Getting Unstuck – Cultivating Curiosity

Welcome to Part 5 of a special series: "Leading Schools in a Time of Crisis." In these conversations, we will probe how educators are helping their schools and communities pivot due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because these educators are extremely busy, we've limited these conversations to approximately 15 minutes. How do educators effectively lead change during a crisis? For educators Dr. Ken Walla...

Welcome to Part 4 of a special series: "Leading Schools in a Time of Crisis." In these conversations, we will probe how educators are helping their schools and communities pivot due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because these educators are extremely busy, we've limited these conversations to approximately 15 minutes. So, how do educators effectively lead change during a crisis? For Principal Evan Robb...

Welcome to Part 3 of a special series: "Leading Schools in a Time of Crisis." In these conversations, we will probe how educators are helping their schools and communities pivot due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because these educators are extremely busy, we've limited these conversations to 15 minutes. So, how do educators effectively lead change during a crisis? For Director of Middle School Teachin...

Welcome to Part 2 of a special series: "Leading Schools in a Time of Crisis." In these conversations, we will probe how educators are helping their schools and communities to pivot. Because these educators are extremely busy, we've intentionally limited these conversations to 15 minutes. So, how do educators effectively lead change during a crisis? For Principal Margaret Zacchei, it's about giving...

Welcome to Part 1 of a special series: "Leading Schools in a Time of Crisis." In these conversations, we will probe how educators are helping their schools and communities pivot due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because these educators are extremely busy, we've intentionally limited these conversations to 15 minutes. So, how do educators effectively lead change during a crisis? For Principal Carol Kam...

Enabling sustained organizational success today forces us to look at the leadership staff relationship differently. Mike Vacanti explains how we need to refocus our perspective.

Our lives are rarely linear. Most of us start out "here" and then make a series of twists and turns. Sometimes we're the driver. Sometimes fate and opportunity take the wheel. And sometimes someone else says "I'll drive." In this "Transformation Story," we hear from Lorraine Flower – her journey from being on the corporate fast-track in her mid-thirties to an advisor for leaders and organizations...

What changes can schools and school leaders make to better support students today as well as their future growth? Educator Steven Miletto offers three suggestions.

What does human-centered leadership look like? And how does it impact effective change? We offer some answers with our friend and Value Through Vulnerability podcast host, Garry Turner . Today's episode is extra special for us because it's really the first time we get to talk a little bit about our new book – Shifting: How School Leaders Can Create a Culture of Change.

There are moral and business arguments behind any diversity and inclusiveness effort. Expert Jennifer Brown explains how to leverage both for organizational health and success.

Coaching is now recognized as essential leadership behavior, but it can be challenging to practice. Leaders have to replace one set of behaviors and their rewards with another. Michael Bungay Stanier, author of The Coaching Habit and The Advice Trap, explains how to stay curious a little bit longer.

What does someone do with their life if emotional and physical pain is all they have ever known? What happens when they hit "rock bottom"?  In this "transformation story," Lisa Sargese explains how she drew on spiritual and personal strength, and the words from those around her, to pull herself up and move forward. Her journey isn't over, but she has experienced tremendous personal growth by helpi...

Many of us have experienced that nagging feeling that "There has to more to life than this." But, what do we do about it? Some of us do nothing other than listen to our inner critic about our shortcomings. Garry Turner took a different approach. He decided that a lovely house, good salary, a nice car and other accoutrements of "success" weren't enough. He knew he was missing something – there was...

As leaders, how is what we say and how we say it critical to staff growth and organizational success? In his new book, Leadership is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say – and What You Don't , L. David Marquet ( USS Navy ret) explains. Here, he digs deeper into how language can transform leadership and staff performance. Ultimately changing the language we use with each other helps us see th...

How do you best manage life's transitions, and the inevitable ups and downs of life? In this episode of Getting Unstuck, we'll hear some interesting suggestions based on the concept of "Emotional Empowerment" from Dr. Carla Cooke : psychotherapist, speaker, radio host, and author.

Our lives are rarely linear. Most of us start out "here" and then make a series of twists and turns. Sometimes we're the driver. Sometimes fate and opportunity take the wheel. And sometimes someone else says "I'll drive." In this "Transformation Story," we hear from Randy Ginsburg – his journey from being bullied to entrepreneur to author sharing a path of potential growth for others.

In this conversation, we are joined by Tara Nolan . Tara is a leadership coach, a team coach, a facilitator of leadership training programs, a keynote speaker and host of "The Game of Teams" podcast. As Tara shares her backstory, we learn about her seemingly easy ability to "reinvent" herself, but also her need to better understand what she was moving away from and the reasons why. Her recognition...

Our lives are rarely linear. Most of us start out "here" and then make a series of twists and turns. In this series, we call "Transformation Stories," we interview one individual about how they came to be where they are now – aligned with who they really are and where they want to be in life. In this episode, we talk with Rachel Druckenmiller . Rachel knew early on that she had a voice that could...

The New Year fast approaches, and that means 'tis the season of "New Year's resolutions." It's not surprising that we take on these goals. Most of us want something greater for ourselves – a different version of ourselves perhaps. But wanting and doing are two different enterprises. The sad fact is that most our best intentions fail as early as February. In this episode, we posit why this might be...

What does real organizational change look like in action? We've talked a lot about change here on our podcast, and we written extensively about the process in our forthcoming book, Shifting: How School Leaders Can Create a Culture of Change . (Corwin Press) But writing about it and actually facilitating it are different. So today, we shift from our traditional interview format and have an informal...

"The Eagle has landed!" The success story of the Apollo space program is well known. Less well known is how the Apollo team overcame hurdles and setbacks to achieve success. The effort required changes in computing, rocketry, organizational management, problem solving and attitudes. It required everyone to experiment to find out what worked, and to learn that just because something had never been...

What are the hallmarks of an organization that relentlessly seeks to operate within a culture of continuous learning? And what does the leader look like who leads such an organization with intentionality? We dive deep into those intertwined topics with the help of Mark Ethier , Co-founder and CEO of iZotope, makers of intelligent audio technology.

One of the problems that plague most organizations is when and how to change. For many, the process looks like fruit-of-the-month club: they try "this" until a new "this" comes along. Jim Collins wrote about this behavior in Good to Great . To avoid this phenomenon, great organizations employ something Collins called "the flywheel" process – a process involving 4-6 elements with each element impac...

Most of us could likely identify someone we think is "charismatic." But when it comes to defining charismatic qualities, we're likely to fall silent or offer banalities such as "electric," "engaging," or "magnetic." Ever curious, Joe Kwon , "The Connection Counselor," set out to more carefully outline those qualities that make up the charismatic persona, and the result is his new book, Unlock Your...

Organizations thrive and survive on the creativity of their employees. But what constitutes "creativity"? Are we born with it? Can it be drawn out of us by our teammates, manager, or the type of work we do? And what is the relationship between creativity and employee engagement, and how do both impact problem solving? Dr. Tracy Stanley , a social scientist and author of The Engagement Whisperer ,...