Lessons Learned: Shaping Relationships and the Culture of the Workplace.

Roland Barth's Lessons Learned captures some good ol' salty-dog sailor stories. His tales are metaphors for school administrators, especially principals. Charting a course through a channel, avoiding shoals, mastering the currents and making do with old equipment or out-of-date supplies in short supply represent the plight of a ship's captain. Does such a course sound familiar?

Barth, a Harvard faculty member and former principal, is also a sailor by avocation. He's well acquainted with the waters of both the school administrator and the boat operator. His stories, each running about four pages, represent a collection of metaphors well suited to educators. The format fits the fast-paced lifestyle of a school administrator and provides wisdom from a lifetime of experience and thoughtfulness.

Barth's "Working Rules" and "Cruising Rules" provide succinct gems that summarize his points. Cruising Rule No. 7 illustrates this point: "The hand that provides the paintbrush determines the color." The parallel Working Rule No. 7 is: "If you want to have your say, you've got to be present for the conversation." These rules are summarized in a list at the end of the book for a valuable quick future reference.

Lessons Learned provides lighthearted, pleasurable insight to the collection of rules that guide the development of wisdom from an experienced administrator, professor and sailor. The book also may serve as a stimulus for good conversation among administrator groups.

(Lessons Learned: Shaping Relationships and the Culture of the Workplace by Roland S. Barth, Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, Calif., 2003, 117 pp., $24.95 softcover)

Joseph Rudnicki Superintendent, Sunnyvale School District, Sunnyvale, Calif.