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Without a singular focus your chances of success are halved.

Let's change that.

School leaders invest so much energy devising plans, gaining approval and attempting to engage staff with programs of change.

Most of them fall flat.

In the world of international schools, few senior leaders have enough time to create significant change in their schools. The average Director stays in the job for three years.

Up to half of senior leaders will be deemed to have failed within the first two years on the job (Dewer at al, 2017).

We might argue about what people view as ‘failure’. But in the cut and thrust of a busy school perception is reality.

The chances of failure are high.

So what makes some people more likely to make it through the first two years of leading?

A large part of it has to do with their ability to focus on a target. They then have to inspire everyone, or nearly everyone, to see the same target as them and do the work to hit it.

Moving from fog to focus is arguably the singular most important success criterion for some of the most successful people, organizations and schools.

In a five-day Focus Sprint with Ewan McIntosh and the team at NoTosh, senior leaders will understand what it takes to decide on a strategic focus that fits their school.

Gain Confidence

Get to know the important differences between the elements of strategy, so you can focus on what matters most.

Learn a ton
(and also do the work)

Time to learn. Time to think. Time to put it all into action. You'll walk away with one single organizational focus for next year.

Lifetime access

Access for life to our materials, meaning you can use frameworks and ideas with your team, over time.

"Simple can be harder than complex. But it's worth it in the end... Once you get there you can move mountains."

Steve Jobs

The Focus Sprint :: May 19-23, 2025

Five days, back-to-back.
0700-0800 (Bogotá) | 0800-0900 (New York)
1300 (London) | 1600 (Dubai) | 2000 (Singapore)

One hour every day (recording available)

Monday: You cannot focus on everything in your strategy

Most strategy tries to do too much. What are the components of a good strategy, and can you spot the one thing you should make the main focus?

Tuesday: Getting other people focussed

Use a pre-mortem to understand how others will react to your focus, and use creative conflict to make the focus sharper.

Wednesday: Communicate focus, relentlessly

Most leaders underestimate the number of times they have to communicate an idea. When you've only got one idea, how do you communicate relentlessly and maintain interest?

Thursday: Measuring focus

Most goals in schools are about what people put in. Let's rewrite our focus to show what everyone gets out of it.

Friday: The Story You Tell

The focus you choose will become part of your identity. Understand how it connects to the rest of your school, community and brand identity. 

Need an invoice for your organization?

If you require an invoice rather than making a credit card purchase, drop a line to Carolyn with the number of places you wish to purchase, names and email addresses, and she will arrange that for you: [email protected] 

Request An Invoice

The bonus concept you shared today has blown my mind! So elegant and simple, it has unlocked the door to a challenge I've faced for years.

 

Kathleen McLean, Leader, Queensland

“I've implemented more prototypes rather than sitting in the planning phase too long.”

 

Tamara Redmond, International School of Zug and Luzern

“Storytelling has the most concrete impact, using the tools to create our leadership vision together."

Edith van der Linden, International School of Utrecht

Be the first in line when we launch the next Fog to Focus

We'll keep in touch and make sure you have first sight of our latest courses. 

We only send valuable ideas. You can unsubscribe at any time.

About your facilitators

Ewan McIntosh

Ewan McIntosh

"When we do strategy work with schools there's a tendency to fear focus. I think it's because people are afraid that they'll never be able to turn back on their choice, if they choose the wrong thing. So instead, leaders hedge their bets and attempt to focus their teams on three or more things - and that's where people trip up. Do one thing, well. It's enough. And if it's the wrong thing, you'll find out by trying it out."

Ewan was a classroom teacher who ended up as Commissioner at public service broadcaster Channel 4 Television Corporation, finding and investing in $50m of digital services that found reach to the elusive 16-24 year old audience. He’s led design projects with countless corporates (Burberry, BBC, Channel 4, talktalk plc, thyssenkrupp). With a life path that involved narrow misses with investment banks and the British Army, his love of learning and teaching was the dream job that led him to start NoTosh in 2009.
Since then he's worked with hundreds of schools in over 70 countries.

Kate Wadsworth

"Wherever you focus your attention, that becomes your reality. After 20 years of teaching, I dare not think about the number of staff meetings I saw through where the focus was anything but focussed: tweaking the curriculum ineffectively (again); assessment and prioritising short-term gains for accountability purposes; obsessing about conformity, from year group to year group, rather than alignment around a common idea of success; red tape tasks; implementing yet another new initiative, on top of every other initiative that is not yet embedded; judging, evidencing, proving and managing performance...
All that instead of focusing on the only way a school can truly improve: by listening to and responding to the needs of the people in it."

Kate has been an elementary teacher and school leader for over 20 years and is a qualified "Coaching Within Education" specialist. When she realised that her "outstanding" performance came at the expense of "feeling outstanding" she wanted to do something about that. 

All you need to strip away the noise and find focus in your strategy and your personal leadership

We have completed hundreds of strategy projects with schools, private corporations and even political parties. Most are successful - we’ve had only six bad days at the office in all that time.

But after 14 years on the job there is one repeat offender who appears every time a project starts to go awry: a lack of focus from the senior leaders. 

In the world of international schools, the average Director stays in the job for three years. The chances of failure are high.

Up to half of them will be deemed to have failed within the first two years on the job.

So what makes some people more likely to make it through the first two years of leading?

A large part of it has to do with their ability to focus on a target. They then have to inspire everyone, or nearly everyone, to see the same target as them and do the work to hit it.

Moving from fog to focus is arguably the singular most important success criterion for some of the most successful people, organizations and schools.

Join this course and you will have everything you need to remove the noise, and find focus in your strategy and your personal leadership.

Be the first in line when we launch the next Fog to Focus

We'll keep in touch and make sure you have first sight of our latest courses. 

We only send valuable ideas. You can unsubscribe at any time.