Food for Thought on a Monday Afternoon

Below I posted three links that you may find interesting.  I would appreciate hearing your feedback on all three, but especially on the first two links.

5 Ways to Spot a Potential Leader

Very short, but spot-on article regarding some ways to identify those with leadership potential.  I particularly like #1 and #3.

What do you look for when attempting to identify potential leaders?  Is the author on the right track?

It's time for educators to learn new tricks

Interesting article by Luke Johnson calling for change in secondary and post-secondary education.  I agree with the following points:
1. We need to focus on acquisition of  language skills in Arabic, Mandarin, etc. rather than French.
2. Unions do serve the needs of their members rather than the consumers in an industry, thus they tend to be resistant to change.
3. His call for differentiated instruction is to be applauded, particularly at the university level.

I believe we are only at the beginning of many significant changes in how students are to be educated in the future.  The advent of Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) will certainly begin to change the delivery of instruction.  Moreover, the possibilities associated with e-books and tablets are exciting and may prove to revolutionize the industry.

What do you think about change in education?  Too little?  Too much?  Too soon?

Grading-System Scrutiny May Follow Fall of Fla. Chief

This story could certainly prove to be very unfortunate for proponents of school choice.  We need total transparency as those advocating against school choice are sure to use this story to support efforts to slow down what so many have worked to bring about.

The importance of horizontal leadership

“I have no problem being the ultimate arbiter of discipline, but if I am the primary arbiter of discipline, then our team will never be worth a darn!”  I used to say these exact words to my basketball team on a regular basis.  Okay, yes, I probably did use a stronger word than darn, in fact probably a couple of stronger words.  I was attempting to get my team to buy-in to the concept of horizontal leadership, or shared leadership.  Each of them knew what the expectations were for members of our basketball team, yet I struggled to get them to hold one another accountable.  It is no coincidence that once they accepted the responsibility of horizontal leadership we began to accumulate more wins.

As mentioned earlier, horizontal leadership is just another way of saying shared leadership.  It really compliments Mark Sanborn’s book You Don't Need a Title to Be a Leader.  The idea being that leadership is for all of us, not just those with the title denoting leadership.  I would suggest that most, if not all, successful teams, groups, and organizations have very strong horizontal leadership.  When all members of a group accept the responsibility associated with horizontal leadership, greatness becomes a distinct possibility.

Imagine the athletic team that does not require their coach, coaches, or team captains hovering over them to do what they are supposed to do, to the best of their ability, when they are supposed to do it—this is a team that maximizes their time spent practicing!  How about the office that continues to hum along when their supervisor is out of the building—productivity does not drop simply because “the boss” is not there to tell people to get back to work.  This happens because of horizontal leadership.  Each member of the team, group, or organization first assumes responsibility for leading themselves and then accepts the responsibility of holding their teammates accountable for their actions.  When I was coaching I would share a quote from Alexander the Great with my student-athletes: “I am not afraid of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”  The point is that the lion will convince the sheep that they are, in fact, lions, whereas an army of lions led by sheep will become convinced they are, in fact, sheep.  I used to challenge my student-athletes to a step further: I challenged them to become an army of lions led by lions, but reminded them that this would only be possible if they embraced horizontal leadership.  Lions led by lions would be an unstoppable force, whereas the sheep led by a lion were in trouble if something happened to the lion leading them. 

 Horizontal leadership allows teams to weather storms and assists in eliminating the possibility of a single point of failure—two desired outcomes for any team.  Everything certainly rises and falls based upon leadership, thus we must do our best to ensure that our teams have multiple leaders and are not dependent upon the presence, loyalty, or well-being of one single leader.

Dylan Luna and the American Dream

Earlier this month I had the privilege of attending the SABIS Directors' Meeting in Istanbul, Turkey.  In addition to the incredible location, I was also able to listen to many excellent speakers discuss exciting new developments unique to SABIS.  Moreover, I was able to listen to Svava Bjarnason, Principal Education Specialist at the International Finance Corporation discuss the work her organization is doing in the field of education.

Four days prior to hearing Ms. Bjarnason speak about all the good the International Finance Corporation is doing throughout the world in the field of education, I was on the roof of our hotel enjoying an Efes and looking out over Istanbul.  I turned to one of my colleagues and posed a question: How many talented children in this city of over 13 million will never get a chance in life because they are denied access to a quality education?

Daily children in our country take the education they are provided for granted.  Sure, there are many who seize this opportunity and use it to get where they want to go, but how many throw this golden opportunity away?  How many squander the opportunity to better themselves and to improve their socio-economic status in a matter of a few short years?  People in our country take the opportunities provided to us for granted.  Looking down at Istanbul I wondered "How many children similar to Dylan Luna are in this city?"  How many children are walking around with a dream, yet see no possible way of reaching this dream?  Dylan was a student of mine at the International Academy of Flint and one of my all-time favorites.  I am not sure I ever met a young person with a greater sense of purpose than Dylan.  Moreover, Dylan possessed a drive and determination I rarely saw in others.  He seized every opportunity possible in order to get where he wanted to go.  Rather than looking at his circumstances as obstacles and using them as an excuse for failure or lack of success, Dylan used his circumstances as building blocks and motivation to drive him forward.  However, Dylan was able to do so because he had a great family and support network behind him, he had access to a quality education, and he recognized the importance of this opportunity.  Providing ALL children with access to such an education may prove to be the most important issue of our generation.

Our challenge as educators is two-fold.  Not only must we work daily to ensure that the children under our care are provided the best possible education, but we must also strive to build quality relationships with the children under our care so we can influence them to take advantage of the opportunities afforded them in our great nation.  Many of our children need help seeing what is directly in front of them--both good and bad.  For this generation of young people, nothing exists until it actually occurs.  We must assume the responsibility of assisting them in looking and planning ahead, helping them navigate the challenges life brings their way, and recognizing the opportunities they have as citizens in our country.

Why Won't We Get Out of Our Boats?

Thank you so much to those of you sharing your thoughts and stories on my last post.  It is a great deal of fun to read your thoughts and to hear how others have dealt with the fear of failure in their lives.  The fear that tells us not to pick up a rattlesnake is a good thing, but the fear that tells us not to try because we might fail is a very bad thing.  This is the fear that prevents us from becoming what we were created to be; the fear that holds us back from realizing our potential. I have spent a great deal of time watching others, examining my past, and thinking about this subject in order to determine why we are so afraid to take that step, to venture outside our comfort zone, to get out of our respective boats.  I have identified the following three areas as reasons people are afraid to get out of their boats.

1. Low self-esteem.  It is very, very difficult for people to step outside their comfort zone and risk failure when they do not feel good about themselves.  People need to have a relatively high level of self-esteem in order to withstand the possible blow to their ego associated with failure.  With a high level of self-esteem, we are able to handle the loss of face we too often associate with failure.  On the other hand, a low self-esteem will often work to hold us back as we become too concerned about what others will think about our failure.  Instead of focusing on the possible benefits of our efforts, we instead focus on all that we believe will come with our potential failure.

2. Non-supportive environment.  Far too often we do not surround ourselves with the right type of people.  We need people around us who delight in our triumphs and console us during our failures. Unfortunately we often have people around us who delight in our failures and are jealous of our triumphs.  The people we bring into our lives act as either balloons or anchors: they either raise us up or they serve to keep us anchored to the ground (more to come on this later in the month).

3.  Culture.  There seems to be such a stigma associated with failure today.  So many people I come into contact with use language that would lead you to believe that those who achieve greatness were born for it.  I suggest the opposite: those who achieve greatness are keenly aware of the bitter taste of failure and defeat.  Nobody, and I mean nobody, gets to the top of the mountain unscathed.  All champions emerge, bruised, bloodied, but unbowed despite the setbacks they endure.  This is what makes them champions; the courage to endure setback after setback with an unwavering belief in their eventual victory in whatever endeavor they pursue.  This is what victors are made of and this is the behavior we should emulate.

I am convinced that if we can overcome these three impediments, we will be primed to get out of our boats and take our first steps toward greatness.  Imagine what we would be capable of achieving if we no longer feared the sting or stigma of failure?

Redefining Failure

In our increasingly complex and competitive world, failure has become much more commonplace.  Moreover, thanks to the advent of social-media and the 24-7 news cycle, failures and shortcomings are now immediately known and shared around the globe.  It is no wonder that many of us are afraid to "get out of our boat" and often appear to be paralyzed due to our fear of failure.  We have to overcome this fear and put our life in motion because "A life which does not go into action is a failure."  I believe the first step to overcoming our fear of failure is to change how we look at failure by redefining the concept.  With that in mind, I would like to provide you with six new ways to look at failure.

1. Failure = Practice.  Athletes understand this concept.  They fail daily in practice, whether they are practicing shooting in basketball, hitting a curve ball in baseball, or putting and chipping in golf, nobody is perfect all the time and if we are not perfect, then we are, in fact, failing at least some of the time.  Remember the words of Thomas Edison: "I have not failed; I have simply found 10,000 ways it will not work."

2.  Failure makes us smarter and stronger.  Failure clearly illustrates what does not work and allows us an opportunity to determine what we need to do differently or what we need to start doing.  My good friend, Kendra Giles once facilitated a presentation on what we need to stop doing, continue doing, and start doing. Failure provides us an opportunity to consider these three ideas much more intelligently.  In addition, after we eliminate certain behaviors because we have identified them with our failure, we are then able to begin anew with both more vigor and confidence.  Henry Ford reminds us "Failure is the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently."

3.  Failure makes us resilient.  Often when we fail we find that what we were so afraid of is not that bad.  In fact, Plato tells us "Courage is knowing what not to fear."  We discover that not only was our failure not fatal, but that it is a single, unsustainable act if we allow it to be.  Moreover, we often discover that failure is simply a step on our way to future success.  Benjamin Disraeli has a quote that addresses this perfectly: "Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure."

4.  Failure equips us with leadership skills.  Put simply, we cannot take others where we have not been or are afraid to go.  As leaders, we must be willing to take the first step.  Contrary to what we have heard from our current crop of politicians (politicians, not leaders) in the United States, there is no leading from behind.  Leaders are out front, forging the path ahead, inspiring their followers to walk in their footsteps.  Leaders go first.

5. Failure prepares us for success.  Perhaps I should change this to read failure prepares us to handle success. Over the past 14 years I have counseled numerous students going through difficult times.  During these times I share with them the following belief: God has to build us down before He builds us up.  We need a strong foundation in order to handle the success ahead of us.  How many times have we seen someone get too much too soon and the success overwhelms them and proves to be fleeting?  Experiencing failure prior to our breakthrough prepares us to deal with the trappings of success.

6.  Failure allows a deeper appreciation of success.  Obviously these last two points go together and really serve to complement one another.  There is a great quote from Truman Capote that sums up this point perfectly: "Failure is the condiment that flavors success."  Only those who have been denied access to the mountaintop prior to reaching the summit can truly appreciate the victory.

I hope these six points assist you in in overcoming any fear currently holding you back.  Changing our paradigm of failure is the first step in this process and should prove to get you started on your journey, wherever it may lead.

Three Questions That Lead To More Effective Classroom Management

My experience teaches me that classroom management is more about the adult's response to situations than it is about the situations themselves.  If we can condition our response to stressful situations in the classroom, I believe we can generally control most any situation that may arise.  However, in order to condition our responses, we must first condition our thoughts.  With this in mind I identified three questions to ask myself prior to responding.

1. Am I about to make this situation better or worse?  Is what I am about to do going to increase the volatility or am I about to deescalate the situation?  When entering into a volatile situation our response will either serve as gasoline and exacerbate the flames or as water and douse the flames.  It is my experience that our first response in these situations is often not the best choice, thus I suggest asking this very simple question prior to any action.

2. What is the context that produced this behavior?  The key to solving a problem is completely understanding the problem.  Many of the challenging situations we deal with at school are not directly related to something that occurred at school.  More often than not the student is dealing with some unresolved issue from outside of school or something happened at school that was simply the catalyst that pushed them over the edge.  It is key to ask the right questions in order to understand the context that produced the undesired behavior.  Only then can we begin addressing the negative behavior and then assist the student in overcoming the challenge they are facing.

3. Is this about me?  Sometimes it is us or something we have done or said, and this presents the greatest challenge.  It is very easy to make it "personal" in this type of situation and this will only serve to make it worse.  Even the most self-aware people have a difficult time objectively examining their behavior when they are in the moment.  Faced with this type of situation I attempt to "shelve" the issue for the moment; that is, I want to give both of us a chance to settle down before delving into what I did to bring about the situation or what I did to make the situation worse.  It is best to utilize the ten-second rule in this type of scenario.  The ten-second rule is as follows: do not engage the student for period of time longer than ten seconds during a redirection in front of the class.  This rule has saved me from making colossal mistakes numerous times.

I believe asking yourself these three questions will save you a great deal of time and trouble in the classroom.  Changing our response to stressful situations is simply changing our habits.  In order to change our habits, we must first change the way we think about a situation and this takes time and practice.  Have a great week!

How Deep Are Your Pockets?

It is no secret that the students we serve oftentimes do not think ahead, that is to say they do not consider the possible consequences of their actions.  While I am certainly aware of this shortcoming, I know that I don't do enough to teach the students under my care to think ahead and to consider all the possible ramifications of their behavior.  Today I took the first step to rectifying this problem.

Speaking to a group of students today in my school, I opened by introducing them to the word continuum.  I suggested that for every behavior, there was a continuum of possible consequences.  We quickly agreed that generally the best possible consequence for negative behavior was that it would go unnoticed and thus they would escape any possible consequence.  However, I argued that once they engaged in a negative or risky behavior, then they just agreed to "buy" all the possible consequences on that particular continuum.  For example, let's say I punch somebody in the face.  There are a number of possible consequences, starting with I cause no serious damage and the person I punched decides not to beat me senseless.  That is most likely the "best possible" scenario.  However, there are numerous other possible consequences on this continuum, including the following:

• He punches me back
• I cause some injury and end up at the mercy of law enforcement
• I cause some injury and end up responsible for the other party's medical bills
• I hit the other person and they fall, hit their head on the ground, and die

When I make the decision to punch that other person, I have, in effect, "bought" all possible consequences on this continuum.  Once I make the decision to throw that punch, I am now at the mercy of fate and I have to accept whatever consequence comes my way.

Perhaps teaching our students to think of the best possible scenario and the worst possible scenario associated with certain behaviors might serve to make them pause prior to engaging in negative or risky behaviors.  If we can get them to pause prior to acting or reacting, maybe the temptation toward a negative action will pass.  As the leader of a school that is majority minority, I know that my students are not always afforded the second or even third chances that students from other areas are provided.  Thus, their pockets are not quite as deep--in a manner of speaking--and subsequently they cannot "afford" to buy all the consequences related to negative or risky behavior.