ConnectED Leaders

ConnectED Leaders is a call to action for superintendents and school system leaders to grow lead and engage in professional leadership networks. The book is based on principles developed in our professional roles as authors, a district superintendent, educational researcher, non-profit leader, leadership development expert, and a K-16 branding consultant for education and business and our personal roles and as friends, siblings, co-workers and parents. The position we claim in highlighting professional leadership networks is grounded in our work and experience. Our belief in professional leadership networks leads us to collaborate upon the superintendency’s need to employ a strategy of growing professional networks, a first book in today's literature. We intend to help superintendents, novice or veteran, and other school system leaders recognize the importance of collaboration through professional leadership networks at a critical point in public education. With the call for more leadership collaboration and less isolation in today’s schools, we offer school system leaders essential principles of networking, that will help them develop and engage in strategic opportunities of collaboration as a means to strengthen and improve the superintendency, their school district organization, and their students’ success.

If you ask any top CEO, whether they are leading a Fortune 500 company or a trail-blazing startup, they will tell you that networking is essential to their success. It’s not what you know, but WHO you know. For educators, ConnectED Leaders shows networking is possibly one of the most valuable ways to build credibility both personally and professionally, and should be viewed as crucial part of your personal brand strategy. And in this brave new world, social media literacy will be an inherent part of your professional networking repertoire., Superintendents have increasingly challenging and demanding roles as they lead their systems through rapid change while serving the needs of ALL of their students. ConnectED Leaders is a compass to navigate those turbulent waters and will empower superintendents to be the collaborative captains of their systems. I highly recommend ConnectED Leaders for any current or aspiring superintendent that is committed to continuous learning and creating a bright future for the students they serve., The Superintendency is one of the loneliest and most demanding jobs in America. Superintendents lead and manage a human capital enterprise. To improve, you and your employees must improve. You cannot do that in a vacuum. Novice, veteran, and aspiring superintendents must begin to embrace professional leadership networks as a means to remain effective as organizational leaders. Creasman, Futrell, and Rubin throughout ConnectED Leaders have focused on a critical topic in today’s schools that is often overlooked. The authors emphasize the importance of a networked superintendent who leads through collaboration, inspired by what we see in the private sector, but lacking in public education today. Who you know, and more importantly, who knows you, matters as much, or more, than what you know. Superintendents must begin to network to lead and lead others to network more to create more flexible schools for students. The authors encourage networking as a means for superintendents to ignite strategic, empowering and sustainable change in schools today by first changing the traditional role of the superintendency., ConnectED Leaders is a timely, relevant book for aspiring and experienced superintendents who want to expand their relationships and professional careers. The book combines Dr. Brian Creasman’s and Dr. Bernadette Futrell’s experience as a network-building superintendent and a director of leadership development with former school administrator and marketing consultant and author, Trish Rubin’s, marketing-savvy to provide readers with a unique and personalized opportunity to learn and apply networking principles. Serving as a school superintendent is getting tougher all the time. Successful superintendents understand that they can’t go it alone. The key to their success is based on the relationships they build with their peers in the profession and stakeholders in their communities. ConnectED Leaders gives readers the tools they need to build their own professional networks and expand collaboration to create the schools and classrooms students need to succeed., Brian, Bernadine and Trish do a great job of providing simple how-to tips for leaders in an easy to read and thoughtful manner. Additionally, Brian, Bernadine and Trish support their recommendations both through research, various experiences and through vignettes provided by current practitioners. I highly recommend ConnectED Leaders for both new and experienced leaders. It is truly a wonderful resource.

Brian Creasman, Ed.D. is currently superintendent of Fleming County Schools in Kentucky. He is a published book author and has served as an assistant superintendent, a high school and middle school principal and assistant principal, and an instructional technologist and classroom teacher.Bernadine Futrell, Ph.D. is an experienced educator who, currently serves as the Director of Leadership Services, for the American Association of School Administrators (AASA). She is a regular contributor in research studies, on several advisory boards and co-founder of a non-profit, Make the Future. Trish Rubin, MA /MPA is a national leader in Branding/Marketing Consultant to K-16 Education and to business clients. She is a published book author, and regular contributor to content platforms and a columnist for District Administration Magazine. Founder of Trish Rubin LTD consultancy, she is a marketing professor at Baruch College in New York City and IESEG School of Management in Paris.