Prioritizing Health and Well-Being: Self-Care as a Leadership Strategy for School Leaders

(Hardback)

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Description

Prioritizing Health and Well-Being: Self-Care as a Leadership Strategy for School Leaders is focused on the importance of health and wellbeing for the nations school superintendents. This book is based on strategies developed in the authors professional role as superintendent. Each chapter highlights a key self-care strategy and is grounded in the day-to-day work of superintendents. Prioritizing Health and Well-Being explores the importance of health and well-being through both personal and professional perspectives. With the national focus on social and emotional well-being and work and life balance, a discussion focused on the superintendency with simple and practical strategies is offered. This book is written for any aspiring, novice, or veteran superintendent to utilize and gain an appreciation for the importance of their own health and well-being in terms of their overall effectiveness as a leader.

Reviews

Prioritizing Health and Well-Being by Brian Creasman approaches wellness from the perspective of a school system leader. The premise of the book is intriguing, and the author, superintendent in Fleming County, Ky., suggests many commonsense techniques relevant to anyone who wants to thrive in life. Each chapter features a superintendents voice, which allows the reader to understand the application of the key concepts. The multiple viewpoints include personal narratives, making the subject matter relatable on a human level. Creasman does not shy away from exploring the challenges and controversies associated with the superintendency. Education executives often find themselves stranded on an island with limited mentors. This book allows space for those individuals to understand their positions and how to create resilience and stability in these leadership roles. Given this premise, there is potential to shift mindsets about education and positively change the lives of leaders, educators and students. * School Administrator *
Prioritizing Health and Well-Being: Self-Care as a Leadership Strategy for School Leaders is a timely, must-read book for superintendents and other executive leaders. Countering the common and dangerous notion that executive leaders must give everything to the job, Brian K. Creasman reminds leaders that their own health and well-being is central to their ability to lead well, and cautions us that we owe it to ourselves, our families, and the people and organizations we lead to take care of ourselves and model self-care. The Voices from the Field and Practical Strategies sections for self-care make this book a valuable resource for all current and aspiring school district superintendents. -- Wayne D. Lewis Jr., president, Houghton College; former Kentucky Commissioner of Education
Brian K. Creasmans Prioritizing Health and Well-Being is the book that you need to read whether you know it or not. As superintendents, we are always called on to care for others, but we rarely attend to our own self-care. This book provides practical strategies and real superintendent testimonials that are applicable to all of us. Every school leader should read this book because each of us deserves the wisdom that it provides and each of us deserves to be healthy. -- Nick Polyak, superintendent, Leyden Community High School District 212; co-author, "The Unlearning Leader: Leading for Tomorrows Schools Today"
Creasman does it again! This is a must-read and must reference book for superintendents, boards of education, educational leaders, and community members. Prioritizing Health and Well-Being is a call to action for superintendents to take back their health so that they can better lead their school districts. If we are learning anything from the events of the past few years, its that we must take care of ourselves so that we may serve and lead others. This book is an outstanding call to action and how-to guide. -- Michael Lubelfeld, superintendent; co-author of "The Unfinished Leader: A School Leadership Framework for Growth and Development"
The job of a school superintendent is important but keeping the job in perspective requires recognizing that so is your health and well-being. Brian K. Creasman has captured the practical strategies that can help all superintendents improve the quality of their work and personal lives by taking care of themselves. -- Jack Hoke, executive director, North Carolina School Superintendents Association
As challenges and difficulties increase, it becomes exceedingly difficult for superintendents and educational leaders to endure in the work. Once-promising leaders fail to achieve their potential and crumble beneath the pressure to be all things to all people. Their fortitude and longevity are weakened by a lack of focus on their well-being and ultimately students, schools, and districts suffer through a leadership churn as leaders come and go. In his latest book, Brian Creasman offers hope to leaders and provides the tools to build endurance and the ability to sustain in the work. Self-care is a leadership strategy that all superintendents need in their arsenal. -- Rob Jackson, superintendent, Carteret County Public Schools, North Carolina

While the premise of the book was intriguing, I found the author applied many common sense techniques for anyone to thrive in life. From drinking water, recognizing change, power of faith and understanding you do not have all the answers, Prioritizing Health and Well-being by Brian Creasman took the approach from a superintendent perspective.

Each chapter captured a voice from the superintendent field, which allows the reader to understand the application of the key concepts in the chapter. The multiple viewpoints included personal narratives and made the subject matter relatable on the human level. In addition, Creasman does not shy away from exploring the challenges and controversies associated with the superintendency.

Superintendents, Assistant Superintendents and other education executive positions are often on an island with limited mentors. This book allows space for those individuals to understand the position and how to create resiliency, as well as stability in these leadership positions. Given this premise, there is potential to shift mind-sets about education and ultimately positively change the lives of leaders, educators and students.

-- Jessica Ainsworth, Carroll County Schools, Carrollton, Georgia, Assistant Superintendent of School Performance, Carroll County Schools, Carrollton, Georgia

Author Bio

Brian K. Creasman, EdD is currently superintendent of Fleming County Schools in Kentucky and is the 2020 Kentucky Superintendent of the Year. He is a published author and has served as an assistant superintendent, a high school and middle school principal and assistant principal, and an instructional technologist and classroom teacher.