New Book Urges Educational Leaders to Develop Four Essential Skills

Bloomington, Ind. (March 19th, 2019)— In Time for Change: Four Essential Skills for Transformational School and District Leaders—published by Solution Tree—authors Anthony Muhammad and Luis F. Cruz provide clear guidance for educators seeking to lead their schools toward lasting, meaningful change.

Throughout the book, Muhammad and Cruz detail research on effective leadership, current and past obstacles to progressive change, and philosophical and concrete tools designed to maximize the performance of education professionals.

“Because effective change leaders are not born, but rather evolve from experience and training, we seek to provide a concrete and duplicable guide for becoming a transformational leader,” explain Muhammad and Cruz in the book’s introduction. “We don’t need superheroes to get this right. We need to focus on four essential skills that transformational leaders need.”

These four essential skills of leadership—which the authors refer to as the Why, the How, the Who and the Do—include:

1. Communicating the rationale: Transformational leaders communicate the why of the proposed change. They allow those they lead to develop a cognitive investment in the change.
2. Establishing trust: Transformational leaders establish the who of the proposed change. They work to help those they lead have an emotional investment in the work by building trusting relationships.
3. Building capacity: Transformational leaders develop focus on the how by increasing the skills of those they lead. They ensure those they lead have a functional investment in the change.
4. Getting results: Transformational leaders must be able to do what needs to be done to get results. They ensure that they get a return on their investment—that those they lead are able and willing to do the work required for the agreed-upon change.

To provide in-depth support as readers work to develop each of the skills, the authors also include scenarios constructed from the experiences of real school leaders and designated spaces for reflection.

“[Time for Change is] a seminal book that not only inspires leaders to take action but also advances the strategies and approaches necessary to achieve transformational outcomes,” explained Wade Smith, superintendent of Walla Walla Public Schools in Washington. “It’s a must-read book for any current or aspiring educational leader.”

Time for Change is now available to order at SolutionTree.com

About the Authors
Anthony Muhammad, PhD, is a much sought-after educational consultant. A practitioner for nearly twenty years, he has served as a teacher, assistant principal and principal. His Transforming School Culture approach explores the root causes of staff resistance to change.

Luis F. Cruz, PhD, is an award-winning educator with experience as a teacher and administrator at the elementary, middle and high school levels. Dr. Cruz specializes in Anthony Muhammad’s Transforming School Culture approach, as well as closing achievement gaps for students learning English as a second language.

Learn more about Solution Tree.