Shownotes
Episode 02: Elisha Arrillaga
Bio: https://west.edtrust.org/team/dr-elisha-smith-arrillaga/
On June 10, 2019 I sat down with my friend Elisha Arrillaga who had just been named executive director of Ed Trust West. We celebrated in their new Oakland office. As a brand new executive director, Elisha had some great advice for new leaders and some really good book recommends. Also she has an admirable self-care routine. If you don’t EdTrust West’s work please check them out at https://west.edtrust.org
Elisha recommended the following books:
Supervision Matters: 100 Bite-Sized Ideas to Transform You and Your Team by Rita Sever,
https://tinyurl.com/y9pjlwul
and Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box by the Arbinger Institute.
https://tinyurl.com/yb4eq8zc
Playlist:
Sam Cooke’s songs Twisting the Night Away
https://youtu.be/zTArYTvpLZA
and What a Wonderful World This Could Be
https://youtu.be/R4GLAKEjU4w
She also mentioned:
ORS Impact
https://www.orsimpact.com
and the Equal Justice Institute
https://eji.org
Naomi’s take aways from this conversation:
1. Elisha’s parents are real-life civil rights heroes.
2. Working with a coach can push your thinking and give you an outside perspective.
3. Getting clear and aligned about the vision of your organization can provide room for folks to have autonomy in how they work towards that vision. Having a shared understanding about what are we trying to achieve, for whom, and what success looks like will clarify the vision.
4. We have limited resources and so we need to be strategic about what we focus on in our work. We have to focus on areas where we can make impact.
5. Don’t be afraid to make a change.
Rapid-fire Questions
1. Coffee or tea? Coffee with cream, no sugar.
2. Beatles or Rolling Stones? Beatles.
3. Favorite flavor of ice cream? Chocolate chip cookie dough.
4. Best $100 ever spent? Travel costs to reconnect with a former student.
5. Guilty pleasure? Skittles and jelly beans.
Special thanks to Spinningmerkaba for the use of their track Urban-Metronica (wooh-yeah mix) which was edited slightly for length. You can find the mix and their creative commons license here: http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/jlbrock44/33345
