Entries by Jeff McMaster

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The Importance of Story

“Life, you’ll notice, is a story ” (Eldredge, 2004).  This brief statement by #JohnEldredge, at the beginning of his short book Epic, seems to have captured in six words the realization for me that my life is a story.  This was not always my perspective or viewpoint.  In fact, when I first entered my journey […]

Listen to the new podcast!

Leadership is hard, often overwhelming, and even intimidating.  There are so many different approaches and views on how to do it well, and so many different contexts, organizations, and issues in which it is happening.  Added together, this can result in significant struggle.  Often, we can feel like Solomon when his father David passed away, […]

If Everything Is a Priority, Nothing Is

For years, my wife and I had envisioned having some sort of “mini-farm” in our backyard and had dreamed about what that might look like. We did lots of research into various plants and animals, talked about which ones we thought we would want, and even sketched out plans and ideas. But just as often, […]

Words to Go By

As an educator and school administrator, I have participated in many school-year-ending activities, one of those being graduations. One of the interesting things about graduations is that – like many endings – it is also a beginning, which is why they are also called commencements (the dictionary definition of “commencement” is “a beginning or start”). […]

Now available on Amazon!

Order your copy of “Leadership Ezra” on Amazon (and check out the latest podcast episode available on Apple Podcasts, titled “See the Big Picture,” here!) The work of leadership is hard, and it is not for the faint-hearted. There are decisions to be made, problems to be addressed, challenges to be solved, tensions to be […]

See the Big Picture

I enjoy puzzles. I enjoy all kinds of puzzles – word puzzles, number puzzles, brain games, etc. – but in this instance, I am specifically referring to jigsaw puzzles, the ones that are pictures cut into hundreds of little pieces that need to be assembled. And I have a preferred method of assembly: first, turn […]