Note: This is the third post in a series on what's wrong with strategic planning as done conventionally in our schools and nonprofits. Episodes 1 and 2 can be read here and here. Independent schools, like every other organization, love to plan. We gather smart people, craft aspirational
TL;DR: In leadership transitions, your authority is highest when your control is lowest. The job is to create rhythm—clear standards, clean ownership, steady communication—so the work runs without you grabbing the wheel. Last Friday morning, I met with my LEAD Atlanta mentee, who stepped into a new
tl;dr:When a parent’s health wobbles, families rush to fix what they can control—often each other. The real work is humbler: shorten the time horizon, protect parents’ dignity while adding safeguards, use trusted intermediaries, and build light-touch routines that notice small changes early. The goal isn’t
Over breakfast two weeks ago, a friend shared a season of endings and beginnings in their family. Their story wasn’t mine, but it nudged a truth I keep returning to: the only wealth that grows when you spend it is time. I’ve built schools, led teams, launched a
🛠️ Intelligence is becoming infrastructure. 🧠 Wisdom will decide what we build on it. In this manifesto, I argue that the next competitive edge isn’t simply adopting AI tools—it’s redesigning how we learn and lead.
Where We Are—and Why MehtaCognition Is Pivoting For years we built strategy the artisan way—deep discovery, thick decks, high-touch facilitation. A few months ago we went all-in on generative AI. The results forced a rethink: * Significant savings in services we no longer need. * Strategy components that once cost
What if you need counsel or a sounding board to process a thorny issue or a question that sparks your curiosity, but I’m away on a work visit, family vacation, or in a different timezone? Or, what if your budget is severely constrained this year and you can’t
Hi, Congratulations again on stepping into this role. The first 90 days as Head are a unique window—one where you're setting tone, building trust, and gathering insight. Here's how I suggest you think about this season: Three Anchoring Principles 1. Listen Broadly. Decide Deliberately. Act
Dear Friends, As we approach the end of this year—a year that has undoubtedly tested your resilience, demanded your determination, and brought moments of joy (and perhaps a few “What were we thinking?” moments)—I wanted to share a quick note before you transition into summer. Not to add
Standards are neither high nor low. Nobody gets a job or keeps one by telling people they have low standards. Nor do I know anyone who believes they have low standards, but one knows through action. The issue isn't whether standards are high or low. The issue is
MehtaCognition is a small team by design. I don't have designs or desires to grow it into something bigger. Running any size of team has its benefits and challenges, but a small team has unique constraints that force clarity of vision and values, and the mistakes are costly
In December 2023, I described our values and their impact on our choices as a company. I am reflecting on those guardrails again as we approach another spring. As a leadership and management consultancy, strategy is at the core of our approach, process, and delivery: simply put, we help leaders
Your organization's strategy is meant to be private, not something to be waved in public.
First, know thyself.
Effective leaders actively cultivate follower-ship.
Reach for the sky, but keep your feet planted firmly on the ground
Announcing The Impact Fund for Independent School Leaders
Freedom gives you control, and control gives you choice
Living your life on your terms today.
We need to reset our understanding and expectations, not just rename or rebrand the process and outcome.
A year in, here is what I know and what I've learned about consulting.
Sent earlier this afternoon to families, faculty and staff at The Children's School Dear TCS Families: The birth of a child is a cause for celebration. In that moment, I’ve heard from my own parents and others, the instinct to protect that child at all costs takes
In my last post, I used the print to digital shift in media as an analogy to describe what might be happening now in education. I wrote: When print-based newspapers first moved to the internet, they tried to force the internet to fit their print-based context. Websites were clunky and
There's something very predictable about the school calendar: the first and last days of school, holidays, conferences, traditional events and programs, and graduation. The same is true of the school day: carpool drop-off and pickup times, the first bell, the Monday schedule, Tuesday schedule, minutes per class, midterms,
What's your win? What's the win here? Is there a clear win or victory? Maybe in the short-term, maybe today as people, everybody scrambling, everybody tense and overwhelmed, extend grace and appreciation for their safety and the safety of the community right now. We've
There is no precedent or past to lean on and use as a guide or mentor for these extraordinary times. Tuesday, Mar. 17 was Day One: The Children's School (TCS) faculty initiated our remote learning plans. Like schools around the country, and in many others around the world,
I was supposed to spend this weekend in St. Louis chairing the spring meeting of the Center for Spiritual and Ethical Education’s (CSEE) Board. We meet twice a year and this meeting, the last of the 2019-20 school year, would have also been my last as a board member
These are unprecedented times. While we are preparing round the clock, as is every teacher and school leader right now, for any possible closure of our Community to slow the spread of the coronavirus, I wonder about what it will mean for a Community that lives and breathes that word
Krista Tippett: What does a good day look like? This is the question that transformed Atul Gawande’s practice of medicine. Atul Gawande: The conversation I felt like I was having was, do we fight, or do we give up? And the reality was that it’s not do we
‘We had a very fortunate upbringing,’ says Obama’s brother, Craig Robinson. ‘It was filled with good times. We were like every other family. We had love and discipline. We had caring parents….It wasn’t unusual at all. It wasn’t that everyone had both parents in the house,
What’s your name? Sean. Is that with an “ea” or an “haw”? Ummm... An “ea.” S-E-A-N. Sean (or, Shawn) is my Starbucks name. I’m not the only Indian, Asian, or brown person who has a Starbucks name. I don’t like it, but I tell myself that I’
“Why do you wish to lead?” That’s a common question one is asked to write about when applying for any leadership job. Lots of people want to be a leader, but what does it mean to actually lead? Lead what? Lead whom? Lead where and how? And, of course,
If you wait until you’re ready, you’ll be waiting the rest of your life. You'll never be fully ready for the things that matter. Most of the time, waiting until you're ready is the fear talking. We're scared that if we put
I’m breaking the norm from my usual two posts a week, every Sunday and Wednesday, to share this letter I wrote to The Children’s School families two years ago, on Feb. 21, 2018. I end with the lament, “Growing up should never be so hard to do.” Two
So many in my personal and professional circles have been encouraging and supportive of my move to India this fall to join Enabling Leadership (EL). They are happy for me, even proud, and called me, or the work I’m going to do, “noble,” “brave,” and “bold.” They are impressed
“A bookstore. That’s what I want to build after retirement, but it’s going to be really hard to leave school.” Liz was ruminating three nights ago over dinner on her career, and upcoming retirement in the next couple years. While I no longer work at the same school
We practice leadership every time we meet. As head of school, I consider my weekly executive team meetings as my classroom. In the time I have with them as a group and in their 1:1s, I see my primary responsibility as developing their leadership capacity. Our muscles atrophy due
This is not ‘Nishant’s school.’ I’m a temporary keeper of the flame. This has been a common refrain of mine since my first year - 2013 - at The Children’s School (TCS). I would bring it up at board meetings, in parent forums, and faculty and staff
When Neeti and I shared our news that I’m moving to Mumbai in August and will coach, consult and advise Enabling Leadership for an initial commitment of ten months, almost no one among our friends and family were surprised that I’m doing something like this: The scale, the
On Friday night, Neeti and I met another couple at Mali Restaurant in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood of Atlanta. Mali is our favorite Thai restaurant. I’ve rarely had a bad meal there and, best of all, many servers know me and what I like. As soon as we sat
“No, we can’t move here.” It was May 2019 and Neeti had called me from India, where she was visiting family and friends. I was going to join her a week later. Earlier that month, we had announced our departure from TCS at the end of the 2019-2020 school
Upon hearing the news of my move to India this fall, many have followed their congratulations with, “Your mom must be thrilled!” She is, in fact, thrilled. She’s also intimidated. Neeti and I made our decision in late October 2019. My parents were in the United States at the
Happiness is a how, not a what. A talent, not an object. Hermann Hesse I first came across this Hesse quote a year ago while reading Shoe Dog, the memoir by Phil Knight, Nike’s founder. There are many books (“many” being an understatement) written on happiness and what it
Last Saturday, Neeti and I went to a local breakfast place because I wanted to eat pancakes and eggs. It was one of those mornings when I woke up and considered what I’d miss about here when I leave for Mumbai in August. Somehow, thinking about food, pancakes and
I’ve been overwhelmed, and inspired, by everyone’s response to my move in August to India and join Enabling Leadership. I titled it “My Next Adventure” because that’s what it feels like: an adventure that will take me to places I don’t know, people I haven’t
In spring 2019, I announced my decision to leave The Children’s School at the end of the 2019-2020 school year. Neeti and I were in no rush or urgency about what would be next for us. I wanted to explore whether I could make a difference at a different
On November 10, 2016, following the results of the presidential election, there was a noticeable funk on campus among our faculty and staff. I wrote the words below in an internal email - the words rang true for me (and us) then and they are truer today, now three years
Schools can do a better job of building, and preserving, our capacity for imaginative play, kindness and compassion; how we form relationships with others; how we learn and lead; and when we teach and follow; when patience is a virtue because certain things just take time; and (maybe) the most impor
"It's all about focus," says Towson. "You're not going to accomplish 25 things in your life. If you really focus long-term you can do three to five big ones, maybe. And the impediment to your not having focus is numbers 6 through 25,
This article was published as a guest column today in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's education website, Get Schooled. Click here to read it on the AJC. This winter holiday, Neeti and I watched Mary Poppins Returns in the cinema. The original with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke is
Kinder. Gentler. These two words feature in every obituary I've read of the 41st President. Quoting President Bush's inaugural address on Jan. 20, 1989: "We as a people have such purpose today. It is to make kinder the face of the nation and gentler the
My first day at The Children’s School was May 1, 2013. I’ve completed five years and I’m about halfway through my sixth year. Last fall, in 2017, I shared with the board’s executive committee that the next five years will be different from the previous five.
Several months ago, I came across an article that listed Jeff Bezos’s habit of keeping a list of books and writings that have influenced him. The book, In the Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, is at the top of his list and a copy is given to
We are living in precarious times that rob our children of their childhood. Rather than free play and opportunities to deal with boredom on their own, parents fill those times with tutoring, coaching and lessons. Rather than connection and creativity, we are surrounded by disengaged souls bingeing o
A few years ago, Jay and Arlene, colleagues at the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), were visiting Atlanta to scope out the city, conference center and surrounding hotels for an upcoming event. I’ve known Jay since my early career days. He has followed and supported my professional arc
I recently spoke before a group of 35-40 undergraduate business majors at Emory’s Goziueta Business School. The class was “Leading and Managing Change,” and the professor, Richard Berlin, was kind enough to invite me to share my experience as a nonprofit leader and the pressures and challenges I face
The concept is not mine; it belongs to Jeff Bezos. Day One does not mean rewarding just any kind of failure. Failure of basic responsibility - operational efficiency or core expertise - should not be rewarded. Day One doesn’t hold us back because of habits or tradition, just because “it’s always how
Dear TCS Friends, From GreenFest last Saturday to Olympic Day today, I have had a fun-filled initiation into the TCS way! In the last three days I have received enough flowers to fill two big vases; a witty, touching poem written by a third grade class; coupons for many, many
View as slideshow 1. Grant Lichtman@GrantLichtmanFirst #naisac13 session to attend today: @NishantMehta on leaders creating value through empowerment.Thu, Feb 28 2013 02:46:48ReplyRetweetFavorite 2. Greg Bamford@gregbamford@GrantLichtman you chose a good one! @nishantmehta knows his stuff. #NAISAC13Thu, Feb 28 2013 04:56:45ReplyRetweetFavorite 3. Jill Gough@
Today marks the first full day of the National Business Officers Association's (NBOA) 15th Annual Meeting. NBOA is a new experience for me and one I came to due to the strong recommendation of my Business Manager, Robert Powers, the publication of my article in their Nov/Dec
danah boyd, social media guru on teen behavior and busting silos: To a teenager growing up in a networked world, this model [of zero sharing with networks outside one's organization] makes absolutely zero sense. Even if they've been trained in a traditional educational environment where collaboration
I've recently become interested in administrator evaluation models. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has done a lot of work on this topic, however their focus is on identifying the best teachers. Here are three articles/resources I came across this week on evaluating administrators - 1. Seven
Tom Friedman in The New York Times: Now, notes Craig Mundie, one of Microsoft’s top technologists, not just elites, but virtually everyone everywhere has, or will have soon, access to a hand-held computer/cellphone, which can be activated by voice or touch, connected via the cloud to infinite applications
James Paul Gee quoted by Will Richardson: Success in the 21st century at work and in life requires collaboration, collective intelligence, and smart teams using smart tools. In our fast-changing world, a world that faces many serious crises, being able to cope with challenge, to persist past failure, to learn
George Couros on customizing the learning paradigm: is not assume a standard solution works in a personalized world via Revisiting Cursive. I like to call Couros' statement on personalizing the curriculum for each student as Differentiation 2.0. Good schools and great educators have been differentiating their curriculum for
1. A Twitter Chat: How Technology Can Help Bridge the Skills Gap From GigaOm: Educators and technologists debate how new and emerging technologies and models of education can prepare students for professional life in the 21st century. 2. Why Can Some Kids Handle the Pressue While Others Fall Apart From
Many of you may be aware that I will be moving on after five years at Alexandria Country Day School to assume the headship at The Children's School in Atlanta. I am thrilled to join such a wonderful, progressive community of educators, students, trustees, and families, and look
Christina Hoff Sommers, author of The War Against Boys : studyThe Journal of Human Resources via The Boys at the Back - NYTimes.com.
Last Wednesday, I had the privilege of co-presenting with another NAIS friend/colleague of mine to forty administrators and faculty of The Gilman School in Baltimore, on the topic of leading and managing change in schools. Embedded at the end of this blog post, the presentation we gave covered topics
"Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the road less traveled... and it hurt man! Rocks, thorns. Not cool, Robert Frost!" "What if Michael Jordan had quit? Then he'd never have made Space Jam. And I love Space Jam." * Kid President A
Will Richardson (Twitter and blog): The only place. Why is that? via for the love of learning: Richardson: Rethink Assessment. There's no one answer to Will's question, of course. I believe it lies in our (i.e., adults') fear of technology, lack of privacy as
KJ Dell'Antonia writing on her Motherlode blog on a research study out of Australia: ...As they grow up, those milestones begin to feel so much less clear. When should a child cross the street alone? Be able to enter a store and politely and successfully make a purchase?
Steven Greenhouse writing in The New York Times: Do not just tell workers not to post confidential information, Ms. Keyser said. Instead, tell them not to disclose, for example, trade secrets, product introduction dates or private health details. But placing clear limits on social media posts without crossing the legal
Jennifer Dooren writing in The Wall Street Journal on the rise in diagnosis of ADHD among children, especially in high-income homes: The study, published online in JAMA Pediatrics, found that 4.9% of children treated through insurer Kaiser Permanente Southern California were diagnosed with ADHD during the decadelong study. The
Camille Sweeney and Josh Gosfield writing in The New York Times: Less common but vastly more effective is the cognitive approach that Professor Argyris called double-loop learning. In this mode we question every aspect of our approach, including our methodology, biases and deeply held assumptions. This more psychologically nuanced self-examination
“If [an employee] leaves a good boss, we looked to see how long his productivity remains high … and if that productivity gain he gets from working for a good boss is persistent, we believe that’s teaching,” said [Kathryn] Shaw, who co-authored the study with Stanford colleague Edward Lazear and
Great advice for parents and teachers alike about ways to build a positive relationship. Here are my selections from the article that I consider worth noting and that we constantly illuminate for our community here at Alexandria Country Day School: For our parents: “We all need to learn how to
According to linguist, Dennis Baron, interviewed by Barbara King for NPR: "Census figures from the 2009 American Community Survey...show about 20 percent of residents over age five speak a language other than English at home. Most of them also speak at least some English, and those who don&
Tracy Grant in The Washington Post: I offer up an alternate resolution for the rest of the 2013: Be a more neglectful parent. I’m not actually advocating neglect — just a little less hovering, a little less worrying, a little less intervening. If we give it a try, we might
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Here's an excerpt: 2,700 I blogged a total of 51 posts, and visitors from over 54 countries viewed my blog, with most of them, naturally, from the United States. Apparently, visitors from India
Calvin and Hobbes remains, to this day, one of my favorite cartoon series for its ability to capture reality, and for its fascination with the beauty and innocence of childhood.
As an educator in an elementary school myself, I mourn the children, adults, and families who lost their loved ones yesterday. Just as deeply, I mourn the loss of childhood, for those who lost their lives as well as those who survived - the town, the school, teachers, students, and
"Leaders can let you fail without letting you be a failure." Is this also a quality of great teaching? What about parenting?
One of my favorite new sites, Brain Pickings, has compiled a best of 2012 list of various book genres. The following link takes you to her collection of the best illustrated children's books and picture books of 2012. There are many, many gems to choose from, and her
Wired via The Jeff Bezos School of Long-Term Thinking :: Tips :: 99U. Most independent schools have a three or five-year strategic plan. However, many are also moving away from such traditional and time-bound structures, and putting in place more fluid and flexible long-range plans. I wonder how Bezos' ideas of
Grant Wiggins on the power of Twitter: What social media and similar forums do is solve one of the great shortcomings of traditional education: isolation and ignorance of ‘best practice’." I've previously blogged about crowdsourcing as a leadership tool, as well as presented to new teachers at
Paul Tough in How Children Succeed:When it comes to ambition,” Rowson [a chess grandmaster] wrote, “it is crucial to distinguish between ‘wanting’ something and ‘choosing’ it.” Decide that you want to become world champion [in chess], Rowson explained, and you will inevitably fail to put in the necessary hard
David Brooks, The New York Times columnist, writes in a 2011 article in The New Yorker: We’ve spent a generation trying to reorganize schools to make them better, but the truth is that people learn from the people they love. via What the science of human nature can teach
Alix Spiegel of NPR writes: In Eastern cultures, Stigler says, it's just assumed that struggle is a predictable part of the learning process. Everyone is expected to struggle in the process of learning, and so struggling becomes a chance to show that you, the student, have what it
Innovation is not born out out of a committee; innovation is a fight. It’s messy, people die, but when the battle is over, something unimaginably significant has been achieved. via Rands In Repose. This quotation raises three very intriguing questions for me. 1. How does innovation happen in independent
This article, written by me, appeared in the November-December 2012 issue of Net Assets magazine, published by the National Business Officers Association (NBOA). It addresses questions surrounding how independent schools can change without losing their core identity! Enjoy and post your feedback in the comments section. [scribd id=112376552 key=
Can creativity be taught? Absolutely. The real question is: “How do we teach it?” In school, instead of crossing subjects and classes, we teach them in a very rigid manner. Very rarely do you witness math and science teachers or English and history teachers collaborating with each other. Sticking in
I'm sometimes asked the question , "What is your leadership style?" My usual response has been along the lines of, I believe in a collaborative process and being transparent. I don't believe that consensus is essential in every instance but the best leaders employ a
I've been on a bit of a hiatus this summer and early fall, partly due to travel, both personal and professional, and partly because I've been collecting thoughts, resources, online mentors (yes, it's no longer necessary in this day and age to know or
We have a case to make, I think, for valuing the immeasurable over that which can be easily measured, and that the powerful role that schools can play now is not delivering that narrow curriculum which is now in a million places but in developing the skills and dispositions or
Today's strip:
The problem is that innovation is not a purely additive process; more is not better. We must forcefully overcome our natural aversion to getting rid of the comfortable blankets of the here and now before we can rebuild in an uncluttered state. via Destroy, Then Create « The Learning Pond. So
Our peer mediators at Alexandria Country Day School design and enact skits each year for the full school on good teasing, bad teasing, and unintentional bad teasing. The quote below is extremely helpful in recognizing when teasing crosses the line. Researchpointed me toward But some teasing, called “prosocial teasing” by
In 1995, Robert X. Cringely interviewed Steve Jobs, then the head of NeXT. That entire “lost interview” is now available for rental in iTunes and through YouTube. via Apple Won't Tell You, But Steve Jobs' Lost Interview Available Now In iTunes -- AppAdvice. I saw this 1995
In the spirit of July 4th, I hope you enjoy the following piece from Andrew Sullivan of The Daily Dish: I believe in life. I believe in treasuring it as a mystery that will never be fully understood, as a sanctity that should never be destroyed, as an invitation to
