We're excited to launch a new feature, "Leadership Lens," delivering insights and inspiration to support you in your vital role as a school board member. Our Leadership Development team will share practical wisdom, fresh perspectives and motivation to help you lead with confidence and purpose. We hope these nuggets encourage and energize you as you serve your schools and communities.

Leadership Lens: Just One Thing

In 1999, my husband accepted a job that moved us to Louisiana. For a month, we lived in a Bed-and-Breakfast while we got settled. Sounds great, right? In a month's time, we ate out almost every meal, and my clothes were getting snug. There was a track nearby, so I started running. At first, I could only run one lap before my breathing sounded like a freight train. I met a friend who was a long-time runner, and she encouraged me to add a lap each week. Before long, I was running a couple miles at a time. A few months later, she signed us up to run a 5K. I have been running ever since. On days that I feel terrible, I think of her words, "just one more lap." I'm grateful for those words, because I sure do love hamburgers and onion rings!

Just this year, I was scrolling on social media and ran across Chris Nikic. He is the first person with Down's Syndrome to complete an Ironman Triathlon, and I've carried his words with me on every run since. His premise is simple: small changes amount to great things over time. He encourages us all to be 1% better today than yesterday.

As we start a new year and have likely already had to give ourselves grace for the resolutions we've broken (wait, just me?), we need a mantra to keep us going. Just ONE more lap. Just ONE percent better. There are days I am overwhelmed at all the things I desire to accomplish. That feeling can stop me in my tracks and cause me to be stuck. Maybe you've felt that way too, facing budget constraints, policy questions, community concerns, and wondering how to move forward. When I feel stuck, I focus on doing ONE thing better, or reaching out to ONE person, or learning ONE new thing. For you, that might look like focusing on ONE student you're serving, ONE relationship you're building with a fellow board member, or ONE new thing you're learning about governance. Those small steps can create a snowball that turns into something greater than any of us anticipated.

So, here's to 2026. May you be ONE percent better each day, each meeting, each interaction. Those ONE percent moments add up, and before you know it, we've accomplished some pretty amazing things for our students and communities.

~ Happy New Year!

Janice Stockman
AASB Director of Leadership Development