Leadership and Sustainability : System Thinkers in Action

Pursue long-term sustainability without jeopardizing short-term results! As agencies have pushed for greater performance and public accountability over the past two decades, we have seen some incremental improvements. But all too often experience reveals that these improvements are temporary. Leadership & Sustainability provides a comprehensive examination of what leaders at all levels of the educational system can do to pave the way for large-scale, sustainable reform. Building on ideas established in his best-selling publication, The Moral Imperative of School Leadership , author Michael Fullan confronts a question that has never been addressed before: How do you develop and sustain a greater number of system thinkers in action, or new theoreticians? These proactive system leaders are at the heart of the issue of sustainability, for they are the ones to bring about deeper reform while simultaneously helping to produce other theoreticians working on the same issues. Linking abstract concepts to concrete examples, this groundbreaking work defines an agenda for the system thinker in action, including eight elements of sustainability that can be applied to any public service or corporate institution: Public service with a moral purpose Commitment to changing context at all levels Lateral capacity-building through networks Intelligent accountability and vertical relationships Deep learning Dual commitment to short-term and long-term results Cyclical energizing The long lever of leadership Leadership & Sustainability is an engaging and powerful book from one of the world's leading authorities on school change. It provides clear ideas and strategies for achieving deep, sustainable reform in education.