When more choice makes you less attractive
Too many choices overwhelm parents; a school's brand strategy must clarify its specific purpose, making it easy for families to identify its value.
Branding
Who are we, and what do others understand about us? Essays on identity, distinctiveness, reputation and telling stories that reflect what we actually do.
27 articles. The highlighted label is each article’s primary category; other labels are secondary tags.
The World Cup, Scotland, and Soft Power
Soft power is built on attraction rather than force, relying on the amplification of community strengths through light and democratic organisation.
Lessons from kangaroo ragú: hospitality is a Super Teacher
Service is technical, but hospitality is a deeply human feeling of being on someone's side, which builds the trust essential for a school's brand.
The speech that could have been given anywhere
End-of-year speeches become memorable only when they prove why specific successes were uniquely possible because of the community's own character.
Stop repeating yourself - start building signal
Avoid the trap of robotic repetition; focus on one clear signal and wrap it in distinct, purposeful stories to build a consistent culture.
Are you making the most of your soft power?
A school's soft power is the measurable influence generated when daily actions consistently align with genuine, clearly stated community values.
Being average is incredibly dangerous
To avoid the blandness of the AI-driven average, schools must boldly choose a distinct vision and commit to meaningful, emotional storytelling.
Your culture isn’t what you say it is
School culture is defined by operational rituals, not glossy mission statements; consistent actions serve as the true proof of stated values.
Boring. Bad. Brave. When too many voices make your strategy mean nothing.
Meaningless mission statements often result from designing by consensus; courage lies in using strategy to steer intentionally in one specific direction.
This one thing is ruining your communication (and it’s not AI).
Educational jargon creates distance and obscures meaning; schools should prioritise clarity to foster trust and genuine community engagement.
Whose voice is really speaking at the start of your school year?
School leaders should avoid generic AI-generated metaphors in their speeches and instead define their own unique voice to deepen genuine meaning.
Are you fishing where everyone else is fishing?
Real competitive advantage comes from making bold, early moves based on experience rather than staying in the pack following standard formulas.
The problem with words.
Communication should be treated as a strategic asset, built on deep work and clear narrative rather than generic, outsourced language.
Do you know how to outsell expectations?
Schools must stop generalising to appeal to everyone and instead embrace specificity to energise their community and articulate true difference.
The same old story, by … everyone.
Leaders must avoid generic, AI-generated messaging and instead unearth specific stories that define their school's unique secret sauce.
The photo that reminds me of everything that matters in school.
Brand strategy is about designing a culture that fosters everyday, pivotal human moments rather than just reporting on performative events.
How to stop being a copycat school: do reverse benchmarking
Schools should reject aimless benchmarking and instead define their unique essence to create a distinctive category and market position.
26 years ago I nearly became a spy.
Create a vision for today, not generations away; focus on achievable goals and distinct choices that make an immediate impact.
How to be boring and succeed, according to Aretha Franklin.
You see, the key to great leadership and team success is to communicate repeatedly about the same, single idea.
Why over-explaining your mission destroys it
A good purpose should be unique, and clearly so. Something to stand up for, that helps people do even better than they’d have done without it.
Sometimes we don’t need the Board’s opinion.
Too often, we see Boards operate in a vacuum of quality information, or on the basis of extremely high quality but narrow anecdotal evidence.
What are your dirty words?
Sometimes those ‘dirty words’ that we have avoided for so long in education are precisely the words that we need.
Who are you talking to? Really?
How did a 140-year stalwart of the British high street nearly get obliterated? What if it was because it talked to the wrong people without even realising
If you say ‘excellence’ once more time…
Every couple of months I find myself in the same discussion with a school leadership team or Board who insist, at all costs, on naming their ‘excellence’.
The most beautiful school in the world
Over the past 50 years Danish beer firm Carlsberg has infamously sold its beer under the advertising tagline Carlsberg. The best lager in the world. Probab
Stopping advertising is like cutting off your hand
Henry Ford said: "Stopping advertising to save money is like stopping your watch to save time." When the financial crisis was at its height in 2009, I star
Save yourself some pain and know what league you play in.
Why do people compete knowing they’ll never win a medal? There is some excitement and trepidation in Paris at the moment with the approaching Olympics. But