Over the weekend, I read a brief portion of the beginning of Brene Brown's book, Dare to Lead. One of the fascinating things about leadership is that it's not limited to particular titles. We are all leaders in our own way. Each of us are leaders in our districts, buildings, classrooms, buses, cafeterias, etc. Sometimes this leadership occurs simply through being an example others wish to emulate.
There were some outstanding quotes that can apply to each of us in some way:
- What stands in the way becomes the way.
- When we fix the wrong things for the wrong reasons, the same problems continue to surface.
- Perfectionism and fear keep people from learning and growing.
- You can't get to courage without embracing the suck. We must embrace the fear.
- Care and connection are necessary for leadership.
- Daring is knowing you will eventually fail....and still being all in.
I had an extra opportunity to reflect on this reading during a Bible class. The teacher was talking about pride and humility - and the impact they can have on relationships. I couldn't help but thinking that, perhaps, the root of our pride could be fear. Fear of failure. Fear of what others may think. Fear of something else altogether. I know that, personally, I need to embrace my fears (and the suck) more often to increase the amount of learning and growing in my own life.
I hope this spurs some reflection for you as it has for me.
Thanks for reading!
Doug Dunn is superintendent and principal of a small K-8 school in rural, south central Missouri. He can be found on Twitter at DougDunnEdS.
