Courageous Conversations – Raising the Bar!

I have worked with executives and managers in the various boardrooms around the world. And I have seen the high financial cost of fractured teams and disloyal staff due to the lack of emotional and social skills of the leader. As a result, my passion has been the development of emotional and social conscience in all levels of education and in every subject.

With what the financial markets are going through today and with the blatant abuse of power of those high rollers in the housing and lending industries, it is time to rethink our ideas of character education in schools. How can we teach business and finance or high school economics without talking about social conscience and integrity?

In fact, if we had integrated integrity, service learning, and social awareness into these lessons on world and national economics earlier, could we have avoided the flagrant abuse and misuse of money and power that has brought this nation and the world to the brink of financial disaster?

Maybe the mom's and dad's of the world need to speak up in defense of their children and the next generation! When a teacher says, "I teach economics (or math or literature), not values," maybe it is time for each of us to step up and engage in a courageous conversation. "How can we NOT speak of integrity and conscience in the same conversation? How can we NOT help our young people make a distinction between abuse and right use of money and power? 

I just returned from a conference in Arlington Virginia where the topic was Character is Destiny. This was a gathering of a small but growing group of people committed to character and values education! It was a wonderful exchange of thoughts and inspiration around the subject of character and values and destiny!

I invite each of you to join the growing movement and comment on this topic. Its time has come!!

Completions

The graduation experience for our participating young adults in this pilot program with SEED was so  great and moved so quickly that I totally forgot to take a class picture!! I can't believe it! Please accept my public apology!

Maybe you can get a touch of the flavor of the day from a few clips from their Mission Statements. I have come away from the experience touched and inspired by the caliber of young people who will be part of our next generation of leaders.

Kristina Brennens, an 11th grade student said "The main mission I want to accomplish is figuring out who I am in this lifetime… I would like to graduate from a top college, become a successful business lady, and one day have a family of my own, teaching my kids to do their possible best. I'm definitely going to be something someday!"

Baylee Burnett, a ninth grade student said this, "My mission in life is to be a good sister and friend to my friends, family and all those around me…One thing I will do to move closer to my mission statement is to think things through before they come out of my mouth. This way, the things that I say will be kinder and more caring.

Raven Moore, an 11th grader said, " My mission is to help people appreciate what they have…My values are resilience, a sense of humor, joy, love, respect, calmness, and helpfulness…"

Joshua Brennens, Kristina's ninth grade brother, closed his statement with, "I am who I am and you can be who you want to be!"

There were a lot more, but I think you can get the gist of the feelings I came away with from these short clips. These young people are beautiful beings!