BRAND REWIND LEADERSHIP

This teacher taught us the importance of staying on brand...

Mar 09, 2022

This is another example of stepping way over the boundaries and damaging your leadership brand. This time it’s a high school teacher who slapped a student so hard he hit his head on the wall and collapsed … all because the student wore a hoody to class. Read and see the details here.

It’s jarring and appalling that an award winning teacher, just months away from retirement, would jeopardize his 40-year reputation, retirement pension and community status just to demonstrate his power over a student by slapping him violently in their school hallway. Another surprising fact is that after the incident, some students and community members defended this teacher’s actions, saying he must have been triggered to do something so out of character. So I have to ask the obvious question… when is it ever okay for a teacher to put their hands on a student? The obvious response is never. This incident makes me wonder what he did to win his 2020 Teacher of the Year award and how the other 38 years of his teaching career transpired? Having a bad day should never result in someone behaving so far “off of their brand”.

I also find it interesting that his school board allowed him to retire instead of firing him for his violent behaviour. Would other teachers receive the same treatment or has the school board just shown everyone that they are biased in their decision making and can’t be trusted to protect students? I also want to highlight another brand that is involved and it’s that of the victim. The student didn’t retaliate by hitting back this teacher, instead, he showed everyone that even when he has a bad day he demonstrates some self-control (unlike the teacher).

So how does this now “retired” teacher begin repairing his brand? He starts with an apology to the student and his family, then to his entire community and takes full responsibility for his lack of self-control; no excuses.

Your behaviour should always reflect what you stand for. It takes years to build your brand but only seconds to destroy it. So even when you have bad days, never stray far from your brand!

Zoe Mitchell is the founder of Sharp Processes, a leadership consultancy focused on improving employee engagement using Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Process Improvement with her 20 years of corporate senior leadership positions. She is also the author of Inclusive Leadership Now (also available on Amazon).