Emerging internal control risks can result from all sorts of changes whether they are associated with internal or external changes. Constantly changing rules, laws and regulations involving nearly all operational areas in public school systems are inherent cost drivers that can challenge efforts to adopt balanced budgets not to mention introduce varying degrees of emerging risks. Understanding that there are no short cuts in staying ahead of emerging risks is the essence of effective leadership versus reactive leadership. The ability of an organization to be more nimble in implementing continuous improvements is one of the key roles of leaders at all levels and in all organizational units of every school district and open-enrollment charter school. Public schools have many layers of leaders that need to be more effective than ever in the current environment of constant and fast-paced change in addition to meeting ever-increasing expectations for higher performance and greater cost efficiencies. Tom Flick, keynote speaker at Thursday’s awards luncheon during TASBO’s 71st Annual Conference, provided practical actionable insights into how leaders can be more effective that are also available in the post-conference resources that Mr. Flick posted at http://tomflick.com/tasbo/.