How to Help a Student Who Just Lost their Senior Year
This youngest generation of people was already facing mental health problems. Now they feel delayed by COVID-19, and it’s added to their anxiety levels. Part of the typical American experience…
Helping High School Grads Make a Plan for Next Year
Melanie, an 18-year old high school student, told me recently, “I am a planner, but these days I can’t really plan.” Such is the world for high school upperclassmen, especially…
Letter to Readers After the George Floyd 2020 Protests
Dear Readers, Today, I plan to write to you personally, in a letter instead of an article. After all that’s happened regarding the George Floyd murder (and for that matter,…
What Message are We Sending to Generation Z?
There is one thing that is even more contagious than the coronavirus in our country – fear. It’s infectious, and it might be doing more damage to the kids in…
The Importance of Becoming an Essential Worker
During the last several weeks, we all heard the term, “essential workers.” Our government asked each of us to shelter in place—except those people with essential jobs like medical workers,…
Video Games and Smartphones: How to Help Your Kids Manage their Free Time
Today’s blog is from Andrew McPeak. Andrew is a next gen researcher, speaker and the Vice President of Content for Growing Leaders. He is also the co-author of Generation Z Unfiltered:…
How to Help a Student Who Just Lost their Senior Year
Members of our team at Growing Leaders went and asked students how they’re handling the quarantine. One group of high school seniors offered the most telling insights on their final…
The Unintended Consequences of Our Nationwide Quarantine
Most Americans reluctantly returned home several weeks ago in obedience to our government’s “shelter in place” order. Tens of millions began working from home to stay safe from COVID-19. As…
Eight Ways Student-Athletes Can Best Manage Their Energy and Time
Most student-athletes today would say their number one challenge is time management. They are forced to find a way to balance school, their sport, and a social life. In this…
Six Ideas for Utilizing Technology to Teach
When I recently spoke to a group of eight students ages 17 to 22, I asked them what the biggest surprise was that they received since returning home to finish…
How to Help Gen Z Through the COVID-19 Mental Health Crisis
Most of us were shocked when we heard that medical doctor, Lorna Breen, died by suicide on April 27, 2020. Although she was doing all she could to fight the…
Ten Ideas to Help You and Your Students Get More Done at Home
During this period of isolation during COVID-19, many of us experience a good news, bad news scenario, where we have more time, but often play defense rather than offense with…
How to Lead Generation Z When You’re Not in Charge
Leading is never easy–especially when you don’t have a badge. And it can be even tougher when you attempt to lead students. By this, I mean gaining authority in a…
The Positive Outcomes of Outbreaks Through History
Note: Today’s post is available for you to either watch as a vlog or read as a blog post below. Interruptions have a way of changing us. We enter our week with…
The Secret Weapon to Handling Mental Health Issues
I saw something last week that absolutely fascinated me. I don’t know if I would have believed it had I not seen it. Four university students were in the parking…
How to Turn a Setback into a Comeback
Note: Today’s post is available for you to either watch as a vlog or read as a blog post below. I remember a story recently, which has a relevant application to the…
An Astronaut’s Advice on Living in Isolation
Note: Today’s post is available for you to either watch as a vlog or read as a blog post below. Astronaut Scott Kelly is a veteran of four space flights and was…
How to Embed Social and Emotional Learning During This Critical Time
A teacher called me a few weeks ago to talk about how to manage this stressful time. She was teaching her students online for the first time and attempting to…
How to Invest Your Time as a Coach in Today’s New Normal
More and more coaches are reaching out to each other, discussing how to best coach a team during this COVID-19 pandemic. We live in strange times. Who would have believed…
How Student Leadership is Morphing for Generation Z
“I see leadership differently than my parent’s generation does.” Those are the words of Brandon, a college sophomore, who ended his semester at home when the entire student body at…
Five Steps to Reverse a Sense of Entitlement
The fact is, a sense of entitlement is not only real, it is growing in our culture today. And while we can’t blame the “kids” for it, it is affecting…
Ten Ideas to Help You and Your Students Get More Done at Home
Have you ever had a Saturday morning where you thought: Finally, I get a weekend to catch up on some projects! It seems we tread water all week, so we…
Do You Know What Your Student-Athletes Need from You Now?
I spoke to a couple of NCAA Division One coaches by phone last week. Both were holding up OK but were inquiring about how to manage their current reality as…
What’s Wrong with Social Distancing?
It was five weeks ago when we began to hear the term, “social distancing.” It wasn’t invented then; people have practiced it for centuries during outbreaks. But this was our…
What People Need Most from Their Leaders in Times of Crisis
There is a piece of content making its way around on social media right now that summarizes what every leader needs to remember as we endure this strange time in…
How to Lead Anxious Students When You’re Anxious Yourself
We are currently in an unprecedented and certainly unsettling time for our communities, our country, and our world. Amidst social distancing, shelter in place rules, and school closures, our days…
The Biggest Lesson We Can Learn from This Pandemic
I just heard from a friend who lost a tenant in her apartment complex due to the coronavirus. The woman who died was only 41 years old. Suddenly, this outbreak…
Increasing Engagement with Students Who Don’t Fit the Mold
Did you see the movie The Peanut Butter Falcon? It was one of my favorite movies last year. It’s the story of three outliers who didn’t fit into the mold…
How Will a Global Pandemic Impact Generation Z as They Become Adults?
Do you remember where you were when the Berlin Wall came down? Or when September 11th happened? I bet you do if you were around during these events. They were…
The Importance of Sharing Responsibility with Your Kids
Have you ever heard your student, employee, or son or daughter say something like: That wasn’t my fault. (And you know it was.) Mrs. Vargus gave me a bad grade.…
What Parents May Learn from Teaching Their Own Kids
One of the many viral Facebook posts spreading around the country is a note an eight-year-old boy named Ben wrote about how things were going at home now that his…
A Pandemic is a Terrible Thing to Waste
Note: Today’s post is available for you to either watch as a vlog or read as a blog post below. Many people I know are already complaining about the “interruption”…
How will the Coronavirus Pandemic Affect Us When It’s Over?
As of today, the news is filled with uncertainty and ambiguity about how far COVID-19 will go and long it will last. It is indeed a very strange time. But…
The Most Important Responsibilities Every Student Needs to Own
Jalen is 17 years old and in his junior year of high school. Like many teens his age, he’s preoccupied with making good grades, taking the SAT and getting into…
How to Help Generation Z Break Free from the All-or-Nothing Mindset
Have you noticed what’s happening around our country? Psychologists call it all-or-nothing thinking. It’s when a person assumes: My life is either awesome or it’s terrible. My job is either…
The Eight Essential Roles of School Administrators with Will Parker
Education leaders today are given a difficult task of serving their school in so many different ways. If they have any hope of being successful though, they must ensure they…
Three Ways to Know If Your Kid Is Dealing with Loneliness
When both of my kids were young, they had no problem expressing what they wanted or needed. My wife and I would’ve sworn they were both extroverts, as they (like…
What Message are We Sending to Generation Z?
Note: Today’s post is available for you to either watch as a vlog or read as a blog post below. An NPR online report stunned me recently. I didn’t know…
The Six P’s of an Amazing School Culture
I just finished reviewing my notes on colleges and secondary schools I’ve observed since 2005. The schools are located in Singapore, Canada, England, Germany, Egypt, India, Brazil, Mexico, and the…
How the Coronavirus Could Affect Generation Z
Every time period in history is shaped by the significant events that occur during that season. Each generation is marked by shared experiences, music, heroes, villains, tragedies, TV shows and…
Seven Characteristics That Distinguish Generation Z
How is Generation Z different than Millennials? They’re distinctly different. If we have any hope of partnering with these students, we would do well to understand them. In this episode,…
Changing the Way We Advocate for Students
Do you know parents or teachers who are so tired of bickering with their teens that they: Make a separate dinner for their children because they are a picky eater?…
How to Encourage Healthy Vulnerability in the Most Private Generation
I spoke to a college freshman who is among a growing number of students who are getting off of social media. Yes—you read that correctly. She’s done with it. When…
Five Steps to Lead Students Wisely During the Coronavirus Pandemic
What most of us assumed would go away in a matter of days in China, has become a global pandemic, according to the World Health Organization. The Coronavirus is now…
The Power of “Good” Referrals with Students
I love the story of the 7-year old girl who grabbed her baseball bat, her mitt and a ball and asked her dad if they could go outside and play…
What Employers Should Expect from Generation Z: Vocation Rotation
My head was spinning after talking to Zoe, a 21-year-old who’s quite ambitious. She is taking college courses, has a job on campus, as well as two-side hustles, one as…
Three Leadership Topics to Discuss with Your Team
Since the beginning of 2019, Tim Elmore has experienced new territory as a leader. Our organization, Growing Leaders, endured a plateau in its growth and forced our leadership’s team members…