Adam Grant
Wharton Professor and Bestselling Author of Give and Take
"Leading Online is an innovative, interactive exploration of leadership in the digital age. Stephen Valentine and Reshan Richards, experts in academic leadership and educational technology, have produced something truly original and delightful. It’s more than a book: it’s a demonstration of how the internet and social media can change the way we lead and learn."
BETH HOLLAND, ED.M.
EDTECHTEACHER INSTRUCTOR (@BRHOLLAND)
"Unlike many of the leadership books that I've read, this one provides tangible strategies and clear action items for school leaders regardless of whether they are new to the online world or veterans. Reshan and Steve clearly understand the realities of schools and classrooms as well as the potential for maximizing online environments for empowerment, connection, and life-long learning."
Mike Kosuda
Army Officer, Strategist, and VeteraN
“Leading Online is an exciting work with important insights for anyone charged with leading in our current age. Stephen Valentine and Reshan Richards have done the hard thinking (and networking) to present a holistic vision of leadership that is empowered and extended through digital presence. The real temptation for leaders is to try and adapt new technologies to old ways of thinking and operating leading to a haphazard amalgamation of half realized digital possibility. Leading Online re-imagines what is possible and helps leaders deliberately choose a genuinely new approach to their profession.”
CHris Marblo
President of The Arts Center of the Capital Region
"Leading Online is an important contribution to the literature on leadership. Innovative in content and execution, the book takes a practical yet inspiring tour of the ways that digital connectivity can challenge — and enhance — 21st century school leadership. Leading Online is a compelling, insightful, and humane invitation to think deeply about the changing nature of learning and leadership."
SHAWN MCCUSKER
High School Social Studies teacher, William Fremd High School, creator and moderator of #1to1techat, co leader of #engsschat & #sschat
"Leading Online provides a clear roadmap for taking leadership to the next level. The focus is not just how to be effective today, but how to position yourself to be an effective, forward thinking leader in an uncertain and rapidly evolving future."
Dr. Nick Morgan
President, Public Words, Inc and author of Power Cues: the Subtle Science of Leading Groups, Persuading Others, and Maximizing Your Personal Impact, to be published by Harvard in May 2014.
"It's a dirty secret of leadership that too many leaders are technophobes. Richards and Valentine not only get how important technology is to leadership, but they provide many examples and stories of leaders seamlessly integrating technology into their leadership styles. This is must-reading for any leader who wants to be relevant in the next decade."
DANIEL H. PINK
AUTHOR OF DRIVE AND TO SELL IS HUMAN
"What does it mean to be an online leader? How do you become an effective one? The authors of Leading Online explore the answers to these questions in an interactive, networked, practice-what-you-preach format. Take the plunge!"
Justin Reich
co-founder EdTechTeacher and author of Education Week's EdTechResearcher blog
"In any kind of learning environment, people learn more from what leaders do than what they say. As teachers and leaders, the main lesson we teach comes through being who we are. In that spirit Reshan Richards and Stephen Valentine have stepped out to model their own leadership and learning by producing an innovative new online book about learning and leadership. Richards and Valentine argue that leaders need to model the practices they wish to see in the world, and they model innovation by pushing the boundaries of interactive text. They argue that leaders need to cultivate support from a networked community of practice, so in this book they have contribution from over a dozen thoughtful leaders. For anyone trying to understand what the practice of leadership online looks like in school environments, this book will be a valuable guide."
Audrey Watters
Writer, Hack Education
"How do school leaders actually lead in this period of rapid and sometimes radical change? Reshan and Steve have written an extremely helpful guide here to help leaders think through both the skills and the mindsets that will help them connect their schools and their work to others online — and to push education forward."
Bob Weintraub
professor of practice in education leadership, teachers college, columbia university and long-time elementary & high school principal
"As a long-time teacher and school principal, I was not "designed" for today's dynamic technological environment. I do know that good and bold leadership is essential if schools or any organizations will adapt to change and get better over time. Stephen Valentine and Reshan Richards' Leading Online is absolutely required reading for current and aspiring leaders.
The authors are deeply grounded in the real world of schools. They know about the multiple ways children learn; they know about the different ways teachers can teach; they know about the variety of organizational landscapes; and they know about the complexities and importance of leadership.
I found Leading Online to be like a great professional conference featuring a variety of compelling sessions that participants can choose. I also found the book to be a gentle invitation to the world of educational technology that is impossible to refuse.
Stephen and Reshan know that personal and organizational development takes time. They also know that leadership is about relationships -- face to face and online. Their book presents a very humane understanding of the relationship between educational technologies and the leaders who, with their colleagues, must define their schools within this new context.
The book is beautifully written and the sketches are adorable. I enthusiastically and unequivocally recommend it as essential reading for all educators."
The authors are deeply grounded in the real world of schools. They know about the multiple ways children learn; they know about the different ways teachers can teach; they know about the variety of organizational landscapes; and they know about the complexities and importance of leadership.
I found Leading Online to be like a great professional conference featuring a variety of compelling sessions that participants can choose. I also found the book to be a gentle invitation to the world of educational technology that is impossible to refuse.
Stephen and Reshan know that personal and organizational development takes time. They also know that leadership is about relationships -- face to face and online. Their book presents a very humane understanding of the relationship between educational technologies and the leaders who, with their colleagues, must define their schools within this new context.
The book is beautifully written and the sketches are adorable. I enthusiastically and unequivocally recommend it as essential reading for all educators."
