5th Annual Melbo Chair Lecture

When Life Gives You Lemons, Plant the Seeds

District Leaders Share Their Innovative Strategies for Solving Complex Challenges

School district leaders face more than their fair share of challenges, from evolving student needs and declining enrollment to artificial intelligence and persistent inequities. But effective leadership isn’t simply about finding the right solution. It’s about the process leaders use to understand a problem by asking the right questions, looking at challenges from new perspectives, involving key stakeholders, considering broader implications and making decisions that address today’s needs while keeping the future in mind.

This year’s Melbo Lecture will bring together innovative leaders to explore how they approach complex problems through a lens of equity, innovation, creativity and systems thinking. In conversation with Pedro Noguera, dean of the USC Rossier School of Education; Fabiola Bagula, superintendent of San Diego Unified School District; Andres Chait, superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District; and Rochelle Espitia, principal of George Shirakawa Sr. Elementary School, will take us inside the decision-making that effective leaders use to solve complex challenges and develop solutions designed to have a lasting impact.