Mark Crotty

Hey, Jeff! Hope you’re well! Great turnout in Seattle also.

Hope as a Renewable Resource “Let’s build a society where it’s easier for people to be good to each other.”—Dorothy Day

Just dropped post #3 on Independent Thinking: “Hope as a Renewable Resource.”

It’s about independent schools, communal relationships, and the radical idea love might be a social good.

Craving a little optimism? Read it. And if it resonates, subscribe.

crottymark.substack.com/p/hope-as-a-...

School Versus Learning A meditation on what school is, what it could be, and why real learning might not fit the system.

If you're part of the independent school world (or just interested in education) you might enjoy my free Substack "Independent Thinking." It's an emergent series of meditations. The latest post considers School vs Learning and the larger purpose of education. crottymark.substack.com/p/school-ver...

Independent Thinking | Mark Crotty | Substack Independent. Imaginative. Inspiring. Celebrating the bold ideas and diverse voices shaping independent schools—and challenging the status quo with fresh perspectives and daring questions. Click to re...

Independent Thinking, my new Substack,
is a series of meditations on independent schools, drawn from decades of practice and reflection. I proclaim...and I question.

Subscribe, share, respond. Or just read and reflect. Let’s think independently, together.

crottymark.substack.com!

I don’t know. I left that school in 2010.

Many years ago kids at my school started a “Do Stuff” club. They would decide to learn something non-academic and get after it. Two I recall were changing a tire and making crepes.

Not a big name, but Beatnik Bandits were absolutely amazing when they opened for Blue October in Seattle, Nov ‘23. Never saw opener get that kind of ovation before.

I once wrote a piece on how one should be “shining eyes.” (Concept borrowed from Zander’s The Art of Possibility.)

Every @lfcr.bsky.social trophy is special, but this year’s title feels extra sweet. Smiles and tears. #ynwa #BackOnOurPerch

Job done!!!!!!! #ynwa

If you’re a marketer trying to lure me as client via mass email, that email shouldn’t be riddled with errors, full of cliches, and visually unappealing. Yet it’s amazing how many of those I receive.

I see @schneiderb.com reading this and shaking his head.

“Nothing more frightening for a defender than a smiling Mo Salah.”—perfect line from commentator today. #YNWA @lfcr.bsky.social @iloveliverpool.bsky.social

I think I might eliminate those applicants right away. I’m not opposed to AI entirely. I am opposed to too much reliance on it. That, and laziness.

Beautiful rainbow over Statue of Liberty on Alki in West Seattle this afternoon. Maybe sign of hope…

(Wish I could say I took it. Found on West Seattle blog, and credit goes to someone named Karen Carlson.)

I almost added that thought to my original post!

What? Why?

I live in Seattle. Something I ordered was coming from NY. It arrived at Seattle distribution center on Wednesday—then went to Sacramento. Back to Seattle last night and supposed to be delivered today.

At least it’s the day I was told it would arrive…

I was once advised that one should give a book “100 minus your age” number of pages. At that point, if it isn’t working for you, bag it.

As I age, this aligns with the saying “So many books, so little time.”

Great leaders help people see the value in their work--not just in how a role contributes to a system, but in some profound sense of meaning and purpose.

Mike Vachow (@mikevachow.bsky.social) Use every man after his desert, and who should 'scape whipping? STL

We all know you can tell a lot about someone by how they treat service workers.

I’ve concluded the second best way might be behavior in the gym.

@mikevachow.bsky.social, as fellow gym frequenter, you agree?

Kind of mind-blowing that today marks 5 years since colleges and schools started moving online because of Covid.

To extend this notion further: high quality leaders know there is strength in acknowledging, and even deliberately showing, their weaknesses.

Great leaders shrink themselves so others may grow, not erase others so their own ego grows.

If you’re looking to tweak, modify, revamp a system, make sure you have a fundamental grasp of the how’s and why’s that went into it reaching its current state.

We’re seeing in real time that quality leadership never has been about “moving fast and breaking stuff. Any toddler can pull that off.

One ironic limitation of education is that while the goal is to prepare students for the future, so much of school focuses on the past and the right now without considering the larger implications.

One of most creative novels ever! Blew my mind with how author rethought the relationship between words and the page.

At NWAIS, there is one thing that will never change: we LOVE serving our schools.

Through good times and challenging times, we can promise that our mission to help schools fulfill their own missions is central to everything we do.

Happy Valentine's Day!

When making important decisions, protocols and proclamations can be powerful.

But not when, in Faulkner’s words, they are “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

And then it sure isn’t leadership.

You know large-scale leadership is failing when so many calls for action include “more than ever”…and it doesn’t feel hyperbolic, but quite possibly accurate.

Btw, I think I got you a couple more book sales today—been recommending it often.