Today’s reality has forced us to question how we lead ourselves and our families:

• Do we need that next purchase or would we feel better with the security of a savings account?
• Should we be constantly going somewhere or are our best times in the backyard?
• Are we eating healthier by eating at home more often?
• Could our children benefit by playing with other children rather than attending another activity?
• Would there be less stress if we drove less?

What positive outcomes have you experienced? 

We  may have been forced to change the way we live but, by shifting our paradigm, we can focus on the positive outcomes. We can determine what is important and meaningful and lead in that direction. Leaders make changes, and by doing so, influence the people around them to also make changes. A leader is not necessarily a CEO of a corporation. A leader is anyone who leads by example. Just look at the “green” movement-many individual leaders making small steps that are leading to change.

Imagine if we taught our children to become leaders. What if we taught children to stop and think about choices, understand and value differences, have balance in their lives, and work together for better ideas?

We feel that their leadership skills would help them become responsible citizens and influence other children! It wouldn’t take long before we would start to see a change. What do you think?

 Leadership is not a new concept. Teaching children to be leaders is. Imagine the possibilities.

 Click Here to learn more about The Leader In Me Process.

 Authors: Sarah Noble and Judy Yauch, FranklinCovey Education Solutions

When Andrew Cherng, co-founder of Panda Express, read Dr. Stephen R. Covey’s, The 8^th Habit, he found something intriguing in the back of the book-a CD with video clip from A.B. Combs Elementary School in Raleigh, North Carolina. Mr. Cherng already knew, firsthand, how powerful the 7 Habits could be.  But, could children as young as kindergarten be taught the timeless principles? Andrew and Peggy Cherng decided to visit the school.

The theme at A.B. Combs is leadership. It permeates everything they do and every choice they make. They do not believe that every child will be or should be a CEO. Rather they focus on leadership principles with the 7 Habits as their foundation.

Leadership principles:

• Helping students take responsibility for their lives.
• Working with others more effectively.
• Doing the right thing even when no one is looking.

The 7 Habits:

• Habit 1: Be Proactive You’re in Charge
• Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind Have a Plan
• Habit 3: Put First Things First Work First, Then Play
• Habit 4: Think Win-Win Everyone Can Win
• Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood Listen Before You Talk
• Habit 6: Synergize Together is Better
• Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw Balance Feels Best

What would be different in your business if the children of today/your future employees came to you with these principles already firmly established?

“When we recruit leaders, we like to see people who are able to project their passion, who have self-confidence, and who have the right attitude to really face the unknowns and the uncertainties that we all face every day in our personal or career lives. I saw all those traits in the children at A.B. Combs.” – Peggy Cherng.

Andrew and Peggy Cherng decided to sponsor six schools in their community.

Since then Panda Express has committed to sponsoring three additional schools and many other businesses have seen the potential in The Leader in Me and decided to sponsor schools.

We only get one chance to prepare our students for a future that none of us can possibly predict.  What are we going to do with that one chance?

 For more information, go to www.TheLeaderInMe.org or call (800) 272-6839.

 Author: Judy Yauch, FranklinCovey Education Solutions

 At FranklinCovey we are passionate and serious about preparing future leaders. For the last 18 months FranklinCovey has been working on an exciting new offering for elementary schools. It is called The Leader in Me, and it is designed to prepare children to be leaders in our changing society.

 The process is based upon the experience of educators and students at A.B. Combs Elementary School in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 1999, this school was struggling with low academic performance and lack of engagement among faculty and parents. After searching for a solution, the administrators and teachers began learning principle-based leadership skills, including The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People®, and then began teaching them to their students. In a short amount of time, end-of-grade tests improved dramatically. At the same time, the school saw significant and sustained increases in students’ self-confidence, dramatic drops in discipline problems, and impressive increases in teacher and administrator job satisfaction. 

 Following the success of A.B. Combs, other schools began implementing similar programs with very similar results. English Estates, an elementary school in Florida, was named the most academically improved school in its district after only one year of implementation.  Internationally, an elementary school in Canada reports that parent satisfaction with what is being taught has leaped from 67 to 98 percent.  The success stories continue to come to us.  Schools across the United States-along with schools in Guatemala, Japan, Singapore, Australia, and Europe are beginning to excitedly report comparable outcomes.

 This process of teaching students principles was the start of The Leader in Me. Currently we are seeing schools around the globe who are interested in using The Leader in Me process to prepare the next generation for the future by emphasizing personal leadership in every student. The Leader in Me offers this solution to all schools by providing the tools and necessary support through trainings, a web community that includes lesson plans and forums, videos, student activity guides, teachers’ resource books, and much more.

 FranklinCovey is eager for this opportunity to help children around the world prepare for the future.  To learn more, visit www.theleaderinme.org. 

Author: Sarah Noble, The Leader In Me Project Leader, FranklinCovey