"The dance of leadership
Stepping into courage with head and heart"
Every moment of a leader’s day can contain nuance and intricacy. The need for
educational discourse for change to move to real action, and the increased complexity
of the work requires us to dig deep into our courage to lead this action. Our
adaptability to shift in the moment responding to the needs of those we lead pull on
our emotional and strategy intelligence, our head and our heart. It is a dance of sorts,
encouraging us to shift our moves to suit the music being played, and bring our
wholehearted selves to the dance floor.
Ferocious Warmth leadership is a concept that helps us find this balance and keep a
firm eye on our impact as a leader. Through the Ferocious Warmth elements of
Expansive, Connected, Authentic and Courageous, we can hold ourselves with bravery
and compassion in our daily work. Importantly, it also shows us that understanding self
and how we maintain our own state should not be seen as sitting outside leadership
reflection and development in a ‘wellbeing’ bucket, but intricately woven into the way
we work day to day.
This session will explore a number of key mental models and strategies that can help
leaders step into both the ferocity to lead transformation, and the warmth to connect
and inspire others on the journey.
TRACEY EZARD
Tracey is known for her ‘Ferocious Warmth’ leadership approach and
professional collaborative culture work via The Buzz Academy. Tracey’s
collaborative framework The Buzz which creates an environment of
learning, trust and innovation is used in education and organisational
systems throughout Australia. Her Buzz Diagnostic has been used by over
5000 schools and has had over 9500 educators participate. Tracey has
run leadership programs for education and system leaders for over 15
years in all education sectors in Australia and in New Zealand. She also
works with education federations in the UK. The Buzz Academy is an online
portal that assists school leaders skill up their learning leaders in building
authentic professional learning culture.
Tracey has presented in conferences on programs alongside educational
global leaders such as Professors John Hattie, Michael Fullan, Carol Dweck
and Lynn Sharrat, Maggie Farrar and Pasi Sahlberg. She works extensively
with principal and assistant principal networks and associations. She runs
symposiums and conferences for school leaders using a combination of
keynote, workshop and interactive activities throughout Australia.
Tracey is an author of three books. In 2021 Tracey launched her third book
‘Ferocious Warmth - School Leaders Who Inspire and Transform’.
Her previous books are ‘Glue -The Stuff that Binds Us Together to do
Extraordinary Work’ for leaders across all sectors who want to lift beyond
convention to create high performing teams and ‘The Buzz – Creating a
Thriving and Collaborative Staff Learning Culture’, designed for education
leaders to support schools to bring about transformation in education.
Tracey is an educator and a National Fellow of the Australian Council of
Education Leaders (FACEL) and a Certified Speaking Professional. She
has a background in teaching and educational leadership, business
management and HR in fine dining restaurants and project management
in the automotive industry (variety is the spice of life!). Her last education
position was as Assistant Principal in the Australian school system.
Tracey has been running her own speaking and consulting practice for
sixteen years. She has two teenage children, two dogs and when not at
work loves spending time exploring the world. She is Board Chair of the
social enterprise The Corner Store Network