I was sitting in one of those big, round-table interviews, and there were about 8 district-level administrators firing questions at me. This was the 3rd and final round of interviews to get into the coveted “administrator pool,” and I was feeling pretty confident. I had performed admirably in the first two rounds, and I had prepared as much for this opportunity as I had for anything else in my career in education.

We are about 45 minutes into the interview, and I could not feel any better about the direction it was going. They had asked me a couple of questions that I wasn’t completely sure about, but I knew enough to get through those tough patches without coming out too badly  beaten up. I had them laughing, and they were nodding along with most of what I was saying. If I could just wrap this thing up without falling out of my chair, I’d probably get past this round.

Then it happened.

I don’t remember the exact question that was asked, but I remember stumbling through it. I remember finishing up my answer by saying I would “leverage whatever resources I could in order to help the teacher.” Whew! I got through it. I dodged a landmine, and I think that last little bit might have even convinced them that I knew what I was talking about

Well, in the words of the great Lee Corso, “Not so fast, my friend!”

There was a follow-up question. You know, the one guy on the interview panel who decided he was going to be the tough guy. “Tell me specifically what types of resources you would leverage in this situation?”

What?! He can’t do that! I answered the question, and I even used some educational buzzwords! Follow-ups aren’t allowed! Just stick to your paper, sir, and we’ll be done with this in just a few minutes!

Well, he saw right through my last answer, and he was going to let me know it. I don’t remember what I said, but I answered as quickly and as nimbly as I could, trying not to set any other traps for myself, but the reality was that I was not ready for that question because it required a specific application rather than something conceptual.

Fortunately, even with what I thought was a huge stumble in the interview, I made it through that round and officially into “the pool.” Even though I ended up taking a job in different district (I’ll share that story soon), I learned a valuable lesson that day.

Leaders lead. They don’t just talk about leading. They do it.

I felt like I was about as well-read as anyone could have been in that situation. I knew all of the “right answers” to the most-likely interview questions for that position. I had spent a lot of time talking to educational leaders and interacting with them on social media in order to get a better understanding of what their jobs entailed. However, at that point, I had never been a leader in that capacity. I could confidently speak about leadership concepts, but I could not actually speak to “what I do” because, up until that point, I had not done anything.

That’s where the rubber meets the road. Books and podcasts are awesome. I love them, and I try to take in as much new learning as as I can cram into my schedule. However, if we are not getting to the action steps or to the actual application of what we are learning, we are not going to get any better at leading.

There is so much good stuff out there, and there are plenty of people wanting to share their most viral quotes with us. Their ideas sound good, and they make us want to circle up and sing kumbaya. However, in order for us to actually get better at leading, we have to get down to the ACTIONS necessary to execute.

That’s why I love certain podcasts more than others. Guys like Ryan Hawk (Learning Leader Show) and Joe Ferraro (1% Better Project) almost always leave us with some actionable steps that will make us better as soon as we put our headphones down (There are plenty of other examples. Those are just two of my go-to’s every week). That’s what I’m looking for more and more these days. I want to finish a book and know that it will affect the way I lead people. I want to finish a podcast and know that the 30-60 minutes I spent listening is going to make an immediate impact on my life and the lives of the people I serve.

My challenge for all of us is to reflect on everything that we are learning. Seek to understand the action steps behind the concepts that we read about or listen to. Seek to understand how that concept fits into what we are doing right now and what we would like to accomplish in the future. Ask “how” when people talk in broad concepts. We’re not putting them on the spot. We’re genuinely trying to learn, and asking them to get a little deeper into the nuts and bolts will help sharpen them while also allowing us to learn at a deeper level. It’s a win-win.

I love the Jocko quote at the top of the page (from his book, Extreme Ownership). As usual, he’s right on the money. We’re either effective, or we’re ineffective. Effective leaders execute. In order to execute, we have to be learners of the applications and action steps and not just the leadership concepts.

Be effective. Learn to execute. Do the work.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, feel free to share it with someone else. I’ll see you next week!