We sometimes get so busy being productive that we forget to be present. There is tremendous power in being present, fully present. Here are some of the things that manifest, and are perceived as, presence: Non-distracted eye contact. Interest in the person, not just...
Thought Leaders
Teacher Coach
The best teachers I know follow this recipe: Relentlessly craft lessons that cause students to acquire and retain knowledge relevant to the subject matter. On continuous loop, in many and varying ways. Persistently present students with skill development activities...
CulturalSpinnerThumping
Culture is evolutionary. The culture of our family, of our house of faith, of our team, of our organization (of any kind) was built over time, one brick at a time. The version of that culture (of whichever organization we're thinking about) we experience today is the...
NoviceDevelopment
My early years of professional service were spent pretending to be an athletic coach. I heard Nicholas Keith of the Texas Education Association speak this week to to the powerful progression recipe for learner development: > Acquisition (initial learning of the...
MatterMaking
We all want to feel like we matter. The wisest leaders I know are masters of helping us feel like we matter. How do they do that? They... LISTEN to us, intently. ASK us questions, to probe our perspectives, opinions, assumptions, values. TREAT us as equals and...
BEcoming
The day we stop learning is the day we put the first foot in the grave. Becoming the very best version of ourselves is a learning journey, from the first breath to the last. Existing, however, is not the same as living a meaningful life. Some things that help us...
Energizer
A car without fuel won't go. An electrical appliance that is not connected to a power supply won't spin, chop, heat, cool, light, jiggle, or ??? A sailboat without wind drifts. A solar panel without sunlight won't generate electron activity. Stuff that requires energy...
LearningTriad
We tend to think of learning as just one process or event. In fact, the most impactful learning is a three-fold undertaking: Learning > UN-Learning > RE-Learning Fundamentally, this triadic process is a state change. What we know gets modified, what we can do...
PatternProblem
Maybe the problem is not the problem. Maybe it emerged as result of a faulty pattern. Looking upstream of the problem is often very revealing as to why the problem is a problem in the first place. And the thing about pernicious patterns is that they reliably persist...
Delegation
Delegating is sometimes -- too often -- viewed as a way to reduce load. There are, however, some powerful underlying reasons for delegating important tasks and decisions to others on the team (whether that team is one's family or a multi-national organization). ...
