We have all experienced a moment of doubt in our right and our ability to lead. “What qualifies me to lead these other humans when I’m wrestling with some of the same things they are?”
Self Leadership
Category: Experiments
Learning Humane Self Leadership From A Teacher’s Resignation
Hooray and dismay.
In reclaiming her own integrity and future by resigning, a Florida teacher in the Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) made a powerful statement about our need to stop following leadership that doesn’t know how to lead. The teacher wrote:
“Florida’s startling attrition rate of 40% for educators [in the first] five years [of teaching] …. means my woes are shared by many. “OCPS Means Success” doesn’t mean squat if those measuring the success only recognize a specific brand of success, and continue to ignore the needs of their educators and students.”
Managers who fail to meet our basic human needs while hiding behind standards and data, have not earned the right to lead us. The current leadership structure may have role-based authority but they also must earn the trust and influence required to lead us. Of course, some educational leaders are doing great work at the nearly impossible task of meeting the changing needs of children, society and the imposed standards, but, clearly others are not meeting the needs of teachers and students.
Continue reading Learning Humane Self Leadership From A Teacher’s Resignation
Every Organization is a Social Experiment
Every business or nonprofit organization is a social experiment being run by its leaders.
Born out of our experience, most of us believe “I can do better than my old boss,” and so the experiments begin, often with little consideration of how our approach will directly impact our teams, our customers’ experiences, or our business outcomes. Continue reading Every Organization is a Social Experiment
Flow: A Curious Method and An Explanation
I was not in a flow state, I was eating lunch; chewing and staring at a few words about flow I’d jotted on paper. Chewing, chewing, waiting for inspiration.
Which would be more engaging; an article on the concept of flow or one on a method to attain flow? Could I write this post as a dialogue? Could I link the method and the content that emerged from the flow state? Continue reading Flow: A Curious Method and An Explanation
Stop. Start a Doing Diet
Stop.
Wait,
Listen…
Think.
We are all so proactive, action-oriented, and engaged, working to measure, manage, lead, and drive our innovative, design-led, customer-centric organizations. Phew! Continue reading Stop. Start a Doing Diet