Christian Holst

Philosophy of Leadership
Schools must be about the business of promoting college and career readiness. Yes,
schools of the 21
st
Century must endow our students with such sills as creati!ity, digital
literacy, critical thining, collaboration, and problem sol!ing regardless of race, creed, gender,
disability, color, national origin, or economic status as outlined in the California "ducation Code
Section #1$$%, but they must also be places of respect and student&centeredness. 'f any of the
abo!e are lacing, both among the students and the staff, schools are doing all staeholders a
disser!ice.
't is the leader(s )ob to create en!ironments where staff can effecti!ely wor together to
harness student achie!ement. *or this to happen, three things need to be in place+ trust,
communication, and !ision. ,rust must be established between staff, students, and parents in
order to practice !ulnerability and wor together. -pen, and whene!er possible, transparent
communication needs to e.ist among all staff members. /s a leader ' need to listen more than '
tal. ,o create achie!ement a leader must rally staeholders around a shared !ision for school
success based on staeholder input and district goals, distributed leadership, open
communication, and data dri!en procedures. /ll staeholders within a school, parents, teachers,
and staff, need one unifying bond that goes beyond differences. *or educators, it has to be about
the success of the child. ,o this end, leadership is about creating opportunities for different
people to interact together.
/s a leader ' hope to collaborate to create a strong, welcoming, and student&centered
school culture that focuses not only on academics, but also on the healthy social, emotional, and
Christian Holst
mental de!elopment of its students and staff. 0hile ' hope to assist staff, students, parents, and
community members in building a high performing academic program, ' want to focus more on
people because ' belie!e in!esting in the right people will produce the right program. 0hile
upholding policy, ' hope more of my leadership focus will be on the human resource aspect of
school than on managing the structure of school. ,o do this ' belie!e distributed leadership is
necessary. 't is my goal to build on the symbolic rituals that unite the staff while creating new
opportunities to unify a di!erse body of professionals.
/ leader must help create authentic learning en!ironments for both students and teachers.
Students must apply their learning to rele!ant, real world e.periences to see how and why their
learning matters. Staff should be supported and pro!ided clear !ision to effecti!ely reach and
teach their students. /n integral part of the learning process is to create a school that is a second
home to students. 1y dri!ing 2uestion is simple+ how does this benefit students3 *urthermore, '
belie!e parental and community in!ol!ement is essential to fostering a safe, nurturing, and
student centered en!ironment.
*inally, a leader has to be passionate. /n educational leader has to ha!e a passion for ids
and education. 'f the passion is there he or she will be better able to wor through the positi!e
and negati!e differences that di!ersity allows for while promoting the shared !ision of
e.cellence in education.