You're already doing the work most principals won't do.
You listen to podcasts on your commute. You read on weekends. You show up to things like this.
But there's a gap between how fast you're growing and how fast your school needs you to grow — and the system was never built to close it.
There's a name for what Ruckus Makers do about that. More below.
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OFF CAMPUS
🎧 Why EdTech is just Big Tech dressed up in a sweater vest
⚡️ Join the Selfmentorship Sprint and get a live call + 90-days of Digital Danny access.
🧠 Four Neuroscience Truths every leader needs to know
👂 Deep Listening: create learning opportunities that empower students
A MESSAGE FROM FRONTLINE EDUCATION
Build the School People Don't Want to Leave
Frontline Education just released their 2026 K-12 Lens Survey Report, and one finding stands out: districts that use software to automate professional growth are nearly 20 points more likely to say hiring has gotten easier.
The research is clear — when staff feel supported and have real pathways to grow, recruitment gets easier, retention improves, and your campus culture reflects it.
If you're building a school where great educators choose to stay, the full report is worth your time.
DO SCHOOL DIFFERENT
Nobody ever told you that you could develop yourself.
You're investing in yourself. You're in the right rooms. You're doing the reading.
But your coaching hasn't kept pace with your decisions.
The average principal makes 200 decisions a day across 180 days of school. The average principal gets 4 coaching sessions a year — if they have a coach at all.
You're already ahead of most principals just by showing up here on a Sunday. But the gap between your development and your daily demand is still real, and the system wasn't built to close it.
PD requires someone to approve it, fund it, schedule it. Coaching requires a coach to show up on your timeline.
The kind of real growth that shows up in your school's culture and your staff's trust requires something the system never built for you.
It requires you to develop yourself.
Play-It-Safe Principals accept the gap. They absorb it quietly and wait for the next opportunity to land on the calendar.
Ruckus Makers don't.
They figured out — usually out of necessity — that nobody was coming. So they learned the practice of driving their own development instead of waiting for external permission to grow.
That practice has a name now: Selfmentorship.
I didn't invent it.
The top Digital Danny user named it — after 1,015 coaching conversations in 8 months.
He described the tool as "almost like your self mentor — a guide along the way where you're still doing the work."
You're still doing the work. That's the whole thing.
This Thursday, April 30th from 6–8pm ET, I'm teaching the Selfmentorship practice live — and you'll use Digital Danny as your thought partner to apply it to something real in your school right now.
You’ll also get 90-days of Digital Danny access so you can test him out and close the year strong.
Principals who've done this work describe the shift:
From reacting to leading.
From absorbing the gap to closing it.
From permission-based development to selfmentorship
If you're already investing in your development — this is where that investment compounds.
SELFMENTORSHIP IN ACTION
I asked Digital Danny: I have a tough conversation coming up. I need to non-renew an excellent young teacher. But because of seniority and union contracts, the person with the least experience is non-renewed. I hate that I am losing this teacher! How do I handle the conversation?
Different than the traditional advice you are already getting.
SUNDAY VIBES
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Whenever you’re ready, here’s 3 ways we can help you Do School Different.
📚 Read the Selfmentorship mini-book: For leaders done waiting for permission to grow. Now is your time.
⚡ Join the Selfmentorship Sprint: Thursday April 30, 7–8pm ET. 90-day Digital Danny access included. Claim your spot here.
Keep Making a Ruckus,
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