Seven Turns

 “Seven turns on the highway,
Seven rivers to cross.
Sometimes, you feel like you could fly away,
Sometimes, you get lost.”

The Allman Brothers Band

The Navajo people believe that there are seven times in your life when you are required to make a significant, life-changing decision. Making the right decision will continue your journey, but making a wrong one will mean that you have to retrace your steps to make further progress.

I find this idea captivating, and since I heard the song 'Seven Turns' over twenty years ago, I have regularly pondered which of my decisions were part of the seven big ones that have been allocated to me in my own life.

As well as personal decisions, I like to consider career choices as being part of my 'seven turns'. School leadership certainly feels like a journey, with hills and valleys to negotiate, one on which it can feel like you are travelling in vehicles from bicycles to supercars, sometimes even on the same day. There are many unexpected interruptions in your journey and important decisions that you have to make, and you never really reach your destination. Another fork in the road appears as soon as you think you have.

Today I want to share two of my seven turns with you, dear reader. Both are career-related, as we don't know each other well enough for me to share my personal ones.

The first is a complicated one, and it needs some back story. When I was a deputy head I never thought that I had it in me to take the next step as I am quiet and introverted. I fell into a couple of acting head positions, but I did not see leadership as my long term future. That was until I made a decision that I was going to become a different kind of leader, a quiet one, and that my style was as valid as any other. Nearly two decades later, I know that I made the right decision.

The second is when I decided to leave the teaching profession. After leading my school through the pandemic, three Ofsteds, many tricky budgets, battles with the local authority about admissions, and continuing to teach part-time, I could see that I needed a break. I have been out of the classroom for nearly a year now, and yesterday I signed my first contract with a publisher, who will be publishing my book soon. I have a new mission, to support other heads who find themselves in challenging circumstances, and to do my bit for other 'quiet' leaders.

Our journey defines us as leaders; it informs our sense of self, so for you to understand the wellbeing-focused leadership style I will share with you in this book, and commit to developing it within in your school, you need to be aware of my journey. Reading this chapter should also cause you to reflect on your journey, priorities, and whether supporting wellbeing is at the core of your leadership style.

My favourite band, ‘The Allman Brothers’, have a song called ‘Seven Turns’, which is based on the Navajo belief that in life there are seven times you must make a decision that determines the next stage of your journey. Now you know why I included a quote from that song at the start of this chapter! I want you to think about your leadership journey and see if you can map out the ‘seven turns’ that led you to where you are now. They might be specific events or when you met people you have worked with that have influenced you in some way, but they will have helped you develop into the kind of leader that you are now, with the priorities that you have.