Virtue Proposition in Schools

“Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.” — General H. Norman Schwarzkopf

Leadership, as framed by the Severn Leadership Group, emerges from the integration of competence, relational skills, and virtuous character, a concept we call virtue intelligence. In the niche sector of independent education, leadership increasingly rises or falls on visible outcomes such as enrollment, academic performance, teacher quality and retention, fiscal health, philanthropic success, and market reputation. These are valuable indicators, providing a signal of progress and vitality, yet they do not capture the full capacity of a leader. Nowhere is this distinction clearer than in education, where true impact is revealed not only in what students achieve in the classroom but in how they grow in their character and promise.

Schools may well be considered society’s most formative leadership incubators. Each day, young people witness leadership in action through the ways adults model community-building, decision-making, conflict resolution, and treat others. They learn what leadership is by watching it lived, not merely by absorbing a definition. Every action of a school leader adds to the playbook of leadership that students ultimately internalize.

Competence and relationship-building are essentials for any leader’s toolbox. Strategic goals are most effective when collaboratively shaped, implemented, and energized into action by a committed team. Cultivating relationships with the multitude of stakeholders ingrained in school communities—students, teachers, families, board members, alumni, and neighbors—is imperative to a leader’s success. Yet when these elements stand alone, detached from character and courage, leadership tends to become transactional rather than transformational. The desire for outcomes can erode the trust essential to sustain mission-building outcomes. Character is a school leader’s ballast, especially when societal conditions rapidly sway as we’re observing now, or as the pressure to outperform the competition intensifies.

During the disruption, ambiguity, and fatigue of the 2020 pandemic, strategy alone was insufficient. Leaders who buoyed their schools were those who communicated transparently, safeguarded their school’s mission, and placed wellbeing and safety at the center. Even when decisions were contested or imperfect, trust was fortified by a leader’s visible commitment to doing what was right and in the best interest of the community.

Schools are, by design, launching pads for an individual’s future identity and purpose. They can ignite voice and agency while balancing the growth of both mind and heart. For this ideal to be realized, belonging must be the foundation upon which learning can happen. When young people feel known, valued, and encouraged to take risks in an environment of genuine care, their engagement in the learning process deepens. That sense of belonging grows not from a single initiative but from the steady modeling of respect, fairness, and empathy by the adults surrounding them. Students may not remember specific lessons or formulas years later, but they will remember the teacher who believed in them, the challenges they overcame, the interests they discovered, and the moments when they felt genuine kindness. In the end, education is measured not by the knowledge we accumulate but by what that knowledge compels us to do for others.

School improvement is, at its core, a human endeavor before it is a strategic one. Its success rests less on the brilliant ingredients comprising a plan than on the trust, purpose, and shared meaning that give that plan life. For teachers, change can evoke a sense of grief and letting go of the familiar. Such emotions deserve to be acknowledged and reconciled with patience. Strategy works when leaders attend to their school’s emotional landscape by honoring a collective purpose, naming and managing points of tension, creating room for healthy conflict, and building trust to sustain morale during uncertainty.

Team and culture-building is character-in-practice across a community—or any organization. It does not appear from a principal’s laptop or a weekly newsletter but from daily behavior, especially when no one is watching. A culture of character takes shape when a leader honors commitment and dignity, holding themselves and their teams accountable with humility.

Leadership in schools is a profound form of stewardship. To uphold and live into a mission while creating possibilities for both young people and adults to thrive is the essence of servant leadership. Leadership work in schools is demanding because it is unequivocally human work. It asks for constant discernment, empathy, and courage, especially amid critics and when progress is hindered. It insists that every student’s inherent worth guides how decisions are made and how community members treat one another. A moral ecosystem that nurtures young people to grow in promise, potential, identity, and character depends on the very virtues championed by Severn Leadership Group.

Educators, above all, are builders of character and leaders. Think back to kindergarten circle time, where love and trust first take root and the seeds of future leadership are quietly planted. Each teacher’s choice to model character, shapes how students learn to navigate relationships, challenges, and the wider world. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminds us, “Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” But that mission reaches far beyond the walls of any school.

Outside education and across industry sectors, ranging from corporate to nonprofit to military, trust is the currency of impact, and teams thrive where humility aligns people around a shared purpose. Whether in a school, an organization, or a community, leadership leans toward transformation when strategy is grounded in virtue and the growth of others becomes its truest measure of success. Virtue-centered leadership may not always draw the most attention, but it strengthens hearts, fosters trust, and leaves an enduring impact. It cultivates cultures of belonging where the pursuit of excellence never outpaces the practice of virtue.

Ultimately, the legacy of leadership is not measured by the programs we launch, the facilities we build, or the funds we raise, but by the kind of people our leadership shapes and the good they bring to our world.

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‍Jamey Hein is a Severn Leadership Group mentor and veteran independent school educator and leader with three decades of experience in diverse K-12 settings. Based in the Annapolis region, he continues to support schools and organizations through education-based philanthropy, mentorship, board service, and volunteerism.