296. From Survival Mode to Sustainable Excellence: A School Owner's Real Story

296. From Survival Mode to Sustainable Excellence: A School Owner's Real Story

June 30, 2026 · 39 min · Episode 296

About this episode

Sharon Jayakumar shares her journey from struggling to sustain her school to achieving sustainable excellence through building infrastructure and partnerships.

Sharon Jayakumar owns a Reggio-inspired school of nearly 200 children in Philadelphia and a few years ago, she almost walked away from all of it. Not because her school was failing. Because growing without infrastructure was taking everything she had. In this episode, Sharon and Chanie talk about what changed when she stopped going it alone. Key topics include: Building infrastructure that holds as your school grows What standards actually are -- and how to return to them after drift How one month of one-on-ones eliminated call-outs at her school Why buy-in comes after deployment, not before What it looks like to hire from a place of partnership instead of rescue If you have been asking whether your school can ever really run without you, this one is for you. Resources Mentioned: This Can't Be Normal by Chanie Wilschanski: https://thiscantbenormal.com Access Chapter One of This Can’t Be Normal for Free: https://thiscantbenormal.com/chapter-one Connect With Us: Let's Chat on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chaniewilschanski/ Join us on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/ Mentioned in this episode: Sign up for the free Delegation Workshop…

People in this episode

Host: Chanie Wilschanski

Guest: Sharon Jayakumar

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: This Can't Be Normal, Substack, Instagram, Delegation Workshop

Places: Philadelphia

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