Celebrating back-to-school with the Daring Greatly "Leadership Manifesto"

My definition of a leader is "anyone who holds her - or himself accountable for finding potential in people and processes." For me, the term leader has nothing to do with position, status, or number of direct reports. 

For all leaders - from first grade teachers and principals to CEOs and clergy - inspired leadership requires vulnerability and that often looks and feels like discomfort. 

As I was writing Daring Greatly, I spent a lot of time looking over the data and reading through my notes from the interviews I’ve done with leaders. I wondered what students would say to teachers and what teachers would say to their principals if they had the opportunity to ask for the leadership they needed.

I thought about the grief and anger I felt when a middle school student told me that the best way to survive class was to keep your head down and your mouth shut. I thought about the teachers who are publically ranked based on standarized test scores. 

I wondered what the customer service representative would say to his boss and what she might ask of her boss. What do we want people to know about us and what do we need from them?

As I started writing down the answers to these questions, I realized that they sounded like a mandate; a manifesto. Here’s what emerged from these questions:

On September 7th, we'll offer a free 8X10 download of this manifesto along with three others from Daring Greatly: The Wholehearted Parenting Manifesto, the Engaged Feedback Checklist, and the Daring Greatly quote. Huge thanks to Elan Morgan at Ninjamatics for her amazing graphic design.

And, if you preorder Daring Greatly don't forget to sign up for your free bookmarks and signed bookplate here. 

Here's to a school year of showing up, being seen, practicing courage and daring greatly!