Beginning today, I’ll be republishing about fifteen-or-twenty columns/articles I wrote for various publications like ASCD and The Washington Post over twelve years ago, but which are no longer available on their websites. I still think they have some relevance today. I’ll add links to these posts to the page where links to all my articles are located.
This 2012 column appeared in The Washington Post. It is safe to say that I have received more negative feedback to it than anything else I’ve ever written, but I still stand by every word.
Music and creativity entrepreneur Derek Sivers has a very popular TED Talk called Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy. Here’s the video of his three-minute talk, and you can read the transcript here.
Unfortunately, at least through my eyes as a nineteen-year community organizer and nine-year high school teacher, the Guy models many poor leadership traits.
A leader who shares the values of democracy, justice, and diversity (among other things) and is serious about building long-lasting change — change that will not be dependent on him/her — does not begin by coming up with an idea and acting on it alone.
Instead, the democratic leader begins by leading with his/her ears, asking people what they see that needs to be done. After some idea testing, she/he gets reactions from others so that the idea can be adapted in minor or major ways and ownership becomes shared.
Yes, a dancing guy can get people dancing at a concert for a short time. But those dancers will forget about him in a few hours. An inspirational speaker can get people jazzed-up in the wake of a powerful presentation. For an hour or so. A teacher can dress up in a costume and put on a performance for a class period — or be the constantly entertaining “sage on stage” — and perhaps make the learning a little bit stickier.
But it’s the trust built through relationships, the ownership built through listening and “buy-in,” the supportive environment resulting from trust and ownership, the mutual accountability — these are the things that encourage people to take risks and create a culture of learning, challenge and change.
And I do want to see leaders rise up — lots and lots of them. I want as many people as possible — students and others — to develop the leadership skills of listening, risk-taking, holding others accountable, and being willing to be held accountable. These are the leaders who will grow other leaders, not just followers, and not just for the short run.
That what I want in my classroom, and that’s what I think needs to be present in any kind of organization that supports the kind of values I believe in and wants to make serious change.
By using The Dancing Guy as a leadership model, we run the risk of getting caught up in a “Field Of Dreams” mentality — “If you build it, they will come.”
Yes, some people will come. The problem is that you’ll get the people who want to come, not the people you need to come.
If you’re organizing for social change, this means you may get volunteers who have a lot of time on their hands because they’re “free agents.” They may not have many connections to other people or institutions. You won’t get many of the folks with significant leadership potential — the people-influencers with credibility and a following — because they’re busy already and they’ve seen plenty of people with great ideas over the years who come and go.
If you’re a teacher, this means you’ll get many of the most motivated students — quite a few who are “teacher-proof” and will learn with whoever is up in front of the classroom. But you won’t get the students who you need to get — the ones facing multiple challenges and who also may have exceptional leadership potential. You won’t get “John,” who was in ninth grade and had never read a complete book or written an essay. You won’t get Karen, who was a tenth-grader and still learning her multiplication tables.
I was able to “get” John and Karen by listening, building a relationship, learning their self-interests, making reciprocal agreements, and encouraging their own leadership skills so that they could help others as well as themselves.
The Dancing Guy/Field Of Dreams mentality can lead to believing in tools and strategies like the Khan Academy, or other great software, or charter schools as The Cure All for any or all educational ills. But those tools and strategies, again, appeal to and draw in the most motivated, not the ones most in need or even with the most leadership potential.
The Dancing Guy way can be easier and, depending on how you define “success,” may even have a greater chance of being successful. There’s a Pickles comic strip that illustrates this point. In it, a grandson asks if his grandfather can skip a rock on water. The grandfather replies that he can skip a rock 23 times. The impressed grandson asks if he can do it again now. No, the grandfather says, he can only do it on water that’s frozen. The Dancing Guy can look awfully good in the short term by only working near frozen water — in other words, with the people who are the most motivated.
We don’t need a Dancing Guy. We need a “Listening Guy.” We need a “Relational Gal.” We need a “Curious Guy.” We need a person who says “I Got An Idea But I Hope You Can Make It Better.”
We need Good Teacher Guys and Gals who aren’t just out there doing a high-stepping solo. They’re teaching others to dance — and how to dance together.
Beginning today, I’ll be republishing about fifteen-or-twenty columns/articles I wrote for various publications like ASCD and The Washington Post over twelve years ago, but which are no longer available on their websites. I still think they have some relevance today. I’ll add links to these posts to the page where links to all my articles research studies, school reform Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…
