Lessons from the Bard

This book makes connections between the five Shakespeare plays most frequently taught in US high schools and the essential elements of being an effective educational leader. This book explores the school and district leadership lessons that can be gleaned from five of Shakespeare’s most well-known and frequently taught plays: Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar and Hamlet. Each chapter focuses on one of the five plays and the leadership themes that can inform the work done by principals, superintendents and other school leaders. Those themes include everything from understanding how the adolescent brain works, to managing money and resources, to leading with a clear sense of purpose.This book does not require anyone to be a Shakespeare scholar. It simply asks readers to become reacquainted with some timeless stories, memorable characters, and remarkable feats that can be viewed as parallels to those that school leaders perform each and every day.