Posted on October 20, 2018October 13, 2019 by Stephen — Leave a comment

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

Posted on October 1, 2018October 25, 2018 by HLI Staff — Leave a comment

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

Posted on March 31, 2017November 28, 2023 by Stephen — 1 Comment

Conceptual Frameworks and Mental Models: An Introduction

It seems that every sight, sound and idea we experience is processed through a conceptual framework in our mind.

As you read this, the shape, colors, and contrasting black squiggles on white are being converted, via frameworks you and I share, into images, words, sentences, and connected ideas in your mind.

Imagine how confusing life would be if we had to categorize, name and evaluate the ideas of the letter S, smartphone, windows, tree, and sunlight afresh every time we encountered them? It is no wonder to me that babies are awake so little when they are first born, free of frameworks; all that uncategorized input to process!