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Most educators lead alone. One adult in a classroom, one principal in a building, one name at the top of the chart. Every decision runs through you, every hard moment lands on you, and the unspoken expectation is that a good leader already has the answers.
Dr. Ilana Nankin and Michael Fenchel, co-founders and co-CEOs of Breathe for Change, make the case that this model is not only lonely, it is limiting. A leader who answers to no one is rarely asked to own their impact, and one who thinks alone has only one perspective. After eleven years of leading side by side, through fast growth, power struggles, and a season apart, they argue that shared leadership is harder, and better.
What makes it work is not a title. It is a set of skills that can be practiced. Mindful Listening means offering full presence and reflecting back the essence of what you heard before deciding anything. Desires, Fears, and Requests gives two people a way to name what they want, what they are afraid of, and what they need, even in the middle of a conflict. Repair means owning your impact rather than defending your intentions, so trust can rebuild after the inevitable rupture.
The harder question is personal. Sharing leadership means letting go of control, of being the one who does everything, and of needing to be the central figure. Both founders are candid about how long that took. These practices come from the Relational Intelligence layer of the Human Intelligence framework, and none of them require a co-CEO title. A teacher with one trusted colleague and a weekly check-in has already begun.
For any educator carrying everything on their own right now: you were never meant to. The best things are rarely built alone.
Here are some of the best moments from the episode:
- How Ilana and Michael Met in 2013
- The PhD Dissertation That Sparked Breathe for Change
- Collaborating on Their First 450-Person Event
- Navigating Ego, Control, and Early Power Struggles
- Personal Growth and Letting Go of Control
- The Relational Intelligence of Conflict Repair
- Reconnecting in 2020 and Committing to the Co-CEO Title
- Mindful Listening as an Essential Leadership Practice
Follow “A Work of Heart” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube. Subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if it resonated, take 30 seconds to rate and review. It helps more educators find these conversations and reminds the algorithm that teachers matter.
