If you lead like this, you are limiting the impact of your campus.

TIP OF THE WEEK

Ruckus Makers Reject the Premise (While Play-It-Safe-Principals Stay Stuck)

Most people accept what they’re told without really considering what it all means. One of my mentors likes to say, “Thinking about thinking is the most important kind of thinking.

And in order to start thinking about your thinking …

You must reject the premise.

So I thought it would be fun today to share premises that I reject.

Like everything I teach:

• Test what I share

• If you get a positive result keep it and say, “Thank you Danny.”

• And if you don’t, throw it away and say, “Danny that’s so stupid …”

There’s not enough (fill in the blank)

Too often in schools we hear something like this:

• There’s not enough time.

• There’s not enough money.

• There’s not enough support (from the district/principal/parents).

I reject that thinking because it is a victim mentality.

This is a mindset issue. Top performing schools figure it out. Ruckus Makers make a way when there seems to be no way forward.

Challenges = Opportunity

Ryan Holiday wrote an entire book on this idea called The Obstacle is the Way. One of the best books I read in the last decade is called A Beautiful Constraint that tells these stories:

• Dr Seuss was challenged write a kid’s book using 50 different words. The result: Green Eggs and Ham — a best seller.

• Audi won the Le Mans race 3 years in a row by switching to diesel fuel. Their cars didn’t go any faster than the competition. So how did they win? Fewer pit stops.

• IKEA made furniture affordable(and highly profitable) by keeping shipping and production costs low. All their furniture is designed to be put together by the consumer and fits in flat boxes.

The simple truth: if you flip the challenge into the path forward, a legendary outcome awaits.

As school leaders, we face unique constraints—budget freezes, legacy systems, policy mandates, and competing stakeholder demands.

But what separates Ruckus Makers from Play-It-Safe Principals is how they respond to these constraints.

When a district says "we can't afford that" or "we've always done it this way," most leaders accept the premise and work within those limitations. Ruckus Makers, however, see these constraints as invitations to innovation.

The following mindset tools have helped leaders in our community transform seemingly impossible situations into catalysts for meaningful change on their campuses.

Here are 3 ways to flip your mindset (and your team’s mindset) when you get stuck.

It happens to all of us. But if you are reading this newsletter, I am confident you want to reimagine the education, even within a traditional setting, so that you create a campus experience worth showing up for.

The odds are stacked against you.

So here are three tools to flip your thinking when you play the victim or get stuck.

#1 Use Propelling Questions

Instead of identifying all the reasons you can’t do something use propelling questions with the frame, “We can do this ambitious thing, if ________ is true.

Here’s a 3-minute example of propelling questions used in education.

#2: Learn to say “good”

When anything bad happens, say good.

This 2-minute video is one of the most inspiring leadership video on radical ownership I’ve ever seen.

Kinda hard to not find solutions when you adopt this mindset.

This approach is similar to the “No Wasted Experience” tool taught to me by Dan Sullivan. There’s a template of it in The Ruckus Maker Club.

#3 Avoid complaining and negative talk at all costs

Earl Nightingale said in The Strangest Secret:

“We become what we think about.”

And that is absolutely true.

So if you believe you don’t have enough time, resources, support, you will operate in a world of scarcity. Or you can choose to see opportunity and abundance around you and make that your operating system.

Ruckus Makers enjoyed this short reel on Instagram on this topic.

It's Your Turn to Reject the Premise

The next time someone tells you "that's just how school works" or "we don't have enough resources," pause before accepting their premise. Ask yourself: "What if the opposite were true? What if this constraint is actually our greatest opportunity?"

Schools don't change when we accept the status quo. They transform when courageous leaders like you question fundamental assumptions about education.

So I'm curious—what educational premise are you rejecting this week?

What "impossible" situation are you reframing as an opportunity?

Hit “reply” and let me know.

Remember, if education ain't a bit disruptive, then what are the students really learning?