The essence of a school is a faculty of friends. The labor and leisure of the faculty, students, and parents are not mere coordinates but parts that together form the life of a school. To that end, school leaders must understand the reasons that support and ground the arts of education, as the architect understands how carpentry, plumbing, and electrical work make up a house. The administrator must help integrate everything.I prefer traditional things, ideas, and practices, and I resist educational trends that, like fashion, do not last. I like singing folk songs with my kids and telling stories before bed by the fire. I am learning to enjoy dancing. Every few months, I meet with some like-minded men at a traditional German pub for drinks, good conversation, and hearty laughs. We are not the Inklings, just ordinary folk, but the desires of our hearts are much the same. While I have held positions of authority throughout my life, my most important education in leadership began when I started taking responsibility for everything the people in my charge did or failed to do. I have many stories of how my soldiers, for example, taught me how to support my commander’s intent, surround myself with those more skilled and experienced than myself, and how to operate under pressure. As a teacher, I have many stories about how working with parents, students, and other educators taught me how to listen and speak with the authority invested in me by God, the classical tradition, and the parents I represented. Furthermore, my wife and children have taught me innumerable lessons about how to celebrate life, suffer well, and how to pray for a spirit of humility in the face of the great responsibility of helping lead the hearts, minds, and hands of my own family. In addition to my time in the military and classroom, I spent three years living in the middle of Alaska, becoming reacquainted with nature, service, and traditional living. I scrubbed toilets, changed sheets, and offered hospitality to strangers through shelter, food, music, and time around the campfire and table. I believe in feasting and fasting. I believe in ordinary time spent with ordinary people caring for ordinary things. My family cooks apple butter outside in a large copper pot and facilitates and hosts literary dinners and music events. We eat dinner together most nights of the week. My wife cooks, but the kids and I usually do the dishes. Perhaps “He did the dishes” could be my epitaph.