Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Quotes about Vision
As educational leaders, quotes are excellent sources of motivation and inspiration to our staff, community, and students. These words help "frame" and give purpose to our efforts. Please share at least 1 quote (and source) that best captures your beliefs about the importance of vision for effective change and briefly explain why you chose the quote. Please comment on at least 1 one other colleague's shared quote.
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The quote I have always liked is lead by example. I believe that if teachers see you working hard and keeping the school safe they will follow your lead. I do not think teachers will feel the need to work hard for a school that has a leader that does not put in the effort to make the school better.
My favorite proverb is, "A leader who leads and has no one following him is just taking a walk." I like this proverb because I think it says a lot about leadership and being a leader. Leadership is influence! An effective leader must know how to influence people, especially when dealing with reform and bringing about change. Real leaders have a vision and know how to influence others in sharing that vision! If you are leading and have no one following you, you are only taking a walk by yourself, which is ineffective!
I agree with Josh. Anyone in a leadership position should lead by example. I also think that leaders should be willing to do those things that no one else wants to do. A leader does have to put forth an effort and teacher's will take notice and respect them more for it! A leader is not the exception just because they are the leader. They truly have to be the example!
One of my favorite quotes that kind of fits the whole concept of reform is... "If you want to lead the orchestra, you have to turn your back on the crowd" (James Crook). I think that the most challenging reforms are the ones that break from tradition.
One of my favorite "deep thoughts" by Jack Handey: "Before you criticize someone, try walking a mile in their shoes. That way, if they don't like what you say, you'll be a mile away, and they won't have any shoes." This goes hand in hand with my mantra: "The most wasted day of all is that on which we have not laughed." by Chamfort. While not discounting the serious nature of our work, I do feel as if it is important to optimistically approach any matter with an open mind. I cannot effect change if I go about it negatively or allow myself to become disheartened by the challenge.
There's a Japanese Proverb that says, "Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare." There are times when we see the need for change, yet we do nothing. At other times, we launch into an initiative without careful planning. Vision and action go hand in hand.
“We are limited, not by our abilities, but by our vision.” This was our “Grade Level Motto” when I was grade level chair. This helped us all stay focused on our goal and vision for our students.
Langston Hughes poem, "Dreams," includes the following words that I am frequently reminded of:
"Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly."
Without a vision, as with dreams, a school or an individual is a lost ball in the high grass.
Tony’s quote, “"The most wasted day of all is that on which we have not laughed" is an important reminder for us as future administrators. There are numerous inspirational quotes about vision and leadership, but it is essential to remember if administrators do not take time to take care for themselves they will not be effective leaders. As with teaching, if you do not take time to reenergize yourself, you will become overwhelmed and suffer from burn-out. One of Stephen Covey’s 7 habits of highly effective people is to take time to “sharpen the saw” by doing things you enjoy, such as going to the gym, spending time with family, etc. I think a very important part of being a successful administrator is learning where to draw lines and not being afraid to make yourself a priority.
James Allen wrote, "Cherish your vision; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart. The beauty that forms in your mind. The loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts. If you remain true to them, your world will at last be built."
I believe that we have to keep our vision and goals in front of us or we will potentially get lost in the details. There are so many decisions that must be made and we need to compare them to the vision and make sure they are aligned.
Sarita's quote from a Japanese proverb reminds me of how my school is currently operating. We have a plan to change the the areas that need changing yet we are going so slowly through the motions that nothing is really being done. Why have a plan when you aren't going to follow through with it? I would rather have a plan of things that I will accomplish rather than what someone else thinks we should do and then passive aggressively not complete it.
While watch the big Penn State vs. Ohio State football game on Saturday, I thought about a quote coach Joe Paterno once said, “Believe deep down in your heart that you're destined to do great things.” Administrators are constantly faced with challenges and frustrations. Central office, school board members, and community stakeholders can stand in the way of you doing what you believe what is best for students. You must believe you are destined to accomplish great things so you do not give up with faced with challenges. Administrators need to be creative in finding ways to promote positive change within their schools.
Niko’s quote is one that my mother often said. This is true. It is pointless to have great teachers and a supportive staff if you have no vision or goal. With no destination, how will you effectively “lead” your staff. Where will you go? In circles? As an administrator, we will have to use all the parts and pieces around us to lead.
I think that Niko's comment hit home because this is the problem with a lot of school's. School without a vision has no direction and teachers have no direction with their teaching. As a leader I have to have a vision for my school to make difference.
Tony, my favorite Deep Thought is..."The face of a child can say a lot........especially the mouth part of the face."
We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of the dreams - Willie Wonka
That's what dreams are made of - Van Halen
I dream of Jeannie - Maj. Nelson
"Determine that the thing can and shall be done and then we shall find the way." This is a quote from Abraham Lincoln that I like and reminds me of how a leader should think and act. In schools, we see all sorts of problems that need solutions, but no one wants to tackle them, no one wants to step on of the box and say that we can make a difference regardless of the fact that we would not longer be a part of the status quo. We must determine what needs to be done and take action.
Yesterday, I read Kendra’s post containing the quote, “We are limited, not by our abilities, but by our vision.” and it stuck with me. This particular quote speaks to a real need for more courage and confidence in our power to make improvements in education. Oftentimes, we respond to new ideas with, “Why?”, instead of asking, “Why not?” True visionaries tend to see what is invisible to others. They deal in possibilities. Effective leaders have the courage to share their dreams and inspire others to take action. As educational leaders, we will need to find ways to empower others while clearly defining our plans for progress.
Candace, great quote! As school administrators, I think that that is one of the biggest challenges, leading with no influence or followers. I have experienced that in the past, where a principal has ideas but because of their lack of influence or true vision, no one wants to help make their ideas realities.
My favorite quote that I believe applies to leadership is the motto of the British Special Air Services. It states very simply, "Who dares, wins." Leaders often become so distracted by what happens to them and by the tasks of the day that must occur, that they lose the vision that made them leaders in the first place. Leadership requires daring and risk, but I do believe that it can come with great reward.
Dear Steve,
"I got soul but I'm not a soldier." -The Killers
Dear Dave,
"How do I know when it's love? I can't tell you but it lasts foreeeeeeever." - Van Halen
Dear Josh,
"You're the BEST around! Nothing's ever gonna keep you down!" - Joe Esposito, The Karate Kid Official Soundtrack
Dear Everyone,
"Keep ya head up." - Tupac
"Balance, not just for Karate, but for whole life - Mr. Miyagi
I was not able to find the source of the quote, but it is one that my father used countless times in the business world.
"Good. Better. Best. Never let it rest until the good become better, and the better the best."
This line has been a driving force for my entire career, and a line I envision will be posted whenever I end up getting a room and desk of my own.
Steven Wright said, " If olive oil comes from olives, where does baby oil come from?" As a leader, sooner or later you have to quit analyzing and start doing. It is very easy to create the plan. But if something is working, why do we need to worry about where it is coming from? There will be plenty of other people in the school that want the best for the students. It is important to try to make all of these efforts work together.
I do like Tony's original post. There will be plenty of negative out there without all of us trying to hunt down and share some more. I also like Dave's quote about the conductor having his back to the audience. I think it speaks to the importance of a democratic system, but also to a potential weakness of a democratic system. Democracy is important. But, when does democratic rule become mob rule? A leader sometimes has to be able to turn his back to the criticism and keep directing the orchestra.
I am not a big quote person but I found two quotes that sum up my beliefs about vision and effective change (so far).
"As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others." - Bill Gates
I like this quote because it sums up what we need to accomplish as leaders. We need to educate people to help themselves and work together, not apart. Dr. Schainker explained to me that that leading by yourself does not work well these days, we need to work with people and collaborate.
What's right is what's left if you do everything else wrong.
Robin Williams
The second quote relates to making decisions and if your intended reforms backfired, then you may need to seek alternatives from the options that you still have, whether good or bad.
I agree with Dave's quote:
Balance, not just for Karate, but for whole life - Mr. Miyagi
I believe that there is a fine line with reforming a school and creating high tension among staff. There needs to be a balance within the school to maintain a focused and motivating climate. Don't "shock and awe" the staff with a reform bombing campaign.
I agree with Josh's quote. No matter what job I have been doing I have always worked harder for, remembered, and respected those leaders that were working harder than me. The leaders in schools that have been involved and always doing the little extra work have been the ones that help lead by their actions. Hopefully inspiring those around them.
1. We are the dreamers of the dreams
2. That's what dreams are made of
3. I dream of Jeannie - Maj. Nelson
According to the transitive property, I believe these quotes lead to the obvious conclusion that we are Major Nelson, and Jeannie is what dreams are made of.
Even a Major can, as Candace put it, turn around and find that no one is following them. And, unless Samantha is there to twitch her nose, or Jeannie can bob her head and create reform in a puff of pink smoke, we will have to be careful in the ways that we build buy-in for a vision.
My favorite kind of vision is hindsight, but we rarely have the benefit of such clarity, and certainly our peers and colleagues will look through different eyes; how will we get our eyes in line and, how can we avoid shooting before we see their whites, missing our target entirely, for divided we fail.
We should all aspire to be Nas, who, in his song "War" discusses his vision with the line: "Cause my third eye sees the lowdown / And I know it's not my time to go now / Cause God's got my back in this showdown / So I know we'll be alright." With such clarity and faith in the inherent justice and "rightness" of a course of action, we could all move forward, but it is usually best to have even more back-up than God's given the separation of Church and State arguments surrounding schools.
Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.
Dwight Eisenhower
This makes me think of empowering people. If people take ownership of their tasks/jobs they will invest more of their time and energy into the success of that task.
"If you want to lead the orchestra, you have to turn your back on the crowd"
This quote kept standing out to me. In my initial leadership tasks I was hesitant to make decisions without getting feedback from as many people as possible. I have since realized that as long as you are making the right decision (or the one you think is right) the rest of the people will follow.
If you face the audience to hear solutions, there will be too many conflicting opinions to ever settle an issue.
"Leadership is based on the power to inspire others to follow"...Vince Lombardi
As a high school coach and committee chair, I have successfully used this to gain support towards a goal. Once you have motivated your group, they will put forth extra effort to accomplish the mission. I have seen very knowledgeable principals become ineffective because they couldn't motivate the staff.
Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.
John F. Kennedy
I like this quote because I believe education is the foundation of our future success. Everyone worries about jobs being transferred overseas etc, etc. I am only concerned if we are not creating better new jobs here in our country to replace them. So it is vital we give our people the skills necessary to innovate.
Cory Draughon
I totally agree with Hillary with the Covey principle...take time to “sharpen the saw” by doing things you enjoy, such as going to the gym, spending time with family, etc. People who can balance and not engulf themselves with their career often have longevity in the education profession. Participation in other activities helps reduce stress and allow opportunities to gain different insights that can help as an administrator.
This may be a stretch but I had a thought about Dave's quote, I dream of Jeannie. One difficulty with vision, and dreams, etc is that it is not necessarily the dream of everyone, some people are dreaming about Jeannie. I know I had my own dreams while teaching.
Cory Draughon
“Leaders establish the vision for the future and set the strategy for getting there; they cause change. They motivate and inspire others to go in the right direction and they, along with everyone else, sacrifice to get there.” (John Kotter) As leaders we have to look ahead, plan for the future and never be satisfied with the status quo. Even though change is not always easy, it is necessary.
This was a great blog! I so enjoyed reading everyones' quotes. The one I think I need to include on here is far less poetic than some of the previous ones, but it's one that I know I need to keep in mind. To put Covey up here again, he said, "The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing." I think that this will help me to (as much as possible) not get caught up in the little (and not so little) things, and also to have a set priority that I can reference in any decision. The interesting thing is that you really can have different "main things" from teacher to teacher, school to school. I think that if I find myself at a school whose "main thing" is not compatible with mine, I'll have a very tough time.
Cory posted:
Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.
John F. Kennedy
I especially like this quote, because it helps support a lot of the ideas we were posting in the blog about NCLB. When we're talking about nurturing and growing dreams into "benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation," it makes sense that you wouldn't want to turn every student into an expert mathematician. There is the room and the need for so many different types of skills and strengths in our world, and it is a mistake to just support the kind that is assessed on standardized tests.
Have you ever been at sea in a dense fog, when it seemed as if a tangible white darkness shut you in and the great ship, tense and anxious, groped her way toward the shore with plummet and sounding-line, and you waited with beating heart for something to happen? I was like that ship before my education began, only I was without compass or sounding line, and no way of knowing how near the harbor was. "Light! Give me light!" was the wordless cry of my soul, and the light of love shone on me in that very hour. By Helen Keller
I chose this quote because I believe that as educators we are the "light" for many of our students. Without education they are lost, without a guide. As educators we have been equipped with the necessary tools to guide our great learners into a life full of promise.
Niko and Lisa's quotes resonated with me the most. One because Langston Hughes is one of my favorite poets and that particular poem was given to me by one of my mentors growing up and motivated me to pursue my dreams throughout a great deal of my life. It's still encouraging today as an educator and future school leader.
Secondly, Lisa's quote reminded me that no matter what circumstances or obstacles await you in this journey, you cannot lose site of your vision/ dreams because once you do you are pretty much walking/leading blindly, which reminds me of another favorite quote: "the only thing worse than being blind is having no vision."
"However far we may want to go, the truth is that we can only get there one step at a time. What we need now is to take decisions on the next steps forward, rather than let ourselves be distracted by Utopian goals"
I feel that one of the main problems with education today is the rush for perfection: 100% graduation rates, No suspensions, No 'GAP', majority of students taking higher level courses, etc etc.
This desire for "utopia" has led public school education to no good. Instead of helping, we are hurting students. Our standards have lowered and students are expected to know less every year. Just look at the number of students taking remedial classes in college because we decided to increase "rigor" in high school.
As leaders I think we really need to do as the quote states. Let's make smart good decisions and not be distracted by these Utopian goals.
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