Aspire Mailbag: EQ Over Ego & Navigating School Politics
Aspiring leaders asked: How do you lead with emotional intelligence (EQ) instead of ego, and navigate school politics without getting burned? In this bonus Aspire Mailbag with Jeff Gargas (COO, Teach Better), Joshua Stamper dives into self-awareness, empathy, humility, and building feedback loops to ditch ego-driven decisions for people-first leadership. They also tackle the politics…
Aspire Mailbag: Communication, Culture, and Conflict in School Leadership
How do you lead staff who seem stuck in their ways, resist new ideas, and quietly shut out new colleagues? In this New Year episode of the Aspire Mailbag, Joshua Stamper and longtime co-host Jeff Gargas dig into anonymous listener questions from the Aspire Voxer community about culture, communication, and accountability. Josh and Jeff unpack…
Aspire Mailbag: Trust, Control, and Checking our Ego
Leadership isn’t scripted…and neither is this conversation. In Episode 35 of Aspire Mailbag, Josh Stamper and Jeff Gargas tackle two listener questions that every leader has wrestled with (even if they won’t admit it): 💬 How do you respond when you’re told to do something you’re already doing—without sounding defensive?💬 And how can leaders recognize…
Aspire Mailbag: When to Coach Your Staff Up or Coach Out
In this Aspire Mailbag episode, Jeff Gargas and I tackle two critical leadership questions submitted by our listeners: How do you know when it’s time to coach someone out instead of coaching them up? How do we coach teachers so they don’t feel fear through the process of evaluation? We dive into the delicate balance…
Aspire Mailbag: Tackling Workplace Disagreements
In this thought-provoking Aspire Mailbag episode, Jeff Gargas and I unpack some of the trickiest challenges leaders face in education and beyond. Ever had to deal with someone who says one thing to your face but something completely different behind your back? Or been left in the cold after a disagreement with an administrator, only…