When you hear the words “CEO” and “autism teacher” in the same sentence, your brain probably does a double take. One manages billion-dollar budgets and boardrooms and the other manages behavior plans and binder systems. One wears suits to work and flies first class, yet the other wears tennis shoes and secretly prays for a fully charged walkie-talkie. Totally different worlds, right?
Or are they?
Think about this. It’s 7:30 AM. You walk into your classroom with your coffee (that you’ll probably forget to drink), reviewing your mental checklist like a mission commander. Visuals? Check. Reinforcers? Check. Crisis plan? Always. A para is out again, a student has hidden under the table, and someone is loudly quoting “Paw Patrol” while trying to climb on the counter top.
And yet… you make it work.
Just like a CEO, you prioritize. You delegate. You adjust your vision for the day and rally the team. Your success isn't measured in quarterly profits, but you measure it in progress made, skills mastered, and small wins. We know that when your student finally uses their AAC device to say “more please,” then we are rolling.
So maybe we’re not that different from Fortune 500 execs after all.
In fact, teachers, especially those in autism classrooms, could probably teach a few CEOs a thing or two about multitasking, adapting under pressure, and keep calm in high-stakes/high-stress situations. Think meltdown-in-the-hallway level high-stakes.
Let’s take a look at 7 habits from top CEOs and see how you, too, are basically running a mini-empire complete with chaos, creativity, Velcro and a whole lot of heart.
1. Build Strong Relationships
Although we may use the term “sharing ideas” or “collaborating” and they may call it networking, the goal is the same. The goal is to build your support system and to find your people. CEOs work to build strong relationships with their employees, customers, stakeholders, board members, and partners that are crucial to their business’s success. You have to connect with other educators who can help you improve and stay in a good space.
Your rapport with your coworkers, school admin, and support staff is crucial to those days when you need a network of people to aid in the classroom, an ear to vent to after rough days, and a person to go to who will answer questions. A few ways to build relationships are here:
- Join Special Education Facebook Groups. Look for groups specific to autism, self-contained classrooms, or behavior strategies. These are great for quick advice, resource-sharing, and teacher-to-teacher support. We have a group called Self-Contained Autism Classroom Teachers and Specialists exactly for that purpose.
- Attend Virtual or In-Person Conferences. Many conferences now offer hybrid options. Look for autism focused PD events. Ask your administrators early in the school year and have all the information about the conference and registration ready. Keep copies of everything. Search for local educational service center trainings if your district offers them.
- Get Involved in a Professional Learning Community (PLC) or Teacher Cohort. Start or join a Professional Learning Community (PLC) at your school or district focused on a topic you are interested in, even if it is outside of what you do every day. Some districts host monthly or quarterly meetings for autism program staff to share wins, strategies, and updates.
- Take a PD Course or Workshop. Join a course designed for autism teachers (extra points if it has a community component like a private group or live discussion calls). We would be wrong if we did not mention our course for new autism teachers here. (Smile.) Our Step by Step Autism Classroom Design course can be found here.
- Host a Low-Key Meetup. Start small like inviting a few SPED teachers in your district for pizza and problem-solving. I can remember long workdays, planning to work late with a group of other teachers, writing IEP’s and ordering pizza. Sometimes just having one regular buddy to run ideas by is equal to gold.
Building strong rapport with the students in your classroom and their families is also a vital part of having a well-run classroom.
Use a communication notebook or an app to stay in touch with families. This daily back-and-forth can build rapport and keep families engaged. Make check-in calls just because. Be intentional with communication just to share a success. Be sure to ask what works at home, what motivates their child, and what goals they care about. This way you can celebrate milestones together.
Check those bookbags, watch the kids shows and find out what your students like. Build that culture of trust with your students by honoring their communication style, incorporating the things that interest them into the daily routine, and making your classroom a source of predictability and stability in their lives. Just remember that even when giving you all to this, there may be some students who still struggle to connect. Do not take it personal, just keep trying.
2. Set a Clear Vision
Successful CEOs have a strong sense of purpose and value. CEOs articulate a clear mission and direction for their organization. 
We can do this too as educators. Define your classroom vision and values. Make sure your staff members and students know what your classroom is about and reinforce it daily. If you need some help with this, consider the questions on the first page our free Autism Classroom Ideas Starter Guide for writing your clear mission.
For teachers, this can translate to always remembering why they wanted to start teaching. Let’s face it. We didn’t get into teaching because we knew we’d become rich. Most of us decided to go into teaching because we were hopeful that we could make an impact in the lives of our students and their families. Throw in some intense meetings, a questioning of our lesson plans and principal conversation about the messy shirt Timmy returned home in and it can become easy to begin to lose that hope we started with when dealing with the never-ending challenges thrown our way.
Whenever you begin to feel the excessive pressure of teaching, take a step back to write down the top three reasons that you chose to become a teacher. Remind yourself about those reasons and sit with them for some time. That will help you reconnect with your core values as an educator. If you stay true to your values and mission, it can help you to maximize your impact, like a CEO.
3. Delegate
CEOs hire strong teams and empower others to lead. Teachers typically do not have the luxury of having executive assistants and a HR staff under them to complete tasks to and keep the company running. But we do have and a team working with us. We must learn techniques to delegate tasks to our classroom team and keep the tasks on track. 
If you’re used to doing everything yourself, delegating can feel as risky as handing over your favorite Sharpie. But listen, you don’t have to be the laminator, data collector, and behavior specialist all in one breath. Start small.
- Think of what the needs are before the meeting begins and have them written out.
- Ask a paraprofessional to lead morning meeting, while you are offing support to students or taking data.
- Let a student help pass out papers. It will not be perfect, but it will it lighten your load and build team confidence.
- Give clear instructions (written is better) and do not be vague.
- Follow up with support. An “Anything you need to make that easier next time?” goes a long way.
Even CEOs delegate. And more important, none of them know how to program a Big Mack button mid-meltdown.
4. Be Agile
If you ever felt like your lesson plan just laughed at you but you kept going anyway or re-adjusted mid-plan, you already have this skill. Special cancelled on a day when your top para is out, but you survived? Yup, you nailed it. Being agile means staying flexible, responsive, and ready to adjust your plan based on what’s actually happening, even if it is not what you hoped would happen.
That’s where CEO-style agility comes in. Great teachers pivot mid-lesson, shift plans without panic, and welcome new strategies even if old ones are not working. Being agile refers to your responsiveness.
CEOs are going to fail many times. Embracing failure is an important part of the learning process. CEOs don’t see failure as the end of their career but as an opportunity to learn from their mistakes and grow for their future. They take responsibility for their failures and use them to strengthen their business model and their company.
Autism teachers also have setbacks. Inevitably, lessons we worked so hard on creating will flop with our students, behaviors get beyond our control, and students don’t always catch on to what we’re trying to teach as quickly as we’d hoped. While this can all be extremely frustrating as a teacher, we must take these setbacks, reflect on them and build our ability to be agile.
5. Invest in Personal Growth
The landscape in which CEOs work is constantly evolving with new technologies, business models, and concepts. They continuously learn and adapt. They need to stay curious, learn from their mistakes, and adapt their strategies to keep up with this ever-changing environment.
The field of education isn’t much different from business in terms of how much it is constantly changing. It seems like each year, teachers are expected to figure out and use new materials, curricula, and standards. Sometimes when you are tired or overwhelmed, it may seem counter intuitive to spend time learning, but sometimes the learning gives you skills to streamline things and complete them better and faster.
Anyone who has taken our course Step by Step Autism Classroom Design for new autism teachers knows exactly how that works. It takes some time, but boy, after that, you have fast tracked 25 years of knowledge in a few weeks.
6. Make Data- Informed Decisions
In autism classrooms, we collect a lot of data. However, it is only useful when we actually use it. Look at ABC data to adjust behavior plans. Review IEP progress frequently to tell if the teaching method is working. Don’t take it personal if it is not, just adjust the method or materials. Data should help you shape your next move. It is an instructional tool that lets you know what to do next and it lets you know how effective your current plan is.
Successful CEOs use data to drive decisions, reduce risk, and maximize results. They don’t guess. CEO’s analyze. Then, they use that information to lead with clarity. No burying data or info, Instead, they look at what is there and figure out how to foster improvement.
Student have behavior challenges right before music class each week? Class gets rowdy every time Tina is late from her lunch her break? When the fire drill goes off 2 students can’t handle it? All of this is data (information) that can help teachers collaborate with other educators to make plans to support students the next time.
7. Build Systems
When you embrace the CEO mindset in your classroom, you start thinking like a CEO, setting clear goals, delegating, and making data-informed decisions. And just like any effective CEO, having systems in place is key.
Have you ever got tired from making a series of small decisions? Or ever said, I don’t want to think any more, you choose. This phenomenon of decision fatigue can creep up daily in the classroom where you make hundreds of mini-decisions all day. Kick that to the curb with systems.
Case and point: can you think of a fast food restaurant that moves you through the line with easy, respect and efficiency at every one you visit, no matter what state or city you are in? What about a store that frustrates you each time because they always forget part of your order? What is the difference? One company has developed repeatable systems and processes to keep the business running smoothly, the other has not.
Save time and energy and provide much needed routines for students using systems. You can also use systems to help paras, therapists, and support staff know what to do. But we also want your lesson planning to run smoother and more effective too. That’s where we come in!
We have over 300 printable and workbook resources especially made for autism classrooms. More specifically, we created 34 weeks of targeted activities covering social skills, language development, play, fine motor, and sensory activities to support your planning and streamline your instruction.
These lessons are designed to pair perfectly with our Social Skills Bundle and Personal Skills Bundle, giving you a clear roadmap for meaningful, systematic plan for centers instruction all year long.
You Are Capable of This
So, skip the guesswork and start planning like the CEO-minded teacher you are. Get ready to lead your classroom with intention.
So, the next time you’re managing five IEPs, redirecting a student mid-scripting, and answering a para’s question, all while your coffee is still cold, just remember you are an agile, relationship- building, data-informed, delegating visionary who just happens to have blue paint smeared on your shirt and is not quite sure where that bruise on your forearm came from.
Basically… you’re the CEO of Room 104.
And as we know, the board meetings in your world involve more goldfish crackers and chewy tubes, but your impact is absolutely Fortune 500 worthy.
Want to take charge of your classroom?
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