ENCORE PRESENTATION: UnLearning Lean On Me- What Kind Of Leader Are You?

Summer Movie Series: Lean On Me

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Hello, everybody, and welcome once again to the Unlearned Podcast. I'm your host, Ruth Abigail, aka R A. What's up, friends? It's your girl, Jaquita. And this is the podcast that is helping you gain the courage to change your mind so that you can experience more freedom. And Jaquita, we are in our series, summer movie series, if you want to.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Summer, summer, summer time. Summertime, summertime. There you go. There it is. That's it. I liked it. We like it. We appreciate it. Me and we're the people.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Yeah, you very much are. And um we have talked about several movies.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Good ones. Good movies. Good good movies, right? Like we're really so we're going back to the movies that we grew up with that were close to our childhood experiences. My lord. And we're going back and we're seeing what we can unlearn from these movies. My lord. You know, and uh we've had a really good time. And I gotta say, this particular movie that we're gonna talk about today.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

It is a very heavy header, and before then, we're gonna we're gonna hit you guys with our call to subscribe, uh-huh, uh-huh, comment, uh-huh, download, like, like, share. That's what we're doing. Right. Yeah, it was terrible. But it was terrible. We just want you to be a part of this community, okay? Right? Be a part of the community. Community of grow growing uh leaders who are want to unlearn. We're here for you. We're you, and you are us, and we're here together. So let's do it. Um revolutionary. Oh, okay. Um so so yeah, this is this is a this is a heavy hitter. This is uh I I when I when when beginning to re-watch this, I started getting chills because I was like, yo, like this is I forgot first of all how good this movie was. And um I and also I forgot how intense it was that the situ the situation that he was walking into. Like I'm watching this scene where the kids are. I mean, look, the school, I was like, there is no way I'm going to school. I'm not going. Like, I'm not going. The scene where they take the uh the girl in the restroom and they bully her and they take all her like her shirt off and she walking in the hallway. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 2:35

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's crazy. No, the whole thing is crazy. Like, you know, bloody noses everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

People bloody noses banging the student, the teacher's head on the on the on the um here. All right. If you don't know what we're talking about. Hold on, can I hit a note real quick? No, yeah, Esau.

SPEAKER_03 3:01

Boy, that bathroom song lit the people up. We look like good boys better say medicine and family. We're talking about the beloved Lean on Me. Okay, Lean On Me, Lean On Me. Free Mr. Clark.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Yes, y'all. This is uh this is this was my mom loves this movie. Of course she does. Right, right, of course she does. She loves Joe Clark. Um, and so if you're not if you're not familiar, Lean on Me is a story about a it's a true story about a turnaround of a high school in New Jersey in the 80s um by a very uh bold and uh brilliant principal, Mr. Joe Clark, yes, uh, who pushed the envelope in so many ways, but he he turned that thing around. And and I and like like I even looked up um like on I was like, are these scenes I mean like are this is this accurate that accurate depiction of what the school was like? Like I was like, is this for like you know drama? That's what you know. This this can't this ain't even good. But it did. I mean, the the AI on the Google, which I think is probably, you know, accurate.

SPEAKER_03 4:13

You know how Luke Abigail trusts AI. I mean, they said it's a summary on Google for it.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

There were a couple of uh of of of good uh you know things was like, you know, yeah, this was based on real life events that happened, right? And so you look at that, y'all. Like, if you haven't seen this movie, you know, I would suggest go, you know, pause this podcast, go find it. It's on Amazon. Yeah, don't 399.

SPEAKER_03 4:44

With us if you ain't seen the movie, go watch the movie so that we can all be on the same page here. Correct. I could not imagine watching this movie for the first time, like in my 30s.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

I'd be like, oh let me tell you something though. Working with young people and working in schools, I I I I mean, it I was lit, I was, I don't know, I was feeling all kinds of emotions thinking, um, first of all, I mean, it's not far-fetched if you have no control, right? When once you lose control, you've lost it. And, you know, and just the I don't know, man. I mean, I never worked in a school that was that bad. Let me be clear about that. I actually don't know of any schools in Memphis that were that bad that are this bad, right? Not today, not that I've seen, maybe back in the day.

SPEAKER_03 5:37

But um, it was say, you know, so our one of our best friends is a principal, but before she was a principal, she was a teacher. I used to go with her to them classrooms. Now they were not, they were, it was elementary school, so it was nowhere near.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

But no, there's some trouble, there's some problems. But some problems. I saw things I never seen before. No, no, I mean, and they it starts in preschool quite right. I tell you that. Absolutely, you gotta be you have a choice. Absolutely. You have a choice. Yeah, the stuff the stories my sister would tell, my sister is an assistant principal now, but she was a teacher and been in education for 10 plus years. I mean, she, I mean, they could all write books. I mean, it it it's uh it's really unbelievable. And so I'm just watching that and I'm putting myself in that situation and I'm thinking, what really would you do? Like, what would you really do? And I mean, you got graffiti everywhere, you know. Um, you got kids that are uh drugs being sold by teachers. Crazy. Teachers selling drugs to kids, kids selling drugs to other kids. You know, you got there was a scene where um uh a uh teacher tried to break up a fight, they turn on him and start banging his head on the floor. He had to be rushed to the emergency room.

SPEAKER_03 7:00

You know um, get past the graphic scenes, okay? We're gonna get paid. I'm just saying we're gonna get pinged on YouTube.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

Oh, we're gonna get pinged. You know, they're stuffing kids in lockers. Look, they're doing stuff that is just you just be like, how is this happening? I mean, it's it's um it's as bad as it could possibly get. It it's as bad as it can get. Yeah, you're not getting, I don't know how you get worse than that.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Um, so the superintendent uh says, hey, we need some help, and decide to bring in a new principal. Um, and this principal's name is Joe Clark. My lord. Uh, black man been in education for a long time, was the principal at a at a nice school, um, elementary school.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

Listen, was out there teaching, teaching that little mixed class. Right. Yeah. Right. Calm class, you know. Right. There's a problem. Mr. Clark a challenge. Write this down, stupid.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

And they were like Well, so okay, so before, and I I just it's so fresh on my mind, like the the very first scene, Joe Clark was actually a teacher at this is East Side High. He was a teacher, and he was teaching, it was a very different school in the 60s, and he was he was teaching there, the high school, and then when we meet him again in the 80s, before he comes back as the principal, he's the principal at elementary school, um, likely on a whole different side of town because that's what it looked like. Like, like it ain't no window. I mean near each other.

SPEAKER_03 8:28

The children are skipping through tulips. Like literally when they come to get when they come to get Joe Clark, he's outside, you know. With a nice playground.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

Yeah, nice playground. Bye, Mr. Clark, bye, Mr. Clark.

SPEAKER_03 8:42

You know, everything looks nice and clean and fresh. You know. Uh-huh. Yeah, yeah. We need you to come back to east side. Right. He like, uh, no. You know what? That's so interesting. Like, you know, there are times in our lives, you know, where you get used to being in the cushy place. You know, like as a leader, it that wasn't really challenging to him. It was using his gifts. It was, it was allowing him to pour out and to and to press those students. He was challenging the students he was around, but that job was not a challenge for him. Correct. And you have to know that there are there are going to be seasons to your journey. You know, when I was a young adult, you know, when I was young, you know, you know, I was I was so focused on getting that power job, you know, and because really I wanted to be in a position where I was one, making some money, and two, where I was really um, where I was really uh able to use what was inside of me to do, you know, make make an impact. And I got in those roles, and then I shifted out of those roles into different types of roles. And so your leadership evolves and changes and shifts depending on the season you're in, and depending on what the need is uh for you in that season, because different different seasons and different environments will pull out different characteristics and personalities out of you.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

And this is a great example of that, right? Um, so I

Eastside High's Turnaround Challenge

SPEAKER_01 10:20

think what what we want to lean into today is really just the evolution of leadership and the evolution of the place that you're leading, right? And so um there's a book uh called uh The First 90 Days. Somebody gave this to me when I took on this role as the executive director. Um, and it was really, really helpful, and I think about it often, right? One of the it talks about a lot of things, but one of the things it talks about is first, when you first enter into a place, and this it's specifically saying like you're coming into a leadership situation. It doesn't have to be at the top somewhere, right? You're coming into an existing uh entity as a leader that is that is there to do, you know, to to take on the the the role of a leader. Um and the one of the things that it it it challenges people to do is to take inventory of where the organization is, right? And so we just we really want to kind of look at this movie in terms of the life cycle of an organization, and that could be a school, that could be a church, that could be the government, that could be um, you know, it it could be your own house, quite frankly. Yeah. Um, you know, and uh a company, right? It could be a nonprofit, doesn't matter, whatever the entity is, there are these life cycles. Yeah. I'm gonna go through them real quick and then we're gonna come back and explain. Right, and break it down and talk about where the movie was and Joe Clark, and then say, okay, what life cycles need particular types of leadership? And then talk about where Joe Clark's leadership landed and why it worked, and in some ways, why it was challenging. So um the first, the first cycle you have is the startup phase. Essentially, you're assembling capabilities of people, um, you know, and you're getting something off the ground. It's new. You have a blank slate. Uh the second phase is the turnaround phase, and when you have uh something that's gone wrong, right? And you have to write something's wrong and you have to regurrect, right, and and correct it because you're in serious trouble. Yeah. The next phase is accelerated growth, which means you're managing rapidly expanding growth. Okay. Um, which can be good and can kind of be a be a downfall, yeah, um, if you don't manage it right. The next one is realignment, uh, which is when you have to re-energize from a previously successful organization that now is facing problems. For sure. Okay. And then the last one is sustaining success when you have to basically preserve the success of the organization, okay, and take it to the next level. Yeah. So those are different phases. They're not necessarily like in order, you don't necessarily go from one to another. They can, they can, you can hit them at different points, um, and they can come back around. But those are five phases, right, of of of different entities. So for Joe Clark, right, the school he was at started off uh it was a good school in the 60s, totally different. And then in the 80s, 20 years later, it uh totally shifted. So he was challenged with these the two particular um two particular uh uh phases, the turnaround phase and the realignment phase. And so why don't we just start there, Quita, and like what do you when it when it comes to either one of those, right? You're saving something, you're trying to save something because of a serious problem, or you're trying to re-energize something um that was previously successful and now it's facing a big problem.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Uh, how do you see his leadership thriving in that in those circumstances?

SPEAKER_03 14:23

Well, I think I think it's important before we go there to acknowledge kind of that startup phase because this was a school that was placed in a neighborhood that had particular challenges. Um, and I think that when we are starting something that um doesn't look like the environment that it's in. Um in my PhD studies, which I'm taking a break right now for the summertime, I feel real good. Y'all see the smile, okay? Yeah, you look glowy. You look very glowy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel great. Look at you. Um, but you know, we there's uh a thing called spatial justice theory. And it basically says that justice is sometimes impacted and are determined by the spaces that we occupy. Um so when you look at a school like Eastide, fair East, uh, sorry, it's just necessary. You know, it's a place that tried to initiate something, but the amount of energy that's gonna that it will take to sustain where they were, they lost it because they weren't they weren't uh mindful. And I think a lot of times we get we get caught up in the momentum of a new thing, but you have to have people who are there who can see where a thing is headed and not just how much movement or energy it has. Um, I think in the beginning of the movie, Joe Clark is like, y'all, y'all are not being mindful, you know, and he was aggressive and a little mean and a little, you know, stuck in his own way and his own head and his own thoughts. But what he said did end up happening. You know, they did the 80s, you know, screen shift, you know, where the where the scene, this movie was made in 1989, by the way, where the scene shifted from being like a clean, you know, beautiful school to graffiti, walls, fighting, you know, distress, right? And and I think when Joe Clark knew that he was gonna have to come back into that situation, he knew that you have to be the there's uh, oh my gosh, what's his name? He has a book called The Man, uh The Man for the Moment or The Man the Moment Requires, I think it's something like that. Okay, okay. Uh I think I'll find his name in a moment. But he, you know, like the moment feel how you want to feel about Joe Clark. You know what I'm saying? Feel how you want to feel about his methods, about his personality, about how he came up in there with his own security guard, you know what I'm saying? Right, right, right, and and and tore down their systems, tore down the people in the process. Yes, tore down the process. Right. Because he was, he came. Some people are bulldozers. You have to know who you are. You know, some people are gutters. You know, they're they're not concerned about saving what's good. They're they're gonna take everything out and then slowly put into place what should be there. Like they can't, and so they don't differentiate. They don't say, hey, this this is working, so we're gonna keep this. This is not working, so we're gonna scrap that. He came in and said, scrap all of this. Because if y'all was doing something right, we would have results. But we have the results of what y'all were doing before. So we ain't doing none of that now. Correct. Welcome to Joe Clark's world, right? Yeah. And I think, you know, in the movie, I think as a viewer, you are battling because you're like, heck yeah, man, do what you need to do. You know what I'm saying? Throw down, you know, like you're you're with him at one part, but then in another part, you're like, okay, wait a minute. You're you're tearing down some things that that actually are part of the infrastructure of keeping the school together, right? And so it got to a point where as he was cutting and he began, you know, the ship, he was getting the ship to turn, right? He was getting them in a different direction. But everything, they all of his efforts um that he wasn't discerning, it started to turn back on him. And that's when as a leader, you have to be able to discern what is the moment I'm in. Like I'm turning the ship, but you gotta know, okay, now the things that I've been trying to shift, now the shift is coming against me. And those are the moments that require us to look deeper, and we have to do our own turnaround in the turnaround.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Oh, that's good. So, yes, and I I would like to go back and just talk about why it was important for him to have that attitude at the time. Because, you know, in the in the movie, you know, you have all this craziness going on, and the first thing he did was um is he kicked out 300 students. I mean, this is what this is kind of his claim to fame as a principal. He he brought me engaged though.

SPEAKER_03 19:30

He didn't just like send them a little letter and say, Y'all can't, yeah, no.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

No, he he kicked them out and publicly kicked him out and was not at all, you know, and didn't ask anybody any questions. That was his first move on day one, right? So, one of the things about a turnaround leader is you don't have time to get consensus on decisions. So when you're in a crisis moment and you have a you're in a leadership position, you have to make fast decisions. And you you can't worry if anybody's gonna like them, you can't worry if anybody's going to agree with them, you have to make them. Um, I think one of the things that um so for I started my this particular leadership role three months before COVID. And we I would say, you know, Angel Street was at an uh accelerated growth point at that time. We were we were expanding, we were, you know, getting more kids, we we we had just opened up another site, all this stuff. And I came in at that point, right? And you know, Jill, who's our it was my founding partner, um

Leadership Life Cycles Explained

SPEAKER_01 20:43

was going to take one lane and I was gonna take the other one, and we were raising up new executive leadership. It was we were we had a plan and we were ready. Um and you know, March came and we started hearing these rumblings of things. And and this is what's beautiful about understanding the type of leader that you are. Um I was I wasn't really all that phased by it, you know. And um, and but Jill was like, no, I think there's something to this. And I said, I don't think so, you know. Um, and we kind of went back and forth. And I remember there was an email that Jill sent me with some information with an article she found. And she didn't go back and forth with me at that time in the email. She said, we have to do something now. I mean, she was like very adamant about it. And I read that and I was like, uh oh, I think you're right. And then what I had to do as a leader is I had to take a step back and let the right leader for the moment take a step up. Okay. Which is something I look back on. I'm so grateful that we had that partnership at that time. Because if I'm honest, I would have not been the most effective leader in a crisis moment. Man, I'm not a crisis leader. I'm not Naturally a crisis leader. Could I do it? Yeah. But it would take, I would have to really take a lot of intentionality and a lot of focus. And it wouldn't be my it wouldn't, I don't think I'd be as effective as other people. Jill was very good at leading in a crisis. And she was very good at making those fast decisions that you know she didn't have a whole lot of time to gather a lot of information. I like to gather information, I like to think, I like to make the best decision, you know. And I didn't have all that time, right? And she was like, we have to get this. We need to go after this. Yeah. We need to gather our funders. We need to go after this, these PPP loans, we need to do this, X, Y, Z, X, Y, Z, and get it done. And she got it done.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

And because we had a partnership, I was able to think about um the realignment phase, if you will, right, of the organization. Because I knew we were gonna have to shift the way we were moving. Yeah. And so when because we had a partnership, we could think on two fronts. Most of the time, that's not the case. Most of the time, it's really kind of one person leading the charge. Yeah. And so the question you have to ask yourself is what is it going to take for me to lead in this moment?

SPEAKER_03 23:11

I'm sorry. I I the question I was at I asking myself is, are you the leader for the moment?

SPEAKER_01 23:19

And that. And that's and that's the question underneath the question. Right? You know? That's the question underneath the question.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

I I I think, you know, because Joe Clark originally left. Like, when he saw the direction the school was going and he felt like no one was listening to him, he left.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

You know, he was like, Well, they cut they they actually they actually like fired him though.

SPEAKER_03 23:40

Well, yeah. He kind of fired him. Yeah, yeah. He he did kind of get kicked out. But you know, he he he moved, he moved on, right? But but it wasn't his moment. And you know, I I walk with a lot of friends and people, you know, we apply into jobs, we're looking for our next thing. But I promise you, the next thing that you that you walk into, it will be the moment that is for you. Like the moment has to match your mission. The mission and the moment have to match. And the more aligned you become on mission, the easier I believe it is to walk into a moment. Also, I'd like to say, one thing that I thought about today, I was like, Lord, you know, more now than ever, we quit too easily. We walk away from our moments because sometimes the moment is not you being in charge. Sometimes the moment is not about you being the leader, it's about you being the impact. And you don't have to be at the top to have the impact. People don't have to like you for you to be effective. People don't have to even really trust you for you to be effective. You just have to do what you're called to do in the moment that you're called to do it. And we miss our moments because they're uncomfortable. Joe Clark could have said, Do you see these wonderful little children, you know, politely calling me Mr. Clark? You know? Yeah. I mean, I felt like everybody was just giving high fives. Like, ah man, you're so smart. You know, like I you I you don't always have to leave what's comfortable to go to go follow the moment. But the moment, if he had not left, the moment would have pressed on him. And you have to respond to what to what's calling you.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

And I think that the the beautiful thing about this scene um is his his superintendent and they were good friends. He pushed him. Yeah. And he basically was like, Your life is worth nothing if you don't go take this. You have wasted your time, and I've wasted mine if we don't go and do the fix this situation, right? And he and so agreed.

SPEAKER_03 25:54

Abigail Jaquita moment, I could see us having that exact same conversation with me. 100%. 100% superintendent.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

Get off your behind. What are you doing? Because I'm pretty sure we just had this conversation a week ago. But um no- Actually, we did. Actually, we did. Actually, we did. We did, we did because you you need you need people in your life that are gonna challenge you to meet your moment. Yeah. And and we talk about this all the time. Um, community. And I think one of the things we have to unlearn is that your community is not meant to keep you comfortable. That's actually not the purpose of great community. It is to push you into your moment. And if you don't have people around you that's willing to do that, you need to find new.

SPEAKER_03 26:47

I mean, the definition of iron sharpeneth iron. I mean, it was it was like watching it, watching like taking it out of the word and just poof. Here's a scene. Poof. You know, and then like at the end, where he like, you know, contrary to popular belief, I'm the you know, H N I C. H N I C use your concept, okay. You look it up and then and and he he looked at him and he was like, You think you bad, huh? And you know, like, come on, let's go get some dinner. You know, that's friendship, folks. That's friendship, that's friendship. That's friendship. Tell me off. Yes, take me to eat. Take me to go eat. Take me, tell me off real good, give me, get me back in destiny, get me back in alignment. Those are the people that love you, the people that won't let you stay where you're not supposed to be. I don't care how good it looks, I don't care how much money you're making, I don't care how much you feel like you're making a difference if it ain't where you're supposed to be, the people and the people who recognize it. Anybody else in his life would have been like, man, your life, you you chilling, you're doing good. You know, you you know, it's the people who have a discerning eye to say, hmm, because God is gonna, God, the people that God has placed in your life, God will speak to them about you.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:10

You get what I'm saying? And they will they will push you. They will push you. Um, yes. Get some real ones.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

You need some, man. You need some. And Joe Clark, he because he wasn't gonna go. Let's be clear. Joe wasn't finna go. I wouldn't have. And and and I don't think I would have to. Brooke would have been yelling at me for three years. I would have. But you know what? Jill yelled at me, she didn't yell, but she pushed, she, she from almost from day one, she was like, I'm just keeping your seat warm. I was like, nope, I'm good. I'm don't want to do this. Like I really be thinking people like that be joking. I'd be like, ah, they they like, but the right people, it's like you gotta know who to listen to. And and she she just she pushed me into into a um you know, into into a next level of leadership because and she didn't, I say push, she didn't push me, but she she always was ready, right? She was always ready. She was like, I'm just waiting on you, like and and I had to get to a point where I was ready for that. But in a crisis moment though, ain't no waiting. This is the moment right now. And if you I think it's it's it's something if you feel you know a difference between something where you can like, I think I'm just I I probably know that I need to be in there, but it's not like a rush. I'm still learning, I'm still getting prepared, X, Y, Z. And then you know when there's a difference in the in your in your gut to say, if I don't move on this now, I'm gonna miss it. And you have to understand and discern between the two. And the question is, like, I think it's asked us all the time, like, at what level of urgency are we in our in our position? Are are we are we at a are we gradually moving towards something, or do we need to move now?

SPEAKER_00 30:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

And I think for Joe Clark, he was faced with this now and never, man. If you don't do this now, your life is worth nothing. Yeah. Um, and and he needed somebody to tell him that.

SPEAKER_03 30:10

And to his credit, when it became the now or never moment, he literally bought all of himself to the moment. He bought not half-step in that moment. Again, feel how you wanna feel. Okay, but in situations like that, you have to meet the force of the problem. Yes, it has to be met with the same force. It does. You know what I'm saying? You got teachers bang, I mean, students banging teachers' heads against the against the wall, you know, tearing off people's shirts, selling drugs. I mean, it had it had to be met like that. Um, but I think what he had to learn is sometimes the same force you meet something with, you cannot sustain that same, you know, bother body mentality. Even there was uh one part where he was getting into it with uh Michael Beach's uh character, uh the coach. The coach, yeah. And you know, like Darnell. Paul Darnell. Darnell took it's the whole dog. It took a boy, he took it. I mean, came in straight off the bat, got a demotion. I'm tired of seeing our boys getting pushed around the field, man. Paul Darnell. I'm just dumb. A black man doing the best I can, you know, at this crazy behind school. Then Darnell picks up a piece of trash. Picks up a piece of trash. Doing what you know. I'm like, Darnell, you can't win for losing. When he flipped that desk, I was like, you should have Darnell. That was pent up, that was stored up, okay? But you know, when they're when they're talking, you know, Darnell says, you know, these are these are my students. And Joe Clark says, no, these are my students. This is my school. And it's like, that's when you know. Yeah, it's that moment right there when you know you've you've gone too far over the line. Yeah, because sustaining that level of energy for that long, it will put you in a prideful place. And it will put

The Necessity of Bold Decisions

SPEAKER_03 32:14

you in a place of ownership that's not yours. And he had to he had to move, and I think this was the realignment moment where he had to move from an authoritarian dictatorship where it was everybody do as I say, and I create all the pass for it, and nobody has any contribution but me, he had to move into that realignment where he learned to share authority and to share vision. If you are the only person that has any rights to the vision, nobody else will buy into it. 100% say that again, because that's important. If you are the only person that has any right to create, to hold, to manifest vision, nobody, eventually other people will start dropping your vision. Yeah. Because we can't eventually it's gonna become not just holding on to vision, but holding on to your values, your personality, your wants, your needs, your desires, and everything about us will get ignored. And people will drop it. I've seen it happen 10 million times. You know, and people of great vision don't understand the necessity of creating a vision where everyone has input. And I sorry, one last point. I think it is the biggest mistake we make when creating programs and opportunities for young people. We try to go in and tell them, this is what I'm gonna do for you. And we until you give them, allow them to be stakeholders in what God is is building or what you're trying to build, they're gonna drop it. They're not gonna stay. Because they don't have any part in your vision. That's your vision.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

Your vision doesn't work ever. No. And that is something I've had to learn, but I think language is is so important, right? Like I try my best not to use that language. I would consider myself a visionary, and I I, you know, and when people but a lot of people will because we we we individualize leadership so much. Um and and so it's like, you know, well, what is the people will ask you, like, what is your vision for the organization? And I I have to be very conscious to say our vision is right because language is important, and it it's important to communicate. This isn't just me. We actually have people that have bought into it. Now, am I the initial communicator most times? Yes. However, it doesn't like I the the way that we then take it and people own it, right? If you don't have other owners of the vision, you're gonna have a hard time carrying that thing to uh to to fruition. It's not gonna you can't do it alone. And so um and I and I think what you're you know, particularly when it comes to young people, and this is this is a mistake I've seen for years, right? You you know it's young people are have way too much autonomy um over as more than you think that they do uh to to just to be told what to do, when to do, how to do.

SPEAKER_00 35:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:48

Um they you have to you have to allow for them to have um meaningful input, right? And then not just not just for the input's sake, and not just to say that you did it, but meaningful input that actually turns into uh something tangible that they can see.

SPEAKER_00 36:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:09

And and and and I think doing that, right, it builds trust, and then you can actually build the vision.

SPEAKER_03 36:18

Um I'm gonna say this, and I'm gonna say it in the way I'm gonna say it is gonna sound kind of mean, but then I'm gonna try to clean it up. You have to allow them to do it before they're good enough at it. It's like you, you know what I'm saying? Like you can't mean that. Yeah, well, you know, I I try to be sensitive.

SPEAKER_01 36:39

Everybody's good at first, everybody's not good. It's fine.

SPEAKER_03 36:42

I mean, but I think sometimes, especially just being real, especially like in church culture, where like they gotta be right. Baby, they're not gonna be right. Nah, they're not gonna be right.

SPEAKER_01 36:53

You wouldn't. They they mm-mm. You weren't right, nobody was right. Um, let me let me get let me get started. No, don't, don't, don't, don't get me started. Go ahead on. I'm just playing.

SPEAKER_03 37:03

I definitely wasn't right. Okay. And I wasn't out in them streets though. I just want to be clear. Thank you for that. A couple of heart issues. Uh-uh. Ain't nobody finna, and and then I go to church and they be like, you know, Minister Ross, you know, she wasn't right. You know, and people say, You ain't, I ain't always been saved. No, don't be you don't know my story. You don't know my story. But anyway, um, but you know, I think sometimes, especially, you know, I think since the millennials, since the the age of the millennials, like the way that we were just like typecast it. Like they were just like, I don't understand y'all. I don't get y'all. You know, you don't want to work, you talk back, you know, you know respect, you know, no uh no commitment, you're flighty, you know, they talk so much junk about us, you know. And then like when you look at the generations behind us, I just really believe, you know, I'm really, really super inner interested in intergenerational studies and how we mentor across generational lines. But I just really believe it is the it is the task of the millennials to create the open doors for the generations after us. Sure. Because the generations ahead of us are not gonna let them in. They not gonna let them in through that door. We are the bridge, we're we're the bridge. We're the we're the peacemakers. We're the hey, we get y'all, we're gonna open this door, but then we're gonna show you how to act when you get in here. Okay? You and you're gonna have to trust us because we're gonna coach you through this, you know. But I I I look at Joe Clark, and Joe Clark, despite how he treated them teachers. It's pretty rough. And some of the students, the post Sam's got it, okay.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

That's a classic. We gotta pause. That's a classic scene. Oh, one of my favorites. Classic scene. One of my favorites. I mean, oh my gosh, you know, um on the roof, took that boy into the roof, told that Go jump!

SPEAKER_03 39:16

You smoke crack, don't you? Like, don't you? But hey, to his credit, Sam's got back in the school, ain't nobody else did that. Ain't nobody else did that, you know. But and watching the evolution of Sam's like, and the evolution, like as the students like began to trust him, because you know, what looked forceful and mean and rude to everyone else, to the students, it looked like, man, somebody cares, and that's what people don't get about discipline. You know what I'm saying? The Bible says that God chastises, you know, him who he loves. Okay, them sons get that chastisement and the door. Amen. I don't identify as a son, you know. But anyway, sorry, Joey. I've been over the line. Um nevertheless, I really believe that um, I really believe that they recognized the intensity, how hard this man was going to save them. For them, right? For them. Like they knew it's for us. You know, at the end of the movie, you know, they're like, you don't understand, Mr. Clark. He's like the father that some of us never had, you know, like they was going hard for him because again, that discipline, discipline is still love. Yeah, it is love, it is absolutely love. Discipline is still love. Being corrected is still love when it's done in love. You know, and one thing you can say is that man really cared about them students.

SPEAKER_01 41:03

He did. That's that he cared about them kids now. And I think I do think that like that in leadership, and when we when we look at leaders, you know, Joe Clark had his struggles as a as a as a leader. I mean, he he was he was very good in some moments and very not good in others, right? But one thing that I think is important about leadership is that a leader is a is a 360 individual. They they have they have multi- they are well all sides rounded. And and oftentimes, um, when you when you um when you're standing on one side of something, you don't see the other side, right? So it's like the students were on one side of him and teachers were on another. It was the same man, yeah, but but they saw him differently based on how he interacted with them. And so I think the unlearning is um you can't judge a leader based on one side of them. You you can't you can't judge a leader based on one side. Yeah. Because you don't you don't know what a different entity with a different group with a different what what a people with diff that have a different connection to that leader is seeing. And that's not to say that doesn't erase the issues of a particular leader.

SPEAKER_03 42:22

I just don't, yes, yes, I agree. But and also I think it was up to him as a leader, which eventually in realignment, right? In the realignment phase, his assistant principal called him out because I think one of the hardest scenes to watch was when he fired that uh sorry for lack of better words, because I don't remember her name, the white choir director. You know, like they in there singing Mozart and they was killing it.

SPEAKER_01 42:52

You know what I'm saying? Like that they were okay. They were okay. She was trying to get them better. They were all right.

SPEAKER_03 43:01

Anyways, they're supposed to be going to New York, okay? They were, they were, you know, they were they they had a goal, they had a mission, it was something that they were looking forward to. It was it was a positive thing happening in the school. And he fired her really on an ego trip. Now, you know, and I feel like if she was like, I filed the paperwork, it's in your office. That would have been the moment to go check. Because you missed something as a leader, and you literally held it against her and and and took it to the point of firing her, which let which let us know that you wanted to do that from the beginning. Yeah. And that's one thing as a leader. Let me tell you something. It is easy. One, it's easy to pick favorites, you know, it's easy, it's easy to have people that you like and people that you may not prefer as much, but the people that you may not prefer. As much can still be as effective as you, especially when you consider that don't everybody like you. You're not everyone's preference.

SPEAKER_01 44:10

No, and you do have to get to that point where you understand that, and you that's where that shared leadership comes in, but and that shared vision comes in because it's not just focused on you. If you don't, but if you don't ever see that, and if you don't ever, if you're not ever self-aware enough to understand you don't fill everybody's box, you don't, you don't fill everybody's cup. That ain't you, you know, and it's like, all right, I mean I have to share, um, share this so that uh everybody can feel fulfilled. But I would like to go back and and still point out, regardless of how he felt about Homegirl and how he treated her, he did his that same person went to uh Kanisha's house and sat with her mom late at night to try to figure out what no, no, Joe Clark with the girl.

SPEAKER_03 45:04

Yeah, the assistant principal was with him, no, okay. She's not a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 45:06

The assistant principal was with him with him.

SPEAKER_03 45:08

She was not gonna die, okay.

SPEAKER_01 45:09

I'm just saying that same man did that. And so my my point is you you really can't judge a leader based on one side of that leader, and and it doesn't, it doesn't mean that it doesn't take it away, doesn't take the negative away, yeah, but there there might be some other things because you look at nobody saw that part. They wouldn't have seen that.

SPEAKER_03 45:32

Because I will honestly say I feel like I have left a position or two because I I knew that the heart of that leader are those leaders. Like I knew that it was tuned towards the people, but I also knew it wasn't tuned towards me. And I said it's not gonna be because they would not share leadership. I get that. You get what I'm saying? So yeah, I can understand that you have a good heart, but but and also in realignment, that's why realignment is so necessary because you he as the as the primary leader could not be one-sided to only want to focus on the students of students and not recognizing the efforts and the intentionality and all of the stuff the other people were taking in order. I mean, most of the teachers stayed. And they, you know, and she was like, We took, we took the cuts, we took all your crap. And Darnell was like, Yeah, I took your crap. You know what I'm saying? I and I stayed here because we also love, and so I think what what has to bring you together is shared mission. Um I do want to touch on that accelerated growth piece

From Authority to Shared Leadership

SPEAKER_03 46:47

because his efforts were working. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like the state, yeah, even the school, the school looked cleaner. They got all if graffiti goes up and wanted down the next day, you know? Like it was it was looking good. The students, the language of the students was changing. You know, they changed, you know, they changed the song, you know, but let's say powers.

SPEAKER_01 47:08

Let's give a shout out to Miss Powers.

SPEAKER_03 47:10

Listen. Come on, Miss Powers. Shout out to you, Miss Powers. Who too remixed the school song? I always wanted Miss Powers' hair when she was singing at the end, and that hair just I was like, man, I wish I could have Miss Powers hair. Boy, Miss Powers had that all the things. That's a good thing. Um, but I think that there was there was an accelerated energy where and you know they had this this goal of we gotta pass, we gotta get a certain percentage to pass this test. So, you know, they got signs up everywhere. You know, they got that boy in the student government who tried to play our girl Kinesha. Okay. The student body president, student body whack, okay. All right.

SPEAKER_01 47:57

We're not talking about you because you are taking your responsibilities.

SPEAKER_03 48:04

First of all, you know, like many of our cultural movies, Lean On Me has so many quotables. Oh, so many quotes. So guys, I mean quotas. Which got your luck? My future. That is my absolute favorite line. Because no student is saying that. No student, absolutely nobody is saying that. But it was such a good line, you know. Oh man. You still call me man, you know, like it's just so many good quotables in this movie. But I think that when we start seeing the growth and we start seeing the energy, and even Sam's, you know, is out there jump roping, you know, Sam's getting slim and thin, you know, and they and they get this new song, and that this growth is propelling the students, it's propelling the community forward. But I need you to watch because as we're watching, as the school is starting to find its pace and kind of find its way forward. We also got, you know, Homegirl, the mom, the scorned mom, whose student got kicked out for drugs, plotting and planning. You know, and it's the moment you start finding your footing, you know, now we're also have to we're we're getting it together on the inside, but uh external, outside of us, there's plots and plans to take us down, right? He puts the chains on the doors, which is obviously crazy. Obviously, we can't do that.

SPEAKER_01 49:39

We can't do that. They can't do that. They can't do that. It's funny. I had a whole compliance, you know, anxiety when I watched that, and I was like, I could not imagine being in a school with chains on a get out.

SPEAKER_00 49:54

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 49:55

Like black man, sure. But but to his point, that man stood 10 toes down, y'all not getting in my school. And and so he, I ain't saying it was the right decision, but but his his resolve was I'm not letting these people take this school back. So we're gonna do what we gotta do. I you gonna be extreme, I'm gonna be extreme, right? And so, and that's what he did. But you to your point, when you and I think I think this is something that is important for leaders to um to understand is it's hard to focus on fixing the it's hard to focus on both internal and external at the same rate at the same time. For sure. And so what I have, and I've I've had to do this with a couple of organizations in different kind of spaces, but what I believe is is a necessary course of action is when you have when if you don't have a solid internal um space, when you are not solid internally, you have no, you have no fight externally. You can't do it.

SPEAKER_02 51:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:11

Um and so it was while while his methods were questionable and the way he had to get the internal situation right, even though he knew that there were there was backlash on the outside. We knew that from the beginning with the parent meeting. Yeah, he had a parent, a community meeting who was up in uproar because he kicked out the 300 students, and we knew people were mad, but he didn't have time to care about that yet. He had to get the inside fixed, he had to get the students on track, he had to understand, get the culture of the school to a place where it it could it could function. Um, and and that took all his energy. And I think that when you're leading something, especially when you're trying to turn something around, you can't split your focus. It's gotta be one right here. And that's personally my issue as a leader. I I am a multi-thinker. Like I don't, I don't do, I don't do great with just one focus, right? And there that's a there's a place for that, but that place is not in turnaround leadership.

SPEAKER_03 52:14

Yeah, I I for sure, for sure. You have to, you know, but I do think like something that I think maybe myself and maybe most of us have to unlearn is it is so easily to get pulled by the distractions because they they are coming at the same rate that you are growing and that you are accelerating a thing forward. That thing is coming at you, it's plotting for you at that same intensity, and because it it is gonna take something that strong to pull you out of your mission, and I think it is incumbent upon each of us as leaders, especially as middle adult leaders, you have to know what your thing is because there is something that's coming to pull you as a leader off focus. They didn't want to tear the school down, they wanted Joe Clark out. They wanted Joe Clark out. Like that was that was her motive behind everything. I mean, and the fire marshal was like, okay, you know, I get with it if you get the people with, you know, to vote for me. You know, so like, or the governor and the fire, everybody was a cahoots, you know, because you know how they go. The the man finding it out because he was in the bathroom stall, that's such a like 80s, 90s move. Hilarious.

SPEAKER_01 53:33

It totally is. It totally is.

SPEAKER_03 53:35

But you know, but I think you have to be mindful. I I just had a situation recently where I'm grateful to have uh uh uh an amazing, amazing can't say enough, how amazing my spiritual covering is who picked it up in the spirit before I almost and but what it before I almost took a decided to follow the distraction instead of following where God was having me. Because it is it is not always easy to say and where God has put you because it doesn't always make sense. It doesn't always feel good, right? And it is easy, it is easy to get pulled by something that looks innocent, right? But it is incumbent upon every leader, it is necessary that you know what is the thing that will be coming to pull me out of the place that I've I've been assigned to, right? And so he knew what it was, but he was still focused very internally. So, you know, he had the little security system. Oh when they started playing it on that walking talking, take chains off the door, cold tea and cold tea, take chains off the door. I said, Oh Lord, you got caught. My Lord. You know, and so but you have to be mindful that there is something, you know, we we unfortunately don't live in a space where we don't have opposing forces. Yeah. There is something that will oppose your growth, your movement, what you're building. There's something that's gonna, there's a counterattack made for you. If you are a person that builds uh encouragement in other people, there's a counterattack that's trying to take away you being encouraged. If you are a person that uh strategizes and helps people to grow rapidly, all of a sudden things in your life are declining and you feel like you can't get momentum. Whatever the thing is that you're called to do, there's a counterattack that's coming for that thing. And you have to know that.

SPEAKER_00 55:38

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 55:38

And you have to be aware so that you can walk in wisdom and not in earthly wisdom. It ain't gonna it ain't gonna get you booed. Yeah. You need you need to find yourself in prayer and asking God for spiritual guidance because he can tell you exactly when that enemy comes. Because he was in the auditorium uh talking up, talking to uh baby girl.

SPEAKER_01 55:58

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and and yeah, and was was trying to help her. He was doing the right thing.

SPEAKER_00 56:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:05

Right? And um, and and then boom, now you have to, now everything comes. I think you're right. You have to know, like when you're when you're here, you're the enemy is coming from a different direction. They counterattack. They kind of come to a different direction, and you have to be aware. Um, and and as a as a leader, but again, I think this is one of the major themes of the movie, or counter themes, maybe, I don't know. That's a thing, but um is shared leadership. Because if it wasn't just him, um, if he wasn't the only person that could be called in a crisis, well, what could have possibly happened, right? He could have stayed doing what he was doing, somebody else could have handled it, right? Um, if there would have been delegation of authority and decision making, yeah based on trust, which he didn't have, um, with his team, then but there's a potential that maybe it wouldn't have to be as chaotic as it was, right? Um, he also made that decision on his own. Nope, the chains on the doors was a Joe Clark decision. But again, we have to remember what kind of situation he was in. And so I think this is where. So the question is, I think, you know, where am I? What's the what and what type of leadership is required? But then there's always a shadow side to anything you do. And so while there was You gotta count the cost that type of leadership was absolutely required. I he needed to make fast decisions, bold decisions, um, and maybe even some controversial ones. He had to do that in order to make to sus to make this thing, uh, to write this shit. And at the same time, those same bold decisions uh uh could are also decisions that got him in trouble. They worked. They worked and they kept the school safe, but the shadow side was it of it was he was he he got in trouble as a result of those same decisions. And so I think we have to you have to know, like you said, count the cost. Like you're gonna have, I mean, something, something's gotta give. What are you willing to sacrifice here? And he clearly was willing to sacrifice his own reputation for the sake of that school.

SPEAKER_00 58:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:24

And so he did it, you know, and and so you know, maybe that's not your leadership style,

Finding Your Moment and Mission

SPEAKER_01 58:30

but if it's not your leadership style and it's necessary for the moment, where do you need to step back and let somebody step up? And do you have the humility to do that, right? Um, and and acknowledge that and understand this is who I am, but I I don't you don't need me. You need this person. Um and so that's I think I think that's honestly one of the biggest biggest things to learn from this movie is understand what's needed in the moment. Is that you? Is it not you? Um, and understand the shadow side of any decision and any any decision, uh any there's a shadow side to the type of leadership style that you have.

SPEAKER_03 59:16

Yeah. Oh yeah. Sorry, because the next point I was gonna make in transitioning to like the sustaining success, I was gonna talk about how the movie um is is kind of moved through the through the evolution of the music. You know, like how like you had like the first sphere east side song, it was like this does not represent where we at right now, and we need something with a little bit more oomph, a little bit more soul behind it to get these get these students through, especially since they had to sing it on demand, which was ridiculous. Like the sorry, the part where they had they were like, and these are white students. Why don't y'all say why don't y'all sing the school song for them? I was like, That was so hilarious. But that's hilarious. How at the end we have Mrs. Towers, and she is, it's almost like she's leading us into the next dispensation of what the school is gonna be and where it's gonna go. And the song is Lean on Me. It's shared leadership. It's it's now we are we're in a place where it's not one person on top or one person behind somebody. It's we're walking together and we can we can lean on one another as we move. That's good. Which again, one of the best songs. And sometimes in our life, we all have pain.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:43

I mean, you better sing quit. You sound just like her. You better say, do it again, do it again, do it again.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:53

But you know, like, first of all, I think that's when I realized I was a tenor. I was like, man, these notes feel great. Then when they took it up, I was like, never mind, I'm out, and I'm out. That sounds more alto to me. And I tried that alto life. It wasn't for me. When I hit that tennis, I said, All right, it's me and the guys. All right. Um, look at you. I hate it, by the way, pet peeve. Okay, when you are referring to the tenor section, don't say, now we're gonna have the men. All right, now we're gonna have the guys saying, like, no, female tenors are here, all right? Absolutely. We out cheer. Absolutely. I did this, uh, there's like, you know, them little apps where you can like sing into it and it tells you your range. Well, it asks you what your gender is, all right? And so I put female and then I sang into it, and it said you're an alto. And I was like, No, you're uh you're biased, okay, and incorrect because you think females can only be sopranos and autos. You tell them just update your acts, people.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:56

Wow, thank you for that personal commercial break. Joy feel free to edit it out if necessary. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:03

Anyway, the sustaining success was really, it was really moved by by that song and by the students, where he had fought for the students and and the school, now the school came to fight for him.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:18

Yeah. I and I I think um that's and and a part of the the when you when you unify, what I love about the song, and this is what I think is so important, okay, about music. Okay, um is the the the song what the reason he was so uh I believe, no, I don't know, I ain't talked to Mr. Joe. But but the the reason that I think he was so adamant about the song is that it was a unifying thing. And you know, he he knew I just think even though he sh he led with author with an authoritative in an authoritative way that was very him-centered, um he knew that the if the students didn't come together, yeah, then all this would could not be sustained. You couldn't have sustained success if your students didn't come together. It couldn't just be about your discipline, it couldn't just be about your way. Them students had to come together. And that song is what what what he and his, I think it was like, this is gonna bring them together. They all have to know the song. And so um, I think that that was that was a very poignant moment into your point about the sustaining success. You can't sustain success in and of yourself because at some point you won't be there. At some point you have to instill a culture in that place that will remain when you're gone. Yeah, and that is that's what sustaining success is all about. It's not about your leadership, it's about the culture that you've built while you were there. And is that can that culture be carried on by the next leader? That's good. And sometimes that's it makes it really hard for a leader to step into such a tight culture, um, which is why I think it's so important to when you step in somewhere, you don't you don't immediately come and change things, you step back, take, take a look, see what the situation is, and work accordingly. Uh, but that was important. So to to me, the song was unifying. It was a it was his way of putting a stamp of culture into the school that that isn't going to be taken away. So like the kids know when you come to Eastside, we sing the we ski we we sing the school song, we sing it with pride. It doesn't matter who's here, this is what we do, right? Um, and I think that was a brilliant move. And I think people started to get that.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:48

Man, look at this. This is good.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:51

Lean on me, y'all. You gotta watch it, man. Even if it had it's been a while since I watched it, even if you know you've never seen it, it's been a while. Watch this movie. It's so good. And I and I do think as a leader now, and and it you watch it with different eyes. I also think if you're in education or you work with young people, you also watch it with different eyes. And you see the power of relationship, you see the power of love. Um, and you do see the power of effective leadership, yeah uh and and so that's I think that's really good. I will I just make the last point and then we'll we'll be done. But this vice principal, who we haven't talked a whole lot about, is a very key figure in this because she was his challenge. She stood up to him when nobody else would.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:48

Um, and I think that is as a leader, you know, you have to be you have to have somebody who is going who's going to sharpen you. And this is not a friendship. This is professional sharpening. This is not, they ain't buddies. This is different than the relationship we talked about before. Yeah. They were pat they were they were tight. That was his homeboy. They also work together as a homeboy. This ain't she trying to hang out with him. She was going to dinner with this man.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:14

Oh, absolutely. I wouldn't.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:15

She don't she wouldn't want to. But she said, no, you need to you need to listen to me because you are out of line. You out of order. You need to look at this a different way. And she's she stepped up to him and she was willing to do that. And sometimes in your prof like professionally, as a colleague, colleague to colleague, you sharpen each other too. It's not just your friends, it's your it's your professional people that are willing to sharpen each other as well.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:47

Yeah. And you you have to because at first he was resistant, but you have to allow allow what those people are saying. And sometimes it's not even what they say. You know, like you catch it. You have to be able to catch it sometimes. Sometimes leadership gets caught. You know, and you have to be able, you have to be able to discern when based off because there's some people around me, I can just tell based off of the way that they start responding to me. I'm like, oh, I'm off. Yeah. I'm off. For sure. I'm off. Because the people and what I think what she was telling him was that we are supposed to be walking with you, but you have to let us do that. And you have to know, as you are assembling a team, you cannot just keep walking ahead of your team all the time. No, you cannot. At some point, you have to walk with them. And that's how you, if he had walked with them, he would have seen what each person brought to the table that was a part of the vision and not contrary to it. But he just took everything as being opposition. Yeah. Um, and you have to take a step back and say everything is working together, and I need to. Number one, you you won't be able to see that until you respect it. What she was demanding was respect.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:17

Respect, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:18

Well, see me just like I see you. You know, she was like, hey, we all see you, you're doing a good job. Nobody, nobody, how did she say it?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:27

I I can't remember right now, but I know.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:31

I was like, something like that. You know, like just as we respect you, I demand that same respect. And honestly, when she handed him that letter, I understood that felt it in my shawna knock. You know what I'm saying? Like, if you ain't gonna respect me, I ain't gonna be able to stay. If you if you're not gonna really see me and allow me to be a part of this, it ain't gonna be for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:56

Yeah, yeah. And then she and then she takes it and she crumples it up.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:00

It's crumpled it up. Yeah, because he yeah, because he got himself together. Because he got himself together. It was like Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:06

He had to do that. He had to do that. And and so, yeah, I just I I appreciate that. I appreciate that moment. I appreciate their relationship. Um, and and you know, you just gotta you gotta let people at some point you gotta let people speak in. And you have to let you have to know when it's time to shift. Like his leadership, it was time to shift it. He didn't need to be that, you know, hard, what hard, authoritative, my way or the highway. There was a shifting point. And like when you start to see your the school and the environment shift, you shift too. Yeah, and he didn't know how to do that. And the reason, so you have to have somebody just kind of snap you into into into a new position. And you and that was kind of heroic.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:47

Yeah, you will get to a point where you don't know how to shift yourself.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:50

Absolutely, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:52

And you have to let someone external kind of get to come and do that. Yeah, it's necessary.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:58

It's necessary. Um, all right. All right, I love it. I love it. Lean on me, everybody. Yeah, that's an excellent one.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:07

That was a good time in leadership lean.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:09

Uh, okay, we did talk about the one this at the end of the scene. Uh, this is a very important line. Um, we don't want a good principal. We want Mr. Clark. Free Mr. Clark, Mr.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:23

Clark. Free Mr. Clark, free, Mr. Clark. Liz. Yes. That we don't want a good principle. We don't want a good principle. We want Mr.

unknown 1:10:32

Clark.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:33

Oh man.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:35

And find there's no Clark on the inside of you.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:38

Look at you. Wow. And then tame him.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:41

That part.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:43

All right, y'all. Well, we've enjoyed this. Um, like we like we always encourage you to do. Uh join, we want you to join the community, share this with somebody else. If you know a leader or people in leadership positions who could um use this kind of uh content, you give it to them. Don't keep it to yourself and drop us if y'all share it to your stories, tag us in it.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:06

We want to celebrate. Yeah, tag us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:08

Oh, we want to do that. I'm I'm like randomly like looking through stories and I'm like, hey, for me. Oh, that's true. We should do that. Oh, please, yeah, tag us at the unlearned podcast. Yeah. The unlearned podcast. Um, all right, y'all. We will see y'all next week, but until then, let's keep unlearning together so that we can experience more freedom. Peace. Thank you once again for listening to the Unlearned Podcast. We would love to hear your comments and your feedback about the episode. Feel free to follow us on Facebook and Instagram and to let us know what you think. We're looking forward to the next time when we are able to unlearn together to move forward towards freedom. See you then.