For many leaders, runningcompanies, countries, churches, schools and organizationshas been distilled to a mundane pattern of task mastery, leading to a life more akin to the perfection of a Newtonian assembly line. But Newton’s theories are history. Life is not made up of discreet, Newtonian,”billiard ball” objects. As we now know, it is a quantum world,consisting of an exquisite interplay between an infinite number of energies. Leadership is about relationships. In particular it is about inspiring relationships.
My work with the leaders of organizations is often remedial -Ifind myselfworking intensely with very intelligent and brilliant leaders who, on the other hand,are sometime so dysfunctional, they couldn’t run the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, let alone General Motors or France. I so wish I could have worked with these same people earlier in their lives,while they were going toschool, for example. Perhaps there Imight have helped them to calibrate their life goals differently,therefore enabling them toplay out their lives in a more inspiring way that thereforeinspired others and made the world better.
Fear has been a prevalent and inappropriately usedweapon in teaching for years. “Here is the system. Here is the curriculum. Jump these hurdles in the right order and at the right height, and I will give you a prize.” In these teaching settings, fear became the base operating system. Failure to “follow the rules” was failure in a hundred other ways. Motivation manipulates the behavior of others through material, physical and emotional bribery. It is based on fear (punishment and reward) and ego (this is about me – I want to look good). But it cannot be sustained because in the end, fear exhausts us.
Ateaching friend of mine used a different,inspiringsystem. He would say to his university class on their first day, “At the end of this semester there will be an exam in which you will be asked a number ofquestions that will stretch you. My job, between now and then, is to teach you and help you to grow so that you can answer them. I intend this to be a successful partnership.” This is teaching that comes about through inspiration, which, in turn, can only come from a loving heart. Inspiration is about serving the other, about loving them so much that, in thephrase of Thomas Aquinas, we will their good. Stand and Deliver and Coach Carter rolled into one.
Imagine too, if we taught students to reflect on why they are here on this planet, what they will stand for and how they will serve the world with their gifts – what I call Destiny, Character and Calling. All great leaders have known the answers to these questions. This is what made them great – and so inspiring. We have the opportunity to make a difference in the world by making a difference in the hearts of students – not just their minds.
Ah, now that’s the kind of school where I would not have been a holy terror!
I have been asked by some of my coaching clients if I would ever consider doing work with their sons and daughters because they can see the profound effects they can create for themselves by the work they are choosing to do for and on themselves. I agree that if there were a way to have those kinds of conversations at school, we would be so much further ahead when those kids become our businesspeople.
As a recovering perfectionist, I learned early in my life (like at 3 years old) that the world rewards externals, so became obsessed with having the “right” answers. Consequently I was a good student, by the world’s standards, but didn’t really learn too much that was relevent to my life. As I have shifted my focus from what the world thinks is important to what I know in my soul is important, the relevence of my learning is becoming so much more crucial and evident in my life through my work and in the results I can catalyze with those around me. However, this newfound application of learning is also manifesting itself in an entirely new area for me – an area the world would call “failure.”
I “failed” two tests in the last year, including my life coaching oral exam because I was taking the information and internalizing it and using it the way that made the most sense to me, and the answers weren’t what the proctor wanted. It taught me that in order to survive the world, I still needed to play by the world’s standards. It also gave me a whole new perspective about fear in the world as it relates to “doing it wrong.”
I see a HUGE opportunity for the ONE message in our organizations – including our schools, our churches, our government and our businesses.
You can see more about this topic on my blog at https://youalreadyknowthisstuff.blogspot.com/2006/03/what-is-failing.html.
Jodee
Thanks for this Jodee – Einstein was a school “failure” too! We need more “failures”! But we really need them not to FEEL like failures. Different is not failing.
We might also ask who is responsible fwhen students are unable to learn. On pages 107-110 of “ONE” I review the disastrous statistics of how we are losing a generation in our schools, and contrast two schools that operate in the same building, but because of their different approaches to teaching, are achieving diametrically opposite results – the triumph of the power of service (when teachers serve students) – the third CASTLE Principle.
It’s interesting how what we feel is true in our hearts manifests itself through others. After reading your blog on Oneness in Schools, I felt that I had finally found what I always believed to be the best way to help children become who they are meant to be. I am a teacher and a coach and during my present journey toward my true self, I supply teach at the secondary level. I always try to make the most of every situation and have found that by connecting with the students through listening and paying attention to their needs and giving them time and care, they blossom before my eyes. Supply teaching can be trying and draining but by meeting the students where they are on their path of growth I can better serve them and in the end even myself. I say this because, students are deeply appreciative with those adults who honour who they are and who believe in them. I experienced this in my full-time teaching and in my present position as a supply teacher. They actually exhibit all the skills many believe they do not possess, but that we all need to develop. These are appreciation, openness, acknowledgement of those who help them, creativity and a deep need to connect and give. Teachers have the most powerful job in the world. They have before them the minds and hearts of tomorrow. They also have the biggest job in the world. They have to know how to best show how to use the mind and the heart. This is no small task as they must first know what that means themselves. I think that if we are able to see and recognize the sacredness and the beauty that meets us everyday in our students, that we can honour it by being giving, respectful and excited about helping them be their whole and true selves. It’s much like what Michelangelo did when he said that his job was to release the figure in the marble block. I really look forward to reading One as it speaks very much to what we all need as a human family.
Thank you for inspiring me to follow what I have always held to be true.
Anna Maria
What a teacher you must be Anna Maria – any student in your gifted hands will be very fortunate. If all teachers felt as you did, our world would be different. Thanks for helping to bring us closer to that ideal.