Learning to Lead: Lessons Taken from the Wisest People We Know

How we engage and interact with young children and what we know about supporting them as they grow into the best versions of themselves is a window into what we also know about adults as they grow into the best leaders they can be. How we support and teach children has informative parallels for what leaders in education might learn and draw upon in their interactions and engagements with the people with whom they work. The goal of this paper is to introduce four principles of early childhood education (emotions and feelings are important, relationships are vital, process orientation is essential, and play as a human need) that support our youngest as they grow and develop; and, using the leadership literature, examine how such principles might be tools for strengthening leaders in early childhood education as well