The Mindful School Leader

Practices to Transform Your Leadership and School

Valerie Brown, Kirsten Olson

Big results come from small steps.

If you think you don't have time for mindfulness, think again. This handbook, named a Best Courageous Book of 2014 by The Center for Courage and Renewal, was written with school leaders in mind—your responsibilities, your stress, and your schedule. When you add mindfulness into your day, bit by bit, you'll become a more effective leader and a more positive force for your staff and students.

With the help of this inspirational yet practical guide, you'll start fitting pieces of practice into your busy home and work life, whether you are sitting in your office or walking down the hall. Features include

• Real-life profiles of mindful school leaders
• Practice exercises to try right away
• Guidance so you know if you are "doing it right"
• Hard-to-find resources, including mindfulness apps

Mindful school leaders are better at managing meetings, responding creatively to complex situations, and achieving resilience at work and at home. Take the first steps to transform your life—and your school.

"This inspiring book makes a strong case for school leaders to include mindfulness in their personal and professional lives.  Based on solid research and enhanced by compelling examples of real people, it shows how school leaders can feel more grounded, connected, clear and focused.  Mindfulness makes leaders more effective with relatively little effort, but be advised that the benefits can be contagious, transforming your school from the inside out."
Christopher Germer, Clinical Instructor
Harvard Medical School

"In The Mindful School Leader, Brown and Olson offer with remarkable clarity and depth a thorough introduction to the practice of meditation, the science behind its benefits, and many firsthand accounts of lives and work situations transformed through this practice. Although this book was written for those in leadership roles in education, it will be inspiring for anyone interested in understanding their own minds and finding more ease in life and work."
Joseph Goldstein, Co-Founder
Insight Meditation Society

Table of contents

• Cover
• Publisher Note
• Publisher Note
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• About the Authors
• Introduction
• 1 Why Mindfulness?: The School Leader's Life
• 2 The Science of Mindfulness
• 3 The Well-Focused School Leader
• 4 Communication and Connection: Powerful Skills of the Mindful School Leader
• 5 Reclaiming Our Wholeness: Four Educational Leaders Explore Mindfulness
• 6 Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence: Principles and Practices to Transform Your Leadership Life
• 7 Mindful Leadership in Action: Putting It All Together
• Endnotes
• Index