Wendy Kopp by Jennifer Albinson
-
Upload
total-leadership -
Category
Education
-
view
56 -
download
1
Transcript of Wendy Kopp by Jennifer Albinson
Jennifer Albinson
Authentic Leadership: Wendy Kopp
• Born in 1967 in Austin, TX• Attended Princeton University, focused senior thesis on the creation
of a national teachers corps• Founded Teach For America in 1989. First TFA corps in 1990 consisted
of 500 teachers, today there are ~6,000 corps members/year• CEO of TFA for 24 years• Left TFA in 2013, became CEO of Teach For All
Biography
• Lives in Manhattan with her husband, Richard Barth (CEO of KIPP) and their four children (aged 4-12)• Wakes up at 3 a.m. on
weekdays. “Sleeps in” until 5 or 6 on weekends• Runs daily• Family rituals include
church/bagels, “Value of the Month,” and Sunday night dinners out
Personal Life
“I reflect an hour a week on the overall strategic plan for myself — what do I need to do to move my priorities forward? And then there are the 10 minutes a day that I spend thinking about, “O.K., so based on the priorities for the week, how am I going to prioritize my day tomorrow?” I don’t know how I could do what I do without spending that time. I am obsessive about that system because the world seems to be moving faster and faster, so you have to figure out how to still drive things proactively instead of just becoming completely reactive.”
Wendy’s secrets
• Wendy is totally boring (“charisma is overrated”)• Lives the TFA values: relentlessness, humility,
and spirit of possibility• Learnings for my career:• Deliberate approach to setting priorities
(“your life is a system that you can change”)• Daily time dedicated to the self domain• Same Wendy Kopp, whether in front of
donors, teachers, or family
Why I love Wendy Kopp
Thanks, Wendy