Last week, I discussed how many parents often discourage their children without even knowing it by the comments made about career and college choices. We do this with good intentions. We want to see our children succeed and be better off than we are, and as older and wiser parents, we should know what is best for them, right? There is, however, a good way and a bad way to impart our wisdom in shaping decision-making. Taking on the role of coach may be the best way to do this when it comes to giving career and college advice. In
Reading is key to writing, or so I believe, so 2013 started with a personal goal to read 30 books. I’ve got a few weeks left until the end of the year, and I’m on number 28. I’d like to make a habit of creating a year-end book review to point others in the direction of what reading I found most insightful and meaningful. The 2013 list: Topic: Personal Leadership Choice: First Things First Blog posts from this year that include excerpts or ideas from this choice: A Lesson in Personal Leadership 1: Define and Focus on What’s Important Personal
I wish I had a dollar for every student I talked to about career and college choices that has said something along the line of “….but my dad doesn’t think that’s a good idea” or “my mom told me not to go into that.” Even though most parents don’t think that their teenaged or college aged children care at all what they think, the truth is, they internalize what you are telling them about career and college choices and often, rule out things that they might be drawn to because of your words. Even your words that may have been
The December 2013 Leadership Development Carnival: Leadership at the Movies Edition My favorite movie for Leadership (and career) Development is Coach Carter. The reason I have chosen this movie is because of the following quote that one of his players stands up and shares after the coach has made a profound point with his players and the school board about priorities and what it means to be a leade: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask
In a work skills class I teach, each person takes a learning style quiz. Usually, more than half the students identify themselves through the assessment as a kinesthetic (learning by doing) learner, yet most of the way education is structured today is geared towards visual (read it or see it on a slide presentation) and auditory (hear it in a lecture) learning, not learning by doing. Yet it takes all of these methods in order to maximize learning, regardless of your dominant style. A key to discovering your talents, passions and values is to actually do something to see what you like and don’t