(The Leader in Me: How Schools Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child at a Time) [By: Covey, Stephen R.] [Sep, 2014]

by Stephen R. Covey

The world has entered an era of the most profound and challenging change in human history. Most of our children are not prepared, and we know it. Parents around the world see the change and know that the traditional three R's -- reading, writing, and arithmetic -- are necessary, but not enough. Their children need to become far more responsible, creative, and tolerant of differences. They need to increase their ability to think for themselves, take initiative, get along with others, and solve problems. Business leaders are not finding people whose skills and character match the demands of today's global economy, including strong communication, teamwork, analytical, technology, and organizational skills. They need young people who are self-motivated, creative, and have a strong work ethic. How will we bridge this ever-widening gap? The Leader in Me is the story of the extraordinary schools, parents, and business leaders around the world who are preparing the next generation to meet the great challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century. In 1999, the A.B. Combs Elementary School in North Carolina was on the verge of being cut as a magnet school and needed to find new ways to educate its students. Teachers and administrators began teaching practical, principle-based leadership skills -- with remarkable results. In a short time, the number of students passing end-of-grade tests vaulted from 84 to 97 percent. Simultaneously, the school began reporting significant increases in students' self-confidence, dramatic drops in discipline problems, and striking increases in teacher and administrator job satisfaction. Parents, meanwhile, reported equivalent improvements in their children's attitudes and behavior at home. As news of the school's success spread, schools around the world began adopting the mantra to "develop leaders, one child at a time." Business and civic leaders started partnering with schools in their communities to sponsor teacher training and student resources. Each school and family approached the principles differently, but the results were the same -- attentive, energized young people engaging in the world around them. The best way to prepare the next generation for the future is to emphasize the value of communication, cooperation, initiative, and unique, individual talent -- for nothing undermines confidence more than comparison. Whether in the classroom or at home, it is never too early to start applying leadership skills to everyday life. Drawing on the many techniques and examples that have already seen incredible success around the world, The Leader in Me shows how easy it is to incorporate these skills into daily life. It is a timely answer to many of the challenges facing today's young people, businesses, parents, and educators -- one that is perfectly matched to the global demands of the twenty-first century.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Parenting, Leadership, Teaching, Professional Development, Self Help

Paperback

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Stephen Richards Covey was an American educator, author, businessman, and speaker. His most popular book is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. His other books include First Things First, Principle-Centered Leadership, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, The 8th Habit, and The Leader In Me: How Schools and Parents Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child at a Time. In 1996, Time magazine named him one of the 25 most influential people. He was a professor at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University (USU) at the time of his death.

Reviews

[Krystal · Rating 1 out of 5]

A short summary:

A.B.Combs, A.B.Combs, 7 Habits! 7 Habits!, A.B.Combs, A.B.Combs! 7 Habits! A.B.Combs, A.B.Combs, 7 Habits! 7 Habits!, A.B.Combs, A.B.Combs! 7 Habits! A.B.Combs, A.B.Combs, 7 Habits! 7 Habits!, A.B.Combs, A.B.Combs! 7 Habits! A.B.Combs, A.B.Combs, 7 Habits! 7 Habits!, A.B.Combs, A.B.Combs! 7 Habits! A.B.Combs, A.B.Combs, 7 Habits! 7 Habits!, A.B.Combs, A.B.Combs! 7 Habits! A.B.Combs, A.B.Combs, 7 Habits! 7 Habits!, A.B.Combs, A.B.Combs! 7 Habits! A.B.Combs, A.B.Combs, 7 Habits! 7 Habits!, A.B.Combs, A.B.Combs! 7 Habits! A.B.Combs, A.B.Combs, 7 Habits! 7 Habits!, A.B.Combs, A.B.Combs! 7 Habits! LEADER! LEADER!

This book is not for teachers. It's a novel length advertisement for Covey's 7 Habits book.

(IMHO)

[Anne]

This book didn't help me as an educator with how-to's for my school. I bought the book hoping it would help me. Its in the education section of the book store.

However, this is written more for a broad audience and tells how Covey's disciplines have worked in schools.

The clincher is the how-to: if you want to help your local school win with his plan, after reading his book, then I am assuming you must attend his seminars in order to work towards these leadership disciplines.

I would've loved a guide or guidelines on how to set up this winning, leadership discipline. But about halfway thru the book I realized that wouldn't happen.

I'm sorry, but as a teacher I would have to pay to go his seminars myself. We don't get reimbursed or the company doesn't pay for us to attend his seminars on leadership. As a teacher who makes a salary vaguely above the poverty level, I find it sad and insulting that Covey wouldn't be more helpful with his leadership plan for educators.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first have to state that I am not an impartial reviewer of this book. I have been lucky enough to be involved in working on The Leader in Me project for the last year. I think what is documented in this book is so significant that I left a great situation at a growing company to join FranklinCovey and work on this program. This book chronicles how a small but growing number of elementary schools have created a place where literally every child becomes a leader. Not a leader in the sense of a position at the top of a hierarchy, but in a much more meaningful sense. These students become leaders in the sense of understanding their own worth and potential and practicing the principles that allow them to realize that potential. They develop "primary greatness" as Dr. Covey calls it, meaning that it is not just notoriety, power or position but real character they develop. I have been to these schools and met the students and spent days there in research, filming, etc. I can attest to the fact that what is recounted in this book is real and it is exciting and it gives me tremendous hope for the future. As turbulent as the world is, I am sometimes scared for my children's future. But this work inspires me to see their great potential to shape the future as leaders.

[Dr.Given · Rating 4 out of 5]

Others' critiques of this book are warranted. Like many books in this genre, the guru/writer does a lot of repetition of old news and then tells of a success story where a set of steps 'fixed' a school. If you are willing to get past this, the book does have a great message and I took ideas away that seem pretty simplistic, but that are often overlooked in schools managing a lot of stakeholders, outside mandates, and trying to be all things to all people. The most important lesson being, add-on programs for character education are not going to change the choices kids make. A school needs to have an integrated approach to developing the whole child, academically and emotionally in order to prepare them to develop and actualize their potential. I would love to visit some of the schools mentioned in the book.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the concept of this book. If you give children the opportunity to take initiative, work cooperatively and take leadership roles and if you EXPECT them to do so, they will. Apparently, the leadership model has been implemented in schools world-wide with success. The book is self-serving, of course. The leadership curriculum is based on Covey's previous book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". The Leadership books sells the 7 Habits book. But I do like the ideas he's presenting.

[Brittany · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some great quotes and nuggets of truth that apply to education in this book.

However, it appears to be a couple hundred pages of examples and propaganda and justifications and not really tips for teachers. I highlighted a few things on a few pages, but there are literally 15 pages of promotional quotes in the front of this book.

I felt tainted by the desire to prove themselves and sell me and not really inspired, unlike other teaching books.

[Faloni © · Rating 5 out of 5]

We got started by following the steps for creating a family mission statement. There are plenty of activities that develop both sides the brain - the left side functions for reasoning, logic and language, while the right side features creativity and the arts. As a parent, I feel it is my responsibility to read to my children everyday. Congratulations! we found The Leader in Me in the right place.

[هديل محمد · Rating 3 out of 5]

(القائد في داخلي) بيتبنى فكرة أو مهارة كنت بسمع عنها في الكلية وهي (المهارات الحياتية أو الناعمة)، أعتقد كانت عندنا بتتمثل في إننا نشترك في تيم تطوعي مش فاكرة عنها أكثر من كده وقتها.

حاليا هي شيء أساسي في أي مجال سواء عمل أو لقاءات، بس ده بيبقى بعيد عن النظام التعليمي عندنا، اللي بيبقى في الأغلب أكاديمي فقط.

فكرة الكتاب إن في مدرسة دورت أيه اللي فعلا الآباء محتاجين أولادهم يتعلموه؟ والإجابة كانت حاجات مختلفة زي التخطيط، حل المشكلات، اتخاذ القرارات، يعني الحاجات اللي التعليم بيقلصها.
وبدأت بالفعل تطبق( العادات السبع للناس الأكثر فاعلية) بس على الطلاب؛ تفهم معنة العادات الأول سواء بطريقة مباشرة أو بتطبيقات من المدرسين أثناء الدرس ليها
بدأت نشاطات جماعية تدعم العادات والمهارات دي، وتشرك الطلاب في تخطيط وتنظيم يوم الآباء مثلا، مساعدة الطلاب الأعلى أكاديميا للطلاب الأقل منهم أكاديميا أو عندهم قصور في شيء، باختصار بدأت تشركهم في العملية التعليمية، وتأصل المهارات بشكل عملي وفعال.

طب ده مهم فعلا؟ أكيد، طب هل سهل نطبقه؟ لا
الاستراتيجيات دي اتعملت في مدارس بره، محتاجة وقت ومجهود وعائد مجزي لكل الهيئة أكيد، محتاجة مستوى اجتماعي وظروف تساعد الطلاب إنهم يطبقوا ده في حياتهم اليومية.

الكتاب ذكر ازاي المدرسين بدأوا يطبقوا العادات دي في حياتهم، وازاي الطلاب نقلوها للبيت.

الفكرة (مثالية) من بره، ولكن هي فعلا مهمة ومحتاجة تتعمل ولو بشكل بسيط أكيد هتفرق.

طب الكتاب حلو ويستاهل الشراء؟
لو بتتكلم عن الفكرة، فالفكرة تستاهل خصوصا في العصر ده والمهارات المطلوبة في كل مجال مبقتش تقتصر بس على الشهادة العلمية، طب الكتاب نفسه؟ تكرار مليان تكرار لنفس الفكرة، فيه فصول كاملة ممكن تعديها، أنت فهمت الفكرة وشوفت شوية تجارب ممكن يتلخصوا في ربعه، الترجمة أعتقد كانت كويسة _بالنسبة ليا_.

الكتاب من ترجمة (عصير الكتب )

الكتاب مفيد (للمدرسين والآباء ) وأعتقد المدرسين هتطبقه بشكل ضيق، لضيق الوقت، ولكن الآباء فعلا على المدى البعيد هيكونوا عملوا تجربة مختلفة لو طبقوا الفكرة دي.

[Nicole Janee · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wasn’t the biggest fan of this book. I was hoping for some more explicit descriptions of the habits and tools for teachers but it was really just a long advertisement for the Leader in Me. The book was mostly aimed at admin interested in bringing the program to their school.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 Stars!

I read this book for a book club at school. We are a Leader in Me school, so I went into this book with pretty high expectations for helping me understand HOW to incorporate the 7 habits in my daily teaching. I enjoyed the first couple of chapters when it was introducing what “Leader In Me” is and when it gave a quick overview of the habits. But then it just kept going on like that…no real substance. I felt like I was reading a “Praise Book” for the program. It didn’t provide any resources to guide me on the HOW to incorporate and accommodate this. I was hoping for a “how to” guide, and this book was more of a “join in on our story and here’s what we’ve done.”

I like the concept of this book. Give the students the opportunities to be leaders and to work cooperatively. And I like the 7 habits…I agree with them, and I believe in them. I just found the examples in this book to be a bit repetitive. The book had some good “take away” stories in all the chapters and the quotes sound great, but I felt like I was reading a long advertisement for the program.

The book was mostly filled with elementary examples. I teach secondary students, and it wasn’t until the 3 chapters of the book, that they finally mentioned secondary issues. Then the chapter went on to tell me what makes secondary issues hard for Leader in Me to work. (Yes…I already knew all of these issues.) I was pretty disappointed when I got to those chapters. This was the WHY I was reading this book, and it fell flat.

The book is inspiring and uplifting and everything is very positive. I was hoping for more substance, lesson plan ideas, discussion topics, etc. that would work with 15-18 year old teenagers. I believe this is a very neat idea and concept, and I will continue to learn about the habits and try to live and model them in my everyday life, but I will need to find better resources than this book. This was a good introduction to “The Leader In Me.”

[The Reading Countess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People principles: 1. be proactive, 2. begin with the end in mind, 3. put first things first, 4. think win-win, 5. seek first to understand, then be understood, 6. synergize, 7. sharpen the saw: these principles are put into place in schools now globally. Understanding that our children are 21st century learners and must learn tools necessary to be successful in the 21st century, Covey asserts that his principles are a wonderful bridge to kids' future happiness.

While I enjoyed the book overall, I found the examples of schools currently using the program to be highly repetitive and dull. I would have like to have heard more about how the specific principles are applicable to children, rather than what school x is doing in state y. It felt a little like a commercial for the trainings that they offer interested schools.

[Jennifer Mangler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading this book felt a little like sitting through a time share sales pitch. It goes on and on about how transformative the program is and shares success story after success story, but it doesn't give much of an idea how you can implement the program. It's a 200+ page advertisement for the program. I suppose this book sells the program, and then you contract with the company and they teach you how to implement it. That feels a bit icky - just another way to get money out of you rather than a sincere effort to help the reader. That's pretty cynical of me, I know, but that's how I felt reading it.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone who has anything to do with a school, parent, educator, community members, needs to read this book. Listen to what he says very carefully and acknowledge the challenges he points out. On the surface, much of what he describes sounds too good to be true, but as you consider the value of what the 7 habits can bring, you see the value in what he proposes.
If you are not familiar with the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, it would be wise to read that in conjunction with this book. I have only read the intro, an overview and Habit 1 and already I have noticed subtle and positive changes in the way I do things.
Both are timeless books that have the potential to change the world. (Yes, I have been that brainwashed or as some would say, "I've taken huge gulps of the Kool-Aid." but I don't care. It is helping me in my life and I believe this information will make all the difference in the world for my students.)

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book and it helped me get excited to begin The Leader in Me at my school this year. However, the book is more of an advertisement for the program than anything else. There are some examples and explanations, but you really need the full training to "get" it. I enjoyed all of the motivational quotes and it helped spark some ideas for my teaching. The chapter on community engagement was not helpful to teachers, but everything else was at least semi-useful. I wish there were more information for secondary schools and teachers, but I think part of the issue is that the program isn't in place at very many secondary schools yet.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked Stephen Covey's 7 Habits, and was excited about reading The Leader in Me to learn how to incorporate the habits into my middle school curriculum. However, I found the book to be more of a praise for 7 Habits as opposed to a resourceful guide into how to accomplish this. There were a few chapters worth reading. But, overall, I found 7 Habits more valuable.

[Tamlynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had some very good ideas, some of which I will use with my kids and family, but I just lose respect for books that use the terms "paradigm shift" and "synergy."

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read like an infomercial. Good info, but redundant and could have been much shorter.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too Good to Be True? Students at A.B. Coombs School increased test schools from 84%-94% in 2 years. This promotes primary greatness (learning for learning) instead of secondary greatness (awards). Panda Express visits school and realizes that leadership really means responsibility.
Discovering What Parent, Business Leaders and Teachers want from a school: Muriel came to a 7 habits lecture and had the idea to apply these principles to very young children. Muriel’s school was not attracting enough students and might lose it’s magnet status.
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: 1. Be Proactive (initiative), 2. Begin with the End in Mind (set goals), 3. Put first things first (prioritize), 4. Think win-win (third alternative), 5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood (no interrupting), 6. Synergize (teamwork), 7. Sharpen the Saw (Self care).
Parents wanted students to be responsible, parents never mentioned academics! Business leaders want good communicators, honest, and ability to work as a team. Teachers want to make a difference in student’s lives. Students want peace of mind.
Crafting a Blueprint for Leadership: Our mission - to develop leaders one child at a time. School’s Vision: To live, to love to learn, to leave a legacy. We live by striving to be the best we can be, we love by caring for others, we learn by working hard in school and always doing our best, we leave a legacy by sharing our school with others and trying to make a difference in the world. The first three habits help a person become independent (private victory) and the next habits help the person become interdependent (public victory). The ubiquitous approach builds the habits into everything. Leadership is not one more thing teachers need to teach; it is part of everything they teach. Students have data notebooks to record personal and academic goals and to chart their progress. They also chart class progress on class charts on the classroom wall. Story: misbehavior from another school who had cold cocked the principal unconscious. They did not put him on a learning agreement when he got there. They loved him and in time he responded and was popular and got good grades.
Aligning for Success: Before this leadership focus, it was if the goals were arrows pointing in all different directions – without a clear direction. Some aligned arrows: bring people on board with the new theme (initiated a pilot with one teacher per grade, their success was so great that then the others wanted to do it), aligning school’s structure to match the strategy (each position had leader after it – leader of keeping the building clean and each class has a student leader), training staff in 7 habits, aligning reward system (grading 1-4 and 4 exceeds expects, silver tray lunch for students with good manners).
Unleashing a culture of Leadership: This will be a labor of love. We can do it! Culture is how people actually behave and treat each other on a consistent day-in and day-out basis. Culture can be seen, felt, and heard. Behaviors are taught via the 7 habits during the first week of school. Language: principal and others tell them daily how marvelous and loved each student is. The teachers have a common language to use based on the habits. Artifacts: posters and quotes in hallways. Traditions: Leadership Day, Silver tray luncheon, service projects. Folklore: stories from the past that illustrate 7 habits.
Rippling Across the Globe: Rippling across the globe: A.B. coombs was the first school to become a leadership school using the seven habits. Many other schools have come to visit in the hopes of achieving/copying the leadership model.
Moving Upward and Beyond: Inner city teen wrote own motto: Never give up, which inspired her to graduate college. Another teen was inspired by a 7 habits passage and wrote a sonnet about his brother who was fatally stabbed in a fight. Tony used real life examples in his class and students said this was the “first time I am allowed to talk about things I want to talk about.” One student’s dad took her 7 habits book and wouldn’t give it back until he had finished it. One teacher removed the lockers and jackhammered the walls (this was sure to reduce discipline problems). One principal had students help build a ropes course. Then she had the students trained as facilitators. She believes in child labor. She also had them assist a contractor in converting storage space into four classrooms. Japan teaches the 7 habits in cram schools (which parents must pay for).
Making it happen one step at a time:
Inspire Trust – so much of leadership and teaching is all about the relationships. Let them know you care. Model the behavior.
Clarify Purpose – mission, vision, strategy. Ask child what their goals are in life.
Align Systems – attracting the right people, positioning (adult and student leadership roles), developing 7 habits in the staff, how will reward the students? How will poor performance be handled? You need the children to ‘buy in.’
Unleash Talent – All teachers are free and empowered to get there at their own pace and under their own initiative. What gifts do you see in your children?
Ending with the beginning in mind:
Phase one: modern day miracle worker – Anne who taught Helen Keller. Anne had also been through her share of trials. Muriel at A.B. Coombs is also a miracle worker in the lives of the children.
Phase two: tradition of caring is the most important part of this program and it works best if all teachers participate.
Phase Three: not one more thing: it is not one more thing, it is the main thing. A lot of what we teach is nonessential. Could we be spending time on irrelevant content ata the expense of neglecting twenty first-century life skills and other relevant content?
Phase four: universal nature – we all lead lives that are quite different and yet very much the same. We all have four basic needs, for example
Bringing it home: Parent comment – a while back my daughter said to me “look, mommy, we are synergizing. We are cleaning he kitchen together!” No institution is under siege in today’s society more than the family. There is no greater, no more important, leadership role than that of being a parent. Siblings can think of a win-win solution instead of arguing about a solution.
Reflections of leadership:
1. If you treat all students as if they are gifted, and you always look at them through that lens of being gifted in a least some aspect, they will rise to the level of expectation.
2. Treat a man as he is and you make him worse than he is. Treat a man as he has the potential to become and you make him better than he is.
3. Leadership is communicating people’s worth and potential so clearly that they are inspired to see it in themselves.
We can monitor children when they are at home but when they leave, then it is up to them. To truly provide round the clock protection is that of instilling within them the internal desire to make right choices, even when no one is watching. Parenting comes with no guarantee of success.
Write family mission statement: explore what you family is about, write family mission statement, stay on course.
Sharpen the saw (mind, body, heart, spirit)

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I have some good takeaways, but I also think this book got a bit long-winded and was heavy on the examples. I want to take an adapt this, to condense it into a workbook or main ideas. I think there is a great message overall and I'd love to adapt it for my students and my school in some way.

[Selina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book for schools and educators to think about what education is truly about, and how to make the journey of education more effective and efficient. The transformation and paradigm shifts required will not happen overnight, but require persistence and collaboration from not only parents and teachers, but also the community as a whole.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great ideas on inspiring greatness and leadership in kids and in the classroom.

[Assem Malika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for school administrators

[Thaissa Padovan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book teaching why we should teach little kids the 7 habits of highly effective people and life's principles, so they can be successful leaders of tomorrow.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the beginning half of this book. Spurred great conversation

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goed boek over de toepassing van de zeven eigenschappen van leiderschap op scholen.

[Lance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, this is not a good book. It is not well written and often boring. It seems to be a 250 page infomercial for all "7 Habits" products and seminars. However, at its core this is a helpful book if this is what it takes for administrators and superintendents to understand that all educational decisions need to be based upon meaningful principles that take entire humans into consideration. I enjoyed the beginning of the book most as it set up some of the problems with the current model of education. I especially like the (short) discussion on technology greatly disrupting what people now need to learn in school. I fully agree on moving toward creativity, problem solving, critical thinking, creating, inventing, designing, thinking globally, and having people skills. There are very few "facts" that people must learn anymore. Instead, people must learn to find facts and then do something meaningful with them. Preparing students for unimaginable "possible futures" is about finding and "amplifying their strengths", finding their niche where they can be happy and thrive according to The Leader In Me, and I could not agree more. However, I disagree on how exactly we should go about that. This book seems to think the world would be a better place if everyone could synergize and learn to think like a "highly effective" person. I do not care as much about a person's effectiveness as their happiness and their impact on the world. I do not teach to churn out perfect droid bees nor queen bees. I teach to guide students to happy, healthy lives that have a positive impact on the world - no matter how small. We don't need everyone to be leaders - just good, thoughtful people. While I may not personally agree with everything in the book, I have to say that if education was run this way in the whole country, our future would most certainly be brighter.

[Megan Watt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am LOVING this book. I am so glad my children are attending a "Leader in Me" School! This book is about the foundation of teaching very young children the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. My kids school is partly based on this philosophy and these principles. It is so great to know that beyond ""book smarts" my children are learning a foundation that will carry over into every aspect of their lives - they are learning to be leaders and communicators and to make decisions - I can't give this book and the philosophies enough kudos. Even if your children don't learn these principles in the classroom, I recommend reading this book and incorporating it into your home and the way you communicate with your children and the way they learn to communicate with others - you will do nothing less than give them a HUGE advantage in life by teaching them this language. Ok - off my soap box now - but you SHOULD read it!

[Lenore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book. I could not find myself putting it down. You learned how an elementary principal from A.B Combs Elementary took Stephen Conveys book of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" and implemented it into the school. The results were outstanding and this books is helpful not only for schools but for parents as well. It mentions other schools adapting this concept of Leadership, honesty/integrity, teamwork, interpersonal skills, self-motivation, strong work ethic and the list continues. Before reading this book I would suggest you read "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". I am working backwards. This author is amazing and I have bought three other books from him and will post them as I read them.

[Relyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a part of a voluntary book study at the elementary school where I teach second grade. I can not overstate the impact this book has had on me and my peers. When you read an education book that makes you cry, not once, not even twice, but several times... you know you have something important in your hands. This book was full of powerful ideas. I am hopeful, so hopeful, that those ideas will take root in my life as a teacher, in my classroom, and in my school.

Instead of managing children's behaviior and "fixing them", maybe we can simply enjoy them and give them opportunities to lead, to shine. This book posits that there is a leader in everyone. And, if we can believe it, and treat people as though this were true, we can change our world - one child at a time. I think this is true. Or, it can be. I really hope it will be.

[Bethe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last 2 chapters of this book are great and earn the book as a whole a fourth star. I am inspired to read the original 7 Habits book. Covey quotes research by Dufour and Marzano, both have been studied at my school. I read out lots of quotes into my phone notes for this review, too many to list here. This one is perhaps the best, from page 196: "Leadership is communicating people's worth and potential so clearly that they are inspired to see it in themselves." Words of wisdom in whatever walk of life, personal and professional.