Culture, Education, Generation iY®, Generation Y, Habitudes, Leadership, Motivation, Parenting, Students, Workplace, Youth

I spoke to an audience of university students recently about balancing the art of staying focused and the art of leading change. Afterwards, several students talked about how difficult that is. The topic quickly swerved to New Year’s Resolutions—which incidentally are all about both focus and change. In essence, we ask ourselves: * “What changes must I make in my life

Habitudes, Leadership, Serving others

You probably heard—or experienced—the horrific weather that hit the eastern states over the last two days. My hometown, Atlanta, was especially hard hit. People spent the night in their cars, as they couldn’t get off the icy roads; children spent the night in their schools because buses couldn’t get to them to take them home. One woman even gave birth

Culture, Generation iY®, Generation Y, Habitudes, Leadership, Students, Workplace, Youth

I just came across some stats that are concerning. Police departments nationwide are struggling with staff shortages due to the economy, reduced budgets, cutbacks in benefits, and layoffs. According to Police Chief Magazine, “Such difficulties spurred 7,272 applications to the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Program, requesting $8.3 billion to support more than 39,000 sworn-officer positions. Altogether, both the supply

Education, Generation iY®, Generation Y, Habitudes, Leadership, Students, Youth

A new study by the Southern Education Foundation has revealed that the number of low-income students enrolled in schools across the United States has surged in recent years to new astronomical numbers. According to the study, 17 of the 50 states in the country can say that at least half of their students come from households with incomes at or below

Education, Generation iY®, Generation Y, Habitudes, Students, Workplace, Youth

I just met another unemployed graduate. He was likeable and even employable, but after multiple interviews, he remained jobless. The reason? The jobs were beneath him. The jobs that paid what he wanted, well… he didn’t have the skills for them. Graduating career-ready students continues to be a hot button issue among employers today. The challenge is not just limited to

Culture, Generation iY®, Generation Y, Growth, Habitudes, Leadership, Parenting, Students, Youth

You probably heard about entertainer Miley Cyrus’ latest escapade in Las Vegas. Just prior to the holidays, she got up on stage with Brittney Spears’ dancers and began passionately kissing one of them, then grinding against another. The act had network news commentators asking what would drive her to do this, noting what a change it was from the Miley Cyrus we

books, Education, Generation iY®, Generation Y, Growth, Leadership, Parenting, Potential, Students, Workplace, Youth

Each year, I post a list of the best books I read the past year. Here’s my list from 2013: Focus, Daniel Goleman The author who put “emotional intelligence” on the map for every one of us has written a book on the profound impact focus has on a leader’s success. The ability to focus one’s attention for extended periods of time

Generation iY®, Generation Y, Growth, Leadership, Parenting, Podcast, Students, Youth

John Maxwell is a writer of over seventy leadership books (several of which were New York Times best sellers), the founder of four different leadership companies, a friend of Growing Leaders, and a personal mentor to me. Click Here to Listen Why did you choose to focus on leader development? I’ve often said that if you want to add, develop yourself; if you

Culture, Education, Generation iY®, Generation Y, Growth, Habitudes, Leadership, Parenting, Potential, Students, Youth

Yesterday, I began a two-part blog series in which I unpacked the six skills I believe students must master before they finish school. The first three are: Know Yourself. Develop Your Gift. Find Your Passion. Today, allow me to start a conversation on three others: 4. Value People Along the way, you must discover that people aren’t a means to an end—they are the end. Adding

Education, Generation iY®, Generation Y, Growth, Habitudes, Leadership, Parenting, Students, Youth

I spoke to a faculty member recently about last year’s graduating class. We focused on two students in particular because they represented such a contrast. While both graduated with honors, only one was ready for the career that awaited her. The other…not so much. Although he carried a 3.7 GPA, he was ill-prepared for life after school. In fact, he

Culture, Generation iY®, Generation Y, Growth, Habitudes, Leadership, Parenting, Students, Youth

Have you evaluated your parenting skills lately?  I believe our report card has changed during our lifetime. While we pride ourselves in giving our children more advantages than ever before, the numbers tells us it may not be helping. What’s happened to us? Let’s take a walk down memory lane. A century ago, parenting looked different. On average, families were much larger,

Culture, Generation iY®, Generation Y, Growth, Habitudes, Leadership, Parenting, Students, Youth

Some journalists are using a term when speaking about parents and the problems they have raising their kids today. It’s called “affluenza.” At the court hearing for a tragic auto accident in Texas, where teenager Eric Couch hit and killed four people with his truck, the defense attorneys cited “affluenza” (when one is raised with wealth and never given limits)

Education, Generation iY®, Generation Y, Habitudes, Leadership, Parenting, Students, Workplace, Youth

Over a period of five days, I’ve been blogging about the research and history behind the idea of teaching with pictures. It’s actually quite fascinating, and sets up our release of three Habitudes® resources this month. Below is some newly released research that reveals how art—or images—actually foster skills and qualities that most educators are longing to see in students

Education, Generation iY®, Generation Y, Habitudes, Leadership, Parenting, Students, Youth

Over a period of five days, I plan to blog about the research and history behind the idea of teaching with pictures. It’s actually quite fascinating, and sets up our release of three Habitudes® resources this month. First, we took a brief look at history and how the human race engaged their culture with images. In the next two posts, we

Education, Generation iY®, Generation Y, Habitudes, Leadership, Parenting, Students, Youth

Over a period of five days, I plan to blog about the research and history behind the idea of teaching with pictures. It’s actually quite fascinating, and sets up our release of three Habitudes® resources this month. First, we took a brief look at history and how the human race engaged various cultures with images. Yesterday, we examined four ways that

Culture, Education, Generation iY®, Generation Y, Growth, Habitudes, Leadership, Parenting, Students, Youth

Over the next five days, I plan to blog about the research and history behind the idea of teaching with pictures. It’s actually quite fascinating, and sets up our release of three Habitudes® resources this month. Hope you enjoy! We live in a culture rich with images. Kids grow up with photographs, TV, movies, video, VH1, DVDs, Facebook and Instagram. We can’t

Education, Generation iY®, Generation Y, Habitudes, Leadership, Students, Youth

I’ve been talking about the second-half of Generation Y for almost five years now. I call them Generation iY, because they were raised in the “i” world: iTunes, iPhones, iChat, iPads, iPods…you get the picture. You may be aware that micro-generations (within this population of students) crop up as fast as new iPhones are introduced.  These new “mindsets” are formed depending on