I am on an airplane heading to Atlanta to work with America’s 13th largest school district. It is a proud moment for me because this school district has moved from 682^nd place in Newsweek magazine’­s “Top Public High Schools” list in 2004 to 212^th place and they are on their way to being one of the top hundred in the country. I have told their story in my new book The Spark, the Flame, and the Torch.

Some years ago they adopted the CASTLE® Principles, among other leadership development practices, in an effort to teach leadership and help formulate the character of future leaders. This initiative has made an amazing difference to academic performance, self-esteem and building the leaders of the future.

If there is dysfunctional behavior in the management teams of American business,†perhaps one of the reasons is that we do not teach functional behavior, or†Inspirational Leadership† in our education system. This is been a passion of mine for many years. If we can enhance the quality of the humans we teach and grow and introduce into the world through our educational systems, then we may see a significant change in the way our world works. To say that we have lost our moral compass in business today may be an understatement, but there is much we can do, both through the education of our leaders, and also the education of our young people.

School systems across the country could learn a lot from this experiment. It is rare that we teach the skill to inspire other people — not in our schools, not in our universities or MBA programs, not in our churches or in our governments, not even in our leadership development programs — in fact hardly anywhere. And yet today, the yearning to be inspired, to do meaningful and fulfilling work, and to make a difference in the world has never been greater.

It buds at home of course, but it is brought into bloom†in our schools.