In Andy Weir’s novel The Martian, astronaut Mark Watney finds himself in an impossible situation: He’s stranded in the deserts of Mars with limited supplies. Left behind by his team in a sudden evacuation, he must learn to survive in a strange, inhospitable world—or die trying.

It’s a scenario that might sound eerily familiar to school leaders. In the last 15 years, the landscape of school communication has changed dramatically, so much so that it almost feels like we’re on a different planet. In 2011 (the same year The Martian was published), just 39% of Americans owned a smartphone, according to Pew Research Center. Last year, the figure was 91%. Social media use has exploded in similar fashion. Even more significantly, the rise of artificial intelligence in the last few years is steadily redefining what it means to live in a digital world.

How can we contend with this strange new environment? It might be tempting to bury our heads in the sand, to stay the course as though nothing’s changed—but that’s not an option if we want to survive or even thrive. Instead, we must do the only thing we can do: adapt.

In The Martian, that’s exactly what Watney does. Instead of giving into despair or writing off his environment as impossibly hostile, he learns to work within his new circumstances. He figures out how to synthesize water from hydrogen and oxygen. With that water, he grows his own food supply. Over the course of more than 500 Martian days, he continually works to adjust to his new reality until—spoiler alert—he’s finally rescued.

On the one hand, no one is coming to rescue us from our new digital landscape; like it or not, we’re here to stay. But on the other, we also have a few advantages over Mark Watney. For one, our new world, even with all its challenges, isn’t nearly as inhospitable as Mars. In fact, digital technologies—from apps to social media to AI and beyond—actually have the potential to make school communication easier and more effective than ever, provided we know how best to use them.

But most importantly, unlike Watney, we’re not exploring this brave new world alone. Think of your fellow school leaders as other astronauts, and this edition of SchoolCEO as your survival guide. We may have crash-landed here, but we all made the journey together—and together, we’ll decide what life on this strange planet will look like. After all, our mission isn’t just to survive. It’s to make this new world our own.

—SchoolCEO Editor Melissa Hite in our brand-new Fall 2025 issue

One question for you

1. What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned about connecting with your community in a digital world?

Email us at editor@schoolceo.com or book a time on our calendar and let us know.

Two resources to help

1.“We must find a way to extinguish the opportunities for constant online criticism, and keeping your social media as positive as possible is one way to do so. Content that could invite any level of controversy only throws fuel on the proverbial fire. Inform your families using the tools you can control—and in public forums like social media, put only your best foot forward.” — Read "We Didn't Start the Fire"

2. Later this month, we’re releasing brand-new original research on how AI is changing day-to-day work for school leaders and communicators. Find a sneak peek of that study in our newest issue, and sign up here to be notified when we release the full version.

Three ideas to get you thinking

1. “People who seem easily flustered or riled up do not seem like sturdy leaders. Sturdy leaders deal with problems, but they don’t show up to every little skirmish that somebody wants to engage them in, because if they’re doing that, their eyes are not on their real responsibilities. You can’t continue your important work if you are being distracted by people whose goal is to distract you.” — author, educator and influencer Sharon McMahon in "The Truth About Trust"

2. “Every student deserves a free public education at its highest degree. Your economic circumstances or where you’re from shouldn’t determine the quality of your education. I believe strongly in choice—so our job is to make sure public school is the best choice. I want families to choose Sarasota County Schools because we’re the best, not because we’re the only option.” —SchoolCEO Excellence in School Marketing Award winner Craig Maniglia in "Masters of Marketing"

3. “If you are leading in this new digital landscape, here is my advice: Treat communication as infrastructure. Design for clarity. Build to listen. Respond with purpose. And use AI not to replace people, but to lift the work only people can do—teaching, leading and creating the conditions for trust.” —Heather Daniel, Director of Communications and Policy for Edison Township Public Schools, in “Through the Digital Doorway”