319. From Survival Mode to Strategy After 35 Years in Childcare

You can have a leadership team, directors, job descriptions, titles, and processes. And somehow the school still works because you're the one underneath it all, noticing, anticipating, remembering, and asking the next question.

From the outside, it looks like you've built something that runs. From the inside, you're the invisible operating system.

In this episode, I sit down with Kris Saburn, an executive director who has spent 35 years in childcare. Kris has a center director, an administrative specialist, and a teacher mentor on her leadership team. On paper, she has plenty of help. And for years, she was still running in survival mode.

• Why a full leadership team doesn't automatically mean a school that runs without you
• The open door policy myth that keeps directors working 60-hour weeks
• Why so many women in leadership give to everyone except themselves, and what it takes to receive care
• The difference between being lonely at the top and drowning in plain sight
• Why questions build more leadership capacity than answers ever will
• How constant updates can be a form of soothing your own anxiety
• Why trust is built through evidence your body experiences, not through pep talks
• The skills Kris built that help her face licensing citations and hard conversations without losing sleep
• What happens when you only seek support in a crisis

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Chanie's book, This Can't Be Normal: https://thiscantbenormal.com

Join Schools of Excellence on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/