Next-Level Leadership for Experienced Superintendents/Directors

After years of leading a district, many superintendents/directors reach a point where the questions shift. The focus moves beyond learning the role to strengthening judgment, sharpening strategy, and sustaining leadership over time. The work becomes less about managing the day-to-day and more about seeing patterns, anticipating challenges, and leading systems through complexity.

The MASA Advanced Leadership Academy creates space for that next stage of growth. Instead of looking only within education, the academy explores how accomplished leaders in other fields approach decision-making, resilience, innovation, and organizational leadership. These perspectives invite superintendents to step back, examine their own practice, and consider new ways to strengthen the work already underway in their districts.

This learning is guided by experienced leader and facilitator Dr. Steve Murley and takes place in community with other Minnesota leaders. Over the course of the school year, participants learn together, reflect together, and explore what leadership looks like across a range of sectors. The goal is simple: expand how we think about leadership and bring that learning back to our daily work.

The academy meets monthly, alternating between in-person and virtual sessions. Participants are also invited to take part in a learning experience at the Milliken Campus in South Carolina, where leaders engage in conversation around topics such as branding, customer success (as opposed to customer satisfaction), culture, and continuous improvement.

Experienced leaders carry deep knowledge of schools and communities. The Advanced Leadership Academy builds on that experience by introducing ideas, strategies, and leadership habits drawn from leaders outside the field of education who also navigate complex environments every day. The result is an opportunity to reflect, challenge assumptions, and continue growing as a leader.

Check out this video with testimonials from last year’s academy members!

If you have questions, please contact Lori Zimmerman at lori.zimmerman@mnasa.org or 651-295-7761.

If you are ready to register, please click here. We look forward to learning with you!