Douglas B. Reeves

“Sustainable change, after all, depends not upon compliance with external mandates or blind adherence to regulation, but rather upon the pursuit of the greater good.”

“Collaboration, it turns out, is not a gift from the gods but a skill that requires effort and practice.”

“I regularly invite educators and leaders to send me their questions, and hundreds of them do so every month. The most common question, however, is one to which my response is probably most disappointing. The question is “How do I get better buy-in from my staff before I implement some critically needed changes?” The answer is “You don’t.”

“The central challenge for educational systems around the world is the substitution of effectiveness for popularity.”

“Behavior precedes belief - that is, most people must engage in a behavior before they accept that it is beneficial; then they see the results, and then they believe that it is the right thing to do....implementation precedes buy-in; it does not follow it.”

“Deep and sustainable change...requires changes in behavior among those who do not welcome the change.”