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Celebrating back-to-school with the Daring Greatly "Leadership Manifesto"
My definition of a leader is "anyone who holds her - or himself accountable for finding potential in people and processes." For me, the term leader has nothing to do with position, status, or number of direct reports.
For all leaders - from first grade teachers and principals to CEOs and clergy - inspired leadership requires vulnerability and that often looks and feels like discomfort.
As I was writing Daring Greatly, I spent a lot of time looking over the data and reading through my notes from the interviews I’ve done with leaders. I wondered what students would say to teachers and what teachers would say to their principals if they had the opportunity to ask for the leadership they needed.
I thought about the grief and anger I felt when a middle school student told me that the best way to survive class was to keep your head down and your mouth shut. I thought about the teachers who are publically ranked based on standarized test scores.
I wondered what the customer service representative would say to his boss and what she might ask of her boss. What do we want people to know about us and what do we need from them?
As I started writing down the answers to these questions, I realized that they sounded like a mandate; a manifesto. Here’s what emerged from these questions:
On September 7th, we'll offer a free 8X10 download of this manifesto along with three others from Daring Greatly: The Wholehearted Parenting Manifesto, the Engaged Feedback Checklist, and the Daring Greatly quote. Huge thanks to Elan Morgan at Ninjamatics for her amazing graphic design.
And, if you preorder Daring Greatly don't forget to sign up for your free bookmarks and signed bookplate here.
Here's to a school year of showing up, being seen, practicing courage and daring greatly!
Monday, August 27, 2012
Reader Comments (24)
Very excited for the release...and love this manifesto. In so many ways.
As the mom of a highly intelligent, sensitive and oppositional 6 year old, I'm in the heart of how to parent this child to dare greatly so he can bring his gifts to the world, but create enough harmony and partnership at home and school so he can be in the system. Parenting him keeps me connected with the need for me to dare greatly in my own life and role model for him. He's in a school that encourages this kind of development, and I feel deep sadness that so few of our children are in environments that do. Then they grow up and move to work environments that do the same.
Thank you for such an important tool to help break this cycle of soul poverty. Thank you for your own daring greatly.
But I don't think I'd put this on my wall. As teachers, we learn to word posters, criteria, classroom contracts in a positive way. For instance, as a class we agree together about behaviours are acceptable to us and about what success in various subject areas looks like/sounds like. We focus on what we want to see...not on what we don't want to see.
On first reading, I didn't feel inspired by your manifesto....only a bit spoken down to. Perhaps I need to read it again, maybe it will grow on me.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I love that we can do that here.
I totally agree with the positive wording and I tried to include as much of that phrasing as possible, but the data were very directive - I felt like I needed to follow that as closely as I could. It wasn't just about what works - it was also about how people feel when they're not respected and why they disengage. Interestingly, the teachers (more than students) were the most vocal about the dehumanizing of their work with standardized testing. It was more the corporate folks who really spoke out about the lack of feedback.
I'm going to give it some more thought!
Thank you for sharing this. I love it, and it is such a critical message to share. I am counting down for the book release and the downloads -- additional reasons to love September this year.
Thanks so much!
Maile
A manifesto that promotes an open dilague between the leaders and followers and visa versa, promoting a common ground a sense of togetherness and openness would have a greater impact. Leaders and followers cannot exist independantly, they must rely on each other communicating and building relationships together.
You state "For me, the term leader has nothing to do with position, status, or number of direct reports."
Despite this statement your Daring Greatly Leadership Manifesto reads decidedly in one direction, reflecting a top down transactional leadership approach. It does not promote a culture of connection.
Those readers who are both leaders and followers may not quite know how to feel after they read the manifesto. I would venture to guess that is probably what Jennifer is feeling.
I am both a leader and a follower. As a follower it reads as a call to arms, as a leader it is less than inspiring perhaps because it produces feelings of shame and failure.
Joe - appreciate your thoughtful comment. I've never worked from the leader/follower paradigm, nor did it emerge as a descriptor that people used to describe their role. In fact, I'm not sure that I spoke to one person who identified themselves as a follower. I'm not sure what that means - I'd love to know what you think.
People identified themselves by profession or role (student, church member, teacher, supervisor, accountant). They described themselves more as members than followers. Ironically, for me, when I read it I feel the call to arms as a leader. As a teacher. I'm not sure I'm "inspired" as much as I feel challenged.
I can relate to both sides of it - I need feedback and humanized work. I want permission to make mistakes and to risk. Unfortunately, in my leader role, my fear often gets the best of me and I forget those human needs. This is true in my teaching, my work, and even my parenting.
Thoughts?
The socialization of the term follower would align with the other synonyms of follower and a feeling of weakness, beneath, lower than, servant, lackey, stooge, and sycophant. Your research has shown that people will avoid the uncomfortable. To save face, an individual may choose a different term, or feeling to describe their relationship in the workforce, community, or social situation.
I don't know what your questions were in your interviews, but if you were to interview me, my answers would depend on time, place, location, context of the question and how the question was framed. Perhaps your interview notes would reveal the use of these synonyms, and a relationship between the leader follower would emerge.
Leaders themselves often do not understand the leader follower relationship, and in many cases these are the best at what they do, the highly educated, well rounded, well read and experienced. It is not hard to draw a parallel to the follower in their role that they may not understand themselves as follower and simultaneously a leader.
There are leader follower theories that attempt to describe this relationship, there are also leadership theories that explain the role of the leader (more for a later conversation). This is an area that I am exploring, as a student of leadership studies, I am hopeful to better understand the relationship that exist between the leader and follower, through research. In addition, I would be interested in understanding more about vulnerability and how much it relates to leadership. I have enjoyed your books, and look forward to reading your newest release.
Perhaps since I have been studying leadership for the last four years, my understanding of this relationship is deeper. I welcome any insights and feedback from you and the readers.
I
Thanks for your reply!
I'm writing from Canada (and an IB school) so thankfully we don't have to worry about standardized testing. IB is an interesting educational philosophy and is definitely concerned with engagement and also with students becoming leaders themselves.
Educational leadership is a tricky one. A lifetime's work there.
Thank you again for taking the time to reply.
Jennifer
This is an interesting manifesto since it is calling and inspiring and at the same time has something of an accusation in it. Reading the comments above I feel like recognizing the same paradox. Maybe the hardest part for leaders is that they might recognize these needs at times, but at the same time are just as human as we all are and struggle for the strength to be courageous, compassionate and in connection. Shame happens everywhere, "even among leaders",
Gives me food for thought...
Greetz,
Marjon Bohré / Holland
Yesterday, my husband told me that the CEO of his small company(30 employees) ....ignores him and others. They were standing side by side in the breakroom and the man wouldn't respond to his greeting. It pained me to see how this made my husband feel.
I want to send this anonymously to his office.
"When learning and working are dehumanized
When you no longer see us and no longer encourage our daring, or
When you only see what we produce - or how we perform-
We disengage and turn away from the very things the world needs from us:
Our Talent, our Ideas, and our Passion."
In Colorado (and many states across the nation) 50 percent of a teacher's evaluation is based on how his/her students score on standardized tests. Even if you are the very best teacher in the world, you have no control over how a student will do on a single test. Some students even refuse to take the test, and their scores are averaged in with the rest.
My two daughters have been teaching for five years with no pay increase, increased class size, and increased pressure. No wonder 50% of new teachers leave by their 5th year! The United States is going to miss the talent, ideas, and passion of those teachers who leave and smother it in those who remain.
I urge everyone to share this manifesto with the politicians and school reform quacks. Please remind them all that "Feedback is a function of respect." Please include teachers in the conversation on how to improve schools. If things don't improve for teachers, fewer and fewer talented people will dare to enter this nobel profession, and our children will be the losers.
Thank you Brene for letting me have my say. You are my hero! Keep up the good work!
Loved your shame and vulnerability TED talks. What to do when you want to dare greatly but my give a damn is busted? You have done amazing work.
Chris E.
I can't count how many times they will tell the teachers they want their feedback and make up these phony committes that one teacher from each grade attends. When the teachers try to giive input on the ideas they are squashed and then told what they will do.Then when teachers don't do it they tell them they agreed to it which they never did they were just told what do to. All the games.
They change schedule over and over again on the teachers not citing any specific reason and this causes unnecessary extra work. When teachers try to make a case for keeping a schedule based on real facts they are then told thanks for being flexible and the change is a done deal.
They do not want ANY feedback. It is insulting since many of these teachers are very good and it just makes them disengage even more. They end up doing the minimum. It sucks the life out of them. So many can hardly wait to retire and counting the days. If you push the principal she just pushes harder and everyone has learned to keep their mouth shut. Teachers are even afraid to really give honest surveys at the end of the year of the administrators to the union. So many just don't answer the questions too. Admins get off this way.
So much is put on the teachers as being able to single handedly get the test scores up. It takes a community to do this. It takes real support from admin and from parents. But only the teachers are the ones being made out as the fall guys on this. Yes there are some bad apples with teachers but many gave up long ago due to the way they were treated as well. Just as teachers are suppose to turn it around for students I think school districts admin need to be held accountable for turning it around for teachers. The trickle down theory. Also why aren't schools making parents more accountable too? Why is it always the teachers fault?
Also there are many more kids with developmental issues and just like prisons are full of folks that can not find help with mental institutions due to lack of funding there are tons of kids with mental and developmental issues who are "streamlined" into classes due to lack of funding for adequate support and can never catch up and always lagging way behind and this brings the test scores down.
I do think they pick on teachers since it there many more women teachers than men and shame them into taking responsibility for it all. Just saying.....
I would love to see you do a book on schools with this topic. Admins shame the parents, teachers and other staff all the time. Teachers shame the students and sometimes the parents. Shame is rampant in schools at all levels.Now the press and policiticians try to shame teachers into doing more for less and using test scores as proof positive that it is their fault.