On this episode of the Innovative Schools podcast, we're sitting down with principal Brody Kefeli to talk about leadership in the classroom, leadership at the school level, and what it means to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Come on. Let's learn together. Hey, everybody. Welcome to this episode of the Innovative Schools podcast.
Jordan Bassett:I'm Jordan. My name is Will. Hey. I'm glad to be doing a podcast with you again.
Will Anthony:Me too, man. I'm glad to be back.
Jordan Bassett:It's it's great. It's fun fun fun times. Today, we're talking about kind of really, we're just gonna see where this conversation goes a little bit. Our guest on the podcast today is someone that I've had the opportunity to work with for several years. Seen him, read some of his books, seen him present.
Jordan Bassett:But, he's been around for a while, and, I I always get something from what he says. So we're not gonna sit around for too long. We're gonna get right into it, and we have principal Brody Kefele with us. Hey, man. How you doing?
Principal Baruti Kafele:I'm on fire. I'm good. I'm good. I'm glad to be here as well.
Jordan Bassett:That's awesome. That? Well, I'm sorry. Will, I talked over you. What were
Principal Baruti Kafele:you saying?
Will Anthony:No. Was saying glad to hear that. You know, he's not new to this. So He's not. Great to have him here.
Will Anthony:Yeah.
Jordan Bassett:I feel like he has some stuff he could teach us about how to do this. It's really it's really the voice. I don't understand how he has that voice that he has. We were watching we were talking a little bit before the recording. I found your archive YouTube page of some of your early presentations and interviews.
Jordan Bassett:And I'll tell you what, I could close my eyes, and you sound the same then as you do now. I mean, just that sultry voice. Our podcast our listeners are really in for a treat listening to this one. But
Principal Baruti Kafele:You know what? I'm I'm a I'm a say something about that. I am I am disappointed in myself that I haven't done more with my voice. Yeah. Particularly around voice over.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Now, of course, I still have time, but I'm complimented on my voice seven days a week. You know, it's, it it's a rare day that someone, you know, like customer service, anything. It's a rare day that somebody doesn't give me a compliment on my voice. So, I'm asking myself, well, why why are you not doing more with it beyond speaking? You know, there there there's there's so much more.
Principal Baruti Kafele:So maybe you just gave me the fire that I needed to There you go. Pursue something.
Jordan Bassett:Hey. I'll keep my ear to the ground, and if I hear something, I'll let you know.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Yeah.
Jordan Bassett:I will we'll get you in there, but that's that's awesome. So Principal Kafele, I wanted to go I talked a little bit about your archive YouTube page, but I do wanna go back to the beginning of your journey in education. And some some people may know you who are listening and some may not. Just some some quick stats I found about you. You have 14 books currently.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Yes.
Jordan Bassett:It's 14. You just had a new one come out recently?
Principal Baruti Kafele:That's right.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. You have 14 books, over 3,000 keynotes, workshops, parenting seminars, student assemblies.
Principal Baruti Kafele:That's right.
Jordan Bassett:And over thirty five years of serving the education community.
Principal Baruti Kafele:That's right.
Jordan Bassett:That is a tremendous achievement. I mean, you've you've been all all over. But I wanna go back to your beginning, and what was your first job in the education environment?
Principal Baruti Kafele:Yeah. I didn't study education in undergrad school. I studied marketing, but midway through, I knew I wanted to be a teacher. And but I didn't know how that was gonna happen. I didn't know of the alternate route programs, etcetera.
Principal Baruti Kafele:So I found out that New York City had a had an emergency, had a crisis, a teacher shortage, that they were practically hiring anybody with a degree. So I went over and they interviewed me and they asked me two, two, no, one verbal question and I think I took a, two essay examination, right? And he had two essays and two one pagers. They did they threw three scenarios at me altogether with the verbal and the two essays. They said, very good.
Principal Baruti Kafele:You passed. Go find a job. And they gave me a list of, schools that had vacancies and I chose one in Brooklyn, New York City, in Crown Heights, PS 221. And the principal interviewed me that morning for a few minutes and she said, can you this was November 1988, and she said, can you start tomorrow? And I said, yeah, but I was so scared.
Principal Baruti Kafele:And, but I went and it all began there and I I stayed in it. I I I enjoyed my year and decided let me come back home to my home city, East Orange, New Jersey and and get certified correctly and did. And hence, here we are. Here we are.
Jordan Bassett:So what was your fir what was your first, what did you teach in that first
Principal Baruti Kafele:Elementary elementary education, fifth grade and Okay. Consider everything I I I said about my that I've told everybody about my high school years. You know, I spent a lot of time in high school. I spent five years in high school. I had I had some challenges and didn't didn't know who that was inside.
Principal Baruti Kafele:So, I I you know, my mother sent me to four different schools to try to try to save me from myself and nothing was working. Graduated in five years and then spent the next five years doing little to nothing. And then went to a school here in Jersey called Cain University and graduated summa cum laude. Wow. And and and it surprised a lot of people, but it didn't surprise me.
Principal Baruti Kafele:I found myself and I I knew I wanted to teach, but I knew I was in that major. But when I found out about the shortage in New York City, then I said, okay, there's there there's my my my exit from, corporate America and my entrance into education. And again, I loved it, and I stayed in it. And here we are, 2025 and still going strong.
Will Anthony:Yeah. At what point do you think you realized that you were in the wrong field, that you knew you wanted to go into education?
Principal Baruti Kafele:Yeah. You know, you and you all have seen at the Innovative Schools Summit a quote that I put on the screen often from the from the book, The Miseducation of the Negro, written by doctor Carter g Woodson in 1933. Well, I stumbled on that book, and it had a quote, which I'm gonna quote since it's short, where he said, when you control a man's thinking, you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his quote unquote proper place, and he will stay in it.
Principal Baruti Kafele:You do not need to send him to the back door. He'll go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he'll cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary. That quote and subsequently that book said to me, you are a classroom teacher.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Right? You are a classroom teacher. So I just had no idea how I was gonna going to get into it because I wasn't gonna start over on my major. So, I didn't know that there were alternate pathways to get into school systems, emergency certifications, etcetera. I you know, I I didn't I I hadn't lived enough life post sleeping for ten years to know what was out here.
Principal Baruti Kafele:So I I I came to that discovery and and and and that's how it started in New York. So, you know, best decision I know now that I was born to be in education and quite frankly, if teachers were making a little bit more money back in those days, I probably would have never left the classroom because as much as I loved the principalship, it didn't equate to being in that classroom with them babies every day.
Jordan Bassett:So let's talk about that transition from the classroom to principal. So how many years did you spend in a classroom?
Principal Baruti Kafele:Seven years.
Jordan Bassett:Seven years. And then what was it that kinda motivated you into becoming a principal and starting down that path?
Principal Baruti Kafele:Yeah. I love the question. You know, my first year, going back to Brooklyn for a second, although it was a good year by my standards, it was a horrible year. Right? But I you know, but looking at it realistically, know I had a good year.
Principal Baruti Kafele:My first year when I got back home here in Jersey, those students who I'm in I'm still in touch with a lot of them, and that was in in in 1992, '93 school year because no. I did some running around. I wrote a book and then I opened up a bookstore. Right? I I I sold I sold books I sold African American literature.
Principal Baruti Kafele:So I had a bookstore and I was an author. So I spent two years with that. Then I went back into the classroom in '92. And that year, when I look back on it, I'm I'm not satisfied with it, although a lot of those young people, they're in their forties now. I'm still in touch with them via social media.
Principal Baruti Kafele:And when I when I write, posts that indicate my first year wasn't good, they're always for some reason, they pop up doing those posts and say, no. No. No. That's not true. You were awesome.
Principal Baruti Kafele:I'm the person I am today because you were my teacher in fifth grade even though that was your first year in Jersey teaching. Right? So so I go into that year and that summer, it was like, you know, you think about the old Mike Tyson. And Mike Tyson, before he was making all that money, he he was old school in terms of the gyms he worked out in, you know, there was some some some some damp, dusty place and he and he's and he's just going at it, trying to get himself great. So I kinda borrowed from that, not in terms of the the basement or anything like that, but that summer, I spent the entire summer, no vacation, just getting mentally prepared for the next school year.
Principal Baruti Kafele:So you we're saying we get out in June, school doesn't start till the day after Labor Day in September. All that summer, I'm getting mentally right. I'm getting mentally right. I'm getting mentally right. So when when so that year, I say this to this day, of all the years of education that I've been in, my best year was that year, that second year in East Orange, New Jersey.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Beyond the shadow of a doubt, I've never had a year like that. Right? So, it's so at that point, I'm I'm flirting in my mind, well, you can take that, what you did this year, and transfer that to the principalship. So but I'm not I'm I'm not sure yet. So I go another year.
Will Anthony:And
Principal Baruti Kafele:then I said and it was phenomenal. So then I said, yeah, you're a principal. So I enrolled in in in graduate school and and become, and and get my my master's degree in education administration. I graduate in '2 in in '96. I started in '94, and I graduated in '96.
Principal Baruti Kafele:But here's the thing that that that really seals the deal. In '96, I was named the school this the school teacher of the year, the district teacher of the year, the county teacher of the year, New Jersey state finalist teacher of the year. Now I know, okay, you you you gotta go into this principalship because you you gotta bring that. But in the meantime, I got a lot of older people who who see I should say seasoned people who are like, you teach at a year at those levels, you just got here, right? You just got here in '92, now it's '96 and you, New Jersey State finalist, teacher of the year.
Principal Baruti Kafele:I say, we doing some things that are a little bit different in my environment. You all are focused on closing the achievement gap. I'm not. I'm focused on closing what I coined the attitude gap. So they said, what
Jordan Bassett:do you mean? That's a common saying I've heard you say a lot.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Yeah. All the
Jordan Bassett:time. A
Principal Baruti Kafele:Wrote a book about about it. It, closing the attitude gap. They say, so they said, what do you mean by attitude gap? I said, the gap between those students who have the will to achieve excellence and those who do not. But then I looked at the staff and I said, I confine the attitude gap to children.
Principal Baruti Kafele:I said, let's look at staff. The gap between those educators who have the will to be amazing at their craft and those who do not. So, all those years in education, even these fourteen years as a full time consultant, I'm still focused on attitude. I'm not focused on the nuts and bolts of achievement, because my premise has always been from day one, if I can change the attitude, the achievement will take care of itself. This matters exponentially.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. That's I that's so true. I was talking to Michael Bonner. Do you have you met him
Principal Baruti Kafele:We're friends. Yeah.
Jordan Bassett:Good. Good. Good. Love love Michael. We had him on the podcast earlier this season.
Jordan Bassett:But I was talking to him offline, and we were just talking about he has that same kind of mentality that you're talking about
Principal Baruti Kafele:Yeah.
Jordan Bassett:Of the attitude of both the teacher and the student so greatly impacts the success. If a teacher believes a student can be successful, it can change the entire outcome of
Principal Baruti Kafele:Absolutely. Absolutely.
Jordan Bassett:Of that student. And I think that's such an important thing for all of us. And and and not just not just for the student, but as getting a little bit into as we were talking about you being a principal in your principalship, a principal's belief in their staff of the people that are under them, the teachers and this the the support and everybody who's there in the school, belief that they can make a difference as well, I think, is crucially important for us to just believe in each other and and have that attitude of success.
Principal Baruti Kafele:That's right. That's right. Absolutely.
Jordan Bassett:I think it's it's great. So you became a principal. How long were you a principal for?
Principal Baruti Kafele:Fourteen years.
Jordan Bassett:Fourteen years. Goodness. And then, so in the same vein of what motivated you into principal, what motivated you, I guess, into what you're doing now, which is writing more books, doing more speaking, and all that stuff. Consulting and all that stuff. Consulting.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah.
Principal Baruti Kafele:That that's actually the the question. Capital letters, the question. Because most people in the world know me as a presenter. They don't know me as a principal. They don't the only thing they know about me as a principal is that I used my name, Principal Kefele, right?
Principal Baruti Kafele:But they don't they don't know what I've done, you know, and they may listen to a bio, that type of thing. They may have said in some sessions of mine and I talked about some of what we did. So that that's really the question. Let me answer that. When I went to undergrad school and I went through my metamorphosis, The metamorphosis is because, singularly, I stumbled upon African American history.
Principal Baruti Kafele:That's it. Drop the mic. I stumbled upon African American history. I didn't know anything. So therefore, I didn't know who that was in my mirror.
Principal Baruti Kafele:I did not know historically speaking, culturally speaking. I stumble on African American history and and and for the rest of undergrad school, I don't I'm not sleeping anymore, you know, and I'm using that figuratively, but I'm barely sleeping. I'm reading around the clock. I'm doing my coursework, I'm going to class, but because I'm being introduced to myself historically, that coursework is very easy for me because for the first time in my life, I have an understanding of the shoulders upon which I stand historically, which prior to that, I had no idea. I couldn't even talk to you about Martin Luther King Junior.
Principal Baruti Kafele:I should say Reverend Doctor. Martin Luther King Junior. I just I didn't have it for whatever the reason, you know, that's a whole other discussion, but you know, I can tell you why, but but but I didn't have it. So now, I'm doing all this reading. Well, guess what?
Principal Baruti Kafele:My heroes were people who wrote and stood before microphones. Those were my heroes. I wanted to emulate what they did. I I literally wanted to do what these people did. I wanted to write books.
Principal Baruti Kafele:I wanted to I wanted to be able to speak to the masses of people, but here's the problem. Who am I gonna write a book for? And who would wanna hear me? I have nothing to talk about. I have absolutely nothing to talk about with the exception of what I did in undergrad school.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Right? That's all I got. I said, okay. Well, there's there's an audience out there that's willing to hear what you did in undergrad school that hasn't accomplished what you've accomplished. So I I graduated in '86, and my first speech was '86, and I was literally talking about the things I did to to go from from where I was to what I became as a student.
Principal Baruti Kafele:And and quickly, I my audience became children and parents. So I spoke in in at PTA meetings, I spoke anywhere somebody would have me all over New Jersey, all over New York City, as far as Philadelphia, any night of the week, some weeks, five nights a week, every week, talking to audiences of one, two, three, four, and five people. Right? So, these were my heroes. These people writing these history books, these folks giving these speeches, but then there's another hero I had in terms of microphones, and these were motivational speakers.
Principal Baruti Kafele:You're Les Browns of the world, you're Zig Ziglar's of the world, and I can go on and on. These were heroes of mine too. I said, man, I just want a mic. That's all I want. I I I just wanna write a book.
Principal Baruti Kafele:So in 1990, my first child was born, my son.
Will Anthony:And
Principal Baruti Kafele:I had the lowest income between myself my wife and I, so I became mister mom. So, I was home every day, unemployed. And my son would sleep most of the day. So, I said, okay, while he's sleep, I can write a book on parenting. Even though I've only got an infant child, I know what a parent is here in terms of what I did in undergraduate school.
Principal Baruti Kafele:So I wrote a book. It's called The Black Parents Handbook to Educating Your Children. That book became the Essence Magazine, Black Women's Magazine, very popular magazine, the number one best selling book, non fiction in their sales rank. But, you know, but but for another time, because, you know, that's that speaks to my hustle, you know, just, you know, but that's that's a whole other conversation in terms of my hustle.
Jordan Bassett:We're gonna have like six podcasts at the end of this. Yeah. We're just gonna line them up, get them back on and talk My some
Principal Baruti Kafele:hustle was strong, and that's what got that book out there and it got my name out there more. So just to make a very long story short, in 02/2004, I spoke since we're with Accutrain, I won't mention the name of the conference, but I spoke at a Yeah. And it, they gave me a 300 seat room as an unknown breakout, breakout, presentation presenter and breakout session presenter. And it freaked me out. I was psyched out.
Principal Baruti Kafele:I'm like, I went to the conference on a Friday and went to sessions, but I kept stopping by that room, knowing I was gonna speak there Monday. And I said, man, I this is gonna be a disaster. I'm gonna be speaking in a room with nobody in there, maybe five people because that was what I was accustomed to, five, ten people in session. I get to the room about an hour early that Monday morning. It's in New Orleans.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Get there about an hour early, I sat outside the door, nobody knew who I was. And I watched the people going in. And once it was over 300 people in that room, someone came outside and said, that's it everybody, no more. And people were begging, you gotta let me in, you gotta let me in. I'm like, oh my God.
Principal Baruti Kafele:So I go in there and I do this one hour presentation on using this overhead projector, know, wasn't no PowerPoint yet. This is 2,000 Yep. Before. I mean, it existed, but most of us didn't have it.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. Yep. Yep.
Principal Baruti Kafele:So so then the folks you know, I wasn't expecting to get business out of that, I just wanted the experience of giving us a presentation at a national conference. So, the folks said, do you have a business card? We wanna invite you out. They yelling. Right?
Principal Baruti Kafele:In fact, they gave me a standing ovation, a breakout session. Can you imagine that? A breakout session, right? So then they said, we need you. Said, they said, wait, you have business cards?
Principal Baruti Kafele:I don't have no business cards, right? I'm like, I just gave them a presentation.
Jordan Bassett:I just showed up, I don't know.
Principal Baruti Kafele:I had 10 cards, I put them on the table. 10 cards. Watch this y'all. I had the overhead projector sitting on the same table with that glass that glass top. Right?
Jordan Bassett:Mhmm.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Imagine 300 people storming the table for 10 business cards. I told them I only had 10. Imagine 300 people stormed the table. Well, what did they They knocked the table over, the glass shattered, and Wow. I'm still I want y'all the people who will hear this, I want y'all to hear me real good on this.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Today is 09/15/2025. That happened in April 2004. I am still I'm a say it again. I am still riding that wave. See, like so in other words, whatever the the the listeners know about Principal Kefele, don't don't don't look at don't pick up in like like like two thousand ten, two thousand fifteen.
Principal Baruti Kafele:No. Go back to 02/2004, and that wave know, them waves work. Right? I'm still riding that same wave because business flowed from that day, And it just kept spiraling and spiraling and spiraling. I'm yet to call someone and say, can you can I send you my material?
Principal Baruti Kafele:I'd like to speak at your whatever. Right? I'm still riding that wave from 02/2004. So I think I'm saying to somebody out there, we never know when opportunity is gonna knock. But whenever it does, bring your best self.
Principal Baruti Kafele:So whenever you step out, whatever it is you're trying to do with your life, bring your best self always. Well, that day in April 2004, I brought the best principal kaphale that I could bring, not suspecting that in 02/2025, I'd still be riding the same wave. But trust me, I am.
Jordan Bassett:You had no idea what that that energy that you were bringing was gonna do just for the rest for the next twenty years.
Principal Baruti Kafele:That's right. That's right.
Jordan Bassett:And we
Principal Baruti Kafele:so and and we don't
Jordan Bassett:know when that's gonna end.
Principal Baruti Kafele:I forgot. So so to your question, after 02/2004, I'm able to be that guy, that writer, that speaker. So then I went ballistic writing books. I said, I can be him now. I went ballistic giving speeches.
Principal Baruti Kafele:I can be him now. So my my heroes back in them days, them civil rights folks, those historians, those motivational speakers. Now I can do what they do, not the way they do it. I had to find my lane. And I found my lane and I stay in my lane.
Principal Baruti Kafele:And every now and then I'll get a call or an email from people who wanna take me out of my lane and ask me to speak on things that I know nothing about and offer a lot of money. And I always say that money real good, but it's not my lane. And I don't know that I could bring to your conference, your your school, your district, that which you've seen of me speaking on something I've got no passion for.
Jordan Bassett:Mhmm.
Principal Baruti Kafele:You know? So so so I so I stay in my lane, it's very narrow. That way I don't collide with people. Right? And and we get it done.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. That's that's true. Yeah. I mean, you the things that you speak about, you you have a lane, but it's a very it's a very powerful lane. It's one that when we are at the Innovative Schools Summit and after you're you've spoken, there's a palpable change in the way people feel about their impact in the classroom and in their school.
Jordan Bassett:Appreciate it. A change change for good. And we definitely wanna get into it's been great hearing your story and where you started and where you came. Because I think it's really important for people to understand that you're not just a guy that shows up and starts motivating educators. You've you've stepped into the classroom, into principal, and and seen the needs.
Jordan Bassett:And I get a sense that you're you're very driven by wanting to bring up those around you and pull them along. Yeah. You're someone who's not just doing this for yourself, but you see needs in the classroom and needs in schools, and you're trying to address that. And so we're gonna take just a a quick break, and that's the area of Principal Kefehle that I want us to get into next. So listeners, hang out for just a minute, and we'll we'll be back.
Jordan Bassett:Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the innovative schools podcast. It's, Jordan here with Will and principal Kefele. We just finished talking about his whole journey from, what motivated him to take the different steps of getting into the classroom and then into principalship and then into, what he's doing now of consulting, writing books, and and everything like that. I wanna, just before we took the break, you quickly, I'm not sure we actually, like, mentioned it.
Jordan Bassett:So if you're listening, you may not have known, but if you're watching, principal Kafele, you lifted up a mirror for a second. And I I find that a little odd thing to have just sitting on your desk there, but I know that there's also a reason that you have that mirror there. Can you just explain a little bit about that mirror and what you do with that?
Principal Baruti Kafele:Yeah. I have I don't go anywhere without this. The last time I spoke at the Innovative Schools Summit, I realized that I left my mirror backstage, and I had to ask the audience. As a matter of fact, I did that in New York too. So so New York and what was that last one?
Principal Baruti Kafele:Vegas. At both times, I forgot my mirror and I had to ask the audience for a mirror. So they gave me these mirrors that are part of their makeup kit and and I had to use that because I I I just I'm at a point in my my my professional life. I've been at this point for a long time that I cannot do presentations without this. I gotta and for those who are listening without the mirror in my hand.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Right? I'll put it in my pocket from from time to time, but I I have to have it, and this is the reason why. Because of what it's symbolizing in everything Principal Kefeley. Right? It's symbolizing game film.
Principal Baruti Kafele:So in the sports world, for those of you that could care less about sports, teams, they don't just practice for their next opponent. They probably spend more time watching the film of the previous game and the film of their next opponent then they they spend time practicing. Because the film allows you to see everything that happens. So let's talk about the film, not of the next opponent, but the film of the team, of of themselves. So now they get to look at all the nuance.
Principal Baruti Kafele:They get to see what worked, what didn't work, why it didn't work, how it worked, or or whatever. So they they're breaking it down, they're analyzing it so that they can get those answers, and then that film study forms the basis of practice. So for me talking to educators for a living, and children I might add, I'm saying, educator, you gotta break down your film. You can't just string two days together, and not hit the pause button, and dissect, critique, analyze your film. But you don't have to watch film from a camera.
Principal Baruti Kafele:The mirror will suffice, and you don't even need the mirror handy. What what I want you to do is engage in very intentional, deliberate, purposeful self reflection. So Mhmm. Self reflection is first. Just just hit hit the play button, and and just reflect on your day.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Non judgmentally. Just reflect on your day.
Jordan Bassett:Yes.
Principal Baruti Kafele:But then secondly, you wanna go back and look, but you wanna look at it with a critical eye. You wanna self assess. I say to teachers and administrators all the time, do not wait for your evaluator of record to assess your performance because you don't have that time that kind of time to wait. Your students don't have that kind of time to wait. You want to assess your own performance, but you want to be brutally honest with the assessment.
Principal Baruti Kafele:If you are not honest with the assessment, then this whole exercise is simply a waste of time. You got to be brutally honest with it. You you of course, you can have accountability partners, thought partners, all that kind of thing, but you may not have access to them all the moments that you want them, but you do have this, but you just gotta be meaning your mirror, but you gotta be honest with the person in your mirror. So after that self assessment, then the natural next step would be self adjustment. You gotta make a shift.
Principal Baruti Kafele:You gotta make a change because you found some flaws. You found some deficiencies. You found some areas where you can just do better. So, you make the adjustment toward self improvement. So you're not looking to become good to great in one day, you're just looking for incremental growth.
Principal Baruti Kafele:So if you're here, those of you who are watching on the video, then tomorrow just get here, an inch higher, right? Next day get here, an inch higher, that's all, right? And then by the time we and you keep doing that, you'll be at the ceiling in no time, right? But you gotta be methodical about the whole process. And I also say it's better if you write it.
Principal Baruti Kafele:So, so write out what that day was and as you're reflecting, as you're assessing. Then the adjustment, you just simply write the write it as goals, and then here's my goals for tomorrow, that's the adjustment for tomorrow, and then you write a plan to go along with it. But you never lose sight of this fifth level, which is self care and self preservation. That matters as well. You gotta preserve yourself for the long haul, you know, we got I was at a at a convocation the other day that I was the speaker, but, you know, they award the the educators who've been there twenty five years, thirty years, forty years, but they had somebody I never seen this one before.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Fifty years. Fifty years. That's a long time to be in the classroom. That's longer than most of the teachers in the building have been alive. So, years.
Will Anthony:It's a long time
Principal Baruti Kafele:to be anywhere. That's right.
Will Anthony:So,
Principal Baruti Kafele:you gotta make sure that you are preserving yourself, Right? You gotta make sure that you are taking care of yourself. All that matters.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. I mean, that's all to me, I think about that. I try and self assess often of what's going on. But I think a really key to that is it's not beating yourself up. It's it's just it's being honest, but not being I don't know.
Jordan Bassett:Like, mean, I guess. But to yourself, you have to look and say, I didn't do well here. I did do well there. This is how I need to fix this. This is how I need this is what I'm gonna try tomorrow.
Jordan Bassett:I have there's a book I read my daughter called Tomorrow I'll I'll Be Brave. And it goes through all these things. Tomorrow, I'll be brave. Tomorrow, I'll be tomorrow, I'll be creative. Tomorrow, I'll be smart.
Jordan Bassett:Tomorrow, I'll be I'm trying to think of all these different things. But at the very end, it says, and even if I'm not one of these, I'll try my best tomorrow. And and that's, I think, that same mentality of we have to look at were we the things that we wanted to be today? And if we weren't, what do we need to change about tomorrow? That assessment has to come quickly, and it has to come often for us to to continue to grow.
Jordan Bassett:And I think this whole conversation that we've had so far comes to a a quote that I have from you. I remember hearing it. I'm not sure if I heard it in one of your presentations or if it's in your one of your books. You said it. I've heard you say this.
Jordan Bassett:Being uncomfortable with being comfortable and being comfortable with being uncomfortable
Principal Baruti Kafele:That's right.
Jordan Bassett:Is something that you say. And I think through your whole journey, I see that woven through everything that you've done. There's been places where you've kinda gotten comfortable, but you said, I I can't stay here. I I gotta move to the next level. And there's other times where you've been uncomfortable, but you've pushed through to get it done.
Jordan Bassett:But just wanna talk a little bit about that mentality specifically in your life, but then also that mentality that a principal or an assistant principal, even in in a classroom, a teacher needs to have that kind of thought process.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, that's that's that's one of my many quotes. Being comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Being uncomfortable with being comfortable. That means when you you you you feel like you're you're you're at a certain plateau and things are going well. Right? But you gotta want more, because when you want more, children do better, because they're they're they're with an ongoing motivated teacher, ongoing motivated leader, you know, what whatever whatever it is. So I don't wanna get comfortable in my work.
Principal Baruti Kafele:You know, that was me as a teacher, because this isn't you know, that quote is not new for me. I I I didn't I didn't wanna be comfortable as a teacher because then I can't grow. Growing stops when I get comfortable. I didn't wanna be comfortable as a principal, because once I get comfortable as a principal growing stops. I wanna be uncomfortable.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Because if I'm uncomfortable, then I'm gonna make certain shifts. I'm gonna make certain adjustments. I wanna make certain changes. Right? So but even as a presenter, and and and quite frankly, I don't have any problem admitting this, I'm I'm dealing with this right now.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Right? I'm I'm I'm I'm dealing with the fact that I have spoken in so many places. You all have given me the opportunity to speak at places like Caesar's Palace on the Vegas Strip. I can I can remember when all that was because I used to pass that place and it was just a dream, man? And and and I don't even know if it wasn't if it was a realistic dream, but you all gave me gay you you all blessed me with the opportunity to speak at Caesar's Palace.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Right? Other people gave me the opportunity to speak at the Venetian in the Palazzo And Planet Hollywood. I hope I can mention these names on here. Right? Yeah.
Jordan Bassett:Right. So
Principal Baruti Kafele:so so so what happened if and of course, as I said before, I would never mention conferences, but but but there was one more hotel on that strip that I said, I gotta get in there, man. You know, the the rest of them, it didn't really matter, but but those ones I've been at, they mattered, but there was one more that MGM Grand. And I finally got in there this past July, keynoted. And and and and it's and it did something to me that I'm that I'm still wrestling with. It's like, okay.
Principal Baruti Kafele:That juxtaposed with everywhere I've spoken on the globe. Right? I got nowhere else I wanna speak. Nowhere. As far as venues.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Right? Audience you know, programs? Yeah. But venues, it's like, nah. There's there's nothing someone could say, but Kefele, you haven't spoken here.
Principal Baruti Kafele:And it's like now I got real comfortable. Right? And I'm not used to this. I've been telling people lately, I shouldn't say this publicly, but I'm gonna say it anyway because I'm exaggerating. I've saying to people, like I'm I'm right now on a five week vacation.
Principal Baruti Kafele:I'm in the midst of it now. That's why I have time to do this today. Right?
Jordan Bassett:Well, thank you. Thank you for letting us interrupt your vacation. I'm sorry.
Principal Baruti Kafele:No. No. I mean, I I still do my the principal cafe lay work, you know, because the emails the emails keep coming. But I'm not going to the airport. I sat and watched NFL yesterday from 01:00 Eastern until the last second of football last night.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Right? Marvelous. I my said family, I said, y'all don't understand, man. I feel like I died and went to heaven. It's a Sunday.
Principal Baruti Kafele:I'm not at the airport. I'm not in a plane. Right? So I've been saying to folks, I don't know if I ever want to go back to an airport, meaning I don't know if I wanna speak anymore. Right?
Principal Baruti Kafele:Because that MGM Grand did something. Like, don't I don't have any more goals. Right? Of course, the goal in terms of people is there. But the goal in terms of venues, the next thing to conquer, that's not there anymore.
Principal Baruti Kafele:It's there's there's not there's no venue that someone can say, well, you haven't spoken here. I mean, there are places that are not realistic. Like, if someone said Madison Square Garden, yeah. Look. But that ain't gonna happen.
Principal Baruti Kafele:That's not gonna happen. Right? You know?
Jordan Bassett:Innovative school summit at Madison Square Maybe we can make it happen. The triumph.com
Principal Baruti Kafele:arena, which was the staple. That's that's I'm talking about the realistic stuff. So now I gotta find a way because I'm comfortable now. You know, the money's good, you know, all that kind of stuff. I gotta find a way to get uncomfortable again.
Principal Baruti Kafele:And that's something while I'm on this vacation I'm grappling with, because right now I'm like real comfortable, got my Medicare card in the mail, like, you know, because I'll be 65 in October. Right? So I'm like, yo, man. It's you know, I'm like coasting right now. You know?
Principal Baruti Kafele:So I gotta I gotta figure it out. Right? I gotta figure it out. And we and and I will. I will.
Principal Baruti Kafele:You know? I just gotta figure it out.
Jordan Bassett:You're not a person I know to be still for too long.
Principal Baruti Kafele:No. No. No. But I am loving these five weeks. I ain't never been off from nothing for five weeks.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. Rest is good. Rest is good. Yeah.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Because, you know, during the summer, I spoke just about every day from June till Yeah. September. I was in five states a week, every week, it was And that's probably why I'm loving this five days so much.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. Yeah. I think that's good. Let me ask you. Let's go to, like, leadership in in the school a little bit.
Jordan Bassett:Mhmm. If you could change one leadership mindset that you see that's common among principals and assistant principals today, what would be what would be that one thing you could change?
Will Anthony:Oh, yeah. It's a good question.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Great. It's it's a great one because I got the answer right sitting sitting right here. The answer is simple. The the mindset that I don't have time to be the instructional leader that I know that I should be. That's I mean, that's that's it.
Principal Baruti Kafele:That's another mic dropper. That is it. So so let's let's let's delve into it a little bit. I understand
Will Anthony:Wait. Before you before you go into that a little bit more, can you maybe can you identify that in a different way that maybe educators are saying it to themselves in a different way to kinda hide away that maybe that's really what the fact is.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Yeah. Yeah. That's that's that's even better. So let's let's use the sports analogy first. So you got like like yesterday was NFL day and tonight.
Principal Baruti Kafele:And when we watch the game, we're going to see a plethora of coaches on the sidelines, and they are going to be coaching throughout the game. And just as they were coaching before the game. And they'll be coaching, they'll be saying they'll be talking to players, if not coaching them after the game, but certainly for the rest of the week. Now, the analogy is this, the teacher is the athlete and the administrator is the coach. And we know that in schools good matter of fact, let me take it even further.
Principal Baruti Kafele:I did some research years ago. I I I asked myself in in the instructional coaching mindset, how often do NFL coaches collaborate during the season? How often are they just together collaborating, talking, meeting, discussing? And I got my answer every day, seven days a week. Players have days off, maybe the day before the game, the day after the game, but the coaches have zero days off.
Principal Baruti Kafele:There's too much to get done. So I said, wow, look at that. So I said, now let's go back to to us in school. A teacher in any given school in America can go one hundred eight there's a hundred eighty days to round it off. A hundred eighty days of school.
Principal Baruti Kafele:A teacher can go one hundred seventy eight days without any interaction from an administrator. And the only interaction would be that observation and that evaluation conference in the fall and in the spring, so twice yearly. And then we scratch our heads saying, why is the teacher not growing? Or why is the teacher not productive? Well, show me the athlete who can who's so good, the Michael Jordans of the world.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Show me the athlete that's so good that when he reports the practice, the coach says, oh, you're a superstar. You can go back to the hotel. You can go home, or you can go off to the side and maybe shoot foul shots while the rest of us are grinding it out. It doesn't happen. The best of the best are still being coached.
Principal Baruti Kafele:But then we look at school and you got a leader that's, Principal Kefele, I hear you, but do you realize what's on my plate and all this coming down from the state that's coming from central office? I don't have time to coach a teacher to be in classrooms. Well, and then my responses to them is always, but principal, but AP, those young principal cafelis that we talked about before, they're they're in those classrooms of those teachers that are not being coached. That that young principal Kefeles that spent five years in high school that failed everything but PE. He's in your school, perhaps with a teacher who you never see, who you've never given input outside of the evaluation, or said differently, you evaluated that teacher on thirty minutes of observation.
Principal Baruti Kafele:You really don't know who that teacher is. You don't know what the potential is. You really don't know the flaws because you're not gonna capture that in the thirty to forty five minute observation. In terms of saying that differently, now we humanized it and said, young Principal Kefele. Because see, like with me, and this is what I do in terms of my regular presentations, I always make reference to young Principal Kefaleh, but my advantage was I had a reset.
Principal Baruti Kafele:I had a mom who's still with us, 90 years old, I had a mom who waited patiently for me to wake up. And how do I know that so well? Because I can call my mother right now and engage her in any conversation and her fallback, her go to, and she will hear this and she'll laugh when she hears it, Her fallback or her go to will be, I waited for you because I knew you were a nice kid and I knew you were gonna be somebody, so I never gave up on you. I waited for you and here you are. Right?
Principal Baruti Kafele:So but so so she'll say that. If I call her right now, she'll say if we stay on the phone for about fifteen minutes, she'll say it. Right? But but here's the thing. What about that kid that didn't that that doesn't have that mom in the wings waiting for you to straighten up.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Right? Now now now you living a life of underperforming when you had a when you have a wealth of potential, but you don't have the circumstances to go into it and turn it around, turn it on. I had that I I had that that mom that was waiting in the wings. So now when I make the decision, I'm ready to do something with my life, I'm ready to go to college. I got mom that's there to pay the tuition.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Everybody doesn't have that. So now I'm going to that principal saying, yo, you got young principal Kefalase all over this building, Meaning, you got summa cum laude kids, you got authors in here, you got renowned folks in here, right? You got turnaround principals in here, you got teachers of the year in here and all these other professions. But if you don't have the right teacher, or at least the teacher performing at the right level, that's on you leader, that's on Don't point your finger at that teacher, you gotta turn, you gotta turn, you gotta look at that, the mother fingers that's pointing back your way. That's where you gotta focus your energy.
Jordan Bassett:You know, it's almost like we plan this out because the next thing I wanted to bring up was an Instagram post you made semi recently, I think. And it says, hold on. Your leadership is the number one determinant of the success or failure of your school.
Principal Baruti Kafele:That's right. That's right. And some people fight me on that one, but I'm a but I'm but I'm a I'm a hold I'm a hold strong on it, because I believe it with every fiber of my being. But I don't say it I say that to principals when it's a principal audience, right? That your leadership is the number one determinant of the success or failure of your school.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Your leadership because I always make that distinction between leader and leadership. I got a quote that I say, I say, I wanna walk into a school and see the leadership without having to see the leader. Right? Mhmm. So so now with with, with that particular quote, the one you quoted, Jordan, I'll go back to the like, if I'm talking to a teacher audience, then I'm gonna say that to the teacher, and I say it probably say it to them more than I say it to the leaders.
Principal Baruti Kafele:I'm saying to the teacher, once that youngster's in your classroom, not while youngster's not while we're in this auditorium together, But once that youngster comes into your classroom, you are the number one determinant to the success or failure of that youngster. Not parent, because parent ain't there. Right? Just like I'm not gonna hold you accountable when you're not home at at the at the youngster's home. But while that youngster's with you, it's you, in your hand, it's you.
Principal Baruti Kafele:So you gotta bring your A game as often as you can. We know that you're human and you're not always gonna bring an A game, But you gotta be deliberate about bringing the best you as you as you can possibly bring on a regular basis. But, yeah, I I I believe that, you know, just like and I'm I'm very transparent and vulnerable, and I'll say to my audience, while I'm in this room speaking to you, I'm the number one determinant in real time, just now, just for this hour, if it's a keynote, I'm the number one determinant to the success or failure of your students while I'm the one with the microphone. Once I put this mic down, alright, then it's whomever. But that's I just wanna hammer home the point to them, how important it is that when you have the mic, meaning you're the one in charge in that room, it's on you.
Principal Baruti Kafele:It's on you.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. And that can be that can feel like such a heavy weight.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Yeah.
Jordan Bassett:You know? But I think in a way, it it should. We should feel a little uncomfortable with that. And going back to that whole being comfortable, uncomfortable, all that stuff. But that weight can start to weigh on us.
Jordan Bassett:But it's important that we take ownership of what we say in the classroom, what we do in the classroom, how we lead, both as a classroom teacher or an administrator or at the district level. It it just says a lot. I I'm really appreciative of you having such a passion for that to pour into all of the educators you've talked to over the thirty five plus years Yeah. To have that mentality. I got just one more question for you, which is, is leadership a title or a mindset?
Principal Baruti Kafele:Yeah. I I love it. The the the the title will be bestowed upon us, but it's got to be the mindset. Right? That when you walk into that building, in fact, before you walk in, when you're when you're preparing mentally, when you're getting ready in the morning.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Right? It's gotta be a mindset that I'm I'm the leader walking in. So so how will my leadership manifest today? And my leadership always began with walking that building and just ensuring that my night custodians worked up to my expectation and standard every night. You know, it got to a point later in my career, where I really could trust them and know that that if if that I could take the white glove and put it on anywhere, the window sill, whatever, and see the dust.
Principal Baruti Kafele:I mean, and and see that there is no dust. Right? But earlier on, that was my ritual. I'm walking at school because I only worked in old buildings. I didn't know anything about a new school.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Old building, so it's old, but I can at least have it clean. So then, from there, I go outside and I greet all the students, right? You're not coming in that building without going through me. Now, I'm not in those big mega schools, I'm a thousand or less and that way I can greet or my motto was always, no student comes in this building without going through me. Right?
Principal Baruti Kafele:So I can greet every student. Right? Handshake, hug, embrace, whatever it is in in in short words because, you know, they they're coming. They they're coming over the course of an hour, so I time. They're not it's not like they're all coming in together.
Principal Baruti Kafele:And then my morning message to launch the day. Right? There'll be no day without that. So so that's that's my mindset that there's certain things that I have to do to lay the foundation for the day. And then once the the foundation has been laid, now I'm I'm depending on my teachers to handle their business.
Principal Baruti Kafele:But my leadership still has to be present throughout the building although you may not see it. Right? Mhmm. That's that's here. That's that's that's an attitude.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. I was recently told or I was listening to another podcast of about leadership, and one of the things I was said was most of the time, leaders are seen before they're heard, is the things that they enact and they empower into the people that are working with them is seen and felt before any word comes out of that leader's mouth. And it sounds like that's what you made a really high point of doing in your schools is being visible, being there before any words are are heard, that someone can walk into your the schools that you are in and feel the culture and what was going on there and the high expectations. But I wanna thank you so much for joining us today, principal Kefele.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Well, hold on.
Will Anthony:I actually
Jordan Bassett:got I'm sorry.
Will Anthony:I actually got one more thing. Oh. I think it could kind of help, I guess, wrap this up too is what is Bruta Kefele's definition of leadership from your perspective? What is what does leadership mean to you?
Principal Baruti Kafele:Yeah. You know, I I I need to come up with a formal definition as I've done with so many other words. But leadership to me Let me go back to that quote I just gave you and then I'll and then I'll I'll I'll infuse it into that. I wanna see the leadership without having to see the leader. I literally tell principals, when I come to your school on a on a consulting trip, please allow me two hours, an hour before the an hour before the late bell, and and then an hour after the late bell.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Allow me to roam your building without you. Right? I wanna I wanna see some things, I wanna gauge some things, I wanna take some things in without you being present, and that which I wanna see becomes artificial, because you're there as the leader of the school or an assistant principal as one of the leaders in the school. So, in other words, there's a lot of things I wanna take in. There's a whole list of things which I won't try to monopolize the time with, but I'll say this to you.
Principal Baruti Kafele:With that quote, I'm saying that leadership is everything that happens in the building. So so if if if if one goes into a restroom, and I hope I can say this here, and there's the stench of urine, I'm thinking about the leadership. If I go into a restroom and there's graffiti on the walls, that goes back to the leadership for me. If I walk if if I drive in in in into the school, into the parking lot in the month of March, and the marquee says, enjoy the holiday break. That's the leadership.
Principal Baruti Kafele:If I walk into a school and the receptionist is rude to me, that's the leadership. Right? Everything about that school is the leadership. So so I'm not give so it's not a formal definition. I I guess I will it's probably sitting here during these these five weeks, and I'll put one together since you asked me, because no one's ever asked me that before, but I will put it together to take everything I just said, and put it into a definition.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Right? So so so so achieving those, you know, when we go to the concrete things that we do in the classroom in terms of achievement, leadership is raising those achievement scores via the teacher. Right? So so so so everything that happens in that school so so getting results through other people. So everything that happens in that school is leadership.
Principal Baruti Kafele:And that's that's the way I've always approached leadership. Anything that's everything in there, anything that goes wrong, and quite frankly, the things that go right, I'm I'm gonna take credit for that. Right? That because that's leadership as well. Right?
Principal Baruti Kafele:And everything in between, everything that goes on in that in in that building. You know, you think about the, Innovator Schools Summit. Putting put putting on a conference is is no easy task. But that team that's in charge, it's a reflection of them. And I and I would say that on this podcast only because though every everybody everybody that goes to those conferences knows that that's a phenomenal conference.
Principal Baruti Kafele:I've never heard negative feedback ever. And I and I and I've I've had a lot of conversations about that conference because quite frankly, everybody wants to speak there. Right? So so so so so that comment I just made is a reflection of the leadership of those of those conferences. Right?
Principal Baruti Kafele:Because everything about that conference is leadership. Everything. That's leadership.
Jordan Bassett:Thank you.
Will Anthony:Appreciate that, honestly. Yeah. Someone who speaks was over 3,000
Jordan Bassett:times. Places over thirty five years.
Will Anthony:Yeah. I mean, that that means a lot because we know that you've seen a lot and you've dealt with a lot and you've, I mean, been in very particular, I would say, pretty great circumstances, situations and still say that about us. Just really appreciate that.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Oh yeah. No doubt. No doubt. And I don't have to do it to score points because I've been the innovator. I've been speaking at the conference from the beginning.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. It's been a long
Principal Baruti Kafele:Atlantic City days. Yeah.
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. Well, I just wanna make a point real quick. We did not pay principal Kefele to say any of those things about the summit. We did not. We did not.
Jordan Bassett:But we greatly appreciate all the comments. But Will, do you have anything else, or are we wrapping this one up?
Will Anthony:No. I mean, I'm just grateful to be a part of this episode, honestly. Yeah. I feel like I've kind of been able to take that mirror and take that self evaluation, kind of be able to look at myself even just while we were talking here. So it's been great.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Yeah. Appreciate that. Well, we
Jordan Bassett:we really appreciate your time with us, Principal Kefele. It's been wonderful, and I know that everyone who's listening or watching definitely has left with more motivation to lead and to lead well, to that they're just inspired. I know I know people are listening, and they're they're inspired to go and be the number one determinant of the success of their school or their students in whatever position they are in in the classroom. Real quick before we completely leave, just wanna plug you for a minute of your AP and New Principals Academy. Absolutely.
Jordan Bassett:You, go live every Saturday. Right? Every Saturday at what time?
Principal Baruti Kafele:Every Saturday morning sitting right here, 10:55 Eastern Time. People ask me, why fifty five and not eleven? Because I do shout outs at the first five minutes to the people who are logging on. Sometime, I think Imma go to eleven but right now, we're at 10:55 and we're long. We we go two hours.
Principal Baruti Kafele:We got a lot to talk about. I got different guests every week. I go solo for every first Saturday and then the rest of the the month, we bring on different guests talking school leadership, AP leadership, principal leadership, and we even bring superintendents and assistant superintendents on and curriculum people, you know, all sorts of folks come through. Some of them are very well known, lot of them had spoken at the innovative school, some had a whole lot of them and then others, know, just folks out here doing this work. So, that's my baby, it's the work that I'm most proud of all the work that I do and it's the one that I do for free, you know.
Principal Baruti Kafele:So, join me sometime at anywhere folks of my platforms, Facebook at Principal Kefele, X at Principal Kefele, LinkedIn at Principal Kefele, but most importantly, AP and New Principles Academy on YouTube. I I was I was late I'm late to the whole AI game. I just didn't see the significance of it. So, I I I finally put it on my phone about two weeks ago and I said, okay, I got it. Now, what you gonna do with it?
Principal Baruti Kafele:Ask it a question about the AP and New Principles Academy. So I did. I said, what is the number one platform on YouTube for principals and assistant principals? And it gave me an answer. It said, the AP and New Principals Academy hosted by principal Kefele.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Wow. They said It's
Jordan Bassett:too hard AI.
Principal Baruti Kafele:They said there are other platforms out there, but this platform gives more detail than any other.
Jordan Bassett:I said It really does.
Principal Baruti Kafele:Wow. And that's that's why AI is on my phone.
Will Anthony:Yeah. We'll link all that stuff you mentioned in the show notes so we'll able find
Jordan Bassett:Yeah. For sure. So if you're interested in that, listeners, you can get to that. But thanks everyone for joining us today. We hope that you left with some new knowledge about being an educator.
Jordan Bassett:If you enjoyed this episode, we ask that you like and subscribe, rate all that different stuff. Leave us a comment of how we can make this more applicable to you as an educator. We understand that being an educator is tough and hard work, but it's super rewarding when you see those students succeed. So that's it for this episode. We'll see you guys on the next one.
Will Anthony:See you.