The Proactive Collective—The Reading Room November 2026
The Extraordinary Power of Intention
How intentional leadership creates memorable experiences.
The Proactive Reading Room
Leadership Conversation Guide
One reading. One leadership story. One research insight. One meaningful conversation. One practical takeaway.
What experiences are you intentionally creating for the people you lead?
The Reading Room gives school and district leaders protected time to read, think, and talk with colleagues about one leadership idea that matters in the work.
Estimated preparation: 45-60 minutes|Reading: Introduction + Chapters 1-3
Featured Reading
Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect
Will Guidara
This Month in the Reading Room
From hospitality to leadership.
At first glance, this is a book about restaurants. It isn't. For our purposes, it is a book about what happens when leaders stop treating everyday interactions as transactions and start paying attention to how people experience the organization.
Introduction + Chapters 1-3
Start with Guidara's idea of giving people more than they expect.
Where have we become transactional?
Look at the everyday places where students, staff, families, and colleagues experience our leadership.
Leadership story + research
Consider how small, intentional actions build trust, belonging, and commitment.
What would this look like here?
Move the idea out of the restaurant and into schools, departments, offices, meetings, and conversations.
The Intentional Interaction Challenge
Choose one recurring interaction and make one deliberate change.
Our conversation won't be about restaurants. It will be about leadership.
Where do people experience your leadership most often - and which of those experiences are actually intentional?
A Page from the Reading Room Guide
The Intentional Interaction Challenge
Choose one recurring leadership interaction this week. It could be a staff meeting, classroom visit, difficult conversation, hiring interview, parent meeting, or cabinet discussion.
What do I want people to know?
What needs to be clear when this interaction is over?
What do I want people to feel?
How should people experience you - and the organization - in this moment?
What one intentional action could make this experience better?
Not bigger. Not more complicated. Just more thoughtful.
Bring one moment to the conversation.
Come prepared to share one intentional leadership moment that stayed with you. It may be something you experienced personally, observed in another leader, or intentionally created yourself.
The most memorable leadership moments are often the simplest.
The Reading Room Experience
One hour to think with people who understand the work.
The Reading Room is a recurring professional working forum built around a short catalyst, serious conversation, and something useful to take back into the work.
A moment to stop, think, and notice what the reading is bringing up for you.
A real example that puts the idea into the context of school and district leadership.
Time with other leaders to wrestle with the idea, challenge assumptions, and connect it to the work.
A useful evidence-based lens that adds perspective to the conversation.
One idea worth trying, changing, or carrying forward.
One reading. One leadership story. One research insight. One meaningful conversation. One practical takeaway.
The Proactive Collective
The Reading Room
A little protected time to think with people who understand the work.
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