Empower Everyone to be a Leader - Transform Your School

 Fired Up Studentship – Your guide to empower everyone to be a leader.

Transform Your School into a Leadership School

The concepts and stories in this blog have been decades in the making. I have vivid memories of leadership opportunities that were given to me as a seventh and eighth grader. Unfortunately, I had no idea what leadership encompassed. Everything you need to know about leadership you already know. Well, you sort of know but I’ll start to connect the dots.

When I became a middle school principal, the commitment was made to teach every student about leadership. The Leadership Design for Students was created by teaching students and collaborating with educators around North America.  Get Fired Up!  

I keep writing, preaching, and teaching about leadership for a number of reasons. One reason reflects the inability of people to have the opportunity to make the leap into the realm of change. If I can be that conduit to a better life, a purpose, or the right reason, then my leadership ability increases exponentially.

When one student looks in the mirror and sees themselves differently, a shift happens. A tipping point occurs. Not only do they see who they are but they see who they can become. As an educator, that’s what I strived to achieve. If you do not see yourself as a leader, your perception needs to change.

Perception is reality.  

When a colleague or friend goes to a higher level of effort and success, their world becomes brighter. The people around them get better. Our future becomes more optimistic. More positive outcomes will occur. Calculated, creative risks become commonplace. A new image begins to take shape. The dots are connected to paint a picture of success and opportunities. If I can be a part of that inspiration, then that is my obligation to the people I come in contact with.

Most people never had leadership training. That absence may have given false conceptions about their ability to ever become a leader. Some people think you need an authoritative position or you have to be talented in sports or gifted in academics to be viewed as a leader. Other people misinterpret an achievement or overcoming an obstacle as leadership. All these ingredients can be part of your leadership qualities but are not conditional to leadership. Nourish yourself by creating opportunities for yourself and the people around you.

Leadership is not a one-time event. Leadership is not popularity. Leadership is not a position. Leadership is a choice. It’s one you will have to make every day. Once you make that choice, amazing things start to happen. Leaders will rise in many forms and include many traits.  The qualities you already control will be some of your most powerful tools: choice, love, character, and passion. 

When you appreciate what you already know, you begin to add value to your leadership journey. Never forget where you came from or you will not know where you are going. Use a constructivist approach to maximize your ability to lead. Transformational and servant leadership will transcend your results in life.

Even though many of us may have been assigned positions of leadership as young adolescents or teenagers, we only really understood leadership once we became adults or maybe you are still struggling with perception. If you are a pre-adult while you read this, take note. Likewise, abandon your misconceptions about leadership. Shift perception. Dig deeply into your body, mind, heart, and spirit.

Balance and the “whole person” approach are your biggest allies.

MORE TO COME