The Empowered Principal® Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Ep #390: The Rage of Injustice Jun 17, 2025

Show notes

Leadership requires processing both professional and personal experiences, particularly when faced with injustice.

As school leaders, we encounter unfairness in various forms - from promotion decisions to resource allocation to systemic inequities affecting our students and families. I've found that managing these experiences requires understanding how our minds and bodies respond to perceived injustice.

In this episode, I share practical insights for acknowledging and safely expressing these difficult emotions without causing harm to ourselves or others. While solutions aren't always available, we can learn to validate our experiences, maintain our personal power, and find healthy ways to process these universal human experiences that impact us as leaders.

Find the full episode show notes and transcript, click here: https://angelakellycoaching.com/390

Ep #389: Why Test Scores Don't Define You as a School Leader Jun 10, 2025

Show notes

Test scores rolling in can trigger intense emotions and identity crises for school leaders. As principals, we intellectually understand that standardized tests are just one measure of student growth and school success. Yet when scores arrive, we can't help but attach deep meaning to these numbers and worry about how they'll be interpreted by staff, families, and district leadership.

Through sports analogies and real-world examples, I explore why we shouldn't let a single data point define our identity as educational leaders. Just as elite athletes aren't defined by one game's outcome, principals and schools can't be reduced to a single test score. Our capacity to lead, inspire, and create positive change comes from within - not from external metrics.

Find the full episode show notes and transcript, click here: https://angelakellycoaching.com/389

Ep #388: Instruction After Testing Jun 03, 2025

Show notes

Finding balance between fun and structure after end-of-year testing can be a real challenge. As school leaders, we often notice a clear shift in energy, behaviors, and routines once testing concludes, leaving many of us struggling to maintain consistency while still allowing for meaningful closure and celebration.

In this episode, I share ways to help teachers plan activities that build life skills, encourage reflection, and maintain clear expectations, all while embracing the celebratory spirit of the year's end. Whether you're still in session or planning ahead for next year, this episode will help you rethink what's possible in the final weeks of school.

Find the full episode show notes and transcript, click here: https://angelakellycoaching.com/388

Ep #387: Tips for Meaningful Year-End Closure May 27, 2025

Show notes

As we reach the end of another school year, I'm focusing on an essential leadership practice that many principals overlook - creating meaningful closure. This process isn't just about completing tasks and checking boxes, it's about intentionally reflecting on our accomplishments and growth throughout the year.

Tune in this week as I explore why many school leaders resist celebrating their accomplishments, and how this resistance impacts our ability to model self-reflection for our staff and students. By examining our relationship with celebration and redefining what it means to acknowledge our work, we can create powerful closure practices that benefit our entire school community.

Find the full episode show notes and transcript, click here: https://angelakellycoaching.com/387

Ep #386: Flow and Focus Hacks to Transform Your Principal Productivity with Steven Puri May 20, 2025

Show notes

In this episode, I sit down with Steven Puri, a fascinating guest who had an extremely successful career in Hollywood, but has traded that in to help remote workers master flow, productivity, and efficiency. Though not my typical education-focused guest, Steven brings fresh perspectives on productivity, focus, and creative problem-solving that directly apply to school leadership.

Tune in this week as Steven Puri shares powerful insights about flow states, mono-tasking, and creating dedicated spaces for deep work. Through Steven's stories from film production and tech entrepreneurship, we explore how to break unproductive cycles and find more fulfillment in our work.

Find the full episode show notes and transcript, click here: https://angelakellycoaching.com/386

Ep #385: The Teacher Attachment Cycle: Shifting Parent Expectations May 13, 2025

Show notes

Have you ever faced backlash from parents when announcing teacher changes or reassignments?

This is a fascinating dynamic in education that doesn't exist in most other industries - the intense attachment parents develop to specific teachers rather than to the educational experience itself.

How do you deal with the unnecessary tension this teacher-attachment cycle creates between school leaders and families who feel entitled to specific teaching personnel? Tune in this week for a leadership approach that honors teachers as professionals with career aspirations while ensuring students receive high-quality education regardless of who stands at the front of the classroom.

To check out The Aspiring School Leader series or to find the full episode show notes and transcript, click here: https://angelakellycoaching.com/385

Ep #384: Why School Leaders Gain Weight and How to Lose It with Jena Damiani May 06, 2025

Show notes

Have you ever wondered why so many school leaders gain weight after transitioning from teaching to administration?

This week, I sit down with my dear friend and certified life coach Jena Damiani to unpack what we jokingly call the "admin 30" – those unwanted pounds that seem to appear overnight when you step into a leadership role. As both a school leader and a weight loss coach, she brings a unique perspective to this common but rarely discussed challenge.

Join us on this episode as we dive into the five key reasons principals gain weight and why traditional weight loss approaches often fail in the high-stress environment of school leadership.

To check out The Aspiring School Leader series, Jena's 20 Pounds Down program, or to find the full episode show notes and transcript, click here: https://angelakellycoaching.com/384

Ep #383: Brand New Leaders: What You Need to Know Apr 29, 2025

Show notes

Are you stepping into your first year as a school principal?

The excitement of landing that leadership position can quickly collide with the overwhelming reality of what the job actually entails. As a new leader, you're not just taking on a new role – you're embarking on a personal development journey that will stretch your mental, emotional, and physical capacity in ways you never imagined.

Join me for some real talk this week about what you need to know as you transition into school leadership.

To check out The Aspiring School Leader series, sign up for Essentials for New School Leaders, or to find the full episode show notes and transcript, click here: https://angelakellycoaching.com/383

Ep #382: Sick Day Guilt: A Permission Slip for Principals Apr 22, 2025

Show notes

Are you overcome with guilt whenever you need to take a sick day? And even then, do you try to brush it off, pretend it isn't happening, and attempt to push through?

This week, I address a profound issue that came up during a recent EPC call with one of my clients. She was dragging herself to work despite being sick for two weeks, feeling guilty about the burden she was placing on her husband at home. This sparked an important conversation about how, particularly as women, we're conditioned to be A+ at everything—partners, parents, friends, housekeepers, and school leaders—often at the expense of our own wellbeing.

To check out The Aspiring School Leader series, sign up for Essentials for New School Leaders, or to find the full episode show notes and transcript, click here: https://angelakellycoaching.com/382

Ep #381: The Need to Know Apr 15, 2025

Show notes

Do you ever feel that pang of anxiety when you realize you've missed an important meeting or weren't included in a crucial conversation?

If you're navigating this tension between wanting to know everything happening in your school and district versus recognizing what information you actually need to fulfill your leadership responsibilities, this episode is for you.

This week, we'll explore the fascinating psychology behind our desire to "be in the know" and how this need often stems from deeper places than we realize.

To check out The Aspiring School Leader series, sign up for Essentials for New School Leaders, or to find the full episode show notes and transcript, click here: https://angelakellycoaching.com/381

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