{"id":9083,"date":"2026-02-02T18:35:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T02:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thriveps.org\/nonprofit\/?p=9083"},"modified":"2026-03-12T09:44:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T16:44:17","slug":"leadership-lessons-from-the-bottom-of-the-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thriveps.org\/nonprofit\/leadership-lessons-from-the-bottom-of-the-planet\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership Lessons from the Bottom of the Planet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So there I was, bundled up like a marshmallow on the deck of a cruise ship, watching icebergs the size of city blocks drift past like they had all the time in the world. Antarctica, the bottom of the planet, where your morning coffee freezes before you can finish it, and penguins somehow make it look easy to thrive in impossible conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;ll be honest: when I booked this cruise, I was thinking vacation mode, not work mode. But you know what they say about the best insights, they find you when you&#8217;re not looking. And boy, did Antarctica deliver some powerful lessons about leadership that I couldn&#8217;t ignore, even while trying to spot whales through my slightly fogged-up sunglasses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:12px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-stackable-subtitle stk-block-subtitle stk-block stk-8590ffa\" data-block-id=\"8590ffa\"><style>.stk-8590ffa {margin-bottom:10px !important;}.stk-8590ffa .stk-block-subtitle__text{font-size:20px !important;}@media screen and (max-width:1023px){.stk-8590ffa .stk-block-subtitle__text{font-size:20px !important;}}<\/style><p class=\"stk-block-subtitle__text stk-subtitle\"><strong><strong><span style=\"color: var(--theme-palette-color-4, #006BFF);\" class=\"stk-highlight\"><strong>The Bluest Ice Forms Under the Greatest Pressure<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/thriveps.org\/education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/02\/image.png\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8869 lazyload\" style=\"width:616px;height:auto\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thriveps.org\/education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/02\/image.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8869\" style=\"width:616px;height:auto\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here&#8217;s something that blew my mind: the most brilliant, electric-blue glacial ice isn&#8217;t just pretty: it&#8217;s compressed. The bluer the ice, the more pressure it endured to get that way. Tons and tons of snow, compressed over centuries, squeezing out every air bubble until what remains is pure, crystalline brilliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember57\">Sound familiar?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember58\">The best teams I&#8217;ve worked with in educational consulting weren&#8217;t forged in comfortable conference rooms: they were built under pressure. Budget cuts. Enrollment drops. Leadership transitions. State mandates that arrived with zero notice and impossible timelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember59\">I think about the team at the countless school districts, who during COVID had to completely reimagine their instructional model while managing daily operations. The pressure broke some, but for others, like the Cajon Valley Union Elementary School District, it compressed their focus, eliminated the fluff, and created something brilliantly clear: a shared vision that everyone could rally behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The lesson? Don&#8217;t avoid the pressure: lean into it. Great strategic planning happens when stakes are high and clarity is essential. Your team&#8217;s most brilliant moments are probably waiting on the other side of whatever&#8217;s making you sweat right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-stackable-subtitle stk-block-subtitle stk-block stk-70bcaa1\" data-block-id=\"70bcaa1\"><style>.stk-70bcaa1 {margin-bottom:10px !important;}.stk-70bcaa1 .stk-block-subtitle__text{font-size:20px !important;}@media screen and (max-width:1023px){.stk-70bcaa1 .stk-block-subtitle__text{font-size:20px !important;}}<\/style><p class=\"stk-block-subtitle__text stk-subtitle\"><strong><span style=\"color: #006bff;\" class=\"stk-highlight\">Antarctica is a Desert (And Other Things That Aren&#8217;t What They Seem)<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here&#8217;s a fact that broke my brain: Antarctica is technically a desert. The driest desert on Earth, in fact. All that ice? It&#8217;s been there so long it barely counts as precipitation anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember63\">This messed with my assumptions big time, and it reminded me how often we make snap judgments about organizations based on surface appearances. That school district that looks &#8220;successful&#8221; from the outside? They might be starving for real professional development. That nonprofit with the polished website? They could be struggling with internal systems that are held together with digital duct tape. <em>(More about this in a future blog on defining success.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember64\">Change management starts with looking beneath the surface. The real work isn&#8217;t fixing what looks broken: it&#8217;s understanding what&#8217;s actually happening underneath all those layers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember65\">I learned this lesson the hard way early in my career when I walked into what looked like a &#8220;high-performing&#8221; organization and spent weeks treating symptoms instead of causes. The real issue wasn&#8217;t their programming (which looked great on paper): it was systems that had everyone working in silos, duplicating effort, and burning out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, the first thing I do is dig deeper. What does your organization look like when nobody&#8217;s watching? Where are the dry spots that need real nourishment, not just surface-level solutions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-stackable-subtitle stk-block-subtitle stk-block stk-3e96974\" data-block-id=\"3e96974\"><style>.stk-3e96974 {margin-bottom:9px !important;}.stk-3e96974 .stk-block-subtitle__text{font-size:20px !important;}@media screen and (max-width:1023px){.stk-3e96974 .stk-block-subtitle__text{font-size:20px !important;}}<\/style><p class=\"stk-block-subtitle__text stk-subtitle\"><strong><span style=\"color: #006bff;\" class=\"stk-highlight\">When the Storm Hits, Huddle Closer<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/thriveps.org\/education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/02\/image-1.png\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8870 lazyload\" style=\"width:616px\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thriveps.org\/education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/02\/image-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8870\" style=\"width:616px\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You know what penguins do when Antarctic winds hit 100 mph? They don&#8217;t scatter. They don&#8217;t compete for the best spot. They huddle together, rotating positions so everyone gets time in the warm center and everyone takes a turn facing the wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember70\">Pure genius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember71\">Compare this to what most organizations do when things get tough: panic, blame, every-person-for-themselves mode. Leaders start hoarding information. Teams get competitive instead of collaborative. People start looking for someone else to throw under the bus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember72\">But the strongest organizations I&#8217;ve worked with do the penguin thing. When budget cuts hit, they huddle closer. When leadership changes, they create more psychological safety, not less. When initiatives fail, they debrief together instead of pointing fingers. <em>(Shout out to my colleague <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/courtneyochi\/\"><em>Courtney Ochi<\/em><\/a><em> who never misses the opportunity to debrief.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is what real leadership development looks like in practice: building teams that instinctively move toward each other during storms instead of away. It&#8217;s not about being soft; it&#8217;s about being smart. Penguins that try to brave the storm alone don&#8217;t survive.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-stackable-subtitle stk-block-subtitle stk-block stk-91f1b29\" data-block-id=\"91f1b29\"><style>.stk-91f1b29 {margin-bottom:9px !important;}.stk-91f1b29 .stk-block-subtitle__text{font-size:20px !important;}@media screen and (max-width:1023px){.stk-91f1b29 .stk-block-subtitle__text{font-size:20px !important;}}<\/style><p class=\"stk-block-subtitle__text stk-subtitle\"><strong><span style=\"color: #006bff;\" class=\"stk-highlight\"><span style=\"color: var(--theme-palette-color-4, #006BFF);\" class=\"stk-highlight\"><strong>The Shackleton Standard: Be a Copilot, Not a Captain<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember76\">Speaking of Antarctica, let&#8217;s talk about Ernest Shackleton. When his ship Endurance got trapped in ice for over a year, he didn&#8217;t bark orders from a safe distance. He shared the work, the risk, and the hope. He made sure his team ate before he did. He kept morale up by staying optimistic without being fake about their reality. <em>(Fun extra fact that my kids loved, they actually played soccer on the ice when morale was really low.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember77\">Shackleton wasn&#8217;t just leading: he was co-piloting through impossible circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember78\">This is exactly how we approach partnerships at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/thriveps\/\">Thrive<\/a>. We&#8217;re not the consultants who swoop in with a three-ring binder and disappear. We&#8217;re copilots who get in the trenches with education leaders and nonprofit teams to figure out solutions together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember79\">Real instructional design doesn&#8217;t happen when someone hands you a framework and says &#8220;good luck.&#8221; It happens when we work side-by-side to build something that actually fits your teachers, your students, your reality. Success means the tools and systems work long after we&#8217;re gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-stackable-subtitle stk-block-subtitle stk-block stk-6170ec8\" data-block-id=\"6170ec8\"><style>.stk-6170ec8 {margin-bottom:9px !important;}.stk-6170ec8 .stk-block-subtitle__text{font-size:20px !important;}@media screen and (max-width:1023px){.stk-6170ec8 .stk-block-subtitle__text{font-size:20px !important;}}<\/style><p class=\"stk-block-subtitle__text stk-subtitle\"><strong><span style=\"color: #006bff;\" class=\"stk-highlight\"><span style=\"color: var(--theme-palette-color-4, #006BFF);\" class=\"stk-highlight\"><strong>The Shackleton Standard: Be a Copilot, Not a Captain<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/thriveps.org\/education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/02\/image-2.png\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8872 lazyload\" style=\"width:616px\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thriveps.org\/education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/02\/image-2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8872\" style=\"width:616px\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember82\">One thing that struck me about Antarctic ice: it&#8217;s never static. Even glaciers that look permanent are constantly shifting, cracking, and reforming. The landscape changes daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember83\">Organizations that survive and thrive understand this. Your strategic plan can&#8217;t be a document you create once and file away. Your systems need to flex with changing demographics, new state requirements, budget realities, and leadership transitions. <em>(My brilliant friend and client <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/lisetteislas\/\"><em>Lisette Islas<\/em><\/a><em> taught me this years ago.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember85\">The schools and nonprofits we partner with that thrive long-term learned to build adaptability into their DNA. They plan for change instead of being surprised by it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember86\">This doesn&#8217;t mean changing direction every week: that&#8217;s chaos, not strategy. It means creating structures flexible enough to bend without breaking when the ground shifts underneath you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-stackable-subtitle stk-block-subtitle stk-block stk-03f9a07\" data-block-id=\"03f9a07\"><style>.stk-03f9a07 {margin-bottom:9px !important;}.stk-03f9a07 .stk-block-subtitle__text{font-size:20px !important;}@media screen and (max-width:1023px){.stk-03f9a07 .stk-block-subtitle__text{font-size:20px !important;}}<\/style><p class=\"stk-block-subtitle__text stk-subtitle\"><strong><span style=\"color: #006bff;\" class=\"stk-highlight\"><span style=\"color: var(--theme-palette-color-4, #006BFF);\" class=\"stk-highlight\"><strong>Finding Clarity in the Quiet<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember88\">Antarctica is quiet in a way that doesn&#8217;t exist anywhere else. No traffic. No phones buzzing. No background noise. Just&#8230; space to think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember89\">And honestly? That quiet was where the best insights hit me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember90\">We talk about &#8220;subtractive clarity&#8221; at Thrive: the idea that clarity comes from removing noise, not adding more information. In our always-on, always-connected world, this kind of intentional quiet is rare but essential. <em>(Thank you <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/shelli-kurth\/\"><em>Shelli Kurth<\/em><\/a><em> for leading our team to do this regularyly.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember92\">The best leaders I know create space for this kind of thinking. Not just for themselves, but for their teams. Regular time to step back, assess what&#8217;s really working, and let go of what isn&#8217;t serving the mission anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember93\">Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is stop doing. Stop the meetings that don&#8217;t lead to action. Stop the initiatives that sound good but don&#8217;t move the needle. Stop trying to be everything to everyone. <em>(Thank you, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/shelli-kurth?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_miniProfile%3AACoAAAoLru8BU6FISAxP6EMvIfDRaDUUcdjJe7k\"><strong><em>Shelli Kurth,<\/em><\/strong><\/a><em> for leading our team to do this regularly.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember94\">Remember: the clarity you need is probably already there, buried under layers of urgency and noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-stackable-subtitle stk-block-subtitle stk-block stk-da1c7a9\" data-block-id=\"da1c7a9\"><style>.stk-da1c7a9 {margin-bottom:9px !important;}.stk-da1c7a9 .stk-block-subtitle__text{font-size:20px !important;}@media screen and (max-width:1023px){.stk-da1c7a9 .stk-block-subtitle__text{font-size:20px !important;}}<\/style><p class=\"stk-block-subtitle__text stk-subtitle\"><strong><span style=\"color: #006bff;\" class=\"stk-highlight\"><span style=\"color: var(--theme-palette-color-4, #006BFF);\" class=\"stk-highlight\"><strong>Bringing Antarctica Home<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/thriveps.org\/education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/02\/image-3-768x1024.png\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8873 lazyload\" style=\"width:616px\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thriveps.org\/education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/02\/image-3-768x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8873\" style=\"width:616px\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember97\">So what does all this mean for your leadership back here in the &#8220;civilized&#8221; world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember98\">First, embrace the pressure. Your team&#8217;s brilliance is being forged right now in whatever challenge you&#8217;re facing. Don&#8217;t waste the compression: use it to create something crystalline and beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember99\">Second, look beneath the surface. The real work is understanding what&#8217;s actually happening in your organization, not just what appears to be happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember100\">Third, huddle closer when storms hit. Build psychological safety that draws people together instead of driving them apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember101\">Fourth, be a copilot. Share the work, the risk, and the hope. Make sure your team feels supported, not managed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember102\">Fifth, stay flexible. The landscape is always changing: build adaptability into your systems from the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember103\">Finally, create space for quiet. Some of your best insights are waiting in the silence you haven&#8217;t made time for yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember104\">Antarctica taught me that the most extreme environments often reveal the most essential truths. The bottom of the planet might seem like an unlikely place for leadership lessons, but then again, sometimes the most powerful insights come from the places that force us to see things differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ember105\">What storms is your organization facing right now? And more importantly: are you huddling closer or pulling apart?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So there I was, bundled up like a marshmallow on the deck of a cruise ship, watching icebergs the size of city blocks drift past like they had all the time in the world. Antarctica, the bottom of the planet, where your morning coffee freezes before you can finish it, and penguins somehow make it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":9084,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_gspb_post_css":"","content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"authors":[32],"class_list":["post-9083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leadership-development","authors-nicole-assisi"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Leadership Lessons from the Bottom of the Planet - Thrive - Nonprofit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thriveps.org\/nonprofit\/leadership-lessons-from-the-bottom-of-the-planet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leadership Lessons from the Bottom of the Planet - Thrive - Nonprofit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So there I was, bundled up like a marshmallow on the deck of a cruise ship, watching icebergs the size of city blocks drift past like they had all the time in the world. 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