Decisions can have routine or serious consequences. At times, even small and seemingly inconsequential choices have major outcomes; events, unexpected reactions of others or unanticipated results happen. All decisions have consequences - not deciding is also a decision. Leadership requires decision-making that moves beyond personal issues to determining the operation and results of organizations and the lives of others.

Decisions can have routine or serious consequences. At times, even small and seemingly inconsequential choices have major outcomes; events, unexpected reactions of others or unanticipated results happen. All decisions have consequences - not deciding is also a decision. Leadership requires decision-making that moves beyond personal issues to determining the operation and results of organizations and the lives of others.

The United States has undergone several major transformations economically, politically, and socially. Today, the impact of artificial intelligence will bring another transformation affecting citizens' private lives as well as employment, communication, politics, and almost every other aspect of life. The question artificial intelligence raises is: what kind of education will students need in confronting the obvious and projected impact of technology? Transformations affect obvious aspects of life, but also raise significant issues that challenge values, ethics and standards. The purpose of this book is to define the role of education and its goals, content, and approaches that will assist citizens in addressing the challenges the artificial intelligence movement brings to the life of citizens. Positive aspects of the transformation include communication, productivity, and other issues. However, there are hazards and downsides to artificial intelligence that must be addressed through an educated society. Education's role encompasses assisting individuals to address the positive and negative aspects of any creative intervention. Thinking coupled with insight into principles, ethics, and the meaning of life are critical. Education prepares individuals for changing times in order to protect their freedoms and democracy and find a life of purpose and meaning.

The United States has undergone several major transformations economically, politically, and socially. Today, the impact of artificial intelligence will bring another transformation affecting citizens' private lives as well as employment, communication, politics, and almost every other aspect of life. The question artificial intelligence raises is: what kind of education will students need in confronting the obvious and projected impact of technology? Transformations affect obvious aspects of life, but also raise significant issues that challenge values, ethics and standards. The purpose of this book is to define the role of education and its goals, content, and approaches that will assist citizens in addressing the challenges the artificial intelligence movement brings to the life of citizens. Positive aspects of the transformation include communication, productivity, and other issues. However, there are hazards and downsides to artificial intelligence that must be addressed through an educated society. Education's role encompasses assisting individuals to address the positive and negative aspects of any creative intervention. Thinking coupled with insight into principles, ethics, and the meaning of life are critical. Education prepares individuals for changing times in order to protect their freedoms and democracy and find a life of purpose and meaning.

Society today is fragmented. There are frequent examples of harsh and abrasive discourse in social, employment, personal, and political settings. Name-calling, conceit, and vulgarity are frequently used in social media, and other forms of social interaction and discussion. Communication is a critical issue in today's society. We live in a technological time with the means to easily contact people. However, the quality and effectiveness of communication is problematic: real connections with others require understanding and insight into them and their thinking. That is the purpose of true communication. Individuals must understand the content and intent of communication. The missing link in quality and effective communication is listening. Everyone wants to be heard, but they fail to realize that all parties must listen. Listening is an essential skill and is more than simply hearing. Communication is essential in all facets of life because it concerns not only the physical process of talking and listening, but also emotional and psychological concerns and ethics. The nature of the conversation brings expectations and either opens or closes doors to further communication.

All children have hopes and dreams. Their innocent optimism from their early years to working their way through school is inspiring. The responsibilities of educators and parents are to help children be 'response-able' in facing the challenges of life. A victim mentality eliminates any hope of successfully meeting their aspirations and dreams. Children face obstacles -- some are daunting and others the normal ups and downs of childhood. Parents and others have an obligation to help children grow into maturity and learn that they can act in positive ways in good as well as in hard times. To reject the ability to live a life they have imagined results in a life lost, along with its potential and possibilities. To be successful, children cannot adopt a victim mentality. When confronted with challenges, character matters -- responding effectively to address life's challenges. Schools must teach character development in an environment that holds children responsible and accountable. We all have only one life to live and we are able to respond to achieve an imagined life.

All children have hopes and dreams. Their innocent optimism from their early years to working their way through school is inspiring. The responsibilities of educators and parents are to help children be 'response-able' in facing the challenges of life. A victim mentality eliminates any hope of successfully meeting their aspirations and dreams. Children face obstacles -- some are daunting and others the normal ups and downs of childhood. Parents and others have an obligation to help children grow into maturity and learn that they can act in positive ways in good as well as in hard times. To reject the ability to live a life they have imagined results in a life lost, along with its potential and possibilities. To be successful, children cannot adopt a victim mentality. When confronted with challenges, character matters -- responding effectively to address life's challenges. Schools must teach character development in an environment that holds children responsible and accountable. We all have only one life to live and we are able to respond to achieve an imagined life.

American public education has been on a merry-go-round of change for the past 40 years. We made something that is complex by its very nature into a strangled enterprise that is becoming even more knotty and complicated. A fog of reform is created obscuring issues and deflecting our focus from the real mission of schools. We need to emphasize ideals and principles in providing an education for our children in a caring and creative way. This book is about the fog of reform and getting back the ideal of a place called school. The sections describe a new metaphor and approach to change and examine the forces and ideals that can bring about the schools children need. Principles and values transform organizations, not mandates and fear. Recipes for making schools into caring places for children do not exist. Great schools must be created one-by-one. Numbers don't create change; people and passion do. Unless we focus on the moral imperative of educating children, we will fail them and possibly slide into an ethical quagmire.

American public education has been on a merry-go-round of change for the past 40 years. We made something that is complex by its very nature into a strangled enterprise that is becoming even more knotty and complicated. A fog of reform is created obscuring issues and deflecting our focus from the real mission of schools. We need to emphasize ideals and principles in providing an education for our children in a caring and creative way. This book is about the fog of reform and getting back the ideal of a place called school. The sections describe a new metaphor and approach to change and examine the forces and ideals that can bring about the schools children need. Principles and values transform organizations, not mandates and fear. Recipes for making schools into caring places for children do not exist. Great schools must be created one-by-one. Numbers don't create change; people and passion do. Unless we focus on the moral imperative of educating children, we will fail them and possibly slide into an ethical quagmire.

Public schools have been placed in a straitjacket over the past 30 years through over-regulation as a result of the growing power of the federal government over public education, expanding court decisions, state government legislation, school board policies and procedures, and the media's influence on public opinion. The straitjacket of centralized control and coercive approaches to the problems that public education is facing is not the solution, but actually is part of the problem. And where achievement is lower than desired this book brings attention to the root cause - lack of student preparation so that more resources can be put into catching these kids up, rather than into more tests, more curriculum development, and more administrative staff needed to comply with all of this complexity and growing regulations. We must break out of our straitjacket and give schools more flexibility in finding creative and innovative ways to address the needs of students, changing times, and professional expectations - not shackle them through regulatory mandates, closed thinking, and defective accountability processes.

Public schools have been placed in a straitjacket over the past 30 years through overregulation as a result of the growing power of the federal government over public education, expanding court decisions, state government legislation, school board policies and procedures, and the media's influence on public opinion. The straitjacket of centralized control and coercive approaches to the problems that public education is facing is not the solution, but actually is part of the problem. And where achievement is lower than desired this book brings attention to the root cause lack of student preparation so that more resources can be put into catching these kids up, rather than into more tests, more curriculum development, and more administrative staff needed to comply with all of this complexity and growing regulations. We must break out of our straitjacket and give schools more flexibility in finding creative and innovative ways to address the needs of students, changing times, and professional expectations not shackle them through regulatory mandates, closed thinking, and defective accountability processes.

In this book, Patterson, Goens, and Reed draw upon resilience research and best practices to answer the question: 'How can leaders move ahead in the face of adversity?' This book benefits leaders who have confronted adversity in the past, struggle with adversity right now, or will likely encounter setbacks in the future. Leaders find concrete, how-to strategies for strengthening leadership skills in turbulent times in every chapter. Resilient Leadership for Turbulent Times aims to help leaders thrive in the face of adversity with the inclusion of the Leader Resilience Profile' (LRP)_an instrument developed by Patterson and others to measure a leader's resilience in twelve categories. Readers are invited to complete the LRP and then apply the strategies outlined in each chapter to strengthen their leader resilience.

As public schools face hard times, disenchantment and the continual barrage of criticism call for more successful schools. The "soft" sides of leadership-trust, imagination, creativity, respect, and dignity-are the critical intangibles that connects people in deep and rewarding relationships to improve the climate for children and their ability to learn. Leaders who connect with people and build exciting relationships are needed, as teachers and other educators feel the loss of public support and esteem. Soft leadership begins with an introspective inquiry into leadership and the obligation leaders have to people, purpose, and relationships. Through the use of poetry and philosophical principles, Soft Leadership for Hard Times provides practitioners with a clear understanding of relationships that touch people and connect them to their calling and purpose. It addresses the need for leadership that does not take a re-engineering and a metrical approach to creating exciting places for teachers and students. This book will be of interest to superintendents, principals, and students of leadership.

In 2004, George Goens lost his daughter during the birth of his second grandchild. How does your heart and soul respond to the simultaneous crash of life and death? The convergence of two very disparate events - one celebrating the beginning of life, one grieving the loss of another - with distinctly different emotions colliding into a confused muddle. Joy and sorrow. Hope and despair. Happiness and grief. In "The Promise of Living," Goens wrestles with his conflicting emotions over the shocking and devastating loss of his daughter and the birth of his grandson. He examines his beliefs, his relationships, his perceptions, his values, his fears, and his dreams of the future. He came to realize that while living in a community with family and friends, everyone must ultimately face loss alone in the quiet of their own hearts and souls. ""Life's only script consists of birth and death. We fill in what comes between. Life is not a mechanical exercise that follows an orderly path. Whimsy and mystery, serendipity and surprise fill our lives. The cliched story of a main character succumbing to tragedy, falling into a funk, having an epiphany, and seeing the light and then proceeding back into normalcy doesn't really happen. Not for me anyway. Things don't settle back into 'before' and we don't find a substitute for what is gone and absent. Finding peace takes time and is a creative process of small steps, plateaus, and setbacks."" George Goens Woven throughout the book is Goens' poetry, in equal measures stirring, contemplative, and inspiring. In spite of heart-wrenching circumstances, Goens and his family find a way to heal through acceptance and forgiveness, and he honors the life of his daughter by living his own to its full potential. Readers who have experienced their own devastating loss will find comfort and inspiration in his story.

Each individual is a unique person. In reality, education today should help students answer two fundamental life questions: Who am I? and Why am I here? Understanding who they are as individuals and what motivates them leads to a life of purpose and happiness. Without coming to grips with these questions, life can be vacant and void of meaning. A ‘good life’ is predicated, in part, on understanding these questions. These questions are fundamental and affect all aspects of life. Everyone must come to terms with them throughout each phase of life. They provide the foundation for introspection and understanding necessary to pursue a life of meaning. What kind of education do students need to begin to think about who they are and how they can find significance in their lives? Both are essential to enable a life of happiness, freedom, and success. To deal with inevitable change, each individual must have a sense of self and purpose.

The United States is undergoing serious splintering that threatens, not only relationships, but also politics and society as a whole. Divisions are emphasized. Disagreements turn into name-calling and castigating. Issues are sharply painted in right or wrong, ethical and unethical, intelligent or unenlightened colors. The country's motto is E Pluribus Unum, out of many, one. Philosophy and principle, not force or fear, unite the country through ideals that celebrate the sovereignty and authority of all citizens. Education has an essential role. An educated citizenry is essential to understand issues and engage in a rational and civil conversation about how to address them. Education must explore civil dialogue to bring people together and engage constructively about democratic principles and values. This book explores principles and expectations for a democratic society, and how differences can be approached civilly to explore and define solutions. Citizens must engage in respectful conversations to build greater understanding. Differences are inevitable in democratic republic by its very nature. Civility is essential for citizens to engage in self-government.