Systems are perfectly designed to achieve the results they get. This insight into systems is one of the foundational understandings that West Wind draws upon in our Systemic Equity Leadership framework. This is a new kind of leadership development—one that fosters skills to identify and disrupt systemic inequities.

This innovative approach represents our synthesis of ideas about learning organizations and systems thinking, adaptive leadership, Critical Race Theory, improvement science, and implementation science. The work of Peter Senge, Ronald Heifetz & Marty Linksy, Gloria Ladson-Billings & William Tate, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and the National Implementation Research Network have been invaluable in our development process.

We also use this framework as we endeavor to inform education policy on teacher leadership, educator evaluation, the recruitment and retention of staff of color, educational assessment and accountability, innovation in education R&D, and other vital education interests. Our current initiatives centered on the Systemic Equity Leadership framework include our Implicit Bias & Equity trainings, our support for implementing Cycles of Equity Improvement, and our Equity-Focused Instructional Rounds with Students, which we implement in tandem with colleagues at Harvard University.