What if leadership wasn't about doing more, but doing differently?

"I feel like I’m drowning in decisions." It’s a common refrain from school leaders. Inboxes overflow. Priorities clash. Strategy drowns beneath a tide of busyness.

But strategic schools lead differently.

They steer clear of the chaos—not by doing more, but by choosing the counterintuitive. Their leaders pause. Focus. Say no. And in doing so, they build something far more potent than momentum: clarity.

7 Counterintuitive Moves Strategic Schools Make:

• Embrace failure
• Limit growth
• Celebrate stability
• Hire disruptors
• Compete against themselves
• Say no more often
• Schedule rest

Surprising? Yes. But these are the moves that shift schools from reactive to strategic.

Embrace Failure as Fuel

Strategic schools don’t avoid failure. They mine it.

Mistakes become test sites. Missteps become data points. A failed curriculum tweak? Insight. A team restructure that flopped? Clarity.

The mantra: fail fast, learn faster. Innovation without failure isn’t innovation—it’s imitation.

“If we’re not failing, we’re not trying hard enough.” — School Principal

Safe-to-fail cultures empower bold thinking. And bold thinking drives strategic change.

Limit Growth to Protect Excellence

More students. More programs. More partnerships. The pressure to grow is relentless.

But strategic schools know: growth is not a virtue if it undermines quality.

They pursue depth before breadth—prioritising excellence in what already exists.

“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell.” — Cascade Strategy

These schools' slow expansion. Focus resources. And, paradoxically, grow stronger.

Celebrate Boring Stability

Flashy launches get headlines. But boring gets results.

Strategic schools double down on consistent practices, clear routines, and dependable systems. They make improvement boring—incremental, predictable, relentless.

What others dismiss as static, they recognise as sustainable.

Hire for Culture Add, Not Fit

“Culture fit” sounds safe. Familiar. Easy.

Strategic schools prefer friction.

They hire people who ask uncomfortable questions. Those who don’t quite blend in. Who challenge the status quo.

Because innovation comes from outsiders. And growth comes from challenge.

“Why are we still doing it this way?” isn’t disruption. It’s leadership.

Compete Against Yourself

Forget outperforming the school down the road.

Strategic schools benchmark against their own best.

Every metric, every initiative, every year is about internal progress. Did we improve? Did we learn? Did we stretch?

They don’t chase the market—they evolve ahead of it.

Like Apple redesigning its own iPhone before competitors can, they move first. And stay ahead.

Say No (A Lot)

Strategic leaders say no to good ideas all the time.

Because every yes has a cost. Every new program displaces something else. Every partnership stretches capacity.

Their guiding principle: focus protects impact.

“Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.” — Steve Jobs

Strategic schools say yes to what matters most—and no to everything else.

Rest Is a Strategy

Rest isn’t a reward. It’s a lever.

Strategic schools bake it in: time for reflection after significant initiatives, leadership pauses for recalibration, collective exhale before the next sprint.

Rest sharpens clarity. Fuels resilience. Unlocks better thinking.

Burnout doesn’t build strategy. Recovery does.

Final Thought: Don’t Just Think Differently—Act Differently

Leading strategically isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing what others won’t:

• Protecting quality by slowing growth
• Hiring discomfort over ease
• Choosing boring over buzzy
• Saying no, then resting hard

These choices may look counterintuitive.

But they’re how strategic schools lead the way.

Written by: Stuart, Strategy Consultant for Independent Schools | About Stuart

Inspired by: Cascade’s article on the best business strategies: Read it here.