Talking the Talk

The concepts of self-differentiated leadership and of crucial conversations both have, at their core, the idea of harnessing one's emotional responses and of looking through, over, and beyond the emotions of oneself and others toward a larger goal. While both theories will provide assistance as I implement my innovation plan, the decentralized, teacher/learner-driven nature of the plan suggest that the crucial conversation methodology will be of more direct and immediate use.

Eating Elephants and Innovating Education

What's the best way to eat an elephant? One bite at a time. I believe the same holds true for any large-scale goal, for any organization.

Napkins and cutlery are on the table, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you brought your appetites.

If they were advising an organization on the best way to achieve this odd culinary goal, Covey, McChesney, and Huling might lay out something like this, using their 4 Disciplines of Execution (2012).

Exerting My Influence

As the time to actually try and convince my colleagues to sign on to my innovation plan draws nearer, I have begun to examine the fundamentals of exactly what that plan is trying to accomplish, and how, and why. (Of course, I have that backwards, as the title alone of Sinek's 2009 video Start With Why indicates.)

I Can Get Satisfaction

There are people who believe that creativity cannot be taught. To them, creativity is an "either you have it or you don't" proposition--Carol Dweck (2016) would say that such people have a fixed mindset about an individual's creativity. It is likely that those same people believe that they themselves have little or no creative talent, and that there is little point in attempting to develop or strengthen their creative skills.