Nuance

Introduction: Making the World Go Round Chapter 1. The Nature and Need for Nuance Nuance: A Subtle Difference in or Shade of Meaning, Expression, or Sound Surfacers vs. Nuancers Leonardo da Vinci: The Patron Saint of Nuance Nuance: Never More Needed Than Now The Nature of Nuanced Leadership The Nuanced Leadership Framework Chapter 2. Jointly Determined Change: Be Right at the End of the Meeting The Prevalence of Bad Leadership Joint Determination Case Example One: The Problem of Declining Levels of Principal Well-Being Case Example Two: Districtwide Transformation to "Deep Learning" Case Example Three: School Turnaround Case Example Four: Turning Around Persistently Failing Schools Integrative Leadership Chapter 3. Adaptability: Learn and Lead in Equal Measure Case Example Five: Rescuing Education From Technology Case Example Six: The Toronto District School Board Case Example Seven: Shattering Inequity Case Example Eight: Global Initiative in Deep Learning Adaptability Chapter 4. Culture-Based Accountability: Trust and Interact The Fruitless Pursuit of Top-Down Accountability Ingredients of Culture-Based Accountability 1. Use the Group to Change the Group 2. Precision Over Prescription 3. Feedback: Collaboration, Candor, and Autonomy 4. Trust and Interact vs. Trust but Verify 5. See the Forest and the Trees 6. Accountability as Culture Examples of Natural Accountability Linked to Results Case Example Nine: Strengthening Whole System Accountability Case Example Ten: Integrating Accountability and Improvement Culture Counts Chapter 5. Nuanced Leaders and the World More Macro Learners and Change Agents: Attack Inequity and Thrive on Every Level Being and Becoming a Nuanced Leader References Index Acknowledgments About the Author

Nuance is Fullan at his impressive best-enabling leaders to see what was under their nose with sharp action-oriented clarity. Contexts-of people, time, and place-are such key factors in managing change and here he uncovers the subtlety of "nuance," which is the essential bedfellow of "judgment" without which disaster will threaten any leader. Wise system leaders will buy a copy for all their school leaders and keep a copy for themselves. -- Tim Brighouse, England Discover the subtle power of nuance leadership and get dramatic new results. A courageous and timely book that goes to the heart of our complex leadership times. Why do some leaders get extraordinary results while others, ostensibly doing the same things, simply replicate existing patterns? Blending experience and uncommon intellectual acuity, Fullan explains both the key connected dimensions and the exceptional leverage of nuance. -- Brendan Spillane, Leadership Consultant in Sports, Business, and Education I continue to be in awe that Michael Fullan is able to describe and explain so clearly the kind of leadership I am intuitively trying to do. Nobody else I have ever read can do this as well as he does. Fullan, more than anyone else, has given me the language for my leadership over the years. -- Steve Munby, Former CEO of National College for School Leadership, England Nuance is a powerful call for a different type of leadership-one that rejects the quick fixes, oppositional thinking, and superficial innovations that make no lasting impact on our most pressing and complex educational problems. In Nuance, Fullan provides a richly illustrated account of how nuanced leadership embraces complexity and integrates competing forces in ways that foster deep understanding, collaborative learning and accountability, and sustainable rather than superficial solutions. It's not a recipe; it's an inspiration and a call to action. -- Viviane Robinson, Distinguished Professor Emeritus If you have been waiting to have your thinking on leadership provoked once again, Michael Fullan's latest book will not disappoint you. Nuance raises the bar and challenges thinking about leadership while providing those willing to work for it the concrete examples, actions, and steps necessary to do so. As followers of his work have come to expect, in Nuance, Fullan "leads from what he has learned" and artfully weaves together complex ideas into a pattern that accomplishes the "simplexity" that makes the seemingly impossible become possible. -- Laura Schwalm, Senior Partner I have to say that reading this manuscript was like looking in the mirror and seeing something of myself that I hadn't noticed before, or valued before, or even been able to put language to. I feel simultaneously com-forted by what [Fullan has] written in that I feel validated and understood and even a bit more hopeful about myself, but it has also left me hungry for more. -- Marie-Claire Bretherton, Executive Head Teacher I get what [Fullan is] saying about nuance. I mean there are 5, 10, 15 different ways to do something; depending on a particular context, it's going to have a different result. I think [Fullan's] on to something really important. [This work] actually helped me get my head around what I have been doing with everyone in the Toronto District School Board. -- John Malloy, Director