By Tim Elmore   I was in a coaching session with a college freshman, who explained to me how she just wasn’t “a math person.” This launched a conversation about how Abby couldn’t do this or that, and that her career was likely very limited. Along with her math challenges, Abby said things like: “I don’t have a creative bone in

By Tim Elmore The Seven Best Books I Read Last Year   Each year, I enjoy posting a list of my favorite books I read in the last twelve months. Admittedly, sometimes the books strike me simply because of the life station I am in. Books can stand out not so much because they are brilliant for everyone, but because they come

By Tim Elmore  When I reflect on past holiday seasons in my life, I see that I suffered from acute low self-awareness. It wasn’t so much that I ruined Christmas or Thanksgiving for anyone; I just hampered things for me. In retrospect, I see a pattern that offers a cautionary tale for all of us.   As a young man, I entered the

By Time Elmore My friend, Steve Goble, has enjoyed a successful career as a business owner and civil servant. Over the last few years, he chose to be a substitute teacher in his local public high schools. He wanted to spend time investing in today’s young generations. You might not be surprised to hear the experience has been eye-opening for

By Tim Elmore Three Essentials to Leading Someone from a Different Generation  I continue to hear stories of Boomer or Gen X managers who become frustrated at the audacity of Generation Z or Millennial team members. One manager said a young job candidate told him in her interview: “I’m going to have your job in eighteen months.” Similarly, young professionals tell me

By Tim Elmore     A college dean recently acknowledged to me an obvious truth. He said, “The older I get, the more different students become.”   He said this, tongue firmly planted in cheek, but I knew exactly what he meant. The generation gap, a term first coined by magazine editor John Poppy back in the 1960s, is more real today than ever. This

By: Tim Elmore Jared and Tabitha dated for ten months. They met on an app, and the first four months of their relationship was limited to online interactions. When they chose to MIRL (Meet In Real Life), the encounter went well. At that point, they began to see each other face to face. In month ten, however, Jared decided to move on.

By: Tim Elmore A mother approached me recently after I spoke at a parents’ conference. She told me how much she cared for her 13-year-old son, yet many of his teachers referred to her, not as a “helicopter parent,” but as an “Apache Helicopter.” When she acknowledged how intrusive she was in her son’s life, I had to agree. She admitted to

By: Tim Elmore I lived in southern California for many years. Every year, it seemed we heard about another fire that broke out. The dry, warm weather coupled with a careless mistake can be deadly. Wildfires have been rampant, destroying miles of property as they spread. During the summer and fall of 2018, California experienced the deadliest wildfire season in its history. A

By: Tim Elmore Did you hear what just happened? Last week, Girl Scouts of the USA posthumously awarded ten-year-old Amerie Jo Garza of Uvalde, Texas, one of the highest honors bestowed in Girl Scouting: the “Bronze Cross.” Notice—the honor was given to Amerie Jo after she died.   The Bronze Cross is awarded for saving or attempting to save a life at the risk

By: Tim Elmore I distinctly remember interviewing for a full-time job with John C. Maxwell in 1982. John was not famous yet, except in certain circles, but he already displayed lots of agency. His personality filled the room. I was graduating college that year, and he expressed an interest in my skills. When I look back at that exchange, which later turned

By: Tim Elmore I just made a discovery. For the first time in my life, I realized I know people who are from seven sociological generations.  My aunt and uncle are from the Senior generation (1902-1928). My mother and father-in-law are from the Builders generation (1929-1945). My wife and I are both from the baby boomer generation (1946-1964). My teammates Shawn and

By: Tim Elmore   A boy named Norris began mowing lawns four years ago. I’m not talking about mowing his own lawn; he’d been doing that already. I mean he began mowing lawns for other people who needed it, starting with a disabled neighbor who lived nearby. He didn't make a big deal of it. He just marched over and mowed the lawn.

By: Tim Elmore An NFL football coach recently told me of the tangible changes in professional athletes today compared to 25 years ago, when he first began coaching. He mentioned that players have a higher expectation of what they’ll receive as part of their compensation and feel entitled to having a voice in how the team is managed. These expectations are not

By: Tim Elmore   It’s been over 50 years since the term generation gap was first coined by Life magazine editor John Poppy. During the 1960s, he noticed a gap between the young baby boomers and their parent’s generation, the Builders. Those boomers used new language the adults did not recognize. I am one of those baby boomers and, believe it or not,

By: Tim Elmore       As I spot “Help Wanted” signs on the windows of many establishments today, I often consider the qualities young job seekers should learn. Too often, young adults don’t take entry-level positions because they feel those jobs are beneath them. I recently reflected on the early experiences I had in my career that taught me lessons I may not have

By: Tim Elmore   “My students enter the classroom as if they’re customers. They expect me to serve them curriculum, make it fun, and work hard to ensure they make good grades. It’s like they’re consumers,” bemoaned one teacher I met in Missouri.   Then, she had an epiphany.   “I guess they are consumers in one sense,” she concluded. “They digest a subject each day for

By: Tim Elmore   Last month, a Chicago Metra train conductor was robbed at gunpoint in broad daylight. Not long after, photos of the robbery suspect were released, and that’s when the armed thief was apprehended. Even though he was wearing a mask, it all happened so quickly.    You’ll never guess how the thief was captured so fast.   When the security camera’s photos were published,

By: Tim Elmore Last October, The New York Times ran an article called “The 37-Year-Olds Are Afraid of the 23-Year-Olds Who Work for Them.” It was about how entitled millennials are unable to manage their even more entitled Gen Z workers. The piece was interesting but needed explanation. The stories were anecdotal and didn’t completely line up with the data. It’s important we

By: Tim Elmore     Brianna Rivera is an articulate high school student who wrapped her arms around a challenge that teens face today. Finding herself thrust back into society after quarantine, she said, “That’s a lot for me, after having been in isolation for 18 months. You want to get back into the swing of things, but there’s something kind of holding you

By:  Andrew McPeak         A few months ago, I downloaded TikTok. Within minutes, I understood what all the fuss was about. I was laughing. I was surprised. I was angered. I was awed. Not only did I experience a wide range of emotions, but I also noticed that each emotional experience was short, beckoning me to keep swiping to the next video. “After

By: Tim Elmore At the dawn of 2021, I decided to do something new for you.  You may have noticed that blogs over the past several months have started to focus primarily on social and emotional learning and life skills. Growing Leaders made the decision to focus on these topics because we believe that young people need to cultivate these inward skill