Wearing baggy pants doesn't make you a skater, wearing spandex doesn't make you a cyclist, looking at the world through Oakley shades doesn't make you a snowboarder, saying, 'dude' doesn't make you a surfer and-in business—printing 'leader' on your card doesn't make you lead. Real leaders take us to places we've never been, turn nothing into something, transform good into great, help us grow as human beings and change the pieces of the world that they touch for the better. Real leaders are, in other words, Extreme Leaders. This site will help you make the choice to be one of them. So spend some time, poke around, and when inspiration strikes, chime in on the blog below...
“ Raising someone up does not reduce your stature—in fact, it exalts you in ways you have to experience to believe. Greater Than Yourself shows how you can begin improving the world by giving of yourself. It’s a wonderful message wrapped in a highly entertaining, well written story.”
- Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager® and Leading at a Higher Level
I wrote recently about principal, Jim Wipke, and his endeavors to bring Extreme Leadership into the world of education.
Well…here’s evidence of his influence on another teacher in a very personal, direct way. Â The following email is from Paul Godwin (posted here with his permission). Â I don’t share this to toot my own horn–even though it sorta does, I guess–but more to give you a glimpse into the quality of heart that resides and thrives in the world’s great teachers. And also to underscore something I’ve come to understand about my own work: more than anything, it serves as a confirmation of the instincts that are already there, and simply lends the courage to act on the power of those instincts.
Here’s Paul:
“Two weeks ago I attended the Rockwood School District PLC Collaboration Summit in St. Louis, Missouri. I was fortunate enough to sit in on Dr. Jim Wipke’s presentation on his perception of leadership as it pertains to educators. As I walked out of the room I felt as if the clouds were separating and a beacon of light was shining down on me. Dr. Wipke spoke extremely highly of you and the books that you have written.
He was so energizing and motivating that I emailed him the next day to ask if we could talk about being a leader in the educational world. From what I have heard about Dr. Wipke, he is an amazing leader, educator and person.
I immediately went to Borders and picked up two of the three of your books he recommended (The Radical LEAP and Greater Than Yourself).
I would have bought The Radical Edge, too, but they were out. I just went to the Borders website and purchased it through them. That is what sparked this email.
For the past 10 years I have dedicated my professional life to kids and the field of education. I have taught 6th, 7th, high school, and 5th grade in suburban and urban districts around St. Louis. In December of 2007, I completed my Master’s in Educational Administration. In January I began my doctoral program in Instructional Leadership.
For the past year I have had my sights set on obtaining an administrative position. I was the runner up for 3 different positions and final four for a few others. I felt like I was just missing something that put me out in front of the other candidates or gave me the edge.
Until two weeks ago…
I have read [Leap and Greater Than Yourself] and felt a strong connection with the ideas behind your writing. You put into words and actions through your storytelling everything I believe leadership should be in education. I have never been able to express those thoughts or ideas for some reason or another until now.
Now the thank you part…
Last week I went on another interview for an Assistant Principal position. I felt as if I had no chance of getting this position based on many factors that had nothing to do with my capabilities as an administrator. It was more of a hierarchy within the district. I would have to ‘hop’ over people with experience in and out of the district.
Well, as it turns out, I was able to clearly convey my love, energy and passion toward children and education during the interviews more vividly than I’d previously been able to do.
I got the job!
I truly believe your books were a huge part of the inspiration and motivation I needed to help me overcome my previous ‘defeats.’ Thank you!
My wife, Kristin, has even made reference to the fact that I am ‘a more inspired person’ after reading your work. Your books were all I talked about each time I set the book down. So, Kristin thanks you too. My two little girls don’t know what I am talking about, but if they did, I am sure they would thank you.
Greater Than Yourself is a book I am going to purchase for all my grade level leaders. I really believe this book will help generate a more caring, focused and collaborative staff. I feel this book will ultimately help our teachers help our students!
Now, Dr. Wipke mentioned you might be coming to the Rockwood School District in September. I would be honored if I could thank you in person.”
The following note from Ireland came to us via the Greater Than Yourself site. The writer is specifically asking about GTY as a solution for some far-reaching (heart-wrenching) challenges, and it’s a good question. But I’d like to open it up to any and all solutions.
So…what advice do you have for our Irish friend? Would GTY be part of the solution? If so, why? If not, why not? What other ideas or words of counsel or encouragement can you offer? Please comment below:
“I am an HR Director in a software company in Ireland. Due to recession, societal meltdown and a holcaust of sorts in the form of a child abuse scandal in Ireland, employees are on their knees. Sure they are trying hard, etc. but they do so without passion, without a cause and with a ‘going through the motions’ mindset. I want to do something to break this cycle, to create something new in the company and to bring hope to these guys. Is GTY for us?”
I’ve always yearned for the principles of Extreme Leadership to find their way into the world of education, and–little by little–it’s starting to happen.
Recently, I’ve also come to know Jim Wipke, who is the principal of Crestview Middle School in the St. Louis area. Jim and his team have been applying The Radical Leap, The Radical Edge, and–more recently–Greater Than Yourself to the way the teachers, administrators and students work together and with each other.
Jim was kind enough to capture some of his initial thoughts on why GTY is so important to educators and students today.
Here’s Principal Wipke:
“To me, that message of Greater Than Yourself (GTY) fits so well to the field of education. The best of the best teachers want this for their students. They want to share their knowledge and give so much of themselves to their students that when the year is over, their students are not only prepared for the next school year, but are better prepared for life.
“Is this not also so true for coaches? The best coaches obviously love the sport they coach, but relish the opportunity to make their players and teams better than any team they were ever a part of, and they totally give of themselves to get this done. As we educators know, money is not our reward. Our reward is the experience of giving ourselves to our students. I’ve been an educator for 16 years, so you can trust me when I say that when a student (or a player you have coached) says thank you for making a difference in my life…well, that’s much more of a treasure than a paycheck at the end of the month.
“I also feel that Greater Than Yourself has key concepts that carry over into other areas in education besides student/teacher relationships. How about student/student relationships? So much is already being done through character education programs, but here’s an opportunity to help students understand the value of helping fellow students. And how about teacher/teacher and teacher/administrator relationships? The days of teaching in isolation are long gone, and we are now in an era of education where Professional Learning Communities are valued, where we look at individual strengths and put teacher-teams together based on these strengths, and then we encourage them to collaborate.
“Greater Than Yourself heightens the respect for this collaboration and promotes true investment in each other to catapult team members to becoming greater than they ever imagined. Our keeping an open mind to the application of Steve Farber’s work to the field of education can truly change our schools and the communities in which we work.
“I highly recommend Greater Than Yourself for educators. Not only will it serve as a great refresher for the teacher-to-student relationships, but it will serve as a huge motivator for teachers to help their colleagues become greater than they could have ever dreamed.
“As for me, I have a GTY project of my own. She is an educator who wants to become an administrator/principal. She is in the final rounds for an administrative position in a neighboring school district. Regardless of whether or not she lands this position, I know she will be a great administrator sooner or later. And if I have done my job well, she will go on to be a better principal than I.”
Now, here’s the epilogue:
Jim has just been asked to step up as the Principal of Eureka High School.
And his GTY project? What about her and that position she was shooting for?
There’s an excellent GTY conversation taking place over at HarvardBusiness.org.
What follows is a question left by Julie Engel Manga and my response to it. What do you think?
Julie says:
“I am very happy to see this discussion. One note: The GTY project is discussed as an “action” or project. I suggest that while clearly this kind of commitment must show up in action that it is, as importantly, an orientation toward others and the world. It implies a certain kind of relationship with others and the world.
Given this, I suggest that it’s useful to consider that the folks who take on the GTY project are in a developmentally different place than those who don’t. (Here I reference the work of adult developmental psychologists like Robert Kegan and Howard Gardner, for example). If this is the case, then an central question is: How can individuals be encouraged into this kind of orientation? What kinds of environment, structures, relationships can support someone in moving into this kind of orientation. While it’s not simply (or even mostly, perhaps), a function of age, I think it’s valid to think of the GTY orientation as a manifestation or indicator of more developed maturity.
I get concerned when conversations skew only toward action, as I think it limits how we make sense of the issue and therefore how we consider working with it.”
And I responded:
“Excellent questions, and, yes, GTY orientation = maturity, combined with a deep sense of self and an unwavering belief that relationship is not a zero-sum game. And we all know that those things don’t automatically come with age, nor are they necessarily related to it. I’ve met many incredibly smart, socially conscious, help-minded people who are barely old enough to vote, as well as more “senior” folks who would just as soon bust your kneecaps as give you a lift home.
All of us, though–no matter our age–need to work on culturing those positive qualities in ourselves, so we have an ever greater capacity to give to others. (The first tenet of GTY is a practice I call Expand Yourself, along with Give Yourself, and Replicate Yourself).
As for how we can encourage people into this kind of orientation, I’m not sure there’s a formulaic answer or approach to that. I don’t think, though, that it’s a simple got-it-or-not phenomenon. It can, in other words, be encouraged in people who don’t practice GTY by default (few of us do, really). For some, it’s simply a matter of presenting them with the challenge, and giving the evidence that it’s the right thing to do–and in many cases all we’re really doing is giving them permission to act on an impulse they already have, but pay no attention to.
If we can encourage people to try it, to get just a taste of the exhilarating experience of lifting another to a higher level then themselves, I think it would take hold as a personal practice. That’s how I came to the strategy of asking my readers to start with just one person as a GTY Project. It’s less intimidating and more manageable, and, therefore, more likely to happen. Once it does, it’d be hard to stop.
What do Warren Bennis, Marcus Buckingham, Pat Lencioni, Marshall Goldsmith, Dan & Chip Heath and Don Hutson all have in common? Well, aside from the fact that each is a bestselling author and leadership guru in his own right, they’re all part of a free leadership library being offered by Growing Today as an incentive to participate in a campaign for Greater Than Yourself.
The epilogue at the end of Greater Than Yourself is a case study of a GTY challenge I issued to the students and staff of Up with People. (There’s a little film snippet of the experience over at greaterthanyourself.com). If you look in the book, you’ll notice that the byline on the piece is not yours truly, but Andrew Lanham, who was a staff member at the time.
And that’s significant in the context of the spirit of GTY.
At the time, you see, Andrew–a gifted and creative young dude–was preparing to apply to the graduate program in screenwriting at the University of Texas in Austin, a notoriously difficult program to get accepted to. So, here’s the way I figured it: it sure wouldn’t hurt Andrew’s application for him to have his name in a book published by a major New York publisher. And nothing would make me happier than to share my platform with him, if it would help him to achieve his dream. In some small way, at least.
So, that was my motivation in asking Andrew to write in my book.
Now, here’s the epilogue to the story-behind-the-epilogue:
Andrew is in! I’ve just learned that he’s been accepted to the UT RTF Screenwriting MFA program.
I’m not suggesting that I really had anything to do with that–like I said, he’s gifted–but, man, it sure feels awesome. So here’s to you, Andrew! Go light the entertainment world on fire. I can’t wait for the time when I’ll be able to say, “I knew him when.” It’s that Greater Than Yourself thing.
(Oh, and if you’d like to match a face with the name, Andrew’s the 3rd one in the aforementioned short film).
If you’d like to watch the full video (and I think you would–like it, that is) it’s available in the Resource section. You have to register to download the whole shebang, but I promise I won’t do anything unseemly with your email address.
Since Zane and I go waaaaayyyy back, I’m confident in predicting that it will be a lively exchange. He’s a wise dude who asks great questions and pulls no punches.
