Enabling the Dreams of Others

The Ideas of Randy PauschAuthor of The Last Lecture

Photos taken by Debra Austin at Erie Balloon Festival 2008

Leadership Skill Set

Dynamic Leaders

Establish the vision and tone

Develop morale

Inspire with passion

Delegate

Don’t believe in the no-win scenario

InspirationHead Fake: when you teach somebody something by having them think they’re learning something else.

Inspiration is the ultimate tool for doing good.

To achieve the maximum of human potential, which is how the greatest problems will eventually be solved.

Give yourself permission to dream.

Fuel your student’s dreams.

Customer Service ModelStudents and their parents want education to be valuable in a measurable way, especially if they are paying top dollar for it.

Educators are like trainers for the mind. They teach students how to see their minds growing as they can observe an increase in fitness when they work out. They help students assess their own progress and how to be team players.

Time is FiniteTime must be explicitly managed, like money.

You can always change your plan, but only if you have one.

To do lists break life into tasks into small steps.

Ask yourself:

Are you spending your time on the right things?

Are your goals, causes and interests worth pursuing?

Delegate.

Take a time out.

Brick WallsAre there for a reason

They are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.

The park is open until 8 o’clock.

Be a risk-taker

Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.

Tips for Working Successfully in Groups

Meet people properly

Find things you have in common

Try for optimal meeting conditions

Let everyone talk

Check egos at the door

Praise each other

Phrase alternatives as questions: What if...

Peer FeedbackDid his peers think he was working hard? Exactly how many hours did his peers think he had devoted to a project?

How creative was his contributions?

Did his peers find it easy or hard to work with him? Was he a team player?

Tips

Be prepared

All you have is what you bring with you

Consider the worst-case scenario and have a contingency plan.

Be sensitive when crossing from one culture to another. For students, this could be from school to their 1st job.

TipsLook for the best in everyone.

Pay attention to what people do, not what they say.

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

Whether you think you can or you can’t, you are right.

It’s not how hard you hit. It’s how hard you get hit... and keep moving forward.

TipsTell the truth.

Show gratitude.

Apologies are not pass/fail. Proper apologies have 3 parts:

What I did was wrong

I feel badly that I hurt you

How do I make this better

TipsWith the passage of time and the deadlines that life imposes, sometimes surrender is the right thing to do.

Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy.

Don’t obsess over what people think.

TipsNo job is beneath you

Never give up

Take a boost when offered

Be a communitarian

Tigger or EeyoreHave fun every day you have left, because there is no other way to play it.

It’s a decision

To insist on one’s Place in the scheme of things and to live up to that place.

To empower others in their reaching for some place in the scheme of things.

To do these things is to make fairy tales come true.

~Robert Fulghum ~