Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School Leadership Podcast

Chanie Wilschanski

If you are an Early Childhood director or childcare owner, prepare to transform your school and life with the Schools of Excellence podcast. Tune in each week to learn from Chanie Wilschanski, the founder and host of the Schools of Excellence Podcast and a mom of 4 kids. Each episode will be packed with tools and strategies - equipping school leaders to improve staff retention, increase teacher motivation, grow parent partnerships, create a collaborative culture, and enjoy a beautiful quality of life. Every week, Chanie shares the truth about childcare and early childhood school leadership for those striving towards excellence. If you are an early childhood or childcare school leader looking for strategies to grow your school, that are working TODAY, The Schools of Excellence Podcast is for you. In addition to weekly solo episodes, she'll also be inviting childcare and early childhood industry leaders to discuss the most pressing issues facing school leaders today. Don't miss an episode; subscribe today for everything you need for your school leadership journey!

  1. 3D AGO

    Why Consistency Is Hard for Leaders: The Real Reason You Keep Falling Off Your Rhythms

    Consistency sounds so simple. Show up. Do the thing. Repeat. So why does it feel like standing at the edge of a cliff? Consistency isn't boring. It's vulnerable. In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski explores why high-achieving school leaders resist steady rhythms, how perfectionism masquerades as inconsistency, and why return, not perfection, is what sustainable leadership is built on. If you've been doing the work and wondering why nothing seems to change yet, this one is for you. Resources mentioned in this episode: This Can't Be Normal: What to Do When Success Starts to Feel Like Survival available wherever books are sold: https://thiscantbenormal.com The Gratitude Rhythm — Episode 3 of the Schools of Excellence Podcast Brené Brown's TED Talk on Vulnerability

    18 min

  2. MAR 23

    Why Warmth Without Consequences Is Burning You Out (And Stalling Your School's Growth)

    What if the warmth you've been leading with is quietly stalling your school's growth? In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski challenges the belief that empathy alone creates change — and unpacks why consequence, not punishment, is actually the key to predictable safety, reduced burnout, and a team that rises on its own. A must-listen for school leaders who are exhausted from holding everyone else. Resources Mentioned: This Can't Be Normal by Chanie Wilschanski — https://thiscantbenormal.com Leadership HQ Membership — https://schoolsofexcellence.com/apply

    14 min

  3. MAR 16

    Why Your School Feels Fine in September (And Falls Apart Every March)

    Every September feels like a fresh start. By March, it feels like everything is falling apart. If that cycle sounds familiar, this episode is going to reframe everything for you. Chanie Wilschanski breaks down the real reason school leaders burn out every spring: heroics masquerading as infrastructure. She unpacks what real systems look like under pressure, introduces the five elements of infrastructure that every school leader needs, and gives you two practical moves to make right now — before summer — to stop the cycle. In this episode, you'll learn: Why heroics work in September but collapse by March — and what that tells you about your current systemsThe five elements of real infrastructure: standards, ownership, rhythm, guardrails, and consequenceWhy the skills that made you successful at one level become a liability at the nextThe Gottman statistic that reframes how you think about school leadership problemsTwo specific actions you can take this week to start closing your infrastructure gapHow to use your spring data to build a focused infrastructure plan this summer RESOURCES & LINKS: Register for the Delegation Workshop: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/workshop Get Chanie's book, This Can't Be Normal: https://thiscantbenormal.comApply for Leadership HQ: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/applyFollow Chanie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chaniewilschanski/Join the Schools of Excellence Lounge on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolsofexcellencelounge

    23 min

  4. MAR 9

    What March Is Really Trying to Tell You About Your School — And Why You Should Listen Now

    March is the mid-year mirror for school leaders, and it's showing you exactly what needs to change before May amplifies everything. In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski breaks down the difference between circumstantial challenges and infrastructure problems, shares a three-question framework to identify your patterns, and walks you through exactly how to install the standards and ownership your school needs to finish the year strong. Resources Mentioned: Register for the Delegation Workshop: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/workshop This Can't Be Normal (Chanie's book): https://thiscantbenormal.comLeadership HQ Membership: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/apply

    27 min

  5. MAR 2

    Calm Isn't An Accident - Why Leaders Must Study Stability

    You finally exhaled. Things at school are good. The team is doing well. No fires. No panicked texts. No impossible parent meetings. And somehow, instead of leaning in, you quietly stepped back — because isn't that the goal? This episode is rooted in the same rhythm-based leadership philosophy at the heart of my book, This Can't Be Normal: What to Do When Success Starts to Feel Like Survival, and it's one of the conversations I wish every school leader could hear before they disappear into a calm season without studying it first. What You'll Learn in This Episode: Why calm seasons are actually your most important diagnostic window — not a break from leadershipThe difference between "borrowed calm" and "built calm" — and how to tell which one you haveWhy drift doesn't begin in chaos — it begins in calm, quietly, while you're not watchingWhat it really means when you "step back" and the team figures it out (and why it might not mean what you think)The critical difference between absence and true leadership transferHow to study your calm and turn one good season into a repeatable oneWhy you cannot anchor yourself — and what to do instead Resources & Links Mentioned: This Can't Be Normal: What to Do When Success Starts to Feel Like Survival by Chanie Wilschanski — available wherever books are sold and at https://thiscantbenormal.comLeadership HQ — Schools of Excellence membership program: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/apply 📘 Buy the book: This Can’t Be Normal: What to Do When Success Starts to Feel Like Survival

    18 min

  6. FEB 23

    Why Early Childhood Promotes Leaders Too Fast — and What School Leaders Pay for It

    Early childhood education promotes leaders faster than almost any other industry — and school leaders are paying the price. In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski names a quiet but growing leadership crisis inside schools: teachers are promoted into leadership roles based on warmth, availability, and emotional labor — not relational stamina, discernment, or leadership infrastructure. You’ll hear why early childhood lacks true leadership pipelines, how urgency and exhaustion drive premature promotions, and why titles alone don’t build capacity. Chanie breaks down what other industries do differently — and what school leaders must begin building now if they want leadership that’s steady, sustainable, and not built on survival. This conversation is for school owners and leaders who promoted someone hoping for relief — and instead found themselves carrying even more weight. What You’ll Learn in This Episode Why early childhood promotes leaders earlier than almost any other industryThe difference between emotional labor and leadership staminaWhy warmth and likability don’t equal leadership readinessHow premature promotion creates top-heavy leadership and invisible pressureWhat discernment actually looks like in school leadershipWhy mentorship and rhythms matter more than titlesHow to stop passing emotional labor from one leader to the next Key Insights Emotional regulation is not leadership. Adults don’t grow through comfort — they grow through stamina.Titles without capacity create collapse. Promoting without scaffolding only shifts the weight.Discernment is a leadership muscle. It must be built through rhythm, mentorship, and exposure.Infrastructure protects leaders. Systems, standards, and rhythms distribute pressure instead of concentrating it. Memorable Quotes “You cannot hug an adult into accountability.”“We reward warmth without cultivating relational stamina.”“Adults don’t grow through discomfort — they grow through stamina.”“Titles change, but emotional labor doesn’t.” Why This Matters for School Leaders Prevents burnout caused by premature promotionsCreates leadership clarity instead of survival-based decisionsProtects owners from becoming the emotional shock absorberBuilds leadership capacity that holds under pressureReplaces urgency with strategy and structure Next Step If today’s conversation named something you’ve felt but haven’t been able to articulate, you’re not behind — you’re seeing the system clearly. 👉 Purchase This Can’t Be Normal and start exploring how school leaders can build leadership infrastructure that doesn’t rely on exhaustion. thiscantbenormal.com

    16 min

  7. FEB 16

    Hiring School Staff Isn’t About Getting the “Right Person” — It’s About Leading Humans

    Hiring can feel like a test you’re supposed to pass. You check references. You trust your gut. You believe in someone. And then something happens — they struggle, disappoint you, drift, or leave suddenly. And the messaging comes fast: “The wrong hire is expensive.”“You should have vetted better.”“This is what happens when you trust too quickly.” In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski names the toxic hiring myth school leaders are swimming in: the belief that if you hire the “right person,” the problems stop — and you can finally rest. But hiring isn’t the moment you eliminate risk. Hiring is the moment you agree to lead humanity. This is not a tips-and-tricks episode. It’s a reality reset for school leaders who are tired of blaming themselves every time a hire doesn’t go exactly as planned — and ready to lead with steadier rhythms that can hold trust when life shows up. In This Episode, You’ll Learn The hiring myth that turns leadership into a moral test of your intelligenceWhy “responsibility equals foresight” is a trap for school leadersWhat hiring actually means — and what it never meantWhy you can’t interview for grief, stress, burnout, or life disruptionsThe interview fallacy and why better questions won’t create safetyThe difference between trusting once vs. building trust through rhythmThe three post-hire rhythms that create predictable safety:Alignment rhythmsOne-on-one rhythmsRupture & repair rhythms Hiring is a choice. Leadership is a relationship. And when we stop trying to choose our way out of relational work, we build school cultures that can hold both standards and humanity. If this episode named something real — especially the invisible weight school leaders carry after a hire — This Can’t Be Normal is now available. 👉 Grab your copy today: thiscantbenormal.com

    37 min

  8. FEB 9

    When Your School Can Run Without You — But Still Can’t Think Without You

    Many school leaders reach a stage where things are “running.” Schedules hold. Classrooms open. Systems work. And yet — they’re still looped into decisions they thought were delegated. In this episode of the Schools of Excellence Podcast, Chanie Wilschanski names the critical difference between a school that can run without its leader and a school that can think without its leader — and why most leadership burnout lives in that gap. You’ll learn why delegation alone doesn’t create freedom, how discernment stays trapped inside the owner’s body, and what it actually takes to externalize thinking so leadership weight doesn’t default upward. This conversation is especially for school leaders who feel tired even though they’re “not doing that much anymore.” In this episode, you’ll learn: The difference between a school that runs and a school that thinksWhy leaders get pulled back in even after delegating wellWhat discernment really is — and why it can’t stay centralizedHow leaders over-function without realizing itWhy rhythms (not reassurance) redistribute thinkingWhat has to be shared before leadership can truly step back This episode reframes leadership freedom — not as leaving sooner, but as staying long enough to teach the school how to interpret reality without you. If this episode named the invisible weight you’re carrying, you’re not behind — you’re in a stage most leaders don’t even realize exists. You can download Chapter 1 of This Can’t Be Normal for free and read it privately, without pressure or urgency. 👉 Download Chapter 1: thiscantbenormal.com

    22 min
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4.9
out of 5
88 Ratings

About

If you are an Early Childhood director or childcare owner, prepare to transform your school and life with the Schools of Excellence podcast. Tune in each week to learn from Chanie Wilschanski, the founder and host of the Schools of Excellence Podcast and a mom of 4 kids. Each episode will be packed with tools and strategies - equipping school leaders to improve staff retention, increase teacher motivation, grow parent partnerships, create a collaborative culture, and enjoy a beautiful quality of life. Every week, Chanie shares the truth about childcare and early childhood school leadership for those striving towards excellence. If you are an early childhood or childcare school leader looking for strategies to grow your school, that are working TODAY, The Schools of Excellence Podcast is for you. In addition to weekly solo episodes, she'll also be inviting childcare and early childhood industry leaders to discuss the most pressing issues facing school leaders today. Don't miss an episode; subscribe today for everything you need for your school leadership journey!

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