Leadership Lessons from 2.7 Million Steps
Each day, rain or shine, I walk about five kilometers to and from school. For example, in the past year, those walks have added up to 2,770,873 steps, each one a small act of discipline, a quiet vote for my health.
It’s not glamorous. No crowd cheers me on as I pass under mango trees or dodge traffic in high AQI. But it’s become my baseline, my version of incremental care. Like Atul Gawande’s description of medicine that values steadiness over drama, my walk represents something deeper: the power of consistency.
When Consistency Isn’t Enough
Perhaps you remember that about three years ago, I was in a mountain biking accident in Canada where I snapped my left arm and damaged my right knee. After years of physio, the time came for the surgery to remove the hardware from my healed arm. My resting heart rate was unusually low for a nearly 50-year-old woman. The anesthesiologist looked worried and called for an Echocardiogram. But my surgeon wasn’t. He knew I had been walking. Every day. For years. That consistency had built a healthy heart.
But walking consistently alone didn’t heal my body after my accident. I started showing up to the gym four or five times a week. For over two years, I gave it my all. And yet, my progress plateaued. I was super frustrated; I spoke with Simon, my partner in Canada, and Coach Mariusz in Vietnam. Those heart-to-hearts reframed everything. Our talks synthesized into a formula for me:
Progress isn’t just consistency over time. It’s Consistency × Intention.
Where consistency is how you show up and intention is why. The purpose. The impact you aim to have in the space.
You could even think of it as:
What you achieve = How you show up × Why it matters
But not every day feels aligned. Just like my walks, some are sunshine days, clear and powerful. Others are rainy, hard, or distracted. That’s the plus or minus of intention. Progress, then, is the average of all those days. It's not perfection; it’s persistence.
The Shift: From Avoidance to Engagement
My Coach and I discussed how I had been working around my pain, favoring the stronger side, stopping at the first twinge in my knee. I was consistent, yes. But my intention was to avoid pain, not engage with it. When I changed that mindset, accepting the chronic discomfort and leaning into the work, I started running again. I squatted deeper. I grew stronger. Not because I did more but because I did it differently.
The Leadership Parallel
Too often in education, we mistake consistency for progress. We show up to meetings. We renew strategic plans. We run professional development days. We check the boxes.
But without intention, consistency becomes routine. And routine without reflection doesn’t move the needle.
So here’s the formula I offer fellow school leaders:
Progress = Consistency × Intention
- Are you consistently creating time for your team to learn and reflect?
- Are your meetings intentional or habitual?
- Are you avoiding the “pain” of hard conversations, data you don’t like, or stakeholder tension?
When we lead with intentionality and align our efforts to values, people, and purpose, we invite genuine growth. It might hurt. It might be uncomfortable. But, like this 50-year-old recovering runner squatting through knee pain, that’s where the transformation begins. So, let’s walk forward with just enough discomfort to know we’re progressing.
Further Reading:
Brown-Jackson, B. (2023, August 8). The power of consistency in leadership. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/power-consistency-leadership-brigitte-brown-jackson-ed-s-kkvkf
Culture of Yes. (2024, September 11). Consistency is often a key to positive change. https://cultureofyes.ca/2024/09/11/consistency-is-often-a-key-to-positive-change
Gawande, A. (2017, January 23). The heroism of incremental care. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/23/the-heroism-of-incremental-care
Lavery, D. (2023, October 23). Leadership alignment: Turning intent into impact for effective school leadership. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leadership-alignment-turning-intent-impact-effective-lavert-phd-wmqkc
McKinsey & Company. (2023, April 17). Achieving growth: Putting leadership mindsets and behaviors into action. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/achieving-growth-putting-leadership-mindsets-and-behaviors-into-action
