Parents that teach their kids to accept responsibility for their actions prepare their kids for a lifetime of success.

I think we both know what “Thrown Under The Bus” means so I’ll skip my usual Cliché Monday definition. Instead, here’s a classic example of you throwing someone under the bus:

The school website is dreadful. I think the last time any of it was updated was 2002. You’re reason: ‘I can not compel teachers to update the website since it’s not part of their union contract.’ Great. Throw your teachers under the bus. Problem solved.

Luckily, I found a great resource for your victims. They can order a t-shirt (or mug or button or…) from Cafe Press. And if you really want the definition, you can find it at wiktionary.org

What do Henry Ford, Miles Davis, Thomas Edison, Confucius, Robert Louis Stevenson, Horace, Bill Cosby, Robert Kennedy, Sir Laurence Olivier, Thomas Watson, Beverly Sills, Douglas McArthur, Winston Churchill, Malcolm Forbes, John Barrymore, Paramahansa Yogananda, and Charles Kettering have in common? An enlightened view of what “failure” is.

If you want to innovate, you will first need to let go of your notion of what failure is all about:

“An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he’s in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots.” – Charles Kettering

Seth Godin is a pretty influential fellow. It’s nuggets like this that rally make me smile.

“How much of the time you invest in a project is spent preparing excuses, creating insurance, seeking deniability and covering your ass just in case things go poorly in the end?

At some point, that effort becomes so great you never actually ship anything, which of course is the very best protection against failure.”

Perhaps you recognize this? Subscribe to a frequent dose of Seth: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

• Schedule end-of-year appointments/reasons to be away from the school.
• Plan to sabotage parent-sponsored programs.
• Preplan for retirement.
• Contact my union rep.
• Review security of my position (i.e cover my ass).
• Plan for ineffective leadership of next year’s staff.

• Schedule end-of-year evaluations/assessments.
• Plan your summer program.
• Preplan for next year.
• Contact parents.
• Review security.
• Plan for next year’s staff.

Stay tuned. On Monday, I’ll provide the alternative Checklist 2.

This is the story of how one man, in daring to be different, effected such stunning change. With his rigorous, no-nonsense approach, Dr. Ben Chavis debunks the myth that poor, minority, inner-city schools have little chance at academic excellence. Focusing on back-to-basics ideals, he has created a structured educational model that, combined with the enthusiasm of his students and teachers, delivers astounding results.

Alright. I’m not gonna lie. I haven’t read this yet. I copied that from Amazon. Consider this more of a recommendation than a review. According to Dr. Chavis, “If you act like a winner, you’ll be treated like a winner. If you act like a fool, you’ll be treated like a fool.” I’m not sure life is that cut and dry but it’s enough of a hook to draw me in. Read it with me. We’ll be our own little book club.

You can pick it up at Amazon in hardcover, paperback or for Kindle.

The other day, he tweeted, “You really aren’t transforming/changing anything if you aren’t met with resistance. Resistance is part of the process.” I felt like he was looking right at me when he said it. What a rock star.

Thank you, Principal Nichols.

Here’s a wonderful interview with Molly Howard, the 2008 Principal of the Year selected by the National Association of Secondary School Principals and MetLife. In the interview, she says, “Power does not emanate from position. It emanates from relationships that we develop with our stakeholders.” Gosh, don’t we just want to kiss her!

USA Today also summarizes some of her “Can Do Tips”

• The key to leadership is passion and a can-do attitude.
• Power comes from relationships, not position.
• Listen closely to complaints. You don’t have to agree, but you must understand.
• You have control over your own beliefs. Don’t give up on others and don’t accept less than what they are capable of doing.
• Avoid data overload by first asking the right question. Then turn to the data for answers

Read the entire USA Today interview here.

Curiosity Killed the Cat is a warning that being too curious can lead to harm. Although there are certainly earlier references, Eugene O’Neill often gets credit in his play Diff’rent from 1920: “Curiosity killed a cat! Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies.“

But I digress. The point is that there should be no place for a lack of curiosity in education. Even in administration. The problem is that we feel shut out by asking questions in our school. I realize that it must be exhausting to have new, demanding parents every year bringing their own ideas and challenging the status quo. On the other hand, adding new ideas to proven methods could be considered progress.

Please don’t treat all of our questions as challenges to your authority. We must be curious. Not to get too deep here but “the unexplored life is not worth living”. Be curious or at the very least, don’t discourage others from asking questions. Let’s not forget that even if curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought it back.

Happy Monday!

You may think these answers have a calming effect but the result is just the opposite. These answers amount to a dismissal of another person’s ideas and create anxiety and resentment.

Thankfully there’s the Harvard Business Review Management Tip of The Day to the rescue. Don’t worry, they’re not highfalutin at all and they provide simple strategies to achieve results. Here’s yesterday’s:

“Too many leaders think they are adept at everything. Self-aware leaders know that they can’t possibly have the skills and knowledge to do it all.”

“Read the full tip here. Better yet, subscribe and get them every day! Awesome, right? And timely. Thanks, HBR.

THINGS MY CHILDREN TAUGHT ME

• Drop your assumption that you know what’s best for them
• Facilitate, but don’t meddle.
• Hold off on giving your opinion while you’re feeling a negative response.
• Only use time-outs on yourself.
• Try to allow them room to fix their own situations. Of course, you can suggest what you might do for yourself if it was you in their shoes. But don’t fix it for them.
• Don’t get too enamored with or emotionally invested in what you see as your child’s talents and gifts.
• LISTEN and learn. Get to know your kids, and marvel when they show you new ways to see things.
• Try to wean yourself from any self-imposed schedule addiction. Experience the guilt-free pleasure of living with flexibility, inspiration and openness.
• Respect your childs ideas, judgment and inherent wisdom. You can only do that when you respect your own ideas, judgment and inherent wisdom.
• In any situation, how would I respond if this was my best (adult) friend?

If you’re interested in learning more about this radical, her name is Maria Whitworth.