Inspirational people – Clover Hill Diaries

A heartbreaking reminder of how our school system is NOT fit for purpose

My post today features a school essay written by Lachlan Moss when he was in Year 11 at High School. Lachie is now one of Australia’s up and coming musical theatre stars

I have known Lachie all his life. He was a star from the day he was born. He featured in many of my early natural resource management promos.

Jaimie Frost and Lachie Moss. Photo Linda Faiers

Lachie essay is a heartbreaking reminder of how our school system is NOT fit for purpose

There are 7.6 billion people living on this planet and no two share the same story. In our lives we are all able to take a different journey, see different sights and think in different ways. This level of variety and individuality is something that humanity is gifted with. It creates our society. It lets us grow, create, learn, share and inspire.

This means there are 7.6 billion stories that can be shared. 7.6 billion different pasts being walked upon. This is society. This is natural. This is what enables us to create a brighter future. So why is it with all this variety could be celebrated, we are all pushed along a path, the same path, a path where we are taught that instead of having 7.6 billion different ways to respond, there is one answer, which is either A, B, C or D.

We are constantly being told to “Think outside the box.”

If this is so important, then why is it we spend most of, if not all, of our childhood being told to fill out only the inside of one of four boxes.

It starts in kindergarten as we color in when we are told to stay inside the line. This concept of finding the answer is the main goal of the public school system. And this used to be okay. We used to live in a world with a simple paradigm, a simple concept.

Go to school, work hard, do well, go to university, get a job and gain some level of success and security.

This simplified linear path is no longer the case and no longer believed by students. The problem that this brings with it is motivation is lost in the eyes of the student. The education system was never designed to inspire the longing for education. It was created to inspire success and now that we live in the environment where this success is harder to achieve, we have a lack of motivated learners. This has to change. A job is no longer defined by a degree, so why learn? Schools should be an environment that celebrate all types of learning and that encourage students to learn in their way.

Not only this, but a teacher should be recognized as one of the most influential roles in this environment. They have the ability to sculpt the minds of these children into our future doctors, lawyers, and presidents. They have the ability to inspire students, making them ask, “Why?” instead of forcing such questions upon them. A teacher should be able to facilitate for all learning styles, as it is these styles of learning that will increase the boundaries of how we perceive the world.

A good teacher will reach the minds of students, but a great teacher can touch a heart.

A great teacher is able to find the genius in everyone. “Everyone is a genius, but if we judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life feeling it’s stupid.” This is a quote from Albert Einstein, a genius in his own right and he is correct. We live in a world that is turning into a fishbowl and we are beginning to drown in questions that we can’t answer. This is because we are teaching the fish, the people capable of seeing the problems in a different light, to fit into our idea of what is normal.

Why? Walk down the path when there’s a river that can take these fish to greatness? Variety and different ways of thinking are our most useful tool. We have the power as a race to look at things from different perspectives. Why are we cutting off the fins of our creative thinkers and forcing them to walk along a path where they’re struggling to breathe. They are losing their maximum learning capacity and more importantly, losing their creativity.

Don’t take my word for it. There was a book released in 1992 called Break Point and Beyond, and inside this book is a test you can take that determines whether or not you are classified as a divergent thinking genius. Of the 1,600 students, children aged between three and five who were tested, 98% showed they could think in divergent or creative ways by the time they were aged eight to ten, 32% could think this way. When the same test was applied to thirteen- to fifteen-year-olds, only 10% could think this way. And when the test was used with 200,000, twenty-five-year-olds, only 2% were classified as divergent thinking geniuses.

We’ve created a system that kills creativity. Ask a sixth grader to draw a bird. They will draw a lower case m, do it in kindergarten and you’ll get 300 drawings that may look completely different, full of that sought after color and creativity.

Imagine a world where instead of being pushed through a bottleneck, we push the boundaries of human knowledge. Instead of feeling stupid, we feel we have the power to change the world through inspiration and the variety we bring. Instead of climbing up a mountain, we swim down a stream.

School is a factory, a world where we’re all forced to sit in lines, put our hands up to speak, listen to a ringing bells and get a small 20 to 40 minute breaks. We don’t learn because we want to learn. We learn because we have to. We specialize education into different sectors of faculties. We still pump out graduates in batches, which we call year groups, and we grade our students with letters and numbers.

This obsession with statistics, grades and quantifying one’s knowledge is so obscure. Where else do we do this? Do we quantify love? Do we quantify sorrow? What number of letter represents your first kiss? How about your first heartbreak? What aspect of humanity is honestly, quantifiable? Sure, he may be bad at writing an essay on World War Two, but he may be able to tell a story that conveys an understanding of the hardships and despair that could put any essay to shame. We give letters and grades of quality to things like produce to the quality of meat, not the contents of one’s mind. We lock these creative thinkers in a box, where in the worst case, creativity is constricted until they are removed from the colors of creativity and met with the shades of grey.

Instead of having a set of keys to unlock their true potential, they have one key that opens the box and throws them into a world where they are taught to believe they are stupid, where they are the piece that doesn’t fit and have to change themselves to do so. If given the opportunity, schools can become an environment where all the avenues of education can be explored, when we can step off the forced path and find our own way, allowing new pathways to be followed. This is the only way we can move towards the future because here is a statistic that matters.

There are 1.9 billion children in the world and that is 27% of the world population, but they are 100% of the future.

Lachie is not alone in asking the question if our education system is fit for purpose

Why change the ATAR? The way we recognise learning contributes to the problem

How we recognise learning at the end of secondary schooling is important because it determines post school pathways to further learning and work and has a flow on effect into what we teach (curriculum) and what and how we assess young people at school.

The ATAR is the dominant representation of success in schooling. It was designed in an era where only 11% of the population attended higher education, and then most were from higher socio-economic groups.

Today, only 26% of university entrants actually use an ATAR to pursue further learning. It is not utilised in any other post school pathway.

In spite of this narrow utilisation, the ATAR has a disproportionate impact on secondary schooling curriculum and assessment. Our school system is geared to ATAR outcomes even if these are not sufficient indicators of a young person’s potential for recruiters and employers. Source

The Big Question – what does meaningful change look like

Over the years I have worked with some extra-ordinary people. One of those is Changeologist Les Robinson

My big question “what does it take to drive meaningful change” starts with a lot of reflection on what meaningful change looks like for you and the people/organisations you are working with and successfully defining the joint vision.

At Action4Agriculture we are disciples of Les’ work in this space. Les is a big believer in keeping it simple.

Another brains trust we love working with at Action4Agriculture is Professor Felicity Blackstock who is a learning and development guru.

Felicity and I were recently discussing the evaluation of our Action4Youth Workforce Roadmap Model project and Felicity asked me the BIG Question – what does meaningful change look like?

When you are trying to drive change you have to be able to clearly identify the problem. The research is in – Secondary School students need universal access to high quality work based learning and industry has been identified as part of the problem

So what would meaningful impact look like for me

agricultural employers can clearly articulate the ROI for providing work-based learning for school students
agricultural employers are confident they have the skills and knowledge and mentoring capacity to ensure students can use their work based learning time effectively
agricultural employers commit the time and energy into learning how to engage with workplace learning providers and young people

The pièce de résistance for me is having a cohort of facilitators who have the capacity to deliver workshops for all 12 career management competencies for the Australian Blueprint for students – how rewarding is that

Superstars like Josh Farr

Agricultural Shows – a lesson in high level community organisation and volunteer succession planning

Employers are:

82% more likely to choose a candidate with volunteering experience and

85% more likely to overlook resume flaws when volunteer work is present.

As the Action4Agriculture team recognise two of our own volunteers ( Emily May and Danielle Fordham) by nominating them for the NSW Government Hidden Treasures Honor Role I am finding myself admiring some other organisations manned by volunteers that I have been working with

This post is a celebration of the work of Ryan McParland who comes from a long line of family volunteers with a shared passion for local agricultural shows.

Ryan played a founding role in his local show society’s ‘youth in ag’ group and is working to replicate and scale the Rural Ambassador model for the South Coast and Tablelands, all while working as a mechanical engineer at BlueScope Steel where he is a highly valued member of the team as this quote from his manager reinforces

Ryan is a gifted engineer who continually seeks improvement, not only in himself but in the people and the systems around him. As a genuine leader, he engenders a spirit of cooperation and engages those he works with, seldom taking the credit that is his due.

Ryan is well known to be a youth leader outside of our company, regularly involving us with him in charitable fund raising, promoting the shows and team building activities that lean heavily on his agricultural life experiences.

Ryan is a role model, who is genuine and is an asset to anyone fortunate to work with him.

Harry Murphy Manager Energy Services Asset Development, Digital, Services and Manufacturing Excellence

Ryan was a 2021 RAS of NSW Rural Achiever and his experience inspired him to kickstart a similar initiative at local shows in his region. Ryan recently invited me to judge the Albion Park Rural Ambassador program that he has been instrumental in founding, with the long term view of seeing it replicated at all NSW shows. These young people come from all walks of life, with a dedication to give back to the communities they are proud of.

I first met the Rural Ambassador finalists, Maddi Calloway, Shaylene Mawbey, Jayda Tisma and Ethan Forsyth a week before the show for their interviews. I was gob smacked. All came well prepared and answered the questions from their hearts with a raw authenticity we don’t see enough of in the 21st century.

Ryan then managed to entice WINNews ( and me to support them) to showcase the ambassadors

Then I got to spend a whole day at the show watching them and their extraordinary volunteer work ethic in action.

I certainly discovered just important volunteers are. Wow so much happens in 12 hours at an agricultural show.

These wonderful pictures from the Wollongong Camera Club share some of the joy and excitement

Its a a family affair with Ryan’s brother Glenn coordinates the animal nursey – bring his farmyard to the show

There are opportunities to milk a cow, real ones and faux ones

There are competitions

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There is sideshow alley and face painting

and show food – chip on a stick. With potatoes in short supply I wasn’t overly surprised to see these sell for $10 each

and those stunt people that thrill the crowds and seem to have no fear. Did I hear correctly this truck cost $400K?

and it all seems to run like clockwork.

There are some important research facts around the value of volunteering for young people.

They bring fresh ideas, they adjust easily, they are naturally inquisitive, and are more likely to discover creative solutions.

Volunteering can have a positive impact on volunteers as well as the people and organisations they help.

From building skills like collaboration and problem solving
they get invaluable life experiences.

Volunteers must put their own needs aside to address the needs of others.

Exposure to meaningful volunteer opportunities as children and young people helps foster lasting empathy and a sense of belonging, qualities necessary in cultivating safe, unified communities.

After shadowing the Albion Park Show rural ambassadors for a week I am in awe of what it takes to draw a record crowd to an event and keep them entertained from 8am until 10pm. A reminder of how important it is that young people like Ethan Forsyth, Madi Calloway, Shay Mawbey and Jayda Tisma put their hands up to carry on the proud tradition of community volunteering that it takes to make it all happen

Congratulations to Madi Calloway who is the 2023 Albion Park Show Rural Ambassador – a truly tough decision. Mega shoutout to Ryan McParland doing an extraordinary job of bringing local youth together. 🙏 BlueScope and #WINTV for investing in NextGen #countryshows #community #youthinag #volunteering #action4agriculture

See the wonderful photos from the Wollongong Camera Club here

#makingadifference #creatingabetterworldtogether

Agriculture and the “Leaders are Born Mindset” – why has it become part of our identity?

Its been a week of getting my confidence back by stepping up and saying yes to podcasts and interviews

Tonight I get to share my thoughts on leadership

Here is my leadership thought dump of other people’s ideas that resonate with me

Leadership is a process of influence to drive change

We can’t do it alone and we can do it in silos

We must join forces, share resources, skills, knowledge and experiences. Source Julie McAlpin RDA Sydney

I workshopped below with a number of bright minds who came to agriculture from the world beyond and put their toes in the water and went wow the disruptors are very brave people

Agriculture tends to have a “Leaders are Born Mindset”

This has been driven by agriculture’s traditional patriarchal culture where the first born son inherits the farm. This concept has been perpetuated for centuries.

It is a very deep-seated generational identity culture.

In this country women were not allowed to call themselves farmers in the census until 1994

In a sector where you are rewarded for learning to fit in and NOT challenge the status quo we are asking people to re-identify who we are as an industry and as people

Asking people to embrace the concept of “Leaders are Made” will be frightening for a lot of people

This has led to our traditional leadership programs being one off events with no clear pathway of what could be next

These programs are seen as “vehicles” to expose the “born leaders” and position them to fulfil their birth destiny.

and now to the work of the team from The Practice of Adaptive Leadership – Harvard Kennedy School

How glorious is this concept

Leadership is an experimental art. We are all at the frontier.

Think of your life as a leadership laboratory. In that laboratory, you are continuously facing opportunities for learning how to be more effective in living a meaningful existence, and for making more progress on life’s deepest purposes and leading meaningful change.

Seeing life as a leadership lab enables you to try things out, make mistakes, strengthen your skills, and take pleasure in the journey as well as the fruits of your labour.

This from conversations with our wonderful Young Farming Champions

There is no one size fits all

Young people are doing it differently, the business model has changed

We don’t want to be part of “Old codgers organisations”

We want to ensure young people have a seat at the table

We want to ensure their voices are heard and valued

We can be shapers of “what might we be together”

Back to the brains trust that is the Adaptive Leadership team

The tools and tactics for leading adaptive change should be treated, we believe, in the same spirit as open source technology, made broadly available, so that people who lead adaptive change can learn from each other and improve their skills, and all of us improve our insights into practice.

Leadership for change demands inspiration and perspiration.

We present tools and tactics to lead and stay alive, to build up a sweat by inspiring others, to mobilize people to tackle tough problems while reaching high.

Our work begins with the assumption that there is no reason to exercise leadership, to have a courageous conversation with a boss or a spouse, for example, or to take a risk on a new idea, unless you care about something deeply. What outcome would make the effort and the risk worthwhile?

Trying to create something better from the current reality.

Growing tomorrow’s leaders today moving from reactive to future focused leadership

The practice of leadership, like the practice of medicine, involves two core processes:

diagnosis first and then

action.

And those two processes unfold in two dimensions: toward the organizational or social system you are operating in and toward yourself. That is, you diagnose what is happening in your organization or community and take action to address the problems you have identified.

But to lead effectively, you also have to examine and take action toward yourself in the context of the challenge. In the midst of action, you have to be able to reflect on your own attitudes and behaviour to better calibrate your interventions into the complex dynamics of organizations and communities.

You need perspective on yourself as well as on the systemic context in which you operate. The process of diagnosis and action begins with data collection and problem identification (the what), moves through an interpretive stage (the why) and on to potential approaches to action as a series of interventions into the organization, community, or society (the what next).

Typically, the problem-solving process is iterative, moving back and forth among data collection, interpretation, and action.

Adaptive challenges can only be addressed through changes in people’s priorities, beliefs, habits, and loyalties.

Making progress requires going beyond any authoritative expertise to mobilize discovery, shedding entrenched ways, learning from mistakes, and generating the new capacity to thrive anew.

Just love people who wake up everyday to help us create a better world

Would you agree that the human need to be heard and valued trumps almost everything else?

When my dose of Red Tractor Designs arrived in my inbox this morning the picture reminded me of a great little book I read recently called Life and Death Listening by Dan Oblinger

Dan invites us all to become better listeners by building more CAMPFIRES

Sometimes we need an anchoring image in our mind to focus our intention. The best image for the sort of listening that I’m talking about is that of a roaring campfire.

Inside the circle of the light, it’s safe to tell your story for all to hear.

Almost any topic can be discussed in this atmosphere of friendship and trust.

Outside the circle, there is darkness, fear, and confusion. Leaders and lovers should put considerable time and energy into creating a campfire atmosphere at work or in the home!

Stoke the coals, throw on a new log, and invite the story-telling to commence.

What should motivate all of us to become the best listener we can is this truth.

We should listen to people because of what they are, not who they are.

We listen to people because as a human being they possess a dignity that is invaluable.

They are one of us!

Every human being wants to be understood and loved.

Everyone has a story to tell and desires for an audience, even an audience of one.

The human need to be heard and valued trumps most everything else.

Dan is right. Listening is the most important communication skill.

We hesitate to share our fears, dreams, and aspirations with each other.

When we do, it is often raw, unfiltered, and incomplete.

In the modern hustle of business and life in general, our society lowers the bar for listening.

Our shared human desire for connection is what makes the fine art of “listening well” so compelling. It is the secret to unlocking the universe of people. It is foundational for both leadership and friendship. Source Life and Death Listening by Dan Oblinger

In 2021 I am looking forward to mastering my listening skills and giving the emerging leaders I work with access to experts from all over the world like Charlie Arnot, Roxi Beck, Kwame Christian and maybe even Dan to help them “unlock the universe of people” and get the best outcomes for farmers, consumers and the planet

Speaking of great listeners how awesome is the work of Oscar Trimboli who recently shared this on LinkedIn

I am curious – if honesty is the most valued leadership trait why did 75 million Americans vote for Trump?

It seemed easy to just brush past accountability in a world where, according to the ongoing tally by the Washington Post, Trump made more than 30,000 misleading claims in four years. Source

Why would you want to follow someone if you suspected that they were lying or trying to trick you?

According to the Leadership Challenge Gurus if you want to:

Become the kind of leader people want to follow.
Get other people, by free will and free choice, to move forward together in pursuit of a common vision.
Mobilize others to want to struggle for shared aspirations.

Then the majority of people want a leader who they believe is:

Honest
Competent
Inspiring
Forward-looking

Then I am very curious as to why we keep enabling our politicians to lie to us.

If you google trump lies the list is frightening

The truth hurts, but lies kill. The past 12 months have demonstrated that with a terrifying clarity. Lies about Covid, insisting that it was a hoax cooked up by the deep state, led millions of people to drop their guard and get infected. And one big lie about the US election – claiming that Donald Trump had won, when he’d lost – led to the storming of the US Capitol and an eruption of violence that left five dead. Source

and its not just American politicians

Source

Thirty five years of research by the leadership gurus have shown them, of all the qualities that people look for and admire in a leader, honesty is by far the most personal. People want their leaders to be honest because a leader’s honesty is also a reflection upon their own honesty.

They make this very poignant statement

It’s the quality that can most enhance or most damage personal reputations. If you follow someone who is universally viewed as having impeccable character and strong integrity, then you’re likely to be viewed the same. If you willingly follow someone who is considered dishonest and unethical, your own image is tarnished. In addition, there is perhaps another, subtler, reason why honesty is at the top. When people follow someone, they believe to be dishonest, they come to realize that they have compromised their own integrity. Over time, they not only lose respect for the leader, they lose respect for themselves.

Honesty is strongly tied to values and ethics. Once upon a time people appreciated leaders who took a stand on important principles. They resolutely refused to follow those who lack confidence in their own beliefs.

In reality you really are only as good as your word in the eyes of those you aspire to lead.

Why would you want to follow someone if you suspected that they were lying or trying to trick you?

Not knowing our leaders beliefs is contributing to conflict, indecision, and political rivalry.

People simply don’t trust leaders who can’t or won’t disclose or live by a clear set of values, ethics, and standards.

Honesty is the basis of trust and you have to believe that what the leader speaks or knows is true.

I am constantly seeking out role models who walk the talk.

People who turn

values into actions,
visions into realities,
obstacles into innovations,
separateness into solidarity

People who make a positive difference and create a climate in which people turn challenging opportunities into remarkable successes.

A leading example in this country in Cathy McGowan and she share her inspiring story with our leadership team this week

I am excited

Reframing the “woe is us” messaging in agriculture

Todays big question

What do you think it would take for agriculture to reframe its messaging from

“woe is us”

to

“If you aren’t part of the solution you are part of the problem”?

I am a sixth generation dairy farmer who was told growing up by my father “never learn to milk a cow” It was a message that resonated and I listened and obeyed and chose a career pathway that the world told me would always provide a reliable income for my family and provide opportunities that my siblings and I didn’t have growing up on the farm.

You can imagine the shock/horror feeling I had when six months into my marriage my partner got an offer to go back to his dairy farming roots.

It was a very difficult conversation to have. He was so passionate about the opportunity but the messages I had received as a child rang very loud alarms bells. Those messages meant that despite wanting to support his dream I did everything I could to convince him neither of us should be milking cows for a career.

My pleadings were to no avail, He began his new career as a share farmer on a local dairy farm and the messaging I had received as a child told me I would be required to work very long hours in my off farm career to ensure the bills were paid on time

Twenty five years later I bought my career skills and knowledge of financial literacy, consumer insights and marketing back to the farm so we could grow the business to allow our son to join the dairy business.

What I discovered was a whole new exciting world that for some reason the dairy industry and agriculture wasn’t sharing beyond the farm gate

A world where science, research and technology was available at a level that the medical world I came from couldn’t even dream of. The level of knowledge of ruminant nutrition and capacity to collect data was phenomenal. If only they did this amount of research on human nutrition or doctors got the holistic training vets and agronomists received.

In the following twenty years working in the agriculture advocacy space I have asked myself over and over again . Why are we keeping all this science, research and technology a secret.

Why do we prefer the “woe is us” messaging

Why do we prefer to tell the world things like the average age of farmers in this country in 58 when we know those ABS figures don’t tell the real story.

Why is agriculture so focused on sharing negative messaging . Last week I was part of a workshop where the participants were asked to list all the reasons why young people don’t choose careers in agriculture. I was shocked, surely I must have heard wrong. Surely the industry is across the knowledge from the world of social science that tells us the dangers of reinforcing the negative.

Why do we engage experts to tell us how we can make the most of the opportunities in the world of agriculture and then ignore their advice?

What do you think?

Is it time to reframe our messaging?

What would that look like?

For years I have been been looking for courageous industry leaders who do that.

Meet the forward thinking David Carter CEO of Austral Fisheries. This is the first of a series of Leadership is Language interviews Dione Howard deputy chair of the Youth Voices Leadership Team is doing with David.

What do you think it would take for agriculture to reframe its messaging from “woe is us” to “If you aren’t part of the solution you are part of the problem”?

By the way – those opportunities for a rewarding career in agriculture abound. My advice is only choose to farm if you have strong financial literacy capability ( or some-one on your team who does) and be committed to life-long learning and growing

As an aside I got up early this morning and walked around the garden I started creating 40 years ago around the house on the farm that I lobbied hard not to live in and I experienced great joy. We are a product of our life experiences and I have found you often learn most from your greatest mistakes.

Neil Barr 2014 Where are the young farmers
Bad impressions and bad stereotypes are quicker to form and more resistant to disconfirmation than good ones Source
Bray and Cay 2018. Room To Grow

What I have learnt on my journey to support young people to create a world we all are proud of

Picture perfect in paradise this morning The cows, the ocean ,sunrise and the Chinese fringe flower in full bloom and no filter #lovewhereilive

I have always wanted to be a better person than the person I am. I have found I am not alone.

I am grateful to have found a tribe of young people who wanted to learn how to be the best version of themselves they can be and had the courage to start a movement to pay it forward.

One thing I have learnt is the importance of starting where people are at . If you want to have community impact then help them identify their wants and needs (collect data) go on a journey together, experiment, collect more data, tweak, experiment and signpost success.

Working with young Australians is a joy. Learning what they care about and what they want to learn about is something that will bring joy to everyone.

Each year young people’s desire to “Learn how we can all be kinder to each other” is moving closer to the top of the list.

To help teachers empower them to do this we reached out to our international brains trust.

This beautiful suggestion is inspired by Dale Carnegie

Supporting students in their drive to make the world a kinder place

Invite each student in the class to share a two-minute story of a time in their life they remember when some-one has been incredibly kind to them and how it had affected them.

Then ask the students to identify themes from the stories.

Follow this by asking them to identify the kindest person they know and what qualities/characteristics they think this person has that show they are kind.

Ask the students to share these qualities/characteristics on the whiteboard or similar.

Then ask the students

“Now that we have all been inspired by stories of kindness how can we as individuals bring more kindness into the world.”

Invite them to put forward their ideas

Our team is looking forward to the teachers and students feedback on this idea because we know the best way to drive change is to role model and signpost the behaviour you want to see

We can all be role models. I am personally looking forward to the day politicians become disciples to the theory of change and the concept of signposting the social norms we can all be proud of.

Footnote

My global tribe also recommended:

DailyGood for News that Inspires

Kindness which shares with us that we can all CHOOSE KINDNESS TODAY and every kind act matters. What impact will you have?

Peer Mentoring – what do I bring to the table?

Peer Assisted Teaching and Learning

As mentioned in previous posts I am currently part of a Global Leaders program and I am also very grateful to have a circle of people in Australia who mentor and coach me.

Whenever I have been in Leadership programs the part I struggle with the most is the Peer to Peer mentoring. ( (See footnote) What do I offer my peer?

Whilst I personally avoid one on one peer mentoring situations I love listening to other people do it and just live for the wisdom of the crowd moments.

How do you find Peer to Peer Mentoring opportunitues?

Footnote

Here is a suggested agenda for Peer Mentoring

Start
Where are you in the world?
What’s a thumbnail sketch of your role/organization?
What’s one superpower you have?
Discovery
I enjoy teaching other people how to…
Other people say I’m good at…
One thing I want to gain more perspective on right now is…
Perspective
You say: A recent example of a situation where more
perspective may help.
Your partner says: Here’s an experience I can share…
Swap roles

Stuff it – I am NOT curling up in bed with chocolate

I must admit I was having a pretty frustrating week. So what do you when you decide its all too frustrating and you want to throw your hands up in the air and say stuff it I am just going to curl up in bed and eat chocolate

What I do is I send messages to all the people in my circle who get stuff done and who I know will brighten my day in someway.

Thank you Kris and Roger and WSU for reminding me why its all worthwile and an ht to Nicole and the YVLT .

though the chocolate is very tempting and isnt it great to know there is an Archie for every occasion

Chocolate