Having a Shared Purpose

picture: linkedin.com

I have written very often about my PLN and about how important they all have become in my life and that I am lucky to call them friends. I am also lucky that I have a diverse PLN. Another valued member of my PLN is LollyDaskal. Lolly, is the founder of Lead from Within: a successful leading firm that offers custom made programs in leadership and organizational development. She is recognized as a Top Thought Leader  In Business. Today she tweeted the following article, Make A Difference: Lead With A Noble Heart . I would recommend that every leader follows Lolly as she is someone who truly practices what she preaches.

Here are some key excerpts from her article:

   “Many of us lead, but not many of us lead with a noble heart.

There is a well-known anecdote related by Tom Peters about a hospital in the US that treats cancer. During a series of staff interviews, an interviewer asked the housekeeper what her job entailed.

She responded, “I help to cure cancer.” Somewhere in that hospital, a leader had connected the dots for this individual and made her feel that she was an integral part of the hospital’s mission.

Everyone wants to know that what they do matters.

Everyone craves a purpose.

Being noble in leadership is not so much about what you do but how you do it.

A leader with a noble heart can give us what we all search for—a sense of purpose, meaning, and nobility.”

Her words are so true for us as educators as well. I once read about a school that everyone from the Bus Driver to the Principle shared the vision and purpose of the schools mission.  We all need to feel that we are part of a greater whole as my friend Angela Maiers says “the smartest person in the room is the room and that YOU MATTER”

Too often I know teachers who close their doors both figuratively and literally to the outside world and treat their classroom as their own small kingdom. That no longer works because all of us, including our students need to feel that what  they are doing has a purpose.

If I had to compare the average CEO with the average educator, I would say that educators by nature are probably more adept to leading with a “noble heart” so let’s do it !

Let us make sure that we convey our purpose and mission so when anyone in our schools are asked they will answer educating future leaders .