"The quest to find our best selves, live our best lives, and shine with our own brilliance is the heart’s desire of every human being. Two people compelled to help us find that pathway, and acknowledge our brilliance have been divinely called. NASSP supports Great Leaders in every school who are committed to the success of each student. Through this commitment we provide resources to school leaders as they journey to develop themselves, their teachers, and their students. NASSP enthusiastically endorses this book and readily shared the stories of the leaders of our BreakThrough Schools to move Simon T. Bailey and Marceta Reilly’s message of 'Brilliance' forward. This book is a brilliant light."

Dr. Beverly Hutton, NASSP Deputy Executive Directer/Chief Program Officer, Reston, VA

"I’m glad someone took the time to study the Breakthrough Schools and clarify their secrets to success. I encourage leaders everywhere to use the text to inspire new thinking and powerful actions. Love the organizer for addressing leadership as well as the case studies and exercises. "

Stephanie Hirsh, Executive Director, Learning Forward

"As a former small plane pilot I was excited to see Simon Bailey and Marceta Reilly use a flight metaphor and found it very accurate—for both flying and education! In their new book, Releasing Leadership Brilliance: Breaking Sound Barriers in Education, their emphasis on culture building and bringing out each person’s brilliance responds perfectly to negative issues of compliance and complaints about new initiatives that educators insist will not work. As Bailey and Reilly point out, by not focusing on what drags you down and focusing instead on what lifts you up and thrusts you forward, the brilliance of each individual in an educational community may shine. Their book provides rich examples of school leaders who have focused on what they can do rather than on what they cannot and practical exercises that assist school teams along their glide slopes toward successful touchdowns with students."

Dr. Linda Gross, Author & Consultant, Council of School Administrators, New York City

"A fanciful query into concise actions that can be used to create change in impactful ways. This book is a valuable guide to helping educators focus change that has the promise to spark improvement."

Billy Ray Jones, Principal, South Jones High School, Ellisville, MS

"In their book, Releasing Leadership Brilliance, the authors first create an inspirational metaphor for supporting student-centered change in schools: Breaking the Sound Barrier. Building on this metaphor, they provide explanation, examples, tools, and resources for implementation. I encourage all educators to pick up a copy to see how you can help your students break the sound barrier."

John Heim, Executive Director, Kansas Association of School Boards, Topeka

"It’s unbelievable that this compact book could hold that much information and examples in only four chapters. Great read! Great examples! This book is a call to action. I’m unable to read this book and not want to try something new!"

Delsia Malone, Principal, W. E. Striplin Elementary, Gadsden, AL

"Releasing Leadership Brilliance: Breaking Sound Barriers in Education is about big change in our schools and how to make these changes across our country—regardless of the zip code of the school. It’s purpose is to help educational leaders SOAR, finding both personal and team BRILLIANCE! A driving question, 'Are you a boss with an agenda or a leader with a vision?' The stories shared are compelling and inspiring; highlighting the powerful role of building principals who have transformed schools into places of learning where EVERYONE THRIVES! Each of these principals focused on relationships, learning teams, and a culture of caring—hug children with your words. The authors challenge educators, asking, 'Are your limiting beliefs creating barriers to reach your brilliance?' Anchored in solid research, but written from the viewpoint of caring, courageous, uplifting educators, this book is a must read."

Dayna Richardson, Executive Director, Kansas Learning Forward

"Rarely are school leaders presented with a comprehensive leadership book that addresses all the players in the educational arena—the leader, community members, instructional staff and students. The expertise shared by the authors—a business executive and a former superintendent/leadership coach—provide exercises, tools, and resources designed to break the sound barrier of limiting beliefs for each of these populations. The stories included from courageous school leaders offer hope to practicing practitioners intent on using the expertise inside their system to bring lasting instructional change for all the students they serve. Bravo!"

Edna Harris, Coaching for Results founding member, Coaching for Results

"Releasing Leadership Brilliance brings together work from several major educational researchers and cohesively forms practical strategies, techniques, and tools for educational leaders."

Glen Ishiwata, Retired Superintendent, Moreland School District, San Jose, CA

"The language in the book speaks directly to educators. The book contains the right mix of fact, life, and guidance. The authors have authenticity by virtue of having lived the experiences."

Neil MacNeill, Head Master, Ellenbrook Independent Primary School, WA Australia

"Finally! This book successfully brings forth both theory and tools for practitioners in the field, with the passion that calls to educators who want to achieve better outcomes for all students. The stories of schools that have consistently improved, who have overcome the obstacles, and stopped talking about barriers but rather removed them together are powerful! This book offers so many suggestions for how to achieve great results in any school or district, while highlighting the importance of all team members are leaders."

Lynn Lisy-Macan, Assistant Professor, University at Albany SUNY, NY

"This book is unique among books on leadership theory, change agency, and transformational change. Furthermore, it includes many tools to engage readers in the type of self-reflection that draws one into action."

Karen L. Tichy, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership

"An easy read and full of excellent success stories. Also, I liked the metaphor used as a framework for the book. This book offers a simple and easy-to-understand way to look at changes that can make a difference in student learning and student efficacy. I loved the many references to a broad range of other books that helped reinforce the points that were made. The tasks at the end of each chapter can be helpful as well."

Andy Tompkins, Former Commisioner of Education, Consultant, Regents Universities, Kansas

"What a fun, encouraging, doable, brilliant message for today’s educators on their way to becoming champions for all! This book is an essential next step for those aspiring leaders who are stuck in the overwhelming rut of professional development. It is a brilliant way to expand our thinking into practical ways of having thoughtful conversations with staff, students, parents, and community. Building a leadership conversation around the metaphor of flight is another brilliant move, as is the use of success stories from all walks of life. Can’t wait to get my own copy to underline, read, and re-read!!!"

Joan Hearne, Coordinator of Staff Development, Newman University and Wichita Public Schools, Kansas

"In their new book Releasing Leadership Brilliance: Breaking Sound Barriers in Education, Marceta Reilly and Simon Bailey have presented to educational leaders a gift of their combined wisdom, experience and brilliance They have created a unique multidimensional metaphor related to flight that they carry throughout the book, providing depth and heart to the constructs they present about leadership. Bailey and Reilly have presented a 'flight plan' of how school leaders can transform secondary schooling in the World. They present success stories from 'flight journals' from those in the field. They have provided much 'fuel' for us with the inclusion of the considerable research base on leadership that makes a difference. Not only have they presented illuminating research and stories, but they have enriched and expanded the information with interviews of those who have and are using best practices. The book contains the additional “thrust” of providing ready to use tools and activities for professional learning and collaboration within the organization. "It’s been said that there are no magic bullets in education, but if you are a busy leader, looking for a new 'lift' in your leadership, you will want to keep this book close in your day to day work for informative and practical resources, knowledge and inspiration. You will want to use this book as the basis for fresh dialogue as you elevate your leadership and break sound barriers towards a brilliant education for those you serve. "

Diana Williams, Executive Leadership Coach, Williams, Richardson and Associates, Columbus, OH