to our family Google Calendar. Last but never least, thank you to my kids, Ada and Reed, who know how to put their shoes away in cubbies and can read calendars already. I see a Together Student on the horizon…
Contents | Website Resources
For downloadable tools, templates, samples, and other useful items please visit HYPERLINK http://www.wiley.com/go/togetherleader. You'll find simple instructions on how to create an account in the back of the book, “How to Access Website Resources.”
