The First Circle

All leaders have a circle of influence. It is unavoidable. Do the messages you send every day invite people into your circle or drive them out? Influence never straddles the fence. Very few new school administrators truly know what they don't know. Too many times, they are thrown into the deep end and expected to swim. The problem isn't a lack of effort-they've just never been taught HOW to swim! Educational administration can be brutal business. The hours are long, pay is minimal when compared to other degreed professions, and gratitude is in short supply. But for those who have the heart, there is no better place to be! The reality is that despite all of the enthusiasm and energy, school administrators, especially newer ones, are going to make a lot of mistakes. That's normal. But who's encouraging them to keep on keeping on? Who's reminding them that 99.9% of their mistakes are not fatal? What if we stopped assuming that new administrators already knew what they were supposed to do? What if we decided to give them some valuable tools before they needed them? The First Circle provides administrators- current practitioners and aspiring leaders-with encouragement and real-world advice. The chapters are short, easy to digest, and include personal reflection questions. Are you ready to grow your first circle?Larry Haynes is a veteran educator with 30+ years of experience in a variety of settings. He has teaching experience at five different grade levels and administrative experience at the elementary, secondary, and central office levels. He has worked for large, very diverse districts and for much smaller, mostly rural districts. He has a bachelor's and master's degree in education and a doctorate in educational leadership from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. He lives in Bridge City, Texas, with his wife Aliceson and their three daughters--Katelynn, Emily, and Olivia.