Preface: Beyond The Obvious

This is a short(ish) personal reflection on how challenging it can be to look 'beyond the frame' (even when I've expressly said that is what I want to do 🙄)

Jan 30, 2025

A few weeks ago, I came across a short post on LinkedIn by someone I didn’t know.1 From the looks of things, we swim in similar waters—we have a handful of mutual connections—so it made perfect sense why their musing was offered up to me 👇

So far, so 2025…

But it really struck a chord with me.

I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

They were reflecting on their frustration with ‘strategic’ meetings in the public and social sectors. And how these meetings often focus on short-term fixes and operational tweaks rather than addressing the deeper, systemic causes of the issues being discussed.

Like many of you, I’ve spent a good chunk of time grappling with the challenges of leadership in complex systems—in my case, mostly within education. I’ve felt the pull toward short-term solutions: the temptation to focus on what feels achievable, immediate, or manageable.

Indeed, even here, in these posts, where I’ve expressly said that I want to ‘take a step back;’ I’ve skirted around the bigger questions that furtively occupy my mind. I’ve analysed surface-level symptoms of the problems we face and I’ve avoided asking what lies beneath.

Why is that?

Why do we fall into these patterns?

The following posts are my attempt to explore that. They’re not about pointing fingers or claiming to have all the answers. I’m as guilty as anyone of focusing on what’s urgent at the expense of what’s important. Instead, I want to ask bigger questions—not just of others, but of myself—and see where those questions might lead.

(Why) does this matter?

Well, this matters to me because I know how complex the challenges facing school leaders are. I talk about it all the time. I know that we are systematically failing millions of children and young people today. And I know that we’re not going to fix these failures by tinkering around the edges.

These are uncomfortable truths. These challenges demand something more of us—more courage, more honesty, and more willingness to confront the things we’d rather not. I don’t want these posts to be a space for safe, surface-level analysis. I want them to be a brave space—one where I can pose uncomfortable questions, even when the answers are messy or unclear.

Have I been reinforcing the same short-termism—the same reluctance to wrestle with the root causes—that I find so frustrating elsewhere?

I think so.

Why?

What would it take to move beyond these patterns?

Now, this series will certainly not claim to offer definitive answers to those questions. But it’s a renewed, reinvigorated commitment from myself to be bolder.

Poverty, inequality, and enduring disadvantage are not issues with simple solutions. They are systems-level challenges, shaped by countless interconnected forces, many of which lie far beyond the control of any one leader, school, or trust. Addressing these challenges requires humility, patience, and a willingness to embrace discomfort.

But complexity is not an excuse for inaction.

Nor is it a reason to fall back on easy, familiar answers. Too often, I think, we frame leadership as a matter of competence: the ability to deliver measurable results within tightly defined parameters. What’s harder—and perhaps more important—is the kind of leadership that makes space for uncertainty, challenges assumptions and asks hard questions even when the answers are unclear. We won’t manage our way out of this crisis.

So, the next posts won’t offer any frameworks, toolkits, or quick fixes. In fact, part of the purpose of the following articles will be to critique some of the popular solutions—like systems and design thinking (approaches I broadly support and routinely lean upon)—that occasionally oversimplify complex realities instead of clarifying them.

Rather, this is about exploring the messiness of leadership in complex systems: the trade-offs, tensions, and ambiguities that we can’t avoid if we want to make meaningful change.

Coming up…

All that being said, I need to narrow my subject down a bit—else, I won’t write a jot.

So, over the next weeks, I am determined to identify and pick at some specific ‘tendencies’ that lead us to focus on short-term fixes and surface-level thinking. Each post will focus on one of these tendencies, exploring its causes and consequences while asking what it might take to think differently.

I haven’t written these posts yet but I’ve got a pretty solid idea about the sorts of things I want to explore (probably not in this order):

Forced rhubarb (and the tyranny of short-termism): Why do immediate pressures crowd out long-term thinking? How and why do we let that happen? Is it inevitable? Immutable? Can we... hack it?
Neoliberalism and the myth of individual responsibility. Or, The allure of behavioural solutions: Something like that. How does ideology shape our focus on individuals over structures? Why do we default to pursuing individual behaviour change instead of structural reform?
Localism: Innovation or abdication?: The risks and rewards of devolving responsibility to local actors.
The linear illusion: Why do we oversimplify "wicked problems"? Or The false promise of design thinking: (How) does design thinking reinforce the very systems it aims to disrupt? Or maybe something on Systems thinking: Silver bullet or overhyped framework? A critical take on the promises and pitfalls of systems thinking.
Ideology and the politics of inequity: How do dominant ideologies sustain inequalities and limit our imagination? (I’ll be honest, this looks like A Tough One from back here but I want to have a crack!)
Beyond GDP: Rethinking progress in education: What alternative metrics could we use in schools and systems?

Moving beyond the obvious

As I write this, I’m reminded of how often and readily I’ve fallen into the traps I’m critiquing. It’s easier to focus on what feels tangible and achievable than to grapple with the messy, systemic nature of the challenges we face. But I also believe that leadership—and systems change—starts with a willingness to question the obvious; to ask “the stupid questions.” If you’ve felt this same tension in your own work, I hope you’ll join me. It might be fun. Maybe.

Update: We’ve since connected and I’m very much looking forward to meeting them soon!