Category Archives: Expectations

A Tribute to Coach Stan Jones… Leadership Beyond the Game

16 Friday Oct 2026

Posted by in Accountability, Appreciation, Attitude, Character, Educational Leadership, Encouragement, Expectations, Importance, Influence, Inspiration, Know Your Why, Leader, Leadership, Loyalty, Motivation, Passion, Relationships, Respect, Responsibility, Thankful, Transformational, Tribute, Value

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My first true encounter with Coach Stan Jones was in 1994, when I interviewed at Shoney’s with him to be his assistant basketball coach. We talked about basketball, life, and just about everything in between. Near the end of our conversation, he asked me one last question: “If you heard someone talking bad about us at a nearby booth, would you get up and say something to them?”

I told him I would.

When Coach Jones got into town this past Wednesday, we had supper together, and I reminded him of that interview. I told him I still did not know whether my answer to his question was what got me the job. He replied, “You got the job, didn’t you?”

Yes, Coach, I did, and all these years later, I am still grateful.

I have thought about that question many times since 1994, and I have used it in every interview I have been part of since. At first, I just wanted to see what people would say. Believe it or not, the way someone answers tells you quite a bit about them. I believe Coach Jones wanted to know whether I would stand up for the people I worked with and be loyal to the team. I went to Shoney’s hoping to get a coaching job, with no idea that I was also meeting someone who would influence me as a basketball coach, husband, dad, educator, and leader for the rest of my life.

The next evening, hundreds of people gathered at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame to honor Coach Jones and raise money for the Sherard Shaw Foundation for Pediatric Cancer Research and the McLean Fletcher Center. His basketball coaching career gave everyone plenty to celebrate, and seeing so many people there showed how far his influence has reached.

Coach Jones’s coaching résumé is impressive. He led Jackson Academy to back-to-back overall state championships before coaching at the University of Miami, with the Washington Wizards in the NBA, at Mississippi State, and then for more than two decades at Florida State. In 2019, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the College Basketball Assistant Coach Hall of Fame. He has coached at levels most of us only watch from a distance. I admire those accomplishments, and I value what he taught the people who worked and played for him even more.

I can say without a doubt that Coach Jones is one of the best coaches I have ever seen. His playbook was about as thick as a Sears catalog and probably could have been used as a boat anchor. I studied it all the time because he expected every player to know not only what they were supposed to do, but what the other four players were supposed to do as well. He wanted us to understand how the whole team worked together.

Then there were his motivational talks. Listening to Coach Jones could give you chill bumps. His players would have run through a wall for him because they knew how much he believed in them and how much he expected of them. Even while challenging us to give our best, he showed us what servant leadership should look like, and was the model of what transformational leadership is.

Coach Jones knew far more than plays. Inside and outside the gym, he held people to high expectations and treated them with respect. He valued execution, and he valued the people doing the work. You never had to guess where you stood with him. He could be brutally honest, but he was fair, and he was willing to listen when you saw something differently. As a young assistant, I was learning how to coach basketball, and I was learning just as much about how to work with people.

Coach Jones would often say, “Be the best,” “Don’t stop believing,” and “Never forget where you came from.” I have carried those words with me long after my coaching days. They have encouraged me through challenges in education and leadership, and they have mattered at home as well. He pushed people to reach for more while reminding them to stay grounded and remember those who helped them along the way.

He also showed me how much a person can accomplish without holding the head coach’s title. Coach Jones had already been a successful head coach when he became a college assistant. For nearly three decades, he helped build programs, prepare teams, and develop players from that role. His example taught me to give my best to the work in front of me and to invest in the people beside me.

As a lifelong mentor, Stan has helped shape the future through the many people he has influenced. We need to remember the value of that kind of leadership and offer it to others. Leadership needs more people like Coach Stan Jones.

I have shared this quote from the movie The Emperor’s Club before, and I believe it speaks to Coach Jones’s influence too:

“A great teacher has little external history to record. His life goes over into other lives. These men are pillars in the intimate structure of our schools. They are more essential than its stones or beams, and they will continue to be a kindling force and a revealing power in our lives.”

I hope you have a mentor in your life like the ones I have had and still have. We need people who will invest in us, regardless of our age, so that we can invest in others. That is true in coaching, education, and every other part of life.

When I think back to that table at Shoney’s, I smile. I was in awe of Coach Jones then, and I was just beginning to learn who he was. His last interview question was about standing up for a team. His example over the years has taught me much more: to be dependable, to give my best, to keep believing, and to care for people beyond the role they play.

Coach Jones, thank you for giving me the job. Thank you even more for the conversations, the lessons, your example, and a friendship I will always value. I am a better person because our paths crossed. Seeing hundreds of people gather to honor him reminded me that many others could say the same. I hope I can pass along even a smidgen of the influence he has given me.

As you step into your role today, remember that you are not just an educator and leader but a shaper of the future. Your actions and decisions profoundly impact the lives of those you guide. Go, be the great educator and leader that our future needs.

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

©2026 J Clay Norton

Want more Leadership Thoughts? Follow me on… X @thebookchamber or on FaceBook at J Clay Norton or follow the blog directly.

Recovering the Lost Art of Diplomacy in Educational Leadership…

20 Friday Mar 2026

Posted by in Classroom Leadership, Conversations, Diplomacy, Education, Educational Leadership, Expectations, Experience, Leader, Leadership, Perception, Perspective, Reflection, Respect, Responsibility, Trust

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Recently I came across a piece from Hillsdale College’s Imprimis titled Recovering the Lost Art of Diplomacy. The article reflects on how diplomacy, once considered an essential leadership skill, has gradually given way to something very different. Instead of patience, listening, and relationship-building, we often see speed, reaction, and public positioning. Reading it made me think about how that same shift is playing out in education. So as you can see, I have been a little creative with the title of this blog, calling it Recovering the Lost Art of Diplomacy in Educational Leadership.

Educational leadership has always required diplomacy.

Schools sit at the intersection of community expectations, political realities, family priorities, and student needs. Too often, it feels like a busy intersection where no one is stopping or yielding. Everyone just keeps barreling through. Navigating those intersections well requires more than technical knowledge or managerial skill. It requires the ability to listen carefully, speak thoughtfully, and bring people together around shared goals, even when they approach issues from very different perspectives.

At its best, diplomacy in educational leadership is quiet work. It happens in conversations before meetings begin. It happens in the effort to understand the concern behind someone’s frustration. It happens when leaders slow down long enough to seek common ground rather than rushing to prove a point.

Increasingly, however, diplomacy seems to be losing ground.

The pace of communication today rewards immediacy over reflection. Social media encourages quick reactions rather than thoughtful dialogue. Public discourse often values strong statements more than careful listening. In that environment, the skills that once defined effective leadership, patience, discretion, and bridge-building, can begin to feel outdated.

But they are not outdated. They are essential.

In fact, the more complex our educational landscape becomes, the more important diplomacy becomes as well. Schools today face challenges that cannot be solved by one voice or one perspective alone. They require collaboration among educators, families, policymakers, and communities. That kind of collaboration does not happen by accident. It requires leaders who are willing to build trust slowly and intentionally.

Diplomacy does not mean avoiding difficult conversations. Quite the opposite. It means engaging those conversations with respect, humility, and a genuine willingness to understand others. It means recognizing that disagreement does not have to lead to division. In many cases, it can lead to stronger solutions.

For educational leaders, recovering the lost art of diplomacy may be one of the most important responsibilities we carry. Our schools are places where young people learn not only academics, but also how communities work together. The way we lead models the way collaboration, disagreement, and progress should look.

Leadership in education will always require courage, clarity, and conviction. But it also requires something quieter and just as powerful. It requires the ability to bring people together around a shared purpose.

Perhaps now more than ever, our schools need leaders who understand that progress is rarely achieved by winning arguments. It is achieved by building trust, finding common ground, and doing the patient work of moving people forward together. In many ways, recovering the lost art of diplomacy may be one of the most important lessons educational leadership can offer our communities today.

As you step into your role today, remember that you are not just an educator and leader but a shaper of the future. Your actions and decisions profoundly impact the lives of those you guide. Go, be the great educator and leader that our future needs.

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

©2026 J Clay Norton

Want more Leadership Thoughts? Follow me on… X @thebookchamber or follow the blog directly.

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Forty-Six Years Later: Leadership, Legacy, and Something Always Worth Rooting For…

27 Friday Feb 2026

Posted by in Commitment, Consistency, Culture, Educational Leadership, Expectations, Growth, Leader, Leadership, Mission, Patience, Resilience, Transformational, Trust, Vision

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With the Winter Olympics this year, I believe I watched more than ever before. I am not entirely sure why, but I got caught up not only in the scoring, but in the timing of events, the degree of difficulty, and the razor-thin margins separating victory from defeat. And the fact that so much of the scoring is subjective made it even more compelling. There were a few times I found myself thinking, “Are you serious?” with some of the scoring. The precision, preparation, pressure, and judgment behind those moments are hard to ignore.

And then there was hockey, a reminder that some victories take generations.

When the U.S. hockey team captured Olympic gold again after 46 years, the victory felt bigger than a game. It was more than a medal ceremony or a moment on the podium. It was a testament to perseverance, culture, and belief sustained across generations. For educational leaders, it offers a powerful reminder of what long-term success truly requires.

Forty-six years is longer than most professional careers. I vaguely remember the 1980 moment; I was seven at the time. Moments like that, however, do not fade. They live on because they represent more than a final score. They represent belief. It spans leadership transitions, philosophical shifts, evolving training methods, and changing expectations. Yet through all of that change, the pursuit of excellence endured. Schools operate in much the same way. Superintendents come and go. Principals move between buildings. Initiatives are introduced, refined, and sometimes replaced. Standards shift. Community needs evolve. Still, the core mission remains unchanged… ensuring every student has the opportunity to grow, achieve, and thrive.

The gold medal reminds us that meaningful outcomes are rarely immediate. In education, we often feel pressure for quick wins, improved test scores within a year, measurable gains by the next evaluation cycle, visible culture shifts by semester’s end. But sustainable excellence is never built on urgency alone. It is built on systems, consistency, and shared commitment. The hockey program did not win because of one inspirational speech or a single standout athlete, although that one motivational speech by Herb Brooks in 1980 certainly deserves honorable mention. If you need a reminder, the locker room speech portrayed in the movie Miracle still gives chills. It won because of decades of investment in development, coaching, infrastructure, and identity.

Educational leadership demands that same long-term vision. Are we building structures that will outlast us? Are we developing teacher leaders who will carry the vision forward? Are we strengthening instructional practices in ways that compound over time? True leadership is less about immediate recognition and more about lasting impact.

There is also a lesson in resilience. Forty-six years without gold undoubtedly included near misses, disappointments, and public scrutiny. Yet the program did not abandon its pursuit. It adjusted, recalibrated, and recommitted. Schools face similar challenges, budget constraints, enrollment fluctuations, achievement gaps, and shifting political landscapes. Effective leaders do not chase every new trend in response to adversity. Instead, they stay anchored to purpose while remaining agile in strategy.

Perhaps most importantly, the victory underscores the power of culture. Championship teams are not simply collections of talent. They are unified by trust, shared standards, and collective accountability. The same is true in schools. Talent matters, but culture multiplies talent. When educators believe in one another, align around a common vision, and hold themselves to high expectations, transformation becomes possible.

The U.S. hockey team’s gold medal after 46 years is a reminder that leadership is generational work. We may not always see the final outcome of the seeds we plant. But if we focus on building strong systems, nurturing talent, sustaining belief, and protecting culture, the breakthrough moment, when it comes, will feel both extraordinary and earned. And when it does, it becomes more than a victory. It becomes a legacy our communities can believe in, something always worth rooting for. Because even if gold is not won, it does not mean that winning is not taking place. In education, growth, resilience, and the commitment to stay in the game are victories in themselves. And in the meantime, we trust the process.

As you step into your role today, remember that you are not just an educator and leader but a shaper of the future. Your actions and decisions profoundly impact the lives of those you guide. Go, be the great educator and leader that our future needs.

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

©2026 J Clay Norton

Want more Leadership Thoughts? Follow me on… X @thebookchamber or follow the blog directly.

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Perspective for a New Year: Reflections from The Family Circus

09 Friday Jan 2026

Posted by in Accountability, Educational Leadership, Expectations, Growth, Leader, Leadership, Opportunity, Perspective, Responsibility

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The older I get, the more sentimental I become. I’ve always had a touch of it, but time has a way of deepening emotions and sharpening memories. I love Christmas, and I often tell Heather how happily sad I feel when we wake up on December 26th. The celebration has passed, the house is quieter, and the season officially closes. Still, life moves forward, and that particular Christmas becomes a memory, one we carry with us into the next days.

This past weekend, January 4, 2026, The Family Circus comic, created by Bil Keane and now drawn by his son, Jeff Keane, offered, I believe, a quiet but powerful reminder about perspective that feels especially relevant for educators as we begin a new year.

In the comic, Bil, the father, drags a discarded Christmas tree to the curb. The needles are falling, the task is inconvenient, and the season is clearly over. But the perspective that matters most is not Bil’s, it belongs to the tree. Floating above the scene are the tree’s memories: being chosen by the family, decorated with care, surrounded by laughter, and standing proudly as the centerpiece of shared joy. From the tree’s point of view, its purpose was fulfilled. It mattered. It brought people together.

To view the comic strip, click here: https://comicskingdom.com/family-circus/2026-01-04

The same object, the tree, represents both burden and beauty, depending entirely on perspective.

As educators step into a new year, we often carry a similar mix of hope, exhaustion, and resolve. New initiatives, new students, new expectations, and all the old that carries over, arrive again, all at once. In the middle of that swirl, leadership can feel like carrying something heavy, important, but awkward, tiring, and often unseen by others.

Educational leadership is much the same.

By January, many school leaders are focused on what feels like the “tree at the curb” moment… budget constraints, staffing shortages, test data, compliance tasks, initiatives that didn’t go as planned, and teachers taking days off and subs (or no subs) are in the building. These realities are real, and ignoring them helps no one. But leadership grounded only in problems can unintentionally crush the spirit, our own and that of the people we serve.

Perspective does not deny difficulty; it reframes it.

For educators, perspective means remembering that today’s challenges are often the byproduct of earlier successes. A growing program brings complexity. High expectations signal trust. Accountability exists because what happens in schools matters deeply. When leaders help their teams reconnect daily work to its deeper purpose… student growth, belonging, and opportunity, the weight feels different. The same task, seen through a different lens, becomes meaningful rather than merely exhausting.

Perspective is also a leadership responsibility. Teachers and staff often take cues from how leaders interpret reality. When leaders consistently highlight only what is broken, people shrink. When leaders balance honesty with hope, naming challenges while also lifting up moments of impact, people lean in. They remember why they chose this profession in the first place.

As the new year begins, effective leaders might ask themselves a few grounding questions:

  • What am I carrying that feels heavy right now, and what meaning is attached to it?
  • What moments of success or connection am I overlooking because I’m focused on what’s next?
  • How can I help others see the story behind the work, not just the work itself?

The Family Circus comic reminds us that perspective is often invisible unless we choose to notice it. If the tree could think (and we read that it is), it wouldn’t see itself as discarded, it would remember the joy it helped create. Educators, too, may feel worn down at this point in the year. Yet memories can be made in our buildings every day… the learning, the laughter, the growth, are reasons the work educators do matters, and those small victories can lead to big wins.

As we step into a new year, may we lead with eyes wide enough to see both the burden and the beauty, and help others see it too.

¹ Keane, J. (2026, January 4). The Family Circus [Cartoon]. Comics Kingdom. https://comicskingdom.com/family-circus/2026-01-04 

As you step into your role today, remember that you are not just an educator and leader but a shaper of the future. Your actions and decisions profoundly impact the lives of those you guide. Go, be the great educator and leader that our future needs.

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

©2026 J Clay Norton

Want more Leadership Thoughts? Follow me on… X @thebookchamber or follow the blog directly.

Want to share this leadership thought with others? Click on one of the social media sharing buttons below and help spread the good…