Teachers and school leaders get understandably twitchy when I tell them they’re in sales and marketing. Most didn’t enter education dreaming of funnels, conversions, customer journeys or saying things like “brand activation” while pointing at a PowerPoint slide in a corporate boardroom.
But whether we like it or not, every school leader is selling something every single day. Leaders are constantly trying to convince staff that the work matters enough to keep doing it when they’re exhausted, frustrated or wondering whether there’s a return coming on their investment. They’re trying to build belief in a direction, a culture and a shared sense of purpose strong enough to survive difficult weeks, difficult students and difficult seasons.
And teachers are doing exactly the same thing inside their classrooms… whether they realise it or not.
A teacher who says, “Open your books to page 47,” is giving an instruction. A teacher who helps students understand why the next forty minutes counts is selling meaning, relevance and energy. The distinction is significant because human beings rarely commit deeply to things they merely understand intellectually. They commit to things they believe in, feel emotionally connected to and can see themselves extracting satisfaction from.
I put it to you that leading culture is fundamentally about leading motivation. The best leaders repeatedly reconnect people to purpose because they understand that motivation can wane in organisations over time. People tire and gradually lose sight of why the work mattered so much in the first place.
Cultural leadership is therefore not simply announcing expectations or launching strategic plans. It’s the ongoing work of making the purpose visible enough so that people are willing to give a bit of themselves to achieve it.
The same applies to classrooms. Students don’t automatically bring energy to learning. They bring energy when teachers create classrooms where the learning feels purposeful, achievable and worth trying. The best teachers I know are not simply curriculum deliverers stationed at the front of the room performing their content at children. They are true educational designers constantly trying to create the conditions under which young people might genuinely engage.
This is sales and marketing in the noblest possible sense.
I think schools need to get far more comfortable acknowledging it because the schools with the strongest cultures are rarely the schools with the best slogans, posters or strat plans. They are usually the schools where leaders and teachers have become highly skilled at helping human beings reconnect repeatedly to meaning, belonging, contribution and shared purpose.
People will always work harder for something they genuinely believe is worth building together.
Keep fighting that good fight,
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