More than anything I think I blog for the same reason I have dedicated my life to helping people learn – to share a sense of purpose – to do more than live, to be alive!

Learning is one of the most natural and difficult things I have ever done. I have had amazing teachers along the way,  they have been amazing because they have pushed me to grow through the pain and difficulty of processing my feelings. My greatest breakthroughs have occurred only after incredible work and often much frustration and pain!

Last night I had a bit of a breakthrough. I cannot say it was profound, but it was comforting. I watched a film about surfing. All my friends know I am passionate about surfing, yet since moving to the UK I have spent very little time on a board. When the movie was over I had this ache – it was hard to figure out where it came from. I am happy in the UK, and have many things to live for – not least my partner and all the things I am able to do. But despite this I had a longing for the ocean, for times long over for a reality that was no longer and would not return – nostalgia. My nostalgia reminded me of how I felt when I was surfing, of when I am learning…  It made me feel alive!

So gear change now… can I relate this back to designing leadership programmes!?!

I’ve been trying to understand it since I moved to London. Why don’t people smile at each other on the tube? Why do people get so angry when trains are behind schedule? Why do I get that way?

We spend so much time trying to get by from day to day that I think we forget what it is like to feel, to learn, to really live. Surfing like learning taught me to experience the feeling of being alive, realising the preciousness of life and the wonder of being conscious, seeing something and knowing fear. Learning has done something similar for me. However being alive comes with many difficult feelings to process, exisiting in an interconnected world means facing rejection, misinterpretation, difficult decissions (I wish I could think of the other feelings I am missing here).

Ignorance is a form of bliss. If I am ignorant to what is happening around me I can protect myself from what I would associate as negative feelings. By not speaking to someone else on the tube I protect myself from rejection. Remaining  ignorant means I don’t have to feel anything I don’t want to feel. Once I start to engage (whether by choice or not) I am thrown into a world where I can feel pain, and feel joy. These two feelings are hopelessly intertwined. Loving something means you can get hurt, but it also means you can feel over the moon.Engaging a stranger requires energy – I can make a good friend, but I can also be rejected and have to process those interactions. If that is the case I am left with a decision to make protect myself and remain ignorant of the people around me or engage with the world and possibly have it lead to other difficult decisions.

I help people learn because I believe that as they learn they feel alive. When people come on one of the courses I design I hope that they are taken out of their day to day life i.e. getting on the tube and reading their paper failing to interact with anyone. I hope that I get them to realise it is okay to feel – both good and bad feelings. Learning is tough, but it is not bad! Being angry is tough, but it is not bad!I take people out of their comfort zones so they consider how they affect the world and how the world affects them. I would like people to criticaly refelct on their interaction with the world, and increase their engagement with the world around them.

To be a part of this world I believe you have to be alive. You have to realise the complexity of feeling, decissions, existence. This is a dificult thing to do because often it means recognising both good things and bad things and bad things can be uncomfortable.

Leaders have to understand how to hold this tension. The understanding between what makes them feel good and what does not. They then have to learn to balance right and wrong and to seperate right and wrong from good and bad. That which is bad is not always wrong that which feels good is not always right. Being alive means placing yourself in situations where you may have to make decisions that cause you to consider your place in this world. Being a leader is the same.

So last nights film reminded me that I need to lead. I need to step outside of my own comfort zones and interact with this world and rember that I will be faced with difficult decisions but they are not necessarily good or bad, they just are, and if i make a mistake well the consequences may not feel good, but the whole issue of making mistakes is for another day and another thought.

Granted it is on a state by state basis which is better than district by district as some poor districts will benefit, but quite frankly this was supposed to be a time for change. I am disappointed that the Democrats are not doing more to change a system that I believe is partially to blame for the current mess we are in. A just education system in the US is one of the first steps in ensuring a better tomorrow. Instead the rich appear to be getting richer and the poor, well poorer!

Here is what I started:

I just helped run training for staff to look out how to put together good experiences to help individuals learn. It reminded me of why I became an educator in the first place – to make learning enjoyable for others and to ensure that no one slipped through the cracks.

I chose to study experiential education because while mainstream education had worked for me I had many friends who struggled to enjoy their school years (struggling that was beyond the normal trials and tribulations of going to school as an adolescent). These were smart people; they had drive and determination, but something prevented them from achieving. Most of my friends finished school, but some chose not to continue their education. My cousin almost completely failed to finish school. If it had not been for his parents he would not have.

What makes us think that with learning one size fits all? We know clothes don’t work that way! We have learnt that it can be dangerous when we grow food that way. Yet we approach education as if it is humans are all the same?

When are we going to wake up and tell our politicians that exam results and grades and one size fits all does not work in education. When are we going to invest real time, money and resource into our education system so we can properly assess and meet young peoples’ needs?

If we want to remain competitive it is time for all of us to recognise there is more than one way to skin a cat. We can continue on the path we are on and educate everyone in a way that benefits a few, or we can start looking at a comprehensive way to educate so that children are engaged regardless of their background. It won’t be cheap, but I would rather see my taxes invested in the future of our youth; instead of paying a CEO who runs a bank to the brink £700K a year to do nothing; when I know those young people will have to pay for his irresponsibility!

Its not long, nor does it go terribly in depth. It is an interesting article and leaves me with some questions, about leadership and management. I believe there is a difference between a leader and a manager, but sometimes I wonder if others see and recognise that difference? I also wonder if the difference comes into play when looking at hard vs. soft skills?  Can you be a good leader with no soft skills? I am not sure you can, but then again, who am I?

From a curriculum perspective models have their place but a model that ‘makes a better leader’ leaves me sceptical.  Models engage you on an intellectual level, often they simplify an idea and make it palatable for the mind. They turn a complex topic into easy steps. A subject as complex as leadership does not have a step by step process that makes a better leader. To be a better leader you have to practice leading. It is why I espouse experiential learning.Why not practice leading and then have others help you learn from your practice. By no means is this an easy process, but it is often deeper than writing down someone eles’ top ten tips for leadership.

I choose to use these models sparingly not because I think they are wrong, but I think reliance on a model to make you a better leader is ineffective. What I like to use them for is to start people thinking. Used in the right context hearing your top ten tips and then thinking about them may point me in the direction to discover my own tips. If a model sparks a healthy debate about leadership I think it has accomplished its purpose. So I would use it to spark a debate so that individuals see the world from at least three different points of view. Debating a model gives me greater knowledge of my interaction with the world. I believe that process develops leadership and management skills.

I design leadership programmes for a livining and part of my job is to find current news to challenge participants on our programmes. This Blog is my attempt to see if what I am saying makes sense. Stay tuned for news I find interesting.

Cheers