ABSTRACT
During PLS, the constellation of personalities, historical events, national policy, and a teaching method that invited personal risk was unusual. At its most basic level, PLS provided a safe space, a nurturing environment, for 12 high-profile individuals from across the US who were operating under circumstances of enormous stress. Yet this safe space was not created by the facilitators alone. It was every one of the participants who agreed to safeguard one another’s confidentiality and who supported each participant’s story of learning through active, non-judgmental listening that created a container that fostered growth, otherwise known as a “holding environment” (cf. Heifetz, 1994; Winnicott, 1986). The general feeling in the room was “I’ve been there—and if I haven’t, there but for the grace of God go I.” With perhaps one exception, to one degree or another, each of the superintendents was being asked to act as a change agent to solve the problem of leading a complex school system. Thus, the pressures on each one of them were great.
