This was a guest post I wrote with Angela Maiers discussing a new project we are working on. “The Leadership Habitudes,” a book and more importantly a movement to provide our children and emerging leaders with a new way to think about leadership. The original introduction can be found here.
Background on “The Habitudes” via Angela Maiers
It has been almost two years, since The Habitudes was published. It has been such a thrilling experience to watch how teachers have adapted the lessons and conversations into their work. It has been equally exciting to see how The Habitudes have resonated with individuals outside of the classroom.
This has lead to two very exciting announcements. A second edition of Classroom Habitudes will be released later this fall with Solution Tree Press. This new edition will be a representation of the lessons and ideas teachers and school leaders have shared with me over the past two years. QR codes within the book will lead you on a dynamic journey into their classrooms as you see how they are changing students lives with conversations of imagination, curiosity, adaptability, and passion. More to come on release day later.
The second project, is a new partnership with an amazing leader and friend, Daniel Newman. Dan is CEO of United Visual, Co-Founder @12most, MBA Biz Professor, Speaker, Blogger, Parent, and all around awesome guy!
I have asked Dan to write a guest post today about our project and the vision we have for bringing the message of the Habitudes to the business and leadership community.
I’ll let Dan take it from here:
Project Change The World by Daniel Newman
It is a pretty bold statement for anyone to make. We’re going to “Change the World.”
So when I proceed to say that is the plan, I ask only for you to please read this in entirety, listen to the ideas thoughtfully, embrace the change openly, and support the vision if you believe in it.
Social Media has been a wonderful place, full of ideals, kind words, great networking, and inspiration. It has been the spring board of several ventures for me, and I envision that it will be a place of many more.
About 2 months ago I had my first phone conversation with Angela Maiers. We had engaged via Twitter and other social media platforms for several months. Sharing ideas, thoughts, and imagination in the topics of leadership, business, community, and all sort of other areas. Her spirit always electric and her ideas always sound. She understands engagement at a level only few can. For some reason I just always knew that she was someone that was a bigger part of the plan. Soon I would find out how…
As a leader, a millennial, and a family man I have always sought for the opportunity to leave a mark. Not out of ego nor from pure altruism, rather from the observation of society and a deep desire to leave our children better off than we are.
Right now that vision is becoming more and more blurred. With a toxic economy, misguided policy, and a floundering education system, it is seeming more hopeless each day that we will accomplish the aforementioned goal. After all, it is during the tough times that we tend to grasp more tightly to our ideals, no matter what results they may seemingly be creating.
Another part of being a Millennial is to aspire for happiness. A destination that can only be reached when I reach buoyancy between the contribution that I make and the fruits of labor that I receive. To date I feel I have accomplished so much, but I still don’t feel complete as I aspire to achieve so much more. The very spirit that makes me that way, is also what forces me to move forward and not accept the imminent failure.
We can fix this…I for one certainly still believe. However, it can only be accomplished if we change our thinking. As Einstein once said, “We will not solve the problems we face today using the same thinking we used when we created them.” I concur.
When Angela asked me to do the Leadership Habitudes with her, she didn’t frame the question at all like one may suspect. It wasn’t, “I’m working on a book project that I would like you to co-author” it wasn’t even “I have an exciting project that I would like to work on with you.” The exact words I believe were.
“Dan, How would you like to Change the World”
Instantly I was intrigued and only a few conversations later I was sold. Of course I want to change the world. I want to inspire todays leaders and future leaders alike to lead not just by the book, but from a place of creativity, innovation, and imagination.
I knew Angela’s passion lied in working with Schools, Educators, and most importantly Children to redefine not only the way students are being taught but also the way they LEARN. Striving to bust through the status quo and to instill the “Habitudes” of Curiosity, Imagination, Self Awareness, Courage, Adaptability, and Perseverance into our children today. As a father of two amazing daughters who attend school in what is considered a high quality education system, I witness everyday as many of these “Habitudes” are stripped away from our children. They are force fed to memorize, cram, and color within the lines. Mostly to make sure that test scores are high so that funding goals are achieved.
While it is certainly important that our schools are adequately funded, by these means it is not without consequence. Our future leaders will not and cannot be successful if they are left with only text book knowledge and misdirected research to learn and lead by.
Witnessing and reading about todays great leaders, I have found that what makes them unique lies less within their knowledge and more within their Vision. They inspire and drive successful business outcomes by innovating and creating faster than the competition. The knowledge serves as a guide for the intangibles that allow them to lead.
Serving as a limitation to future success in America and perhaps many other countries around the world is that our future leaders are not being given the opportunity to expand their creativity and imagination rather they are forced to conform and learn the same fundamentals that have led us to where we are today.
While Angela and her first book on “Habitudes” for students seeks to invigorate and change the course for our children. Our project on Leadership Habitudes is designed for todays current and soon to be leaders. The goal for the book and more so for the promotion to follow is that it is not to late to instill the “Habitudes” into this group consisting of primarily Millennials to re-map their thoughts on leadership to incorporate the core values that the “Habitudes” represent.
This project is one of Passion. Regardless of who publishes this book, and who contributes to it, the goal that Angela and I share is quite simple…
One person at a time, via one network of wonderful friends, we will “Change the World” and we will not rest (for very long) until we do!
