Two Important Questions

Yesterday I attended a panel presentation at the University of Utah. It was one of its Martin Luther King celebration events.

One person on the panel, Dr. Takuya Minami, suggested that we ask ourselves two questions:

1. Do I feel like a member of the community?
2. Am I comfortable inviting others to the community?

A yes answer to the second question relies upon a yes answer to the first question. The struggles of others won't become my struggles until I can answer, "Yes," to both of these questions.

Pondering the first question caused me to reflect upon the work of Dr. Robert Putnam concerning social capital. To feel like a member of the community I must expand my circle of influence beyond my own small world--I must become actively involved. Although voting is important, actively involved requires more than casting a vote. It demands stepping out of a comfort zone and getting into the arena. It means speaking up and doing about what's right even when it is unpopular.

Serendipity Strikes Again

Another serendipitous experience has touched my life. While in the midst of organizing a group that is going to be educating and advocating for change in regards to Hispanic learners, I received an email from Kevin Eikenberry, the author of Remarkable Leadership, who was conducting a conference call on change.

I had the opportunity to participate in that call yesterday with Kevin. The insights he offered truly are remarkable, and they couldn't have come at a more opportune time.

Kevin strongly recommended that we share with a colleague what we learned --and the sooner the better--as that will help cement the ideas. Stephen Covey has offered the same advice. I felt my "blog" may be the best place to share and record what I learned.

Below are some of the points I learned and want to apply:

• If there is no need for change, there is no need for a leader
• Not everyone will be at the same place concerning change, and it's important to be ok with this
• People view change differently, attaching negative, positive, and/neutral emotions to it
• Be a proponent (not an "evangelist") for the change by emphasizing the positive benefits/rewards of the change and minimizing the risks
• People don't resist change as much as they resist being changed
• Acknowledge where people are in regards to the present state as they have been doing what they are doing for a long time
• Build a post-change vision that can be experienced with all the senses
• When talking about change, the conversation and dialogue need to be continually open and ongoing
• "Sell" individuals, not groups --by getting individuals engaged and involved will help build the momentum
• Call the change a journey (a process)
• Ask questions! Ask questions! Ask questions!
• Find language for the change that is not just a hollow slogan

Participating with Kevin in this learning conference call convinced me to personally commit to move from focusing on resistance, opposition, obstacles in relationship to change and focus on exciting, challenge, opportunity instead.

NOTE: For more information about Kevin Eikenberry and his work, including articles that can be downloaded, visit http://www.kevineikenberry.com/

Spiritual Leadership: More Than Academic Rigor

Spiritual leadership requires more than academic rigor. It also requires the heart. Why? Because the heart knows things the eyes don't see, and feels things the mind cannot understand. As it says in the book, The Little Prince, "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

Elder Richard G. Scott. a member of the Latter-Day Saint Quorum of the Twelve, counseled his listeners in his BYU Education Week address in August 2007 to say to themselves, "Throughout the remainder of my life, I will seek to learn by what I hear, see, and feel. I will write down the important thing I learn and do them." He especially stressed the need to feel. In order to feel, we must listen closely because feelings usually whisper, in a still small voice.

We can start to learn to feel by giving heed to the counsel of Elder David Bednar, another member of the Latter-Day Saint Quorum of the Twelve, who said that we should be "quick to observe." As we develop this talent or gift of being "quick to observe," we will hear, see, and feel those things that will most likely be overlooked by others.

All this is not to suggest that academic rigor is unimportant. Dr. Hugh Nibley, a brilliant and accomplished scholar expresses this eloquently in his work, Zeal Without Knowledge, "...Zeal[feeling] is the engine that drives the whole vehicle, without it we would get nowhere. But without clutch, throttle, brakes, and steering wheel, our mighty engine becomes an instrument of destruction, and the more powerful the motor, the more disastrous the inevitable crackup if the proper knowledge is lacking..." He later addes, "...true zeal feeds on knowledge, true knowledge cannot exist without zeal."

Therefore, as we seek for answers...and even the right questions...in our rigourous academic endeavors to discover better ways to approach mulitultural education, it is imperative that we never allow ourselves to be "past feeling." The two coupled together have the potential to result in the spiritual leadership that can make a difference.

Leadership: Continuing to Look For Better Answers...AND Questions

In spite of:

• A cry for social justice
• A fury to get teachers ESL endorsed
• An outcry to address the achievement gap
• An attempt to make it a university requirement for educators to take a multicultural education class

not much has changed in the education system and statistics across the nation still look pretty dismal for our diverse learners.

In a talk by Henry B. Eyring, "Teaching Is A Moral Act," delivered at the BYU Annual University Conference on 27th of August 1991, he quoted his father, Henry Eyring, a famous scientist. It was a response his father had given to someone who chided him for changing his mind (flip flopping) about an issue related to science but the same principle applies for those of us concerned about the education of our diverse learners. He said, "I have been on every side of this question, and I will get on every side I can discover until I get a better answer."

If we are to better serve our diverse learners, we must find a
safe place where we can look at every side of the issue without having our
ponderings attacked. Even though much work related to research has
been done (and we haven't even applied that!!!), the quest isn't over....and nor will it ever be. There will always be a better answer for those willing to take the journey and who have the courage to step out of a comfort zone and ask the hard questions.

In Stephen Covey's work he talks about a "Third Space."---where we come to conclusions that are better than either side of an issue can come to by itself. Yet, for this to happen at least one side must be willing to listen with open ears to the perspective of the other side even though he/she may be diametrically opposed to what the other side is saying or advocating.

There is a story about a man who wants to sell a lamp to another gentleman. Rather than telling the gentleman how inferior his present lamp is, he starts by having the gentleman describe all the wonderful things about his lamp. Then he shows him the new lamp. The gentleman himself sees the improvement in quality of the new lamp.

We need moral/spiritual leaders in the multicultural arena who will have the courage to not only speak out but who also have the courage to truly listen:

To enlist people in a vision, leaders must know their constituents and speak their language. People must believe that leaders understand their needs and have their interests at heart. Leadership is a dialogue, not a monologue. To enlist support, leaders must have intimate knowledge of people’s dreams, hopes, aspirations, visions and values… Leaders cannot command commitment, only inspire it. (Source: The Leadership Challenge 3rd Edition: Kouzes and Posner
pg 15)