Better Leadership Starts with Better Connections.
A facilitated virtual book study with the author of Beautiful Together focused on real world leadership and bridge building in education.
Dates: March 4 and March 23, 2026
Time: 4:00 - 5:00 pm
Participants will:
analyze and reflect on their own leadership and communication practices to identify specific strategies for building trust, fostering belonging, and strengthening relationships across differences in educational settings.
apply bridge building and dialogue strategies from Beautiful Together: How to Become a Better Leader and Bridge Builder to real world school and district scenarios, including navigating difficult conversations, addressing conflict, and supporting inclusive team cultures.
develop actionable next steps for integrating empathy-based leadership and collaborative practices into their professional roles to improve staff engagement, collaboration, and overall school climate.
Event Details:
Duration: Self-paced, must be completed by March 23, 2026.
Learning/Action Steps: Will be given by author and organizer throughout the book study
Course Materials: Participants will be given the book, Beautiful Together: How to Become a Better Leader & Bridge Builderprior to the first session.
About the Author: Julian S. Newman is an author, founder, and CEO of Culture Creative and The FutureCast Foundation. He is an altMBA graduate and inaugural Anthem Award-winning Diversity & Inclusion Leader of the Year, along with Trevor Noah. His thought leadership has been featured in a range of media outlets including Forbes Magazine, Fox News, NPR and PBS affiliates. Julian is a charismatic speaker with more than 20 years' experience in leadership development. His dynamic talks have reached more than 100,000 people worldwide and inspired teams at Google and UN Women.
A link to the webinar will be emailed the week of the session. Please watch your email.
SCECHS - 10 upon MDE approval
Questions? Contact Stacey Sills at ssills@oaisd.org.