By Dr. Michael M. Ford
Chaos has a way of revealing who we truly are as leaders. The COVID-19 pandemic brought that truth into sharp focus, as school leaders across the country were forced to navigate uncertainty, fear, and rapidly changing realities. It wasn’t just a health crisis; it was a leadership stress test. And it exposed the difference between those who managed crises and those who led through them.
What I learned during this time—and what my dissertation research affirmed—is that effective leadership during chaos demands more than plans and protocols. It demands presence. It demands flexibility. It demands a deep, unwavering commitment to people over process.
The school leaders who thrived during the pandemic didn’t have all the answers. But they had something more powerful: trust. They communicated openly, even when information was incomplete. They made decisions rooted in values, not just mandates. And they never forgot that behind every Zoom box was a teacher trying their best, a student fighting isolation, or a parent juggling impossible circumstances.
One urban principal I studied led her staff through those early, frantic months not by asserting control, but by distributing leadership. She created space for teacher input, encouraged innovation without fear of failure, and made mental health—not test prep—the top priority. The results? Higher teacher satisfaction, stronger student connection, and a school climate that weathered the storm together.
Crisis leadership is not about heroics. It’s about humanity. Leaders must be nimble enough to change course, humble enough to admit what they don’t know, and courageous enough to lead with empathy in the face of fear.
In many ways, chaos strips away the superficial. It reveals what leadership really is: not a title, but a presence. Not a plan, but a posture. Not about being in control, but about being connected.
We’re not out of the storm entirely. The aftershocks of COVID still ripple through education—learning loss, educator burnout, widening inequities. But these are also moments of opportunity. Leaders who showed up during crisis with transparency and trust have built a foundation that can now support real transformation.
So the question isn’t whether we’ll face chaos again. We will. The question is: Will we be ready not just to respond, but to rise?
The answer lies in the kind of leaders we choose to be—not just in calm, but in crisis. Because the most powerful leadership lessons aren’t learned in textbooks. They’re forged in storms.