Ronderings

Good leadership requires you to always be a student!
From humble beginnings in golf caddying to becoming New Mexico’s Deputy Secretary and Secretary of Education under Gov. Susana Martinez (R) from 2016-2019, Christopher Ruszkowski is a social studies teacher by trade, recently appointed Distinguished Policy Fellow at the Hoover Institution.
Having spent a year in South Africa, Christopher trained as a teacher, spending his first years first in and last out in the school, taking his responsibilities seriously, especially as a rookie. In his 20 years of working within education and education reform, Christopher has a wealth of experience in school systems, as well as figuring out how to develop expertise in all the moving pieces of the system. Believing that you must always remain a student, Christopher has worked under a mentor, working on being informed and gaining an understanding of why things are moving in the way that they are.
The early bird catches the worm - there is value in a hard day’s work!

Notes:
🇺🇸 Christopher's family origin: first-generation American working-class story. 4:16
🤓 The story of how Christopher got into golf caddying. 9:02
🍀 His evolution from a caddy beginner to a trusted confidant and advisor. 13:43
🧑‍🏫 The beginning journey with Teach For America: a transformative year in South Africa. 18:46
🌍 Making the world a better place: he couldn't do it without some form of frontline service. 21:29
🏫 Middle school experience: what went on in his classroom, was a microcosm of what was happening in the education sector. 25:41
🎓 All the different education contexts Christopher was involved in. 29:15
🎯 Always be a student to be good in a leadership position. 36:19
🤯 There is such a dramatic difference in education in different cities today. 40:30
👀 It often takes an outsider to see what's going on, but you need an insider to implement it. 46:31 
💎 Christopher's RONdering:  it's still about the blue-collar day. 51:45

Links:
Connect: christophernicholasruszkowski@gmail.com
Rapatalo Group: rapataloconsulting@gmail.com
Leverage Publishing: www.leveragepublishinggroup.com
Connect with Ron: www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/phenomeron
Instagram: www.instagram.com/phenomeron

What is Ronderings?

In season one of Ronderings, Ron talks to his guests about their superpowers, including career advice, diversity, mindset, wellness, and leadership. Ron grew up in New York City, and has been coaching and leading executive searches for the last five years, taking what he has learned from 15 years in corporate, higher education, government, and non-profit contexts. He and his wife are obsessed with reality television, and Ron also moonlights as a men's personal stylist and group fitness instructor. Ron says, "I believe in the power of intuition and deepening one’s self-awareness and impact on others. I believe in the power of connection and transparency. I believe that we must dismantle systems of oppression and racism to recover our fullest humanity. Most of all, I believe our power to change the world starts from changing ourselves first."