When You Change a Student, You Change the Future
May I tell you a great story? This year, we began working with a partner organization in the Domincan Republic, called “Global Effect.” They exist to empower local residents to bring about sustainable transformation to their communities, addressing economic, social and physical needs in those communities. A few years ago, Global Effect identified a lack of character and leadership in young
Seven Gifts Leaders Should Give Their Team This Holiday Season
My mother always enjoyed the Christmas season. Ever since I can remember, she’d want to pull out the decorations as early as possible and get them up. My dad always said she’d have them up all year round if he’d let her. My mom, Sally, passed away fourteen years ago, and I miss her to this day. I think of
One Way to Love Your Kids Well During the Holidays
As I meet with parents, I hear phrases (especially from mothers) that make total sense, but eventually…they prevent their children from maturing in a healthy way. These phrases represent a sentiment that is natural, but damaging, to our leadership in the home. What is it, you ask? He’s irresistible. She’s adorable. Those twins are precious. That little guy is so
The Best Gifts to Give Kids This Christmas
Every year, parents and family members rack their brains to try and come up with the best gifts to give to their kids. While this reality has been around for decades now, kids today represent a tougher population to impress. They probably already have most gadgets or devices they need—and we frequently leave them to their own “devices” in more
Four Healthy Coping Mechanisms Teens Can Use
The numbers were just released by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), and American life expectancy has dropped for the first time since World War I. In fact it’s dropped for the last three years. When I first read this, I was stunned. Seriously? Isn’t science and medicine making advances to increase life expectancy? Absolutely. The trouble is—suicide rates
Three Ingredients to Help Students Navigate Choices
A growing number of schools and families today believe offering students choices can increase their sense of “ownership” in their learning. I am among them. I’ve seen students come alive when their teacher provides them options for their next project, paper, or capstone assignment. As choices increase, we believe student engagement will also deepen—and it does for the most part. The
Athletes & Mental Health: Two Changes We Need to Make
You may remember Tyler Hilinski, the Washington State University quarterback who took his own life last January. His football team took a knee as they launched a new season this year—visually acknowledging their fallen teammate, and further shining a spotlight on a significant and growing issue for student athletes: The mental health crisis. Certainly, athlete suicides are not new, but the frequency
Four Workplace Rules Gen Z Team Members Should Learn
This past month, I found myself speaking at events to business managers, university executives and athletic directors about “generational diversity.” Today, we not only experience ethnic diversity and gender diversity in the workplace, but a diversity of generations attempting to work together, including Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials and now Gen Z. And with these two newer generations come new terms
Anxiety: One Solution to Get Out of this Mess
Everywhere I go, I meet adults (most of them parents) who are afraid for our kids today. We are afraid of what can happen on social media, school shootings, drug abuse, cyber-bullying, terrorism, phone addictions, you name it. Since I see this in every state, I decided to dig and discover why we have become so fearful. How and when did
Six Effective Leadership Traits You Can Build
I began my career as a leader in 1979. I had never been taught leadership, and I had limited leadership experience. I began teaching students, but soon I was put in charge of colleagues—managing a team of people, most of them older than I was. I was both passionate and intimidated. Without the help of Google or Wikipedia, I remember digging through
Five Dangerous Apps Parents Don’t Know Teens Use
One decade ago, high school senior, Jessica Logan sent a nude photo of herself to her boyfriend. When they later broke up, he forwarded the photo to everyone else at her school. This launched her tragic attempt to hide from those who teased her about being a slut. Jessica ended up losing the battle for her reputation. After attending a