Happy New Year!!!
I hope each of you are doing very well and that your break treated (or is still treating) you wonderfully! I figured most of you would not be back at least until today, which is why I did not send this out yesterday morning. 😊
In early December, I was meeting with a Superintendent in North Carolina with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside in two different districts. As I got settled into my seat, I noticed a pile of books in the corner of her office. “District book study?” I said. Immediately, she lit up and began talking to me about one of the books, Trust and Inspire by Stephen M. R. Covey. I told her that I’d heard about it and wanted to get my hands on it. She grabbed a copy for me and told me to read the first page. As I read it, a smile formed on my face because I’d heard the story before in a TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson. Undoubtedly, many of you have, as well.
If you haven’t, Covey and Robinson share some really cool information about Death Valley. For instance, if you didn’t already know, Death Valley is the place with the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth (134 degrees Fahrenheit). Also, nothing grows there. Hence the name, Death Valley. But, in 2004, the valley received an unusual amount of rainfall in the winter and, when spring arrived, the valley floor bloomed with wildflowers. Robinson then made the point, “Death Valley isn’t dead; it’s dormant. Right below the surface are these seeds of possibility waiting for the right conditions to come about.”
As you return to your schools over the next few days, I challenge you to see your schools in one of three states of possibility and take the appropriate steps to ensure its continued health.
First, your school may be dormant. There can be all kinds of reasons for this. Regardless of those reasons, your school is struggling and, like Death Valley, it would be hard for the casual observer to spot signs of life. For those of you in this camp, let me encourage you to use your leadership to water the ground. Life is there. “Seeds of possibility” exist in the minds and hearts of your staff and students. Tend to them carefully, water them with love and trust, and I believe you will see a bloom of wildflowers “carpeting the valley floor” in the months that lie ahead.
Second, your school may be thriving. It’s in full bloom and you could not picture a better place for people to come to teach and learn. If this is your experience, I’d encourage you to remember why it got that way. The valley was watered. Your school has been cared for well and you’ve been entrusted to keep it going. Your job, I’d contend, is to ensure the right conditions persist to keep it in full bloom. Sometimes, if you’re like me, we can take things for granted and forget to water for a few days. If we do this enough, spots will pop up to remind us of our neglect. Neglect to provide water long enough and you’ll begin to think your school looks like Death Valley.
Finally, the third possibility is that your school is somewhere in between these two extremes. I’d guess this is the most likely scenario of them all. As you look across the landscape, you see many wildflowers thriving, but you can also see dead spots across the valley floor. Things can go either way. Neglect the warning signs you see on the valley floor and you will see things become barren. Or, learn from the tale of Death Valley, begin watering, and watch your school spring forth with life.
One of the beautiful things about working in schools is that we have the chance to reset each year and each semester. I trust you will use this opportunity well. What you experience in March, April, May, and June will be the return on what you sow into your people in the coming days. To close, let me offer you this quote, which Covey included in the first chapter of his book:
The difference between what we are doing and what we’re capable of doing would solve most of the world’s problems (Mahatma Gandhi).
Choose to be Great!
Angelo
CHOOSE TO BE GREAT 