2: Climate and Culture Leadership

There are two inescapable truisms to climate and culture. One is that attitudes originate at the top and permeate every rung below. The other is that people learn best not by words, but by daily example.

For instance, if a leader is always running late to meetings, it is likely that teachers will take it for granted that they can run late as well (or maybe even that they should run late, in order to make the best use of their time). Leaders who bark at teachers can expect teachers who speak harshly at students, and students who will most likely speak harshly back at teachers. In complexity theory, this is known as the concept of “fractals,” where parts take on the features of the whole and vice versa (Shoup & Studer, 2010). Therefore, it is not simply enough to state expectations for climate and culture: leaders need to walk the walk as much as (if not more than) they talk the talk.