The smartest thing I ever did was to hire my weakness. – Sara Blakely
Do you know your strengths? Not in a narcissistic way, but in a humble acknowledgement of where your skills and interests are. In both your professional and personal life, can you identify what you do well?  
Do you know your weaknesses? What are those areas that cause you heartburn? These aren’t just things you don’t like to do . . . these are the things that you simply don’t have the skills to match your expectations or needs.
Popular people surround themselves with people who think and act like themselves. Successful people surround themselves with people who complement and challenge them. It is easy to be popular with “yes people” around you. You are more likely to be successful with a diverse, thoughtful team around you.
Hire people who share your core values, but not your core skills. Surround yourself with people of character and heart that will supplement your expertise and engage your passions. We are much stronger when we are aligned in our mission and diverse in our skills and processes.

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. – Leo Tolstoy
Have you ever been around a person who thinks everyone else is always wrong? Do you have colleagues who criticize any decision and complains about every situation? Have you sat next to the parent at the ballgame that blames the officials for every mistake their kid makes?
It is easy to talk about changing the world. It’s easy to wait for others to make your life better. It’s more difficult to change yourself first. It’s more difficult to assess a tough situation and ask yourself, “What can I change to make the outcome better?”
You have a vision for the world in which you want to live. You have vision for where you want to be in the future. You have the power to make that vision a reality. It will take skill, work, and dedication . . . it isn’t easy . . . the journey to elite starts with you.

Leadership is your ability to hide your panic from others. – Lao Tuz
True leaders bring calm in a storm. True leaders are those who can bring calm to chaos, who can keep their heads when those around them lose their heads.
Why do true leaders hide their panic? What makes someone able to function at a high level under pressure?  
True leaders know their core; true leaders know what they value. When you know your core values, when your heart and your head are in alignment, acting in times of stress is natural. When you don’t question what you believe, your mind is clear when you need to act.
Are you clear about your values and purpose? Do you reflect daily on your personal alignment? Your faith and heart must be aligned with your personal and professional life. As a leader, you are able to perform in the storm, hide your panic, if you are aligned with your purpose. 

Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making that impact last in your absence. – Sheryl Sandburg
Leadership isn’t about what you do; Leadership is about how you inspire excellence in others. Great leaders not only make those around them better. They make those around them better when they aren’t in the room.
Leadership starts with creating culture . . . a culture that encourages the organization to embrace a passion for growth and improvement. Leaders make failures safe; leaders empower through ownership and embrace divergent thinking.
We are all leaders. We all influence our culture. We all model the behavior that those around us experience.  
What kind of leader are you? Are people happier when you enter the room or leave the room? The best leaders bring an energy to any situation that remains once they’ve left . . . they add to a positive culture that embraces growth and creates a vision

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete. – Buckminster Fuller
It is only natural to want to change things within the current reality. We want to improve things by tweaking and adding to what we already have. To truly change things, we must provide a model . . . an experience . . . that doesn’t yet exist.
Henry Ford said that if he asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses. He built a new model – the Model T. Steve Jobs created the iPod and iTunes model to revolutionize the music industry. Netflix has put Blockbusters out of business. The existing reality fights and holds on, but something new makes it obsolete.
In public education we have been dabbling around the edges of change; we have been nibbling at what is socially tolerable. The question is, “what’s the new model?” It isn’t all digital; we’ve tried that with unimpressive success rates. Relationships are too important; we must cultivate connections and trust. It isn’t an industrial-aged, Leave it to Beaver model, that doesn’t prepare students for tomorrow. There will be a new model for public education; we have an opportunity to build it. Public education is the silver-bullet for the next generation, but we need a new reality.
We still have transportation, music, and movies. We still have actors, musicians, and bands. We will still have schools and teachers, but we must push for the new model. It is up to us to make the current model obsolete. It’s up to us to create a better future.

Foundational skills are the building blocks for success. We need to stop making excuses that the foundation isn’t interesting.

We hear a lot in education about students finding their passion and pursing their interests. While I can’t argue that finding a passion is important, having foundational academic skills provides the key to success in the future. We must strive for balance . . . the balance between academic skills and interests . . . the balance between school skills and life skills. Without balance, success in the future isn’t possible. Without balance, our students won’t be Ready for Tomorrow.

Yes, we must provide students with voice and choice; we must provide students opportunities for success in areas of interest. We must also teach students to be disciplined in areas that don’t come easily or aren’t as interesting. In any job, in any undertaking, there are things we must do that we don’t enjoy. Even when living our dreams and working in the ideal job, part of our daily responsibilities require discipline and focus.

Let’s prepare young people for success by modeling balance. Life is about passion and discipline, commitment and flexibility, work and play. Our job is to prepare students to be Ready for Tomorrow. It all starts with the cornerstone . . . and continues with each building block for success.

We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it. – Rich Warren

One of my least favorite things to hear is, “we’ve always done it that way.” This doesn’t bother me because something “isn’t new.” It bothers me because it reflects no thought or reflection. If I was told, “It has worked really well is the past so we are doing it again,” now that would be a very different feeling.

We learn through experience. We study history – the experiences of others – so that we can learn and reflect. We consider the cause and effect of past events; we analyze how others have responded and examine the outcomes. We aren’t prisoners of our past, we are students of it.

We seek to improve what has worked in the past; our growth mindset requires us to build skill and make a difference. We are blessed . . . we have the opportunity to learn from the past as we create the future.

Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failures are two of the surest stepping stones to success. – Dale Carnegie

Take a moment to look back on the past week. In your mind’s eye, where did you fail? Where did you fall short of your own expectations?

When we look back on our failures, often we find areas of growth and learning. The conversation that in reflection you say, “I wish I had said” or that meeting that required additional preparation. You tried a new approach at work or created a new lesson for your class.

We all fail at something every day. There are stations of life, experiences in each day that are opportunities for improvement and growth. We must make the time, we must have the mindset, to intentionally reflect and pursue growth. This mindset keep us from getting discouraged. In fact, this mindset is encouraging.

Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have. – Margaret Mead

We face a great many challenges each and every day. We can either accept the constraints or barriers of our own reality or we can choose to do something about them.
There are those who don’t see the value in pursing change. There are those who don’t think the efforts of a few can fuel systemic change. The truth is that any change was initiated by the few caring people.

Don’t complain about the systems that constrain you . . . find a method to change them. Don’t blame others for your current situation . . . seek to improve every day. Don’t defend the status quo as the way it needs to be . . . engage the power of a team and start a movement.

Every significant change has been started by a few creative, passionate, and dedicate people. You are a catalyst for what you know is right.