The Private School Leader Podcast
by Mark Minkus
The Private School Leader Podcast exists to help you go from SURVIVING to THRIVING as you lead your school. Do you ever feel lonely and isolated in your role as a private school leader? Do you wish that you could get back to what really energizes you (making a difference in the lives of your students)? Do you want to have a long AND fulfilling career in private school education? Are you an aspiring Head of School and you want to accelerate your leadership growth? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions then the Private School Leader Podcast is for you!Your host, Mark Minkus, has been a private school leader for over 30 years. He’s been where you are. He’s been in the hospital with ulcers. He’s had his daughters ask, “Dad, when do we get to see you instead of the back of your laptop?” About 10 years ago, Mark went from surviving to thriving and he is here to help you do the same! You will learn step by step strategies to effectively deal with difficult parents, overcome burno
Episodes
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Episode 211: You'll Be Less Stressed About Enrollment In February If You Do These 3 Things Today
I want you to imagine that it's February. You're sitting in your office, looking at your enrollment numbers for next school year and you're getting a little nervous. Your re-enrollment numbers aren't where you'd like them to be. A handful of families have indicated that they're considering other...
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Episode 210: Water The Grass, Not The Weeds
Back in the fall of 1992, my wife and I purchased the last empty lot in a housing plan. Over the next six months, we worked with a general contractor and built the house that we still live in to this day. We did a lot of the work ourselves, including: plumbing, siding, painting, insulation and...
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Episode 209: STOP Being A Professional Firefighter and START Being A Professional Fire Preventer
I have a nephew named Kevin. He used to be a professional firefighter in North Carolina. One day, Kevin was inside of a burning building when the floor collapsed. As he was falling into the basement, Kevin grabbed a floor joist and was just hanging there. Kevin then pulled up his entire body…
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Episode 208: When A Teacher’s Crisis At Home Starts Affecting Their Performance At School
We will call her Julie. Julie walked into my office, closed the door and said, “Do you have a minute?” Julie sat down and told me about a serious personal crisis. It involved a family member experiencing a significant health problem. Julie was trying to take care of this person, continue working...
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Episode 207: Overcoming The 3 Biggest Problems Caused By "Nice Guy/Nice Gal Syndrome"
I know a few things about you: You care deeply about people. You want your teachers to feel supported. You want parents to be happy. You want students to feel safe. You don’t enjoy conflict, and you certainly don’t want anyone to think you are mean, unreasonable or difficult. Those are good...
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Episode 206: 4 Most Common Lawsuits Filed Against Private Schools (How To Reduce Your Risk)
Goldilocks. You remember the story. One bowl of porridge was too hot. Another was too cold. The third was just right. One bed was too hard. Another was too soft. The third was just right. School leaders need that same Goldilocks mindset when it comes to legal risk. On one extreme is fear. That...
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Episode 205: Parents Can Handle Bad News WAY Better Than Surprise News
I don’t like surprises. I know some people love them. They love walking into a room and hearing everybody yell, "Surprise!" They love mystery trips where somebody else packs the car and refuses to tell them where they are going. Not me. I think most private school leaders don’t like surprises...
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Episode 204: Are you leaving Title II money on the table every year?
Have you ever been in a meeting and heard one of these phrases? “We need to circle back on that.” “Let’s put a pin in it. “We need to think outside the box.” “We need to find the low-hanging fruit.” “Let’s make sure everybody is on the same page.” “We need to touch base.” “We don't want to leave...
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Episode 203: 4 Keys To Making Your Weeknights And Weekends More Restorative
I think that there’s a pretty good chance that this has happened to you: You finally get to Friday afternoon. You’re exhausted. You tell yourself, “I just need the weekend to get back on traffic.” And then somehow you get to Sunday night and think... “Wait a minute. Where did the weekend go? And...
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Episode 202: You're The Chief Optimism Officer (Even When You Don't Feel Like It)
In the corporate world, there are many recognizable acronyms that are thrown around pretty freely. CEO, ROI, MBA, CFO, EOD, R&D and PTO are known by most employees and leaders in the business world. A company’s COO is the Chief Operating Officer. Their job is to make sure the organization keeps...
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Episode 201: The Top 20 Leadership Lessons From The First 200 Episodes (Part 2)
You probably already know that I love a good list and I especially love a list that is a countdown. During my teen years, I would tune into Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 Countdown every Saturday night. Of course, I had my cassette player and a blank tape at the ready to record my favorite songs.…
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Episode 200: The Top 20 Leadership Lessons From The First 200 Episodes
During the COVID-19 pandemic, billions of people worldwide were stuck in their homes. Some learned how to make sourdough bread and some people got a pet for the first time. Indoor houseplants had a moment and lots of people finally learned how to keep a plant alive. During my time at home I…
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Episode 199: OREO Cookies Can Help You Tame Your Email Inbox
Has this ever happened to you? You are out and about in the school and you come back to your office. While you were out of your office, you expended emotional energy and now you are feeling some decision fatigue and some physical fatigue. You sit down at your desk. Because of the physical and...
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Episode 198: A Great School Year Rarely Happens By Accident (Do These 3 Things On Purpose)
In 1928, Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming returned from vacation to find that one of his petri dishes had accidentally become contaminated with mold. Normally, that would have meant throwing the dish away and starting over. But, Fleming noticed something unusual. The bacteria surrounding the...
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Episode 197: 3 Strategies To Feel Less Overwhelmed AND Get Everything Done Before The First Day Of School
Has this ever happened to you? You looked at your to-do list in late July or early August and thought: "There is absolutely no way I'm going to get all of this done." You walk into the school and there are boxes of new curriculum stacked in the hallway, waiting to be unpacked, an employee…
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Episode 196: 4 Ways To Improve Your August Teacher In-Service Days
I love countdown clocks and I hate countdown clocks. I love countdown clocks like the one in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. I hate countdown clocks like the scoreboard in the 4th Quarter when my favorite football team is losing. I believe that every private school leader has an invisible…
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Episode 195: It's Not Too Late For You To Have A Restorative Summer
One of the things I hear from my coaching clients every July is this: "Mark, I had all these plans for the summer...and somehow it's already half over." You know what I’m talking about. You had big plans this summer. You were going to: exercise every morning, spend more time with your family…
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Episode 194: 2 Important Leadership Lessons From "The Karate Kid"
On June 22, 1984, I was sitting in a movie theater. I love 80’s movies and there were so many good ones. Top Gun, Footloose, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Rocky IV and The Goonies were some of my favorites. I was lucky enough to see most of them the day they came out...
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Episode 193: Is Your School Ready For The "Unplugged Movement" And "The Digital Delusion" Backlash?
I want to begin with a prediction. I believe that over the next two years, one of the biggest conversations in independent and private schools will be answering the following question: “How much technology actually belongs in the classroom? For almost twenty years, schools have raced toward more...
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Episode 192: Want Less Parent Stress This Fall? Do 1 Of These 4 Things Now
As you read this, it is late June and July is just over the horizon. During my career as a private school leader, this was always my favorite time of the year. Most of the reasons are pretty obvious: My annual vacation with my family in Ocean City, NJ My favorite holiday is the 4th of July! Warm...
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Episode 191: Your Employee Handbook Revisions Should Be Written For Your Best Teachers (Not Your Worst)
It's mid-June, the students and teachers are gone and the building is pretty quiet. Many private school leaders are sitting down with a bottle of water, last year's Employee Handbook, and a red pen. For better or for worse, this is handbook season. This is the time of year when we review…
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Episode 190: Productivity Lessons From A Garden Hose (How To Go From "Mist" To "Jet")
You probably have a garden hose at your house. If you take a look at the spray nozzle at the end of your hose, you are very likely to see five words. Mist. Shower. Flat. Cone. Jet. When your hose is on “Mist”, the water kind of goes everywhere, but it is a weak stream and pretty scattered and not...
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Episode 189: "Every action you take is a vote for the person you wish to become." James Clear
Who said these four famous quotes?: Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” “That’s one small step for man, one giant step for mankind “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”...
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Episode 188: Don’t Finish The School Year Without Asking Yourself These 4 Questions
I have never run a marathon. My right knee gets sore when I drive 26.2 miles. That said, I have a lot of respect for people who have finished a marathon. My wife’s side of the family lives in Northeast Ohio and many of them have finished multiple marathons. They have even driven to other states…
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Episode 187: The 4 Reminders You Didn't Know You Needed TODAY
Have you ever had one of those days where you leave school completely exhausted and yet somehow also wondering if you did enough? You solved problems all day. You answered emails. You handled parent concerns. You dealt with student behavior. You encouraged a teacher. You sat in meetings. You made...
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Episode 186: Confidence Is A Result, Not A Prerequisite
confidence noun us /ˈkɑːn.fə.dəns/ uk /ˈkɒn.fɪ.dəns/ the quality of being certain of your abilities or of having trust in people, plans, or the future prerequisite noun [ C ] formal us /ˌpriːˈrek.wə.zɪt/ uk /ˌpriːˈrek.wɪ.zɪt/ something that must exist or happen before something else can exist or...
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Episode 185: There's No Such Thing As A Secret In A Private School (Let's Fix That)
Has this ever happened to you? You tell one person something in confidence. And then somehow, by the end of the day: Two teachers are talking about it in the hallway Three parents know A board member texts you and says, “I heard that you said…” Do you? Say to yourself, “Oh well, no such thing as…
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Episode 184: How To Avoid The #1 Mistake That You're Making With Upset Parents
Let me ask you a question. Have you ever walked into a meeting with an upset parent and thought: “OK, I just need to stay calm, explain the facts, and this will be fine.” And then 10 minutes later… The parent is more upset. You’re starting to feel defensive. The conversation is going sideways.…
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Episode 183: The 3 Keys To Having A Strong Finish To This School Year
You have probably heard the quote that “a school year is a marathon, not a sprint.” That being said, the weeks between now and the last day of school sure feel like a sprint. Not only that, when you get close to the finish line it feels like it just keeps moving farther and farther away. You are...
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Episode 182: You Can't Make Everyone Happy, So Stop Trying
You have so many people that you serve. Students, parents, teachers, staff, board members, coaches, volunteers, grandparents, donors and alumni make up just a part of your entire school community. All of these people have different needs, which lead to competing priorities. It is IMPOSSIBLE to…
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Episode 181: The Leadership Lie That Is Keeping You Stuck
On August 15, 1973, Richard Nixon gave a televised address to the American people from the White House. During that speech, Nixon said, “I had no knowledge of the Watergate break-in and I had no involvement in it.” His supporters believed him, but the investigation would eventually reveal that he...
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Episode 180: The Email That You Should Never Send
Has this ever happened to you? You receive an email from an upset parent, an upset teacher or an upset board member. The email makes you angry. You immediately write a response to that upsetting email. You hit send. And almost immediately, you wish you hadn’t. You wish that you could put the...
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Episode 179: How To Be The Leader Your School Needs You To Be Right Now
Back in the 90’s and early 2000’s, I was a basketball coach. I coached Boy’s Varsity for nine years and coached 5th/6th Grade Girls for seven years. I wasn’t the same coach the entire game: If my team was making a lot of mistakes, they needed a teacher. If my team was down by a lot of points…
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Episode 178: 5 Strategies That Will Boost Your Enrollment Before August
Where I live, we are lucky enough to have all four seasons. Last week, I saw the first robin of the year and some of the daffodils are starting to pop up. Spring is a wonderful season because it means winter is over and everything will be lush and green in just a few weeks. Unfortunately, this is...
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Episode 177: Extraordinary Empathy: The Hug That Changed Everything
On October 17, 1995, Kyrie and Brielle Jackson were born at the Massachusetts Memorial Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts. The twins were 12 weeks premature and each baby weighed just two pounds. Kyrie was gaining weight in the days following their birth, but Brielle was having difficulty...
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Episode 176: Here's Your Survival Mode Escape Plan
On March 11, 2010 I was lying on the bathroom floor at my house. I had been lying there for an hour, because I couldn’t stand up. I couldn't keep anything down for two days and I was severely dehydrated and dizzy. I said to my wife, “I need you to take me to the emergency room.” After a lot of...
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Episode 175: The 2 Problems That 90% Of School Leaders Face (And How To Fix Them)
90% can be an awesome number or a terrible number. It can be an awesome number when: Your favorite team has a 90% chance of winning the championship You live in a city where 90% of the days are sunny It can be a terrible number when: 90% of the students in your Middle School have earned a…
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Episode 174: You Will Lose Good Teachers And Good Families If You Keep Doing These 2 Things
There are very few guarantees in life. However, there are probabilities. Think about your car. If you drive the speed limit, obey the rules of the road, have good tires and good brakes, you are less likely to get into an accident. However, if you speed, run red lights, drive on bald tires and…
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Episode 173: 4 Leadership Lessons From The 1988 Jamaican Bobsled Team
When I ask you to picture the island of Jamaica, what comes to mind? Probably white, sandy beaches, palm trees and crystal clear water. What you probably don’t think about is snow, ice and needing to dress in multiple layers just to keep warm. But, in the late 1980s, the Jamaican Olympic…
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Episode 172: The 4 Things That Teachers Wish Their Principals Knew
I hate going to the dentist. The thing that I hate the most is when the dental hygienist gives me a shot of Novocain and says, “You are going to feel a little pinch.” Yeah, right! It feels like a needle just went through my gum and directly into my brain. I need to be straight with you. During…
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Episode 171: Your Biggest Strength Could Also Be Your Biggest Weakness
We all know the name Arnold Schwarzenegger. Seven-time Mr. Olympia. Hollywood action star. The Terminator. At his peak, Arnold could bench press well over 500 pounds and had one of the most powerful physiques the world had ever seen. Being the most famous body builder in the world led to…
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Episode 170: How To Handle The Concerning Shift From "Helicopter Parenting" To "Snow Plow Parenting"
I don’t like snowplows. When I see a snow plow, that means that the roads are snow covered. I don’t like driving on snowy roads, especially because of the hilly terrain where I live. There’s also another reason that I don’t like snow plows. For the 21 years that I was a Head of School, getting…
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Episode 169: 3 Ways To Lift Your “Leadership Lid”
I listen to a lot of Sports Talk Radio. At this time of year, the NFL playoffs give everyone a lot to talk about. But, after the Super Bowl, the hosts of the local and national shows have to try pretty hard to manufacture topics. Inevitably, one of the hosts will start talking about the GOAT in...
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Episode 168: 4 Leadership Lessons From Captain Sully And "The Miracle On The Hudson"
On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 took off from LaGuardia Airport, bound for Charlotte. Just 94 seconds after takeoff, the plane struck a flock of geese. Both engines failed, at just under 3,000 feet, over one of the most densely populated cities in the world. Captain Chesley “Sully”...
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Episode 167: If You Only Make 1 New Year's Resolution, Please Make This One
If you watch TV between Christmas day and New Year’s Day, you will see a lot of commercials for gym memberships. In fact, if you watch the New Year’s Eve coverage from Times Square, you will immediately notice that Planet Fitness is the exclusive sponsor of the big ball drop. Of course, gym...
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Episode 166: The Top 10 Leadership Nuggets Of 2025
If you have listened to even a few episodes of this podcast, you know that I like lists. It might be “The 4 Strategies To…” or “The 5 Secrets Of…”, but I love to organize my thoughts into lists. I especially love “Year-End Top 10 Lists”, like: the top 10 movies of the year or the top 10 books or…
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Episode 165: The #1 Frustration Of Private School Leaders Right Now (And What To Do About It)
We all have pet peeves. For some reason, most of mine tend to happen at the grocery store. It bugs me when the person in front of me has 35 items in the “10 items or fewer” lane or when someone is walking really slowly or taking up the entire aisle with their cart. My latest pet peeve has to do...
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Episode 164: Do These 3 Things When A Parent Hijacks Your Emotions
On June 21, 1985, a domestic flight in Norway (Braathens SAFE Flight 139) was hijacked mid-flight. The aircraft was a Boeing 737, carrying 121 people (116 passengers and 5 crew.) The hijacker had an air gun that looked real, and claimed that he had planted explosives on board. His demands: speak…
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Episode 163: The 3 Biggest Indicators Of A Healthy Culture And How To Get Them At Your School
Back in the summer of 2021, one of my daughters was driving a Chevy CRUZE with over 110,000 miles on the odometer. She needed to trade it in and get a more updated used car, with less miles on it. We found a car that she liked and got a car wash on the way to the used car lot. We vacuumed the...
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Episode 162: When The Best Thing About Your School Is Also The Worst Thing About Your School
A little bit of fire, under control, is a good thing. I love grilling in my back yard and a hot dog always tastes better straight from the grill. When my daughters still lived at home, we would really enjoy making S’mores over our fire pit. Once a year, we would go to a Christmas village to look…
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About this show
The Private School Leader Podcast exists to help you go from SURVIVING to THRIVING as you lead your school. Do you ever feel lonely and isolated in your role as a private school leader? Do you wish that you could get back to what really energizes you (making a difference in the lives of your students)? Do you want to have a long AND fulfilling career in private school education? Are you an aspiring Head of School and you want to accelerate your leadership growth? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions then the Private School Leader Podcast is for you!Your host, Mark Minkus, has been a private school leader for over 30 years. He’s been where you are. He’s been in the hospital with ulcers. He’s had his daughters ask, “Dad, when do we get to see you instead of the back of your laptop?” About 10 years ago, Mark went from surviving to thriving and he is here to help you do the same! You will learn step by step strategies to effectively deal with difficult parents, overcome burno
Hosted by
Mark Minkus
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