Whole-child systems transformation starts with whole-person leadership

I think a lot about the power of deep, meaningful relationships – my relationships with my colleagues, my long-time friends, my new school mom friends, and the friends I haven’t talked to in months or years (but with whom I can reconnect without missing a beat). In these relationships, we have shared our full, authentic selves, and our shared vulnerability will always connect us. And, these deep, relational connections didn’t come easily. We each needed to cultivate and embrace a level of vulnerability, humility, curiosity, and fun to build a truly meaningful foundation. 

Within my coaching role at CSLX, to my leadership development role at Leadership for Educational Equity, and my chief of staff role in a Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board of Education office, I’ve experienced the way meaningful professional relationships also require vulnerability – and I see this vulnerability as a delicate blending of colors. A blending of the personal and professional. The private and public. The raw and the guarded. 

For some, this blending of one’s private and public life may not come easily. Public leaders may often behave in ways that can make that blend of colors a little more chaotic than they (or we) would hope. Navigating extremely complex systems that are entrenched in histories, hierarchies, policies, and ways of being sometimes necessitates that leaders show up in one particular way, or in ways that maintain a status quo that may not serve these leaders themselves, or those around them. It takes courage to challenge such entrenched, complex systems. Courage, transformative leadership, and deep inner work. It takes self-reflection and turning a mirror on ourselves. Looking inward first.  

These meaningful relationships, grounded in shared vulnerability and the blending of colors, are critical to fulfilling the promise of transformative leadership. 

I am a firm believer in transformative leadership and its mandate to effect deep and equitable change (Shields, 2012).¹ Shields (2011) identifies seven tenets that are basic to transformative leadership: 

1. Acknowledging power and privilege; 
2. Articulating both individual and collective purposes (public and private good);
3. Deconstructing social-cultural knowledge frameworks that generate inequity and reconstructing them; 
4. Balancing critique and promise; 
5. Effecting deep and equitable change; 
6. Working towards transformation: liberty, emancipation, democracy, equity, and excellence; and, 
7. Demonstrating moral courage and activism (Shields, 2011).²

Over the last 10 years, I’ve seen how public leaders are constantly just trying to keep up with the day-to-day tasks, transactions, and fires that their jobs call on them to manage. Many of these transactions are critical to the work and often involve the livelihoods and basic needs of students and families. But if we want to embody the vision of the organizations we work for, we must start with our individual purpose in order to move from transactional into transformative. We need the mirror. 

We must ask ourselves: What is my individual purpose? Why do I do this work? What brings me joy in this work? Where do I want to go? What are my hopes and dreams for students and families? 

Once we gain clarity around these questions, we must then ask: Now, who am I going to share this with? Who will I invite to share with me their individual purpose, joys, hopes, and dreams? How will we expand the circle together? If educators really want to honor our students as full humans and promote whole-child initiatives, we must start by looking inward, walking the talk, and being unafraid of holding up a mirror to ourselves.

I work to practice what I preach. While at LAUSD, I knew that in order to contribute to the type of systems change necessary to best support students and families, I needed to embrace an intentional way of being that was both authentically me, and open to new color blends, new ways of doing things. I needed to be able to strike a balance between working to change a system from within–which often means making intentional, strategic moves, speaking truth to power, and reaching across the aisle––and aligning myself with families, community organizers, and community partners who were putting pressure on the system from the outside. 

This all matters for so many reasons, not the least of which being that transformative change comes from transformative, trusting relationships. We create these types of relationships by being willing to be vulnerable and create spaces of psychological safety and belonging with those with whom we work, partner, and lead. Transformative relationships are formed when we share pieces of our humanity with others, and thus, invite them to do the same. 

As system leaders, we must be willing to hear, accept, and transform spaces if we see that our colleagues don’t feel psychologically safe to be their authentic selves. In The Four Pivots (2022), a deeply impactful read for me, Dr. Shawn A. Ginwright breaks down the pivots that leaders must make to achieve social justice and sustainable change. The pivot from transactional to transformative relationship building includes a willingness to be vulnerable. And there it is again – vulnerability.  

People who know me know that I am a big fan of Brené Brown’s work. Brown reminds us that being vulnerable is terrifying, and it’s also a rewarding experience that will set us free. I have chosen to paint wildly and blend the colors of my personal and professional life because I know that I can’t split my humanity. 

As I make the shift from “hustle to flow,” I embrace Dr. Ginwright’s counsel to pivot away from “grind culture” and my “addiction to frenzy” (I will say this often feels daunting as a full-time working mom of two young children) and towards the kind of vulnerability that yields the relationships necessary to transform systems. This means I ask for grace in the workplace when my personal life engulfs me. I add “flexible focus blocks” on my calendar to give my head the mental space of strictly planning every minute of my day. I commit to an earlier, specific bed time, but give myself grace if I occasionally need to extend it for the sake of a pressing deadline.  I tell my family what I need to reground myself or simply rest, and I act upon it. It’s tough, but I’m trying. I know that doing this work, looking in the metaphorical mirror, is critical to achieving the promise of our work – transforming systems so schools are places of authenticity and belongingness for all. 

Reflection Questions

This blog references several strategies practitioners can use to lean into building transformative relationships. Take a few minutes to do a “stop-start-continue” activity. 

• What strategies do you already see reflected in your work? 
• Do you want to continue those? Or are there strategies that don’t seem to be working that you want to stop? 
• What new strategies do you want to try, perhaps for the first time?

Author’s note: As you may know, our beloved CSLX colleague, Deanna Niebuhr, passed away after a short illness on February 28, 2026. I want to dedicate this blog post to her, as it was she who gifted me “The Four Pivots” – the inspiration for this piece. You can read more about the enormous impact Deanna had on those of us who were lucky enough to work with her here.  CSLX was honored to host a Celebration of Life service in Deanna’s memory on May 7, 2026. You may watch the recording of the service, peruse photos, and read through messages of love for Deanna (or leave your own) here.

Deanna, your unapologetic authenticity, moral courage, and relentless pursuit of justice have been a great source of inspiration to me and will continue to be for many years to come. Thank you.

^{1 Shields, Carolyn. (2012). Transformative leadership in education: Equitable change in an uncertain and complex world. Transformative Leadership in Education: Equitable Change in an Uncertain and Complex World. New York, NY: Routledge.} 

^{2 Shields, C. M. (2011). Transformative leadership: An introduction. In C. M. Shields (Ed.), Transformative leadership: A reader (pp. 1-20). New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.}

by Aixle Aman Rivera

Aixle is a practitioner, former educator, community organizer, and policy advocate with a focus on intentional, collaborative partnerships to support youth, communities, and systems.

Aixle has taught in the public and private school systems, which sparked her interest in systems level change through policy and practice. She has worked in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) in the Division of Instruction and two Board of Education offices, in various roles, including as Chief of Staff. At LAUSD, Aixle witnessed the power of grassroots policymaking, coalition building, and community organizing to authentically engage school practitioners and communities. She designed and delivered leadership development programs for elected officials and senior-level leaders of public school systems and nonprofits through her work at Leadership for Educational Equity, often with a focus on cross-sector collaboration on a shared goal.

She holds a BA from UC San Diego, a Masters of Science in Teaching from Pace University in New York City, an MPP from the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, and an EdD from Loyola Marymount University.

Aixle is a proud parent of two young children and regularly travels from the Bay Area to Los Angeles, so they can spend time with their grandparents.