Sean Slade
Strategic Transformation & Leadership
Consultant, Author, and Speaker
I launched my consultancy to focus on areas of passion and expertise. This includes transforming education; changing leadership to suit our changing world; and enhancing the social impact of our endeavors.
What we set in place now will help the world arrive well for our next generations.
Sean Slade is an Australian-American global education leader based in Washington, D.C.. With three decades of experience spanning five countries and four continents, he specializes in transforming education systems, growing partnerships, and driving leadership change for a complex world.
He works with some of the world's leading global organizations including NEOM, UNESCO, OECD, WISE, HundrEd, and Diplomatic Courier, and is the author of several books on education philosophy, transformation, and implementation for a better world. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, EdWeek, and the Diplomatic Courier.
He is available for consulting, advisory roles, and speaking engagements.
New book
Genius - How Teams Nurture Individual Brilliance (tba)
Synopsis
We have a preponderance, in the Western world especially, to raise the value of individual genius up and to diminish the role of the collective. We praise those individuals who have invented new ways of doing things without acknowledging the group or environment that allowed them to flourish. We raise the name of one as worthy of adulation but often remain ignorant of the help or accomplishments of others who created similar or identical findings.
This book isn’t an attempt to diminish the individually gifted but rather it aims to highlight how many more geniuses are created and nurtured via the group. They are more often made than born. And if this is true, what are the implications for our processes in education.
If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
- Isaac Newton
Recent release
The Power of the Whole: What Is Lost by Focusing on Individual Things
(2024)
This is a book about ourselves, and our world, but it is also a book about, and for education. Education is undergoing constant scrutiny – as it should. But what makes, or made, an education successful is too often left behind in the shadows when we focus too closely on what we think should be in the spotlight. It is the author’s belief that we are entering a period of time when re-looking at how these things interact and intersect will be pertinent to their and our success.
The complex nature of education has led us to break it down into more manageable parts. Consequently, we can’t see the forest for the trees anymore. The Power of the Whole shows why we need a clearer big picture view of education and how holistic approaches in teaching and leading will pave the way to better and fairer education. Whether you are a teacher, parent, or policymaker, this is a must-read book to reimagine what education could be.
Pasi Sahlberg,
author of Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland
Praise & Reviews
A compelling call and an insightful analysis! In The Power of the Whole, Sean Slade presents a powerful case against focusing on individual things and invites us to focus on the whole in education.
Yong Zhao Ph.D.,
University of Kansas & University of Melbourne, and author of What Works May Hurt, and Catching Up or Leading the Way
With our infatuation with immediate things, we often miss the bigger picture. Sean Slade’s book takes us on a journey about the big picture - from the world around us to the world of education. A must-read for any educator, parent, policymaker, or anyone interested in learning about the big picture of education.
Michele Borba, Ed.D., educational psychologist, and author of Thrivers: The Surprising Reasons Why Some Kids Struggle and Others Shine
