The Lead Domino Assessment

Why Everything Starts With You

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When Jordan first became principal, she thought leadership meant solving everyone else’s problems.

Test scores. Staff issues. Angry parents. Broken printers. Jordan took pride in handling it all.

But it wasn’t until a burnt-out Monday morning — staring into her rearview mirror wondering why she felt so off — that she realized something:

She was leading from depletion, not direction.

That moment marked the beginning of her Ruckus Maker journey. The first time she saw that Doing School Different had to begin by doing leadership different.

She didn’t need another strategy. She needed a mirror.

We call this the Lead Domino — the one area of your life that, when improved, sends shockwaves through everything else.

This tool is now a foundational piece of the Ruckus Maker Flywheel

And the same reflection that helped (our fictional) Jordan rediscover her spark is now helping visionary leaders around the world (IRL) align their life and leadership.

If you're tired of being effective on paper but empty in practice, the Lead Domino Assessment will help.

Busy, Burnt Out, and Ineffective

Most principals are drowning in the urgent while the important slowly dies.

They’re managing symptoms instead of addressing root causes. They’re putting out fires instead of preventing them.

The cost? Burnout. Mediocre results. A campus that runs you instead of the other way around.

But what if I told you there's a different way?

What if you could identify the one thing that, when improved, creates positive ripple effects across your entire life and leadership?

That’s your Lead Domino.

The Day Everything Changed

A year ago I was having lunch with a CEO (of a company you all have heard of). We talked life. Family. Spirituality. Business.

He then turned his iPad around and showed me a tool that changed his life and asked me this question:

"If you could only focus on improving one area of your life for the next 90 days, which one would create the biggest positive impact on everything else?"

That question and tool became what I am sharing with you today …

Why Most Leaders Get This Wrong

Here’s what I see happening in schools everywhere:

Principals try to improve everything at once. They want better test scores and improved culture and stronger parent engagement and healthier work-life balance and more innovative teaching.

The result? Scattered focus. Mediocre results. Exhausted leaders.

But Ruckus Makers understand something different:

When YOU get better, everyone wins.

This isn’t selfish — it’s strategic.

You can’t lead others to places you’ve never been.

You can’t build the campus of your dreams if you’re running on fumes.

That’s why I created the Lead Domino Assessment.

The Tool That Changes Everything

The Lead Domino Assessment will help you identify exactly where to focus your energy for maximum impact — both personally and professionally.

It asks you to …

• Identify the most important categories in your personal and professional life and rank them in order of importance.

• Then score the current reality of each category.

• And make a plan to bridge the gap.

Most districts do not care if your personal and professional life are aligned. They may say it, but their actions do not reflect this as a priority. Heck … even many school leadership coaches gloss over how you are doing and jump straight to academic achievement.

We think think this is wrong.

And that’s why every tool and framework we develop centers your experience first.

Because when you lead different, your entire campus Does School Different.

Get the tool and watch the coaching video below …