ITP - 84: A Leadership Discussion with Pablo Muñoz

Greg: Welcome to the International Teacher Podcast with your host Matt the Family Guy, Kent the Kent Guy, Jacqueline from JP Mint, and Greg the single guy bringing you episodes from around the world about the best kept secret in education.

Greg: You got it—international teaching.

Greg: Welcome to the show.

Greg: All right, everybody. Welcome to the International Teacher Podcast.

Greg: I am here with Kent the cat guy and JP Mint. How are you guys doing tonight?

Kent: All right, happy to be here.

JP: Hello. Hello.

Greg: I would like to pleasantly introduce Pablo Muñoz, and he's coming to us from New Jersey.

Greg: His background is really superintendent in urban schools.

Greg: He's here to talk with us about his book, and it's called *The Leader’s Algorithm*.

Greg: Pablo, welcome to the show.

Pablo: Greg, Kent, and JP, thank you for having me.

Pablo: Yes, I'm in New Jersey, and actually the book was published this July.

Greg: That's fantastic. Better than mine. Mine was a long time ago.

Greg: Can I say I hear a hint of the Jersey Shore in your accent when you talk? Is that accurate?

Pablo: No, I'm not from the Jersey Shore. I'm from Elizabeth, New Jersey, so the inner city right there near Newark International Airport.

Pablo: So if it sounds like Jersey Shore, it might just be a Jersey thing.

Greg: I'm waiting for you guys to ask me what exit.

Greg: Pablo, why don't you tell us a little bit about your journey leading up to the book?

Greg: Of course we want to hear all about the book, but why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Pablo: Sure. Great, and again, thanks for having me.

Pablo: I was born, raised, and educated in Elizabeth, New Jersey. For our listeners around the world, that is about 16 miles southwest of New York City.

Pablo: As I mentioned earlier, Newark International Airport is partly on Elizabeth grounds.

Pablo: That's where I was born and educated.

Pablo: For the last 26 years of my life, I've lived in a town called Maplewood, which is not too far from Elizabeth, probably about the same distance to New York City.

Pablo: For those that know New Jersey, Maplewood and South Orange are together as a K–12 school district, and South Orange is where Seton Hall University is.

Pablo: That gives you some context of where I am living today.

Pablo: My parents immigrated to New Jersey as teenagers from Aguada, Puerto Rico, and ended up getting married and having me and my younger sister, Doris.

Pablo: My dad has an eighth-grade education, and my mother has a sixth-grade education.

Pablo: My dad did most of his work in the restaurant business. When he came over, he started as a dishwasher.

Pablo: Someone saw promise in him and helped him become a cook, and later in his life he was the head cook of two very large banquet halls, serving thousands of people at luncheons and dinners.

Pablo: So it was quite an operation.

Pablo: My mom started working in factories as a factory worker, but eventually transitioned and became a seamstress.

Pablo: Both of them, for most of their lives—definitely my mom—were in low-paying jobs.

Pablo: I lived in a house with my maternal grandmother, my mom, dad, my sister, my aunt Lydia, and my three cousins.

Pablo: My father is one of 15 and my mom is one of five, so I have a whole lot of cousins.

Pablo: I think by our last count recently, I have about 71 first cousins.

Pablo: By that nature, my circle of friends really was my family, because we spent most of our time traveling between each other's homes and going to the park together.

JP: Pablo, correct me if I'm wrong, but is it similar to Mexican culture where your parents’ nieces and nephews end up being like your cousins as well?

Pablo: Potentially if I were living in Puerto Rico, but since most of my family was in New Jersey and some in New York City, it was really my parents’ brothers and sisters and their children.

Pablo: Those were my direct first cousins.

Pablo: We did visit some extended family, so I had second-generation cousins my age, and I thought they were first cousins, but they weren't.

Pablo: So there was some of that connection, but mostly direct first cousins.

Pablo: I graduated from Elizabeth High School. Most of my life I played baseball, from Little League all the way to college.

Pablo: I got my undergraduate degree at Yale University in psychology.

Pablo: While I was there, I participated in the teacher preparation program and student taught at Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven, Connecticut.

Pablo: While student teaching, I also volunteered as a baseball coach for the high school.

Pablo: When I became a full-time teacher, I continued coaching baseball.

Pablo: I've coached at all levels, from Little League all the way to professionals.

Pablo: I even became a pitching coach with the Chicago Cubs minor league system.

Pablo: I got my master's degree in educational administration from Teachers College at Columbia University.

Pablo: I spent most of my career in my hometown of Elizabeth in the Elizabeth Public Schools.

Pablo: I started as a social studies teacher, then became a supervisor of social studies, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Assistant Superintendent, and then Superintendent of Schools in 2005.

Pablo: I held that position for about eight and a half years.

Pablo: Then I transitioned to another city school district in New Jersey called Passaic, where I worked for about seven and a half years before retiring.

Pablo: After retiring, I immediately started my educational leadership consulting company.

Pablo: I became an adjunct professor at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, and then I started writing my book.

Pablo: Now I'm an author.

Pablo: I'll finish by saying that I am most proud of my two daughters.

Pablo: Cecilia is 22. She just graduated from MIT and started working at the Boston Consulting Group.

Pablo: My youngest daughter just started her first year at Northeastern, but her first year is in London, so she's studying internationally.

Pablo: That brings you up to where I came from, what I did, and what I'm doing now.

JP: If I may, Pablo, you make this journey into education sound very natural, like it was something you always knew you wanted to do.

JP: When did the teaching bug strike you?

Pablo: Interestingly, it wasn't that natural.

Pablo: The bug was planted when I was sitting in the back of my calculus class senior year, and I said to myself, “There has to be a better way.”

Pablo: That was the moment I thought about becoming a teacher.

Pablo: But when I went to college, my intention was to become an engineer—a civil engineer.

Pablo: It came full circle later when I was building schools as a superintendent.

Pablo: The university I chose, Yale, did not offer civil engineering, so I tried mechanical engineering and didn’t like it.

Pablo: Eventually, I transitioned to psychology and wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.

Pablo: One of my first mentors, Herb Hennessy, helped guide me.

Pablo: He was a supervisor of social studies in New Haven Public Schools and a very engaging person.

Pablo: He would come into the residential colleges at Yale and sit with students.

Pablo: One day, he sat with me and asked, “What are you going to do with your life?”

Pablo: I told him I wasn’t sure.

Pablo: He asked if I had ever thought about being a teacher, and I said yes, referencing my calculus experience.

Pablo: He introduced me to Edie McMullen, who ran the teacher preparation program.

Pablo: We reviewed my transcript, and she explained what I needed to do to become certified.

Pablo: That’s how I became a teacher.

Pablo: It wasn’t my original plan, but it became my passion, and I loved it.

Greg: Let's talk a little bit about your book.

Greg: One thing that stood out was a quote where you mentioned someone being invested in perpetuating a system that was just functional, nothing more.

Greg: It reminded me of your calculus story—there has to be a better way.

Greg: You also said when you dream big, you inspire bold action.

Greg: Can you explain the title and get us started?

Pablo: The Leader’s Algorithm is the title of the book, and it's about educational leadership, but it's applicable to any leader in any organization.

Pablo: Why did I write the book? In one word: help.

Pablo: I wrote it to help aspiring, new, and current administrators.

Pablo: I wanted to share what I learned in my 30-year journey in public education, including 16 years as a superintendent.

Pablo: I also wanted to share what I learned from my advocates, my mentors, the Broad Academy, and from books and case studies on leadership and management.

Pablo: The second way I wanted to help was by giving readers a framework to create their own leadership strategy.

Pablo: The Leader’s Algorithm is a simple equation that puts strategic thinking to work.

Pablo: You write and share a personal theory of action, execute it consistently, reflect on it, and do it with public accountability.

JP: Could you give us an example?

Pablo: Yes. There are three major strategic actions I focused on.

Pablo: First, keep the school system focused on its vision and mission to produce excellent results.

Pablo: Second, select effective leaders to carry out the mission.

Pablo: Third, get resources into the classroom.

Pablo: Those were always top of mind when designing programs, budgets, and hiring personnel.

Pablo: If you execute consistently and have accountability, you move beyond compliance and actually transform systems.

Pablo: The equation is: personal theory of action plus execution plus accountability equals transformation.

Pablo: The second key idea is the personal theory of action.

Pablo: It’s a hypothesis about what you can do personally and through your team to achieve goals.

Pablo: It’s written as if-then statements. If we do A, B, and C, then we will get X, Y, and Z results.

Greg: Let’s say I’m that calculus teacher who wasn’t connecting with students.

Greg: How do you help me improve? Or do I step aside?

Pablo: As a superintendent, you’re often removed from the classroom, so you think at the system level.

Pablo: You create an aligned instructional system.

Pablo: That includes curriculum, developing effective teachers and leaders, professional development, clear standards, student data systems, interventions, and measuring growth.

Pablo: This becomes part of board policy and guides the entire organization.

Pablo: Then teachers receive feedback, evaluations, and support through professional development.

Pablo: The key is writing down your personal theory of action and sharing it.

Pablo: It becomes your true north when things get noisy and complex.

Pablo: It’s not fixed—you modify it as you learn and grow.

JP: It also sounds like something you constantly communicate.

Pablo: Yes, you repeat it until people internalize it.

Pablo: Change is hard, especially in urban systems.

Pablo: You have to be clear, consistent, and model it through your actions.

Pablo: What you say, write, and do must align.

Greg: That applies to teaching too.

Greg: We model behavior for students.

Greg: High expectations matter.

Greg: If we set them high, students rise to meet them.

Pablo: Exactly.

Pablo: And you don’t need a leadership title to apply this.

Pablo: In Chapter 8, I talk about leading with love and share my personal theory of action for life.

Pablo: Anyone can write one—it defines how you want to act and what you value.

Greg: Let’s take a quick moment for how listeners can contact us.

Greg: You can find us at itpexpat.com.

Greg: You can email us at [internationalteacherpodcast@gmail.com](mailto:internationalteacherpodcast@gmail.com).

Greg: We also have a Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/ITPexpat.

Greg: And Instagram at ITPexpats.

Greg: Thanks to listeners from over 100 countries.

Greg: Let’s get back to the show.

Greg: We’re talking to Pablo Muñoz and his book *The Leader’s Algorithm*.

Greg: It’s available on Amazon and other platforms.

JP: Pablo mentioned earlier a personal version of his algorithm.

JP: You said if you commit to guiding principles—caring about others, being honest, loving your family, respecting humanity, being humble—you will have a life of significance and joy.

JP: That feels very personal.

Pablo: It is.

Pablo: Those chapters—resilience and love—are very raw and vulnerable.

Pablo: I wrote them to help people connect their personal lives with leadership.

Pablo: People go through stress, and I wanted to share that.

Pablo: I cried while writing those chapters.

JP: This feels like a culmination of your career.

Pablo: It is.

Pablo: And it was still evolving as I wrote it.

Pablo: I’m going through a divorce, and that influenced the chapter on leading with love.

Pablo: Those experiences shaped the book in real time.

Greg: There’s a strong connection here to international teaching.

Greg: Living abroad forces introspection—who you are, what matters.

Greg: This framework helps define that.

Greg: It pushes you to reflect and grow personally and professionally.

Kent: Pablo, are there books you’d recommend?

Pablo: For leadership, I like John Maxwell’s work.

Pablo: His book *The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership* is excellent.

Pablo: On the instructional side, *Instructional Rounds in Education* by Richard Elmore is critical.

Pablo: It focuses on the instructional core—teacher, student, and content.

Pablo: Another key idea is that task predicts performance.

Pablo: Also, John Hattie’s work on visible learning is important.

Pablo: For leadership, *Lincoln on Leadership* and *True North* are also strong.

Pablo: I wanted my book to be real—not just success, but failures too.

Pablo: It’s about real experiences and practical leadership.

Greg: Pablo, switching gears, I wonder if you could tell our listeners about any of your international travels.

Greg: Have you been overseas, and did you see any interesting educational systems?

Pablo: I'm pretty much a homebody, and my wife is the traveler, so I got dragged to a lot of different places.

Pablo: Most of the time it was beaches, so we didn’t always get into classrooms or schools.

Pablo: The biggest educational experience I had internationally was in 1997 when I was awarded the Fulbright Memorial Fund teacher program.

Pablo: We traveled to Japan for about two weeks to study the education system, culture, and family life.

Pablo: We visited elementary schools, high schools, and private tutoring schools.

Pablo: We also lived with a Japanese family and experienced daily life, including meals and cultural routines.

Pablo: One thing I remember is how small some living spaces were, especially bathrooms.

JP: I don’t think Greg and I would fit in there.

Pablo: That was definitely a unique experience.

Greg: What’s one thing about the Japanese school system you wish existed in the US, and one thing that wouldn’t work?

Pablo: I’ll answer that a little differently.

Pablo: One thing I noticed was how quiet everything was—classrooms, tutoring centers, all learning spaces.

Pablo: I don’t know if it meant focus, but it was consistent.

Pablo: Another observation was the number of hours students spent studying.

Pablo: Many attended private tutoring schools at night, especially when preparing for college.

Pablo: There was also less emphasis on athletics compared to academics.

Pablo: Another interesting aspect was that in elementary schools, students helped clean the school.

Pablo: There were no custodians in the same way we see in the US.

JP: I saw that in Korea too.

JP: Students took pride in their schools because they were responsible for cleaning.

JP: It reduced things like vandalism and mess.

Greg: Pablo, do you have a police or customs story you can share?

Pablo: Yes, actually.

Pablo: When traveling back into the United States, I was detained a few times at the airport.

Pablo: My wife and daughters would go through, but I would get pulled aside.

Pablo: They would take me into a separate room and question me.

Pablo: The reason was my name—Pablo Muñoz is very common, and apparently there were others with that name flagged in the system.

Pablo: So I would get questioned about where I lived and my background.

JP: At least you didn’t end up on a no-fly list.

Greg: Pablo, what else would you like to share about your book?

Pablo: One important chapter is about resilience.

Pablo: I talk openly about anxiety and depression that I experienced during my career.

Pablo: At one point, I became so overwhelmed that I checked myself into the hospital.

Pablo: That experience helped me, and I wanted to break the stigma around mental health.

Pablo: I included resources like the 988 crisis hotline in the book.

Pablo: I want people to know it’s okay to seek help before reaching a breaking point.

Pablo: Some beta readers told me the book might save a life, and that meant a lot.

Pablo: Beyond leadership, I want the book to help people with resilience and personal growth.

Greg: One theme I noticed is that family comes first.

Greg: You talk about doing anything for your family and sharing lessons with your daughters.

Greg: That really stands out.

Pablo: Yes, family is very important to me.

Greg: Where can our listeners find you?

Pablo: You can find my consulting company at themunozcompany.com.

Pablo: My email is [pablo@themunozcompany.com](mailto:pablo@themunozcompany.com).

Pablo: You can also find me on LinkedIn.

Greg: Be sure to check out Pablo Muñoz and his book *The Leader’s Algorithm*.

Greg: I’d like to thank JP Mint and Kent the Cat Guy.

Greg: And I’m Greg, the single guy.

Greg: Thanks for joining us, and we’ll see you next time.

Pablo: Thank you.