Lessons, Leadership, and Looking Forward: A Conversation With the Head of School William Daughtrey

In this thoughtful conversation, Class of 2024 graduate Luke Keller sits down with Head of School Dr. William Daughtrey to ask some of the questions that matter most to today’s MBA graduates. From the importance of community to the school’s future direction, Dr. Daughtrey offers meaningful reflections on his early years at MBA and the values that continue to shape the school’s mission.

A: The alumni relationships at MBA are truly amazing – strong, enduring, and rare. That depth of connection doesn’t happen by accident. It reflects how much our faculty, students, and alumni pour into each other and the school. I feel that strength every day on campus and at alumni events across the country.

I’ve also seen how our many events connect people to campus in meaningful ways. MBA is more than a school – it’s a community, and we matter deeply to the broader Nashville area. Our relationship with Parnassus Books, for example, brings speakers and thought leaders to campus and helps us open important conversations to the city. Even Friday nights in the fall aren’t just about football – they’re opportunities to connect and invest in one another.

We’re also working to deepen our civic engagement. I’m excited about a new initiative in the works to create a signature service experience for every student – beginning in the junior school and continuing through their time at MBA. Through conversations with civic leaders in areas like housing, education, and the arts, our boys will gain real-world insight and explore how they can contribute to their communities.

Part of our job is to open a window to the real world. Through programs like our internship initiative, we’re helping students see what’s possible. Some boys discover what they want to pursue – or what they don’t. What’s been powerful, too, is seeing alumni step up to mentor and guide these students. That desire to give back has been inspiring.

Ultimately, I want every MBA graduate to leave with a greater sense of purpose. Whether through internships or community engagement, we advance our mission by surrounding boys with great men and women who help them see the kinds of people they want to become.

Q: How do you approach maintaining MBA’s sense of brotherhood and rigor – two elements that many in this community believe are at the heart of what makes MBA special – as they become increasingly countercultural?

A: It’s vital that we prepare boys with experiences that build belief in themselves – so when they hit something difficult, they can persevere. That’s increasingly countercultural, because discomfort itself feels countercultural today.

Brotherhood, at its root, is friendship – deep, lasting relationships that honor growth over time. True friendship can act as a mirror, revealing both what’s beautiful in us and where we need to grow. If we’re doing brotherhood well, we’re helping lift each other in that way.

Our strong relationships form through shared challenges – classes, athletics, co-curriculars. Brotherhood and rigor are deeply connected. Discomfort brings people together, and perseverance is fueled by the encouragement of peers, teachers, coaches, and family.

Our alumni are also key. Students see they’re joining a community of good men who’ve been through the same expectations. That awareness gives strength in difficult moments.

Rigor is about growth. I tell the boys: This is going to be hard, and there’s a reason for that. Often, what we’re learning is more than the subject – it’s about who we are and how we grow closer and better together.

A: Of course, my family – my parents, my wife, my children – have been really important. Some of the biggest lessons have come from my children. I didn’t fully appreciate what it meant to be patient and to love until I had children. They’re a constant reminder of the fullness of love, and of where we fall short.

There were also teachers and mentors who really shaped me. One was my high school biology teacher, who believed in me when I wasn’t sure I was capable. She gave me a deep understanding that teaching is fundamentally an act of belief. When students feel that, it’s empowering and inspiring.

After college, I took a gap year and joined a mountain guiding school in western Canada. One day during our first week, I was leading a group during a whiteout storm – we couldn’t see anything. I thought we were staying on the ridge, but we were actually descending. Suddenly, our instructor shouted, “Stop!” He checked the terrain, then returned and simply said, “Follow my steps.” Step by step, we followed him – back up to the ridge we had lost. When we looked back, there were sheer drop-offs on both sides. People had died there the year before.

While the instructor would never have designed a lesson to that extreme, the intent of the early lesson was more than met. It changed my awareness of my surroundings and opened my eyes to a whole new level of preparation. Within a few weeks, our entire cohort was successfully navigating routine whiteout conditions. The experience also showed me how much growth happens at the edge of your ability – where you push beyond what you thought was possible. That idea has stayed with me and speaks to what we try to do here at MBA. The academic environment is important, but we also ask boys to engage beyond the classroom – to find their edge and grow from it.

A: At the heart of our vision is a commitment to forming good men – young people of integrity, curiosity, and purpose. That mission isn’t changing. In fact, I believe we’ve deepened our focus on character in the last few years, and that focus will only grow more critical as the world continues to change.

Technology is evolving rapidly – AI is raising big questions about the future of education – but I believe MBA is starting from a place of strength. We’re not here simply to prepare students for the next test or even for college. We’re here to help them understand the human experience and equip them to meet whatever challenges come.

In the years ahead, we’ll place greater emphasis on what I call mental fitness: helping students develop the mindsets, self-awareness, and confidence to take full advantage of the opportunities in front of them – even the ones that lie off the beaten path. We want our boys to develop a resilience that says, I haven’t seen this situation before, but I know how to move forward.

Our connection to Nashville will also continue to deepen – through service, mentorships, and authentic engagement. And we’ll be investing even more intentionally in our faculty. Teaching is a hard and often underappreciated profession, but we know that our school is only as strong as the people leading the classrooms.

This kind of growth takes time. The work is often quiet and iterative. But our mission, our culture, and our remarkable alumni all reinforce for our faculty that their work matters deeply – and that their impact will be felt long after a boy graduates.

Everything we do here is for the boys. We help them grow into remarkable young men – and that happens through the steady, generous, renewing efforts of a faculty and community fully committed to shaping lives of meaning and character.

A: One story I think about often involves a student working through a discipline issue over a decade ago. He’d made a mistake – handled the consequences well – but his parents were upset and worried about what it might mean for him. After a long day of conversations, as the boy was leaving my office, I asked if he needed anything. He turned back and said, “Can you help me convince my parents to stop making excuses for me?”

That stopped me. I asked him to say more, and he told me: “I know I made the wrong choice. They just won’t accept that, and I don’t know what to do.” He was trying to figure out how to own his actions – and looking to the adults around him for help. It reminded me how critical it is that we model the message: A mistake doesn’t define you, but it can refine you.

Another moment came years after a student graduated. I’d taught him as a freshman, and we were catching up by phone while he was in college. Midway through the call, he paused and asked, “Do I still sound like myself? I just want to be sure.” I realized he believed I might know him better than he knew himself in that moment – what a gift, and what a responsibility. Those moments remind me that what we do here matters.

As for what the boys remind me of daily – it’s the gift of renewal. I’ve spent my life in schools, and one of the things I love most is the energy students bring. I tell the 7th graders every year: You’re coming from different backgrounds and experiences, and together you will renew this place. Yes, we have traditions and structure – but we also have 135 individuals showing up with curiosity and wonder. That spirit is contagious. It’s fun. It’s energizing. And it keeps us young.

When I hire teachers, I look for subject mastery – but more than that, I look for someone who enjoys helping boys grow into good men. You have to be OK with the messiness of adolescence, have a good sense of humor, and balance clear expectations with a lot of love. That’s the heart of good teaching here.