Chick-fil-a Leadercast pt1

Last week I had the privilege of attending one of the remote broadcast locations for the Chick-fil-a Leadercast. It was an incredible time, and I heard many great truths about leadership, how to make good choice, and how to deal with the choice we make. John Maxwell, one of the speakers, stated it well, "We make a decision, then manage that decision the rest of our lives."

I got to hear wisdom from some people who's names I recognized: Tim Tebow, John Maxwell, Pat Lencioni, Andy Stanley. I also heard from people who's names I didn't recognize: Urban Meyer, Angela Ahrendts, Marcus Buckingham, Soledad O'Brien, Roland Fryer, Sheena Iyengar.

Trying to absorb all of what was spoken is like sitting in a bathtub and trying to absorb all the water from the tub. You're not going to get it all. The key is to find one or two things that really resonated with you and focus on those. Here are the two or three things I'm taking away from the conference:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1) How to improve learning
        Dr Roland Fryer spoke about the decay of our educational system, especially as it pertains to minority groups. As an economist, he looks at the data, and the data is horrifying to behold. Out of the countries of the world, the United States of America invests the 4th highest amount into its country's educational system, but it ranks around 20th educationally. Stop and ponder how horrible that is. A ray of hope is some data from a few small areas of the country where the educational scores are through the roof. Those areas implement 5 key principles into their educational systems, and the proof is in the pudding. The heartbreaking problem is that other areas of the countries aren't willing to implement these principles. The leadership lesson here is that sometimes "We know what we need to do. Do we have the leadership and courage to get it done?"

The five principles are:
         1) Increase time spent studying
         2) Choose good teachers
         3) Get prompt feedback and make necessary adjustments
         4) Utilize small focus groups
         5) Have high expectations

These principles apply to how I can increase my learning as well as how the American Educational System can improve. If I want to learn something better, I need to spend more time studying it. I need to choose good sources of information for what I'm learning, and I need to have some way to evaluate my progress quickly. It would also be good to learn together with a few others, and most importantly, maintain high expectations. "People, especially children, will rise or fall to the expectations placed upon them."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since this went a bit long, I'll post my other take-aways over the next couple of days.