Leaders Love

“The more efficient a force is, the more silent and the more subtle it is.
Love is the subtlest force in the world.” Gandhi

When I (Terry) was a teacher at Cleveland Elementary, I had a mentor, Peg Gage, who was a highly experienced teacher. She and I were early birds and would often talk in the mornings. One morning I came in to find Peg looking over her classroom, studying the room from the front, looking at every desk. I asked her what she was doing. She told me she was trying to figure out the best formation for the class, how to set up the seats so the students would be their most effective. 

I was astonished. Here was a teacher in her 35th year, still searching for the answers. I was new enough to not know that the search goes on every year, that her priorities for her students were always changing, always a work in progress. She loved her students and all she could do for them and with them. So many of us feel that same love here at Cooper.

We are working so hard at Cooper. All of us have our priorities. We are the leaders of this building, the ones who set the tone and the pace. We, all of us, are the reasons we are so successful at Cooper. And we are the reason we are still evolving as a leadership school.

Pam lost her father this week. She is surrounded by family, and is loved by all of us. She knows we are with her in spirit as she deals with this loss. The love we feel and express in all we do sustains us, shows our students what is important. We all have priorities that include family and our own pursuits of happiness both in and outside of Cooper. Pam's taking care of herself and her family as she deals with the loss of her father. Her priorities are solid. We are dealing with the love of our students and the pride in our school by hosting the Symposium, by having crazy hair and hat days, by caring about each other and our students and their families. Our priorities are solid.

We are the leaders who love. We love our own families, our students, and each other enough to set the right priorities to fulfill the roles we've chosen to play in our lives. We don't all have the same roles outside of school, and we all have roles at Cooper that allow us to be fulfilled. We have our families and our priorities at home. We have our students and each other and our priorities at Cooper. It's a great profession and a great life we get to lead.

My mentor, Peg, had it right. She loved her students enough to lead them to effective learning. She made the changes needed for each class each day to accomplish great things. She had the priorities straight for her class. Pam has hers straight for her family, and we have ours straight as we deal with all we do. Let's not forget the love as we move forward with this crazy, incredibly packed (no pun intended) school year.

Former Lt. Governor of Michigan, Dan Mulhern, offers these thoughts about leaders and how they love. As you read these, think about your roles as a leader in your family and at Cooper. Mulhern writes about leaders that:

1.  They nurture their own goodness (their store of love).  How?  They seek out — and let in — that which ennobles and energizes them:  the care of others, the beauty of nature, laughter, and if they’re lucky enough to experience it, the love of family and friends, and things bigger than themselves.  If love is as awesome a force as Gandhi posits, then I want to be infused with that force.
2.  They cultivate their ability to see, savor and to celebrate the good in others.  In lay terms, they seek out and point out goodness, sincerely and often.
3.  They know their role is not to judge others (although frequently they have to assess the behavior of others).  Thus, they observe with compassion (as they would want to be observed).  They give the benefit of the doubt, as they would want to be given that wonderful benefit.   Their inclination is to see the good and good faith in others.  Where others seem rude, angry, or duplicitous, they check their own perceptions and hold off the judgment that bad behavior means a bad person. They seek to see the good, even when others seem to offer ill.

How do you see love in your job? How is your role here fulfilling that need in you? How is your leadership helping you express the silent power of love? We'd love to hear from you...

A big thanks to Tara for her ideas regarding this week's update!

This week's big rocks:
We will not have our weekly scheduled staff meeting on Thursday. We will be asking that all teams continue to prepare for the Symposium visit. We may need an update meeting Wednesday morning at 8:00 to help us all be ready for the big event.

Monday:      Breakfast with Randy, 7:30 (Terry)
                    DTE will be here! The set up will be in vocal music room for the assembly.

Tuesday:     IST will be delayed to 8:30
                   After School Clubs at 3:40
                    BOTB at FHS at 6:30

Wednesday:   Staff meeting???
                      Triad Data Analysis (Bill, Lynn, Michelle K., Ron) in Vocal Music Room and Lab
                       Session #4 of Sports Club
                      Planning Team at 3:45
                      TLIM Principals Meeting with Sean Covey, 4:15-5:30 at VistaTech (Sarah and Terry)

Thursday:      Symposium vist to Cooper! 10:30 to 12:30!
                      EPM 1:00 (Sarah and Terry)
                      Tennis Club after school
                      Emerson Open house for 6th graders, 7:00 at EMS
                      PTA Meeting is postponed to April 10!

Friday:         A relaxing day at Cooper with all those people we love in our work!