States of Being: Leadership Coaching for Equitable Schools

“Groundbreaking . . . innovative . . . will surely make an indelible impact on the future of educational leadership studies.” —Daniel R. Porterfield, President and CEO of The Aspen Institute

The What, the Why, and the How of leadership coaching for equitable schools.

States of Being conveys the urgent need for compassionate and equitable leadership in our schools. Belans has distilled decades of coaching experience into a methodology that all leaders and mentors will be able to apply to their own coaching practices. She is clear at every moment that leadership must be grounded in equity and social justice, and she never wavers from her insistence that students’ well-being should be the center of educational decision-making. The 11 States of Being presented in this book are practical, insightful, and almost shocking in their immediate effectiveness. Belans shows once and for all that reductive or deficits-based leadership is damaging, unproductive, and most of all unnecessary. Here, she presents the assets- and equity-based tools to create true transformational change.

“States of Being has transformed the way I work with leaders. Belans clearly elaborates the essential equity questions that should be at the heart of every decision a school leader makes. This book will reshape the way we think about leading and coaching.” —Dr. Mahalia Hines, President, Common Ground Foundation; Board Member, Obama Foundation; former Board Member, Chicago Board of Education

“The impact of States of Being reverberates through all my district leadership work. The stories in this book are a gorgeous choreography between author and reader, much like the dance between people in a coaching relationship. States of Being offers real development in the field of education and is an approach that can radically transform individuals, relationships, teams, and organizations.” —Andrea Zayas, Chief Academic Officer, Boston Public Schools

Linda Belans, Ed.D.has been coaching educational and corporate leaders for more than 30 years. She began her lifelong equity work, activism, and organizing in Oakland, California, in 1968. She is the recipient of many awards and honors for journalism, poetry, and dance, and is the founding host of The State of Things on public radio. She lives in Durham, NC.