The Five-Square Framework operationalizes emotional intelligence, making it accessible to school leaders in a way that they can apply in their day-to-day work.
How do school leaders break through the “brick wall” that they’re experiencing in their development? Whether the challenge is experiencing inequitable and exclusive conditions at work, feeling that the work isn’t sustainable over time, or not knowing how to challenge people while staying personally connected, most school leaders feel a deep desire to grow. Matthew Taylor provides a methodology and framework to overcome these challenges in the new book titled, “The Noble School Leader: The Five-Square Approach to Leading Schools with Emotional Intelligence” (published by Jossey-Bass).
While schools have gotten increasingly good at technical leadership skills and knowledge building, leaders continue to struggle with inner obstacles as simple as delegating to teammates or showing vulnerability. Taylor leverages Emotional Intelligence (EI) to help leaders focus on self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.
Leaders who have used the Five-Square framework have experienced significant growth in competencies that they often believed were fixed, and the impact of that growth has been evident in their 360 feedback, organizational health data, and staff retention numbers. Just as importantly, this work has reduced suffering, sparked hope, and helped leaders and the people they lead thrive in their work and their lives. This book provides readers with a guided tour for applying the framework to their personal leadership challenges, and provides practice opportunities along the way.
In the book, Taylor identifies several different self-limiting mindsets that are seen in various combinations across school leaders and roles. Not only will readers be able to identify with one or many of these self-limiting mindsets, but “The Noble School Leader” will guide each mindset on how to work the Five-Square framework for breakthrough success.
The book has already received critical acclaim. Daniel Goleman, New York Times bestselling author on the subject of emotional intelligence, shares, “There’s no one better able than Matthew Taylor to show how the emotional intelligence framework can be applied to school leaders. The Noble School Leader democratizes leadership excellence.”
Matthew Taylor leads Noble Story Group, a consulting firm that brings an emotional intelligence-based approach to leadership development in education and non-profit organizations. He has extensive experience teaching in and leading schools, having worked in urban neighborhood, urban charter, international, private, and magnet schools.
“The Noble School Leader: The Five-Square Approach to Leading Schools with Emotional Intelligence” by Matthew Taylor is available online through Amazon and Wiley.