Summary: Happy New Year! As I look at the past year I am grateful for the connections, relationships and opportunities to grow personally and professionally. <br> I wanted to say a special thank you to those of you who check out posts, listen to podcast episodes, or have read my books <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Principal-Matters-Updated-Expanded-Motivation/dp/154540058X/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Principal Matters</a> or <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Messaging-Matters-Teachers-Motivate-Communities/dp/1945349093" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Messaging Matters</a> and shared the content with others. Most of all, thank you for applying the lessons we learn together as you continue your service to your teams, your schools, and your own personal development.<br> Five years ago, I launched my website, and a lot has happened since then. I like to look back each year to gauge growth and set goals for the coming year. Plus, I’d like to share some bonus takeaways with you on helping schools manage grief, essential roles for school leaders, and interview tips.<br> A Quick Review of Principal Matters Resources<br> Readers<br> My blog has never had enormous traffic, but since my first post in February 2013, I have had 134,815 views of the weekly posts I share. For context, <a href="https://georgecouros.ca/blog/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">George Couros</a>, whose shared website has millions of views, also generously shares my posts on his shared site, Connected Principals, and to date one of my posts, <a href="http://connectedprincipals.com/archives/11438" rel="noopener" target="_blank">30 Questions for Principal Interviews</a>, has been viewed there 194,013 times. I’m grateful that my content is also re-shared on social media outlets including <a href="https://twitter.com/Williamdp" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-d-parker-0418575/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/William-D-Parker-524917670885962/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Facebook</a>. This year I have been able to share two guest blog posts <a href="https://www.solutiontree.com/blog/?s=William+D.+Parker" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Solution Tree’s Blog</a>. <br> Listeners<br> In 2015, I began simultaneously posting a podcast version of Principal Matters each week. As I near the two-year date, the podcast episodes have been downloaded 96,475 times, which averages around 1,000 downloads per week for 2016. If you’re a consistent listener, thanks for taking time to learn together through these audio-posts! And a big thanks to friends who have invited me as a guest on their podcasts: <a href="https://www.principalcenter.com/radio/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Justin Baeder</a>, <a href="http://www.transformativeprincipal.org" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Jethro Jones</a>, <a href="https://betterleadersbetterschools.com" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Daniel Bauer</a>, <a href="https://justinmckean.com" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Justin McKean</a>, Andrew McPeak and <a href="https://growingleaders.com/blog/podcast/episode-53-messaging-matters/#" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Tim Elmore</a>.<br> New Book<br> One of the biggest accomplishment of 2017 was the publication of my second book, <a href="https://www.solutiontree.com/messaging-matters.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Messaging Matters: How School Leaders Can Inspire Teachers, Motivate Students, and Reach Communities</a> by Solution Tree Press. Publishing a book is an enormous labor of love, but I’m so excited to share it. Also, I am planning an entire series of webinar presentations this coming semester sharing many of the ideas from the new book.<br> New Position<br> This summer I was offered a position as the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Association of Secondary Principals (OASSP...
