Prepare. Practice. Present.

I have spent many hours this week just watching. The subject of my observation has been Sharon Dulaney McCleod and her Greenroom colleagues, Kim and Page, deliver to new Triangle-area principals a workshop we call "Media Training." This is one of many professional learning experiences for school leaders that TLA offers each year as a privilege of Academy membership. My time observing has been well spent and I want to tell you why.

We all know that leaders speak out and speak up. That is true whether you own a chain of restaurants or lead a system of schools. What is not as well known is that speaking out and speaking up may be classified and evaluated just like Sears paint brushes--"good, better, and best." To have become the leader you are now, you have had to have been at least good. Right?

But what separates the merely adequate from the awesome, the good from the great? Sharon and her colleagues would tell you that the difference is one of conveying to your audience a reactive, defensive message versus a message that is proactive, positive, and compelling. Sharon talked to the principals about body language, tonality, and affect--the very essence of what connects one human being to another.

None of these skills come naturally, however, but to less than 5 percent of the population. The rest of us have to prepare, practice, and then present. And you know what? There's nothing wrong with having to do just that. To be consciously competent is the place of the teacher and that's a pretty good place to be. We can't all present like Steve Jobs but with a little practice we can come pretty close. Aren't our schools and businesses worth it?