Scaling Love in the Education Ecosystem: An Exploration of Liberated and Loving Leadership

Abstract

“Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.” – James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time The American education system is struggling to recruit and retain diverse leaders and teachers—broadly defined to include race, gender, and sexuality, among other identities. Meanwhile, the current cultural landscape issues of identity, equity, inclusion, and diversity are controversial and increasingly divisive. These problems have a direct impact on the quality of educational experiences that student’s access. This capstone asserts that to address these issues we must start by shifting the mental models of leaders. Drawing from Kania’s model of “Six Conditions of Systems Change,” mental models are featured as the key lever for ‘transformation.’ I propose a shift from the current mental models which uphold the inequitable status quo and prevent positive change to one of liberatory love, defined as curiosity and compassion. This capstone chronicles my exploration of what is required to scale love through leadership; what knowledge, conditions, or resources are necessary to transform mindsets towards love, and how might we make that accessible for all? I seek to answer these questions in partnership with the Pahara Institute, an organization that curates diverse cohorts of highly experienced leaders across all sectors of the education ecosystem who have demonstrated their commitment to creating equitable education systems and offers them fellowship experiences to foster transformation, healing, and community. My strategic project focused on understanding and expanding the highly effective models that Pahara has designed and refined over the last 16 years. I demonstrate how through a prototype thinking approach I was able to partner with senior leaders to identify strategic steps to increase their impact. I share what I gleaned through observation and analysis about how to create a culture of mutual support, curiosity, and compassion towards self and others. I also reflect on the challenges and opportunities that a transformation rooted in love presents, through personal reflections around my experience as a resident at Pahara while also navigating my own self-love journey. I conclude with two overarching themes: 1) love requires accountability, from both self and others and 2) love requires community, and how these learnings implicate myself, Pahara, and the education ecosystem at-large.