Leadership Planning: Subject to Change
Last week was a wild week of unpredictable events. I started the week in San Antonio, with two team members. We presented to Chick-Fil-A Operators at their annual Seminar. When we finished, we high-tailed it to the airport to make our flight to Louisville. It wasn’t meant to be. Our plan backed away from the gate, began to taxi out to the
The Gardner’s Job
One of the Habitudes in our series is called, “The Gardener’s Job.” It simply reminds leaders that in the same way a gardener understands her primary job is to cultivate the soil and grow the plants in her garden, leaders must see their primary job as growing the people under their care. It isn’t just about doing a program or distributing
Never Lose Your Humanity to Technology
Here’s a sad story. In Manchester, England, a man was accused of killing his neighbor after a miscommunication triggered by the auto correct spelling feature on the man's cell phone. It sounds crazy. It all started when the defendant, 33-year Neil Brook claims he was texting his friend Josef Witkowski. Brook says the auto correct on his cell phone changed the word
Who is Right: The Teacher or the Students?
An AP article by Pat Walters reported, “A high school English teacher in suburban Philadelphia who was suspended for a blog in which she called her young charges "disengaged, lazy whiners" is driving a debate by daring to ask: Why are today's students unmotivated — and what's wrong with calling them out? As she fights to keep her job at Central
Are We Measuring the Wrong Stuff?
While speaking to faculty members in the DeSoto School District in Kansas last week, one teacher said something remarkable to me during a break. He said: “I wonder if the problem is—we are measuring the wrong stuff.” He was talking about how much high school faculty are required to teach that doesn’t really matter to life. But that’s only the beginning.
Restoring Your Faith in Youth
The world has witnessed a revolution in Egypt. President Hosni Mubarak has stepped down and turned his authority over to the Egyptian army. Egyptians now hope for a fair and just election to determine their next president. In the midst of the protests in Tahrir Square, some stories never made it on CNN news. Many of them will restore your faith
Student Engagement, Student Success (Part II)
These two elements always go together. If we don’t engage students, we have little hope they’ll succeed in our schools, our teams or even our homes. If we don’t know how to pass on values to live by -- we can’t expect these kids to do anything but wander when they become adults. We must engage students with the issues that
Student Engagement, Student Success (Part I)
Last year I had an invigorating day with faculty at a university near Dallas. During our time together, we discussed two themes that preoccupy school administrators as much as any: 1. Student Engagement 2. Student Success In our morning session, one instructor shared a note he’d recently received from a student. The young man had decided to drop out of school. Here’s what
When to Be a “Buddy” to a Kid
There’s been a trend happening over the last several years: Parents and teachers wanting to play the role of a “buddy” to the students in their lives. It makes sense. Adults want to remain close to the kids and they want to feel “young.” We think the best way to do this is to be a buddy to them. The unintended
How Social Media is Changing How We Change the World
I recently spoke with our Growing Leaders Director in Cairo, Egypt. Nader is an excellent young leader wise beyond his years. As you can imagine, our conversation migrated quickly to the revolution taking place in Tahrir Square. I was reminded of something important in our conversation. Revolutions will never be the same again. In the past, when people wanted their king
Leadership Dilemmas: What to Do with Captain Honors?
If you watch the news, you’ve heard about Navy Captain Owen Honors. You can read about his story in the Op/Ed section of USA Today. Today, thousands of sailors, former sailors and others are rallying to the defense of Capt. Honors, the fired commander of the USS Enterprise, arguing that he is an excellent leader -- a top chief sacrificed on
7 Ways Leaders Lose Authority with Students
Recently, I overheard some students making fun of an executive director at a local community theatre program here in Atlanta. The students were 18-years-old, and they had been a part of this program before. Now, their entertainment was at the expense of this director. I felt badly for her, but the laughter sparked a question in me. How did this leader
A Recipe For Disaster in Our Culture
What’s happening in Cairo today -- I predicted three years ago. If things don’t change, Egypt will be the first of many countries who experience turmoil. Allow me to summarize the Egypt conflict: - The population is 80 million. - 60% of population is below age of 30. - There is 90% unemployment within that age group. This equation is always a recipe for disaster:
The Top Predictor of Student Success Once They Graduate
I bet you have heard this scenario before. A child is very smart in the third grade. They make good grades and seem to understand concepts more quickly than their fellow students. Teachers say: “That little boy is going to be a successful businessman one day!” Or a student scores high on their SAT or ACT test, and gets accepted into an
Learning from Egyptian Leaders — When Is It Time to Go?
For quite some time now, Egyptian protestors have demanded their president, Hosni Mubarak, step down from office. Recently, the White House has joined the protestors in this request. Hmmm. I’d hate to be President Mubarak. This situation begs the question: When is it time for a leader to step down? How do you know it is time to leave? Obviously, no
Tiger Moms: A Whole New Way of Parenting (Part II)
Yep. You read it right. “Tiger Moms” is the term for a whole new brand of parenting in America. Or should I say, a brand that hasn’t been seen in a long time. Yesterday, I blogged about this style and posed the question: Is there something to this? In a day, where we worship self-esteem in our kids, where we give
Tiger Moms: A Whole New Way of Parenting (Part I)
Brace yourself. Stories are leaking about a new way of parenting -- a style that many of the moms who embrace it call: Tiger Moms. According to Time magazine, Amy Chua is one of them. She made her 7-year-old daughter, Lulu, practice her violin for hours on end, straight through dinner and into the night with no breaks, until at last,
Leadership Lessons From the Uproar in Egypt
I assume you’ve been watching the news lately. David Kirkpatrick, reporting in the New York Times from Cairo wrote, “Last Thursday, a small group of Internet-savvy young political organizers gathered in the Cairo home of an associate of Mohamed ElBaradei, the diplomat and Nobel laureate. They had come to plot a day of street protests calling for the ouster of President
What I Learned From the Movie — The King’s Speech
If you haven’t seen it already -- I highly recommend the movie: The King’s Speech. I loved it so much, I’ve seen it twice. It tells the story of the unlikely intersection of the life of King George VI of England and a speech therapist named Lionel. Their bond remained in tact for the rest of their lives. Their friendship