Pivot Principal: A Principal ' s Guide to Excellence

Citation

Rory McDonald (2015), "Pivot Principal: A Principal ' s Guide to Excellence", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 36 No. 8, pp. 1025-1026. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-03-2015-0071

Pivot Principal: A Principal’s Guide to Excellence, by Lori Perez, offers a valuable range of practical insights for those responsible for organisation in education, most notably those in leadership positions such as principals or head teachers. Perez argues that leadership in education should not be about dealing with an influx of duties and responsibilities that drown an individual’s productivity and workflow. Instead the author argues that leadership in education means “developing and maintaining a compelling vision” where the educational leader acts as a caretaker for the social and cultural developments within their domain. This is not a straightforward set of responsibilities, with Perez commenting on the difficulty of corralling a “school culture against tough odds”. Overall Pivot Principal aims to aid educational leaders in developing their own compelling vision for the future through praising and encouraging the use of perseverance and resistance, which in turn produces excellence and compassionate leadership.

The text begins by debunking myths and highlighting salient truths about the role of a leader within modern schooling systems, including the importance of failure as a tool for future success and the dangers of entertaining false perceptions of education as an “easy” profession. The book continues to highlight the importance of conscious planning, implementation, and assessment as a means of producing organisational performance of a high standard. Perez completes her book by returning, full circle, to her common theme: the importance of the big picture in producing quality organisational excellence.

Perez sums her argument up nicely with the Pivot Principle – “Maintain Personal Integrity in all actions. Share your Vision. Develop Optimism in your daily interactions. Be Thoughtful of others and yourself”. In this way the practical value inherent to the PIVOT Principle is not limited for the use of senior educators – it is an equally accessible perspective for other organisational performers.

Perez possesses a significant level of experience to bear on such a topic, with over 35 years of experience as an educational leader and administrator. Despite Pivot Principal being her first publication, the title follows a logical and accessible structure that could benefit readers of varied backgrounds. The style of writing utilised for the title is simple and direct, with a particular clarity of concept and impassioned attitude. Perez actively encourages the reader to explore the concepts of the book, with dedicated materials at the end of each chapter for the theorisation and planning of actionable changes – all in a succinct manner.

The strength of Pivot Principal lies in the practical professional experience that feeds the text, with the author’s years of experience shining through each chapter in direct address to the reader. The tone of the text is consistent with its message, following a style of language accessible to both senior educators and those outside the educational profession. The economical style and consistently succinct manner highlights key points explicitly with little need for reflection or consideration on the part of the reader.

Whilst this is certainly of benefit in that the key message of the book remains accessible, some may criticise Pivot Principal as being overly simplified. The book’s 86 pages can only contain so much advice within such a restricted text. Brevity certainly has its place in this style of literature, but the reader may be left with the feeling that some ideas are underdeveloped or done a disservice. Despite encouraging the adoption of ideas relating to the PIVOT Principle, many of these outlined ideas only relate to very specific settings within the educational leadership profession. This limits the value of the text beyond this field, and unnecessarily restricts the concept of the PIVOT Principle.

Pivot Principal: A Principal’s Guide to Excellence, offers a direct and informed reflection on the modern educational leader’s role within organised practice. The conceptualisation of the Pivot Principle, and the stark practical advice to senior educational leaders is of clear value. Those from outside the educational profession may still benefit from the text, but in a way that would require more reflection and personal experimentation with the related practical advice.