Arne Duncan: Education Leadership through Crisis (Full Interview)

Arne Duncan, former U.S. Secretary of Education and Managing Partner of Emerson Collective, shares his thoughts on how education leaders can respond to the COVID-19 crisis and the unique opportunity it poses.

Part of the Education Leadership through Crisis video series:
Join the Luminos Fund to hear from education leaders across the private sector, government, and civil society, bringing their past experience to bear on the current COVID-19 crisis.
https://luminosfund.org/leadership-se...

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Key question segments:
1. (0:37) Tell us about your childhood and your journey to becoming a professional. What role did your education play in helping you craft the vision of whom you might become as an adult?

2. (1:58) You played basketball at Harvard and professionally in Australia. What lessons about leadership and teamwork came out of those experiences?

3. (5:11) I got a chance to read your 2018 book, "How Schools Work." Tell us about Calvin Williams, who you tutored at the Sue Duncan Children’s Center in the late 1980s and what you learned from him.

4. (9:32) What was it like to be CEO of Chicago Public Schools?

5. (14:52) As a leader, how do you prepare your heart and mind to make the progressive leaps in scale from leading a charter school, to leading a large public school system, to leading the improvement of education in a country the size of the United States?

6. (19:16) In your Chicago experience, what would you put in the “wins” column and the “loss” column?

7. (22:24) 2008 comes and you take another leap in scale, becoming US Secretary of Education. Give a sense of that journey. As Education Secretary what were some of your wins and losses?

8. (28:38) In a 1995 speech, President Nelson Mandela spoke about leadership, vision, and political courage. What aspects of political courage had to define your time as secretary of education?

9. (32:37) How do you balance navigating through opposition and challenge while bringing the country together as a team?

10. (36:20) At the high point of COVID-19, 1.6 children across the globe were forced out of school. Many still face this situation. Given the role you've had, what advice do you have for education ministers across the world who are facing this unprecedented crisis?

11. (42:19) Going back to your book and your work with the Emerson Collective, there are a few stories you've shared regarding gun violence and trauma in communities. What have you learned in your time that would help us today given all the trauma kids are going through?

12. (49:37) Do you still stand by the six lessons from your book today? How are they relevant even more so in the current pandemic?

13. (51:50) What were your favorite books as a child?

14. (53:37) Any final thoughts?

15. (55:47) Bonus question: What was it like working with President Obama?