Leadership Compass

The weekly community meeting is a Hyde tradition going back decades. It is advisable for the Hyde student (and teacher) to become accustomed to expecting the unexpected. Just last week, I was walking down the elegant Hyde Mansion staircase when this sign on the north wall caught my eye.

After stopping to read it, taking special note of the bold-faced and capitalized word “NORTH,” I instinctively did a 180 and, sure enough, there was a similar one on the south wall:

Hmmm, what’s this about? Then I spied yet another sign, one that offered more in the way of explanation.

Yet another sign shed more light on the “why.”

Although I can be slow when it comes to uptakes, my sense of curiosity led me to look West.

And, then, East.

Later, I learned that this was a set-up for the week’s school meeting. (Hyde “Old Schoolers” will be interested to learn that we still hold a number of these meetings under “The Chandelier” in the midst of said staircase.) The best school meetings are those that leave you thinking after the meeting is over. Although it remains to be seen what the ultimate impact of this meeting might be, all sorts of chatter can currently be heard around campus as folks assess themselves in terms of North, South, West, and East attitudes and behaviors. I’m taking that as a good thing.

Onward, Malcolm Gauld