Geez, the Home Truth I wrote on 31 October titled “Principal Lamb Can Get In The Bin” ruffled a few feathers! Curiously, the email response was mostly positive and grateful. But I can’t say the same for social media, which went completely off its head!
A handful of people in that space responded with a type of dramatic disappointment: “Adam, I usually love what you say… but you’ve lost me forever with this take.” That sentiment fascinates me, because it reveals something more about the zeitgeist than the author.
The idea that one differing opinion is enough to “lose” someone says more about the times we live in than about the content. This is what Rutger Bregman calls Purity Politics – the false belief that anyone who doesn’t align with you 100 percent, 100 percent of the time, is no longer part of your team. It’s as if nuance has become disloyalty and independent thought is now some act of betrayal.
But Bregman also reminds us of a truth that seems almost radical in 2025: If someone agrees with you 80 percent of the time, they’re your friend. They’re not your opponent and they certainly don’t need to be written off. Tim Urban explores a similar idea in What’s Our Problem? when he describes the way online culture trains us to treat disagreement as contamination.
This mindset has crept into staffrooms in ways we rarely acknowledge. Schools should be places where thoughtful adults can challenge ideas, test assumptions and broaden each other’s perspectives. Instead, too many staffrooms are beginning to echo the tribalism of social media, where a single difference of opinion can fracture relationships and where people quietly classify colleagues as “with us” or “against us”. It’s not only unhelpful; it’s downright unprofessional.
Strong school cultures don’t rely on universal agreement. They depend on the capacity to disagree respectfully, stay in the conversation and remain committed to shared purpose even when perspectives diverge. That’s the adult bit. That’s what our students need to see modelled.
So, if one of my Home Truths doesn’t land for you, so be it. But do me a favour and resist the instinct to let a single moment of discomfort cancel out years of alignment. We’re better than that and our students need us to be.
Disagreement isn’t disloyalty. It’s thinking. It’s professionalism. And if we can’t handle that, then the problem isn’t my take, but the environment we’re building.
You don’t have to agree with me on this one but, for mine, Lamb can still get in the bin.
Keep fighting that good fight,
P.S. If you’re one of those good folk who organise conferences or PL for networks of educators, I know you probably spend half your time hunting for a speaker who’s engaging, credible and won’t put half the room to sleep.
If you’re building your 2026 program, I reckon I can help – lived experience as a principal, practical strategies you can implement straight away, a few good stories and hopefully a bit of a laugh as well!
I’ve been lucky enough to speak with thousands of educators across Australia and NZ, and I’d love yours to be next.
You can check out my recent Speaker Reel here, go to our website to find out more, or just hit reply!
Want to subscribe to Adam’s Home Truths? Simply subscribe here.