Six Steps to Help Young Team Members Manage Expectations
As Generation Z moves from school to career, many of them enter their first job with different expectations than those of their employers. They want to move up the organizational chart faster than their manager believes they are ready for that move. “More than 75% of Gen Z members believe they should be promoted in their first year on the job, according
Six Guidelines to Teach Ethics to Students
Did you know that students today are more curious about becoming a leader than previous student populations, according to a Universum Global Study? That’s right. Generation Z showed a greater interest in leadership than the previous three generations. Some of the greatest differences were in developing nations. Many U.S. high school students see themselves as “activists” and “entrepreneurs.” My concern today,
How Nick Saban Develops Grit in His Players
Coach Nick Saban came up with a new way to define mental toughness for his football team. During spring training, 2018, the national champion head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide told a story to his players. While Saban was weather-proofing his Florida home, storm windows were being chosen and installed. During the decision process, he asked the workers how they
Why Today’s Athletes Are Lonely & What to Do About It
I’m not sure what you think NBA players do between games, but my guess is, it’s wrong. Those young players are not merely signing autographs, attending parties in their honor and soaking up culture and society. According to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, many of them are lonely. In fact, Silver plainly said that supporting players’ mental health is an ongoing initiative;
Three Statistics that Will Change the Way You Think about Generation Z
Today’s blog is from Andrew McPeak. Andrew is a next gen researcher, speaker, and author for Growing Leaders. How well do you think you know Generation Z? Years ago I was speaking to a group of adults who were leading students in schools across the country. While most of them were leading Millennials at the time, I reminded them that a new generation was coming.
Getting the Most Out of Advisement Period
Thousands of middle and high schools in the U.S. have changed “homeroom” to a block of time called, “Advisement Period.” It’s usually a period anywhere from 25-40 minutes at the start of a day that students can focus on non-academic topics. Or, they can simply waste time. Too often, that’s what I hear is happening. A 2017 Gallup Education poll on
Three Leadership Secrets from Bohemian Rhapsody
I turn 60 years old this year. I share this fact because it will explain my next few sentences. As a teen, I listened to the rock band, Queen. They were eccentric, even edgy, and their tunes got stuck in my head. (It’s precisely what musicians want.) A few months ago, I saw the movie, “Bohemian Rhapsody” (twice) and later,
What Short-Term Thinking Does to Our Kids
Have you read the latest updates on the largest college admissions bribery scandal in our history? The original story was—at least 50 parents paid bribes to get their children admitted into prestigious universities, like Stanford, Yale, UCLA, Wake Forest, USC and others. It was an atrocious attempt by parents to control outcomes and is an ugly sign of the times—that
Three Huge Mistakes We Make Leading Kids…and How to Correct Them
While I applaud the engagement of this generation of parents and teachers, it’s important to recognize these three mistakes we make leading kids.
Three Steps to Help a Student with a Learning Disability
Today’s blog is from Nautrie Jones, a contributing writer for the Growing Leaders Blog. Nautrie is the Director of Teacher Leadership Development at Teach For America where she manages coaches, develops strategy, and designs trainings focused on content, pedagogy, classroom management, racial identity development, culturally responsive teaching, and adaptive coaching. After years of confusion, we finally had an answer. We knew
“In Other Words” – Why is Teaching with Images so Effective? (Part 1)
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. Yesterday, we took a brief look at history and how cultures engaged their people with images. Below is part two. Picture Perfect Training Since the
How Adults are Stealing Ambition From Kids
We are raising a generation of kids who are used to receiving recognition for participating. One of the most valuable commodities we can cultivate in this emerging generation of kids is ambition.
Six Steps to Help Students Overcome Being Overwhelmed
It’s interesting to note that the number one word college students use to describe their life is the word: “overwhelmed.”
One Habit Great Leaders Use to Grow Mentally
Since 1987, I have tried to keep a journal of my special experiences, my reflections on things that happen to me, and the trips I take. It started out as a sort of diary, but it was more about the stuff I did and what I thought about it, instead of my feelings. Recently, I was leafing through some old journals,
Seven Emotions That Follow a Sense of Entitlement
Follow @TimElmore A few short years ago, corporate executives were asked what single word best describes the recent college graduates entering their workplace. The word they selected? Entitled. Interestingly, when recent graduates were asked to guess what descriptive word these executives had chosen that begins with the letter “e,” they guessed: exciting, enterprising, entrepreneurial and energetic. None of them guessed how
The Real Purpose of Social Media
One of the biggest disconnects I see between adults and adolescents today is social media.
12 Must Read Leadership Books for Young Adults
As I travel and speak to college students, I’m often asked what are the best books for a young leader to read. Years ago, I created a list of “Must Reads” for established leaders, but below, I list what I consider great reads for emerging leaders—teens and twenty-somethings who aspire to leadership. Hope it’s helpful. 1. Leadership and Self-Deception, by the
How to Combat an Entitlement Mentality
In February 2019, a 27-year-old posted a viral video on YouTube. Wearing a fake beard and sunglasses, Raphael Samuel announced he was suing his parents because he was conceived without his consent. This was not a joke. Raphael grew up in India and felt he was entitled to payments for life, since he didn’t ask for all the hassles life offers
Four Signs of the Times from the College Entrance Scandal
Something almost unbelievable just happened between parents and colleges in the U.S. It may be a sign of the times. Fifty people either bribed or bought their child’s admission into a prestigious university—simply because they could. All of them are affluent, and some of them are famous. Below is a summary of what happened. “The Hollywood actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin
Three Parental Acts That Hinder Students From Becoming Leaders
I just finished meeting with a group of university students. My goal was to ask them how they had adapted to college life. I chose this group of students because every one of them served in leadership roles during high school. I wondered if they’d continued in college. The overwhelming message I received from them is they didn’t feel they
The Greatest Leadership Movies
We love leadership movies. So recently we started a fun new tradition at our Growing Leaders office. Once a month we end the workday early and move into our creative space at our office, we pull some snacks out and watch one of these great leadership movies together.
Our team brainstormed some of the best leadership movies over the last few decades and we are going through this list once a month. We may not get through all of them but it provided us a great chance to see leadership failures and successes and discuss it afterward.
What Parents Should Say as Their Kids Perform
In my work at Growing Leaders, we enjoy the privilege of serving numerous NCAA and professional sports teams each year. After meeting with hundreds of coaches and athletes, I noticed an issue kept surfacing in our conversations. Both the student-athlete and the coach were trying to solve the same problem. What was that problem? The parents of the student-athletes.
Seven Steps to Empower Your Students
When I learned to teach students, it was a different world. Forty years ago, I was much younger and my methods were more about one-way communication. It was all about lecture, drill, memorization and test. Today, students come from a different culture, but teachers are often still about “classroom management.” Students check out mentally; fall asleep and get distracted. And
From Controlling to Connecting with Students
I am writing all week on student empowerment. How do we fully engage students in a classroom, an athletic field, a work team or at home? I believe we must first realize this is a process of four steps. Progress evolves one step at a time with our young. Four Levels of Participation with Students 1. Attendance Some administrators talk about BOBs
What We Must Do to Empower Students
More and more teachers today make a distinction between student engagement and student empowerment. It makes sense to me. Julie Diaz is the principal of Travis High School near Houston, Texas. She’s building young leaders within that student body—and discovered surprising things happen when educators do this. Two years ago, some of her students told her they felt their school building
The Truth About Ownership in Athletics Today
Most coaches I talk to today mourn the struggle they have with their young players taking “ownership” of the team. Why aren’t they more responsible? Why don’t they think for themselves? Why do they need me to confront poor behavior from teammates and not do it themselves? Where are all the leaders? My answer? We stole it from them. Youth culture today
Arrogance: What to do When Your Students Know Everything
I recently ran across three examples of adults who’ve encountered arrogance in their students. One high school teacher smiled when she told me the most popular statement her students say to her every week is: “I know.” One athletic coach told me when he gave instructions on how to do a drill at practice, one of his student athletes corrected him,
Five Signs of Entitlement in Our Kids
A New York based firm met with a group of recent college graduates to talk about their careers. During the conversation, the potential employer asked the grads this question: What’s the one word HR execs use more than any other to describe the mindset of your generation? It begins with an “E.” Do you know what that word is? The young
Why You Should Have High Expectations of the Students You Lead
I’ve written about my experience mentoring young college students in leadership back in the 1990s. I led a group of six students who chose and discussed various topics each week. I got an email from a student one evening asking who was going to choose the topic for next week’s meeting. I grabbed my laptop and replied: “I can do that.”
How Boredom Changed One Girl’s Life
Ruby Kate Chitsey is only 11-years-old. Since she’s so young, and has a working mom, she can’t just run off to play the way some of her classmates do after school. So, Ruby Kate often joins her mom at work. Her mother is a nurse practitioner at local nursing homes in Arkansas. Needless to say, a kid can get bored in
One of the Most Important Rules for Leaders
A college dean recently told me she had a mess on her hands. She had invited three graduate students to serve with her in student affairs, but found they weren’t cooperating with the policies. They were coming in late; they were not following a basic dress code, they were on their phones too much during their work hours and their
One Secret to Survive the Coaching Climate Today
If you are not an athletic coach, have you paused to consider what it’s like to be one? If you are a coach, do you realize how much your profession has changed in the last two decades? It’s enough to rattle anyone. Allow me to share one case study, without naming any names. Some time ago, a Division 1 coach removed a
Passion and Leadership
Today's post is a guest blog by Steve Moore. He is a long-time friend and someone I respect deeply. Steve serves as the President of Missio Nexus. He is a also a member of the Growing Leaders speakers team and is available to provide leadership training to organizations. His most recent book, Who is My Neighbor? Being a Good Samaritan in a Connected World, was released in May, 2011.The word passion is used to describe a powerful range of emotions, from love to anger, hatred to joy. It is somewhat ironic that in leadership literature, passion is often associated with what happens to leaders when they don’t have it: lack of energy, loss of creativity, diminished motivation and ultimately burnout. Take the opening few sentences of an article on passion in Entrepreneur magazine for example: “You’re trying hard not to show it--you’ve lost that lovin’ feeling for your business…It’s time to rekindle your passion and renew your commitment as an entrepreneur.”
Passion is important for leaders for at least two reasons.
The Right Time to Give a Second Chance
Ashton just got suspended from his high school for an entire week for cheating. His mother, Jan, was beside herself, because six other students (Ashton’s classmates) got excused for their misconduct, only having to serve one detention period. Jan, obviously, felt it wasn’t fair. Why should her son get a suspension when other boys who had cheated, get a lesser penalty. If
A Powerful Leadership Lesson from a Super Bowl Athlete
You don’t have to love football to know—the 2019 Super Bowl will take place this Sunday. The NFC champion Los Angeles Rams will take on the AFC champion New England Patriots in my hometown, Atlanta, Georgia. Two great teams will square off to determine who will be the champion of the National Football League this season. This is all predictable and
How One Parent Developed a Mentally Tough Kid
You probably remember the story that broke on the news last month and the video posted about it on Facebook that captured over 22 million views. Matt Cox heard that his daughter, Kirsten, got suspended for three days from riding the school bus because she bullied classmates on it for the second time. She hadn’t learned her lesson. That was enough
How to Help Your Student Athletes Win On and Off the Field
I’d like you to reflect on a statement that four student athletes made to me in 2018. Perhaps it will spark a relevant conversation on your team: “I feel my coach only sees me as an athlete, not as a human being.” Whether we know it or not, we can be adding to this narrative student-athletes have. Even though we know they
How to Make Your Communication Effective
Google is growing up. Current CEO Sundar Pichai reported at a 2017 conference that his company is rethinking all of their products, as well as how they communicate to people. What have they concluded is a better way to communicate to both stakeholders and customers? This may not surprise you. More images and stories. "Since stories are best told with pictures—bullet points
If You Want Your Students to Like You…
There is a subtle and sinister reality facing parents, coaches and educators today. Its source is invisible, but tangible. It can be spotted when we get caught up in the past, and begin to resent our present. Let me explain what I mean. I recently spoke to a group of university faculty who, during a Q and A session, groaned about
One Way You Can Help with My Next Book
Just prior to the Fall of 2019, Growing Leaders plans to release a new book on Generation Z. It will be different than other books published on this new population of 21st century kids. It will primarily focus on solutions. I want to add to the conversation with answers, not just more data. In fact, the book’s working title is: Generation
Is Every Kid Supposed To Be a Leader?
There I stood in front of a crowd of one thousand students and faculty members, at a university in the Midwest. One instructor stood up with a question I get almost everywhere I go, because I teach leadership to students. The person asking usually has an answer already—they just want to hear how I’m going to respond to this question… “Is
A Classroom Where Students Lead
I met Uduak Afangideh, PhD, at Faulkner University five years ago. We met again this past fall when I spoke on her campus and talked about what we were both learning about engaging college students today. Originally from Nigeria, Dr. Afangideh is the Science Department Chair and Professor of Biology on the campus. She is also a gracious, life-long learner
How to Equip Students to be Mentally Tough
You may not believe this, but one university just came up with some new rules—in order to make life easier for students. I think it’s a very bad idea. The journalism department at Leeds Trinity University in the U.K., has requested that lecturers avoid several “acts” that might frighten or intimidate students. This makes sense until you hear what those “acts”
My Favorite Books from 2018
Over the years, I will often launch the new year by posting some of my favorite books I read from the past year. These aren’t the only ones I digested this year, but these are ones I’ve recommended to leaders, educators, parents, coaches and employers I meet as I travel. Below are nine of the best books I read in
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
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
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
How Great Leaders Create Engaged Cultures
After meeting with a national champion athletic coach, a president of a growing university and an amazing principal of a 3,600-student high school—I’ve drawn at least one conclusion about quality leadership: Great leaders create the campus culture. This means, when you arrive, you are the “Chief Culture Officer.” You improve the culture, through your own style and personality, and lift everyone to