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Hello friends, I'm Randy Gooch.
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Thank you for joining me on the Lead, Learn, Laugh, and Grow podcast.
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I lead because everything rises and falls on leadership, and it's too important not to lead.
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I learn because I'm not the smartest one in the room.
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There something to learn in every situation.
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I laugh because it's good medicine.
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It's cheaper than a therapist, and easier to swallow than pills.
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I grow because I can be better than I was yesterday.
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So grow or die, I prefer to grow.
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My guest today is Dr.
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Jill Brown, an amazing entrepreneurial educator.
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We're going to dive into the subjects about restlessness, growth, and embracing a bit of discomfort.
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Allow me to roll back the calendar for a few years.
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It was a major discomfort that completely changed the way I led and approached my work.
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I was feeling uneasy, you know that feeling when something just doesn't sit right and you can't quite put your fingers on it.
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I was restless and the questions just kept coming in my mind.
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Was it the high turnover and instability in my district central office?
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Was it that I was worried about my kids and their choices?
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Maybe.
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Was it my team?
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Was I doing enough for my team?
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Were they struggling because of me?
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I felt like I was drowning in questions and wasn't finding any clear answers.
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But here's the kicker, despite my internal struggle, my team was thriving.
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In fact, they had recently been recognized nationally for excellence in their development of project based learning in our center.
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We were comfortable soaking up the glow of the award and the accomplishment and the recognition.
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But deep down, I knew we couldn't rest there.
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I wanted to help my team set new aspirational goals and to reach even higher and do more things that were great for students future success.
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I thought, how do I fix this?
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How do I get us in the right space, the right mindset?
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How do I coach them through?
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How do I coach them up?
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Finally, I pulled out John Maxwell's 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.
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It didn't take more than 10 pages to find clarity in the form of Law of the Lid.
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The idea that leadership ability is the lid on a person's level of effectiveness.
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It wasn't my team that needed fixing and coaching up.
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It was me.
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If we, the team, were going to break through to a new level, I first had to up my game and lead better.
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Then I remembered something from my time while I was stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky in the 80s.
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The post commander was Major General Thomas Tate.
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He had a motto, comfort kills.
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It hit me like a gut punch, a reminder of the hard truth that rests in comfort kills growth, kills progress, and sometimes can be life threatening.
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That comfort kills phrase and the law of the lid fired me up.
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The six months that followed was the most productive growth, both personally and professionally, that I've ever experienced.
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I leaned forward in the foxhole, went on the attack, I got hyper intentional about my growth, and deeply committed to adding value to others daily.
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Thank you, John Maxwell, and thank you, General Tate, for the truth and the wisdom I needed.
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I needed that uncomfortable reality check, the kick in the butt to drive me forward.
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So if you're feeling restless, stuck, out of answers, reach out to a coach, a mentor, a trusted friend, a great book or a podcast like this one.
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They offer perspective and resources that can open doors that you can't yet see.
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Don't let comfortable situations hold you back from a better future.
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About a year after that growth period, an opportunity came my way.
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The chance to become Chief Operations Officer of a large district.
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But, I knew that the intense season of preparation made me ready for that leap.
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I encourage you, start preparing now for the opportunities you can't see.
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And remember as General Tate put it so well, comfort kills.
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Step out of it, even just a little.
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You might be surprised by the incredible places it will take you.
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On a side note, I chose the Maxwell Certification, not the doctorate, and have not regretted it since.
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Now I want to bring our guest into the conversation.
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I'm thrilled to welcome Dr.
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Jill Brown, an educational entrepreneur.
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Jill is no stranger to the power of stepping outside comfort zones.
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She's here to share her story and insights on navigating discomfort to achieve growth and leverage opportunity.
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So welcome Jill Brown Thank you for joining me today, and I'm gonna start with a few questions and it's so good to see you
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great to see you
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so I have billed you as an Educational entrepreneur.
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Yep,
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and a micro school pioneer.
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Hey That sounds fancy, Randy Gooch.
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I'm just wanting to know, have I categorized you and labeled you accurately?
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Yeah, I think I've been in this lane now for just a short time, but edgepreneur is one, that's a word that they're using a lot.
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So people that have been in education for a long time but have taken a little detour and shifted it just a little bit.
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So I think you've nailed it.
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Alright.
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I might
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steal that.
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Alright
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Tell me about what you're currently building and creating.
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And cause I know you've got a couple different avenues.
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It's not just the actual school.
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It's some other things.
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Yeah.
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Tell me about what's going on.
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Yes.
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I can never sit still, my husband says.
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So once I get one thing going, I just find myself another project that has tended to be a reoccurring theme in my life.
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We have two businesses.
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So we have kale which is the school.
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So the CALE School, Columbia Academy for Learning and Enrichment is the actual name.
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We knew when we named it, it would probably go down to CALE and it has.
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So our CALE School has grown.
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We opened in August of 2021.
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And we have grown from 10 students that first year to 90 this year, right now.
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And we're on track to be at about 100 for fall.
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About 120 is about the ultimate number we're shooting for.
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And we serve students age 4 through 12th grade.
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So we opened our high school this year.
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That has been a new addition to us, and we partnered with a local college, Columbia College, and we have our students on campus there.
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So we have two campuses.
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So I
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understand, am I correct, that when you started that, you were trying to even connect that to some career learning, real world learning as well, is that correct?
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The high school.
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Yes.
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The high school is definitely unique.
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So it lives between high virtual and in person.
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So it's like a hybrid kind of option.
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If you're a student who maybe doesn't want to sit in a building all day, go from class to class, you might want to move a little faster or perhaps we have some kids who play sports and need some extra time off because they travel.
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Sports that are connected, not directly to the school, but probably traveling
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Gotcha.
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We have some kids who work and need a flexible schedule, and again, they just don't want to sit in that building all day.
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And they can do their classes online, but they can also choose to do classes in person if they want to.
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Yeah.
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Our administrator who runs that program builds the schedule one on one with the student, and they create exactly what they want school to look like.
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So they decide if they're going to go be in class, they decide if they're going to be on campus at Columbia College doing their coursework online, and then he also works with them to get internships or go to college visits or go to business visits.
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So is Columbia College designing that curriculum and the academic curriculum or is it beyond?
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That's a good question.
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So right now the kids have two choices.
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So they're either a local public school student online, CPS student online which allows them to still take all the courses from the career center or play sports if they want to.
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So they can still access everything and never have to go into that large 2000 person building if they don't want to.
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So they can choose that route and they get all of their academics through that and they can still do dual credit and they want to take that.
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Or if they are a student who doesn't live in Columbia or doesn't want to be a CPS student, then they can do Missouri Connections Academy.
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And so they're on one of those two learning platforms.
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Pretty cool.
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It is.
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Before I ask you the real juicy questions tell me a little bit about the other path.
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The other path.
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The second business that we have is Kale Education and Company.
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And that part of our business is supporting educators.
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On the CALE side, we're living, breathing with students every single day, doing the work.
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I still teach full time.
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Susan teaches full time.
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We are in the trenches doing the work.
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On the other side, we're still helping educators.
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I said when I left my other job to start something new, I said I'm only going to do the things that I love from this point forward.
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So I love working with kids and I love working with educators.
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And so that side of the business has concentrated into three different areas.
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One, we support educators and any kind of educator.
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So if you're a homeschooling parent, if you're a micro schooling founder, if you're a public school, if you're a private school, whatever you are we have, Ways to support you on that side.
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So I wrote a book a few years ago in 2019 my expertise and passion lies in literacy teaching kids how to read Helping teachers understand how to teach kids to read and so I've turned that book into a course in order to help educators have better access to that and so that course walks them through how to take data and Actionize their data and then do something about it hook it to the intervention get the results for the kids all about reading.
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And so we have that.
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Then we also have all of our everything that we have developed to start our school is on that website to help other micro schools who get started or other private schools who get started.
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And then we also have our tutoring center, which we help kids that don't come to our school, but still need additional support and reading.
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And then we also host a national conference each year.
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In the same lines of that literacy passion.
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Dr.
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Erica Lemke out of the University of Missouri and I started a conference this will be our third year and it's called the Show Me Science of Reading Conference.
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So each year we have in wonderful national Speakers and experts and then we host some really great breakout sessions.
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And we have roughly 500 educators from around the U.
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S.
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and Canada who join us each year.
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Is just first hearing about this how do they find out a little bit more and how could they register for that?
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So that will open on January 6th.
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It sells out pretty fast, so it is on www.
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CALEEDCO.Com.
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C-A-L-E-E-D-C O.com.
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And you'll find the registration for that.
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You'll find all the course online course, all those kinds of things will be on the CALE Education and company website.
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And then if you're just curious about the school that is www.COMOCALE.Com.
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C-O-M-O-C-A-L-E.
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Excellent.
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And I'll make sure we get those links in the notes for this.
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To help.
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What were you doing exactly prior to this and how and why did you make that move?
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My path is probably A little different, which spurred my love for entrepreneurship.
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I was in public education for just over 20 years.
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So this is my 25th year doing something professionally.
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Just over 20 of those I spent in public education with the exception of two or three years that I spent at Edward Jones.
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At that time when I broke off for just a minute, I trained brokers, and it was a fantastic job, early 20s, learned so much, so thankful for the time there and learning about finance and how to do all that kind of important life work if you will, and so I got a taste of it there, loved it.
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As I was finishing my PhD, I also was independent for a time doing consulting before I got into administration.
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And so I had owned my own business there for a small stint while I was consulting.
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And I really loved it.
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Then I went into 10 years of administration work where I was a principal and an assistant superintendent.
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When I left the assistant superintendent position after, the pandemic.
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I was definitely ready to do something different.
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I had said to you recently I wanted to leave and just do the things that I wanted to do and leave behind all the things I never ever wanted to do again.
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And so that's how I've built the last three years of my life.
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I wanted to do education.
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I wanted to help kids.
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I wanted to help teachers, but I did not want to spend my day doing paperwork or with attorneys or all the other things that come with being in districts.
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Sure.
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Yeah.
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Absolutely.
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And so this is themed comfort kills.
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Talk a little bit about what it was like leaving that because were all well paid in those positions.
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It was a great job we worked in a district that had a certain level of esteem.
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Good things were happening.
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Yeah
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So but that stepping out what was that getting out of a comfort zone?
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What was that like?
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Yeah, that's scary, right?
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That's the reason people don't do new things is because it's really hard to step out And decide to do something different and my husband's a teacher my salary was important and he was incredibly supportive.
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He knew that I was ready to do something different and was really great about that, but I'm also a big planner.
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So anyone who knows me knows If I'm going to do something, I'm going to have a plan behind it.
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So I definitely, for a year before I left, was thinking about how to make that happen.
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And financially you get yourself into a plan and you know what that's gonna look like.
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I believe that We have one life to live, and I think you have to do that doing the things that you love.
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And if you are in a position and you think, I just want to make the change, at some point you have to decide to take the leap.
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Because I can always go back into education in public school if I really needed to or wanted to but I wanted to try something different and you just have to do it.
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So as people listen to this, hopefully there are a lot of them, maybe not, I don't know, we hope so, but what do you say to those?
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I think a lot of times.
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There aren't a lot of people that are entrepreneurial that are attracted to education.
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Yeah, but they're sitting there and they may be having some of those same feelings wanting something different, but maybe not have that background you did What's some encouragement you could give maybe somebody that's sitting in that spot?
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Yeah,
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knowing they want to do something different.
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I think you have to be willing to talk to people, when susan and I decided to do this We wanted to take everything that we knew worked really well, leave behind the things that didn't, and create this new kind of educational environment that we'd always hoped to have.
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And we did that, but then we learned that there's this whole micro schooling world out there that is actually 2 percent of the population, which is equivalent to the Catholic school population.
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There are about a million students doing some kind of schooling like we're doing.
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And once we found that group it felt better.
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You think, oh, like I'm learning so much more about other facets of education.
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But I also think that, we're seeing a huge decline in teachers leaving.
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The field right?
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And that is a real crisis that needs to be discussed because they're not readily available there.
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We're not graduating hundreds of teachers out.
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And I think there's a lot of reasons for that.
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But I'm not sure these young people go into a career now thinking I'm going to go into a building and be there for 30 years and teach third grade and then retire.
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I just, I don't think that's the current reality of what's happening.
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If we had some tracks of entrepreneur study, that might bring some of these young people back into our field.
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I think there are lots of people who want to work with kids.
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I don't think there are lots of people who want to work in the current system.
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Wow, now you've turned my brain on,
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yeah,
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entrepreneur track even at a, maybe a college level, And so maybe that's your third project, and maybe you and I can work on that,
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Because I have talked a lot about it.
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And I think there's really something there, and I think it would attract people in.
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Because there are a lot of people doing what we're doing.
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And it started far before the pandemic.
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But during the pandemic, a lot of learning pods and things like that popped up.
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And I think teachers learned like, oh, wait, I can do exactly what I love.
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And I don't have to do it within the system that I'm not any more crazy about, and I think there's a whole field out there doing this.
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And there's a lot of very esteemed universities studying it.
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That is a definite interest for me.
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And that's why part of our company on the other side is really working to support these people who want to do it.
00:17:47.326 --> 00:17:48.635
Want to jump and take the lead.
00:17:48.826 --> 00:17:49.526
Absolutely.
00:17:49.846 --> 00:17:58.016
So as I hear you talking about your preparation be very careful before you just run from something.
00:17:58.026 --> 00:18:00.615
But that you leap to something better.
00:18:00.625 --> 00:18:02.516
There's a landing zone you're going.
00:18:02.516 --> 00:18:05.246
Sounds like that was definitely part of your planning.
00:18:05.560 --> 00:18:13.580
And that might be part of what is so scary for these young people, not really understanding how to set up some of those positive things.
00:18:13.861 --> 00:18:14.320
Yes.
00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:16.151
I think there definitely has to be planning.
00:18:16.230 --> 00:18:21.260
I knew that I was going to go back in and do consulting, so that was part of what I was going to do.
00:18:21.540 --> 00:18:22.980
We knew we were going to open the school.
00:18:22.980 --> 00:18:24.500
We know that would take some time.
00:18:24.510 --> 00:18:25.701
We were doing tutoring.
00:18:25.881 --> 00:18:26.881
It takes time though.
00:18:26.980 --> 00:18:32.171
It does take time and we, there was many months before we got paid one dollar.
00:18:32.570 --> 00:18:43.101
And I tell people early on someone made a comment that I left because I was wanting to make more money and I thought to myself no I had a great salary and great benefits and great place to be.
00:18:43.101 --> 00:18:44.030
That was not it at all.
00:18:44.030 --> 00:18:52.760
I went from that salary to zero for a very long time because my passion and my drive and my values were steering me in a different direction.
00:18:52.770 --> 00:18:56.431
But you understood up front that was going to be a piece of the equation.
00:18:56.891 --> 00:18:57.951
And then all of a sudden,
00:18:58.540 --> 00:19:00.431
The reality is you're starting a business.
00:19:00.471 --> 00:19:01.550
It takes a lot of time.
00:19:01.941 --> 00:19:06.990
And I think that's where kind of the Edward Jones piece of my life was really helpful.
00:19:07.230 --> 00:19:09.701
And owning my own business in between that was really helpful.
00:19:09.701 --> 00:19:11.490
I had done a little bit of that before.
00:19:11.701 --> 00:19:13.611
And so that part wasn't scary to me.
00:19:14.020 --> 00:19:15.141
But you never know.
00:19:15.721 --> 00:19:28.036
I think that's interesting because it just, And maybe that's why we got along fairly well because we had a little bit of a professional life in a different sector before we came to this.
00:19:28.365 --> 00:19:32.925
And I think it gave some clarity And just a broader perspective.
00:19:32.976 --> 00:19:37.405
It's interesting that Edward Jones, my daughter just recently become an Edward Jones advisor.
00:19:37.405 --> 00:19:42.905
So I know that and that training process and what she went through was so thorough.
00:19:43.185 --> 00:19:53.875
So many accountabilities built in, but just in the confidence level that they have coming out of that, they know, but it's hard and the amount of work.
00:19:54.125 --> 00:19:57.286
And, maybe when we do this joint venture here, I love this idea.
00:19:57.336 --> 00:20:01.865
Maybe we can borrow some of that because they have an excellent model for success.
00:20:01.925 --> 00:20:02.195
They do.
00:20:02.195 --> 00:20:07.236
The people that enter their ability to be successful is so high when they exit that.
00:20:07.286 --> 00:20:07.675
Yeah.
00:20:07.675 --> 00:20:08.816
They used to call it segments.
00:20:08.861 --> 00:20:10.441
Segment one, segment two, segment three.
00:20:10.441 --> 00:20:12.290
And I was a segment three trainer.
00:20:12.320 --> 00:20:17.411
And so they had to have hit profitability level at a certain amount before they went to our training.
00:20:17.820 --> 00:20:26.330
And I can remember being 23 years old, sitting in there with a bunch of men who were listening to the second grade teacher, teach them how to build their business.
00:20:26.730 --> 00:20:34.191
And so I learned how to hold my own real fast, but That job was in so many ways valuable for me as a leader and as a person.
00:20:34.300 --> 00:20:34.540
Yeah.
00:20:34.590 --> 00:20:34.750
I
00:20:34.750 --> 00:20:41.631
look back on my leadership training and somebody asked me what courses did you take to help you as a leader?
00:20:41.780 --> 00:20:43.496
And I said, I'll be honest with you.
00:20:43.895 --> 00:20:49.266
None of my educational preparation really prepped me to be a leader.
00:20:49.635 --> 00:20:51.296
Most of that came from the military.
00:20:51.675 --> 00:20:52.496
Self study.
00:20:53.145 --> 00:20:56.705
And, Observing good leaders and saying, what are they doing?
00:20:57.086 --> 00:21:01.826
Observing the not so good and saying, man, I want to eliminate that.
00:21:01.826 --> 00:21:06.455
And just really looking at those people that, that were being successful.
00:21:06.855 --> 00:21:09.855
And I think too, interestingly, the climate's changed a little bit.
00:21:09.996 --> 00:21:17.526
I start thinking about when I entered the army, that culture's changed immensely, and now it's very much more culturally sensitive.
00:21:17.615 --> 00:21:23.625
But making those transitions too, but still the hard core piece of Developing people
00:21:23.736 --> 00:21:24.056
right
00:21:24.506 --> 00:21:28.056
Although it was a very authoritarian Sure system
00:21:28.346 --> 00:21:28.546
Yeah,
00:21:28.586 --> 00:21:36.506
there was always some really key leaders that were wanting good things for me professionally and personally and Expectations.
00:21:36.506 --> 00:21:37.625
Yes, and
00:21:37.625 --> 00:21:44.266
the accountability was high and it was tough and sometimes your feelings got hurt But I think
00:21:44.266 --> 00:21:44.816
that's okay.
00:21:44.885 --> 00:21:45.195
Yeah,
00:21:45.226 --> 00:21:46.125
What are you learning?
00:21:46.165 --> 00:21:46.526
Yeah.
00:21:46.705 --> 00:22:04.056
I'm trying to expand my thinking because we still have moments where, we've been trained one way for so long and in the public sector to think about how school looks and what schools should look like to get ourselves to think outside that box has really taken a lot of time.
00:22:04.395 --> 00:22:08.875
And so I am part of the National Microschooling Center.
00:22:08.925 --> 00:22:10.605
I'm on some committees with them.
00:22:10.625 --> 00:22:16.316
And one of the committees that I'm on is evaluation and academic growth and how you're going to see that.
00:22:16.316 --> 00:22:19.415
And so I take my lens of public education into that group.
00:22:19.885 --> 00:22:27.115
I get to hear from a lot of other people who have done a lot of other things for a lot of years and it's just helping me.
00:22:27.526 --> 00:22:31.986
Assimilate that information into what I know and growing it into something even bigger.
00:22:32.276 --> 00:22:42.256
And so I think that I'm just trying as quickly as I can to learn what's happening in other ways to educate in the field.
00:22:42.355 --> 00:22:48.746
At home and abroad across the world these conversations are happening.
00:22:48.756 --> 00:22:57.895
And I'm trying to learn as quickly as I can other models and other ways and how to bring that into what we know and boost our best practices.
00:22:58.125 --> 00:23:03.195
Are there any particular people that are just like these key thought leaders that are just like making your head explode?
00:23:03.415 --> 00:23:04.395
Luca Perry.
00:23:04.476 --> 00:23:05.145
Do you know that name?
00:23:05.746 --> 00:23:06.476
Neither did I.
00:23:06.675 --> 00:23:13.516
He's out of Australia and does so much work with different models of education across the world.
00:23:13.516 --> 00:23:15.155
He's very fascinating to me.
00:23:15.185 --> 00:23:16.935
He has his own podcast as well.
00:23:17.326 --> 00:23:24.895
And I was listening to one early on as Susan and I were trying to figure out, where we fit in the model of education.
00:23:25.155 --> 00:23:31.695
And he had a guest on and he said, I have always been in public education as well.
00:23:31.826 --> 00:23:37.536
He said, and some of us are deciding that we're ready to work public adjacent.
00:23:37.935 --> 00:23:43.086
And it's not that we don't love public and believe in public and want the best.
00:23:43.086 --> 00:23:43.695
We do.
00:23:43.746 --> 00:23:47.415
And we're going to continue to help our friends in this lane.
00:23:47.836 --> 00:23:51.155
But we also know that not every kid is fitting in this.
00:23:51.155 --> 00:23:53.846
We've known it for a long time and it's okay to say it.
00:23:54.486 --> 00:24:04.945
So we're just going to say we're working publicly adjacent while also trying to help this system over here that's not doing so great because we can't root for it to fail.
00:24:05.256 --> 00:24:18.846
You need all these different choices for kids it's okay to say that it's okay to say that not all kids fit one mold and I think we say it but we don't And sometimes it can mean it's outside our system.
00:24:19.125 --> 00:24:25.875
And just learning about all these different ways that kids are being educated now has been very eye opening to me.
00:24:25.895 --> 00:24:32.006
If I had a dollar for every time as an administrator, I said, If this kid just had a different environment, they would be fine.
00:24:32.056 --> 00:24:35.855
And now I get to live it, and now I get to prove it.
00:24:36.355 --> 00:24:56.986
100 percent we have had kids who came in who were not, they didn't have friends, they didn't want to go in their building, they weren't doing well academically, and they come here and they're no longer anxious, and they're off medicines, and they're doing their work, and they're growing, and they just needed a different environment.
00:24:57.221 --> 00:25:00.121
It's not that we're magic, it's just a different environment.
00:25:00.361 --> 00:25:06.691
Sure I'm sure you've heard in, during this transition and growing this, that maybe the question, what are you trying to do?
00:25:06.701 --> 00:25:08.310
You're trying to hurt public ed?
00:25:08.361 --> 00:25:09.830
I think that is, yep.
00:25:10.080 --> 00:25:17.391
But it sounds it's truly, many of your students might be those that were not thriving in the environment.
00:25:17.631 --> 00:25:18.671
And couldn't find.
00:25:18.750 --> 00:25:19.391
Find a group.
00:25:19.441 --> 00:25:20.861
They just need a different environment.
00:25:21.141 --> 00:25:33.641
And my belief is that we could all work together and probably build even stronger faster there's politics and things again in the way of that But especially with our high school program, we're still very much supporting our public system.
00:25:33.941 --> 00:25:41.171
We're just offering a different alternative to allow kids to stay in that system and do well.
00:25:41.441 --> 00:25:42.820
I like that term you're talking about,
00:25:43.060 --> 00:25:43.750
it's adjacent.
00:25:43.750 --> 00:25:45.230
Because it's not competitive.
00:25:45.480 --> 00:25:46.691
It's running along the side.
00:25:46.721 --> 00:25:47.040
Yes.
00:25:47.070 --> 00:25:52.260
And what you've described for that high school level is those paths are intertwining.
00:25:52.361 --> 00:25:57.090
I think that now we've been doing it long enough that we can prove that it's a good working model.
00:25:57.151 --> 00:25:59.570
And so we'd love to see it continue to grow.
00:25:59.820 --> 00:26:00.891
Exciting stuff to hear.
00:26:00.951 --> 00:26:06.510
I know when I worked with you and I think probably you remember when you worked with me.
00:26:06.510 --> 00:26:06.840
Yes.
00:26:06.941 --> 00:26:08.611
I think laughter is pretty important.
00:26:08.621 --> 00:26:09.181
Important.
00:26:09.631 --> 00:26:16.080
So what role does that humor and a lightheartedness bring into your leadership?
00:26:16.411 --> 00:26:17.740
And tell us about a moment.
00:26:17.800 --> 00:26:21.250
that was just funny, it was good medicine.
00:26:21.310 --> 00:26:23.661
I think we laugh all the time.
00:26:23.730 --> 00:26:25.040
I know your partner too.
00:26:25.040 --> 00:26:28.820
It, yeah, that we don't go a day without laughing at each other.
00:26:28.871 --> 00:26:41.000
We want teachers to be happy in their environment, and we have the most amazing staff, but I think the difference, the pressure is often a smaller environment, and so we just have a lot of fun.
00:26:41.401 --> 00:26:47.070
So yes, laughter is important, and you have to find a way to laugh at yourself, because there's still gonna be things that make you really mad every day.
00:26:47.195 --> 00:26:50.816
There's still going to be kids or kids, right?
00:26:50.816 --> 00:26:52.476
Kids are, it doesn't matter where they are.
00:26:52.496 --> 00:26:53.226
Kids are kids.
00:26:53.536 --> 00:26:55.046
And adults are adults.
00:26:55.046 --> 00:27:02.476
So there are still going to be things that come up that you're just like beating your head against the wall about.
00:27:02.776 --> 00:27:03.625
So that happens.
00:27:03.726 --> 00:27:04.935
The grass is the same color.
00:27:04.996 --> 00:27:05.965
It's just a different field.
00:27:06.375 --> 00:27:12.425
Laughing is important, and I was trying to think of one funny story that really happened but they happen every single day.
00:27:12.826 --> 00:27:20.726
I don't know that I have a funny moment, but I will say that if you don't find yourself laughing in a job, That is a problem.
00:27:21.266 --> 00:27:26.576
And you either haven't found the right people to talk with at your job, or you're not in the right job.
00:27:26.865 --> 00:27:28.905
One of those two things is probably happening.
00:27:29.306 --> 00:27:31.836
Because, life is short.
00:27:32.276 --> 00:27:34.215
No one really knows all the ins and outs.
00:27:34.246 --> 00:27:36.445
Everyone has their own thing that they're doing.
00:27:36.455 --> 00:27:37.506
Everyone's on their own road.
00:27:37.506 --> 00:27:48.175
We're all managing our own time every single day and the biggest crisis at your job that day, probably no one knows anything about, but you feel like the entire world knows about it, right?
00:27:48.516 --> 00:27:57.865
And getting out of that environment and going into a different one, I think that was very true and I wish that my previous self had known that better.
00:27:58.355 --> 00:28:09.205
I think I had a lot of stress upon myself in my former job, we all on our team were very much perfectionistic kind of people and so we wanted everything to go right all of the time.
00:28:09.256 --> 00:28:14.266
One of the biggest lessons I think I've learned since I've left is that it's okay to not be perfect all the time.
00:28:14.596 --> 00:28:21.695
You just have to do the job, love the people, love what you're doing, and fix things as they go.
00:28:21.715 --> 00:28:28.476
It's interesting because I've been thinking a lot about early on Some of that leadership reading and training that I did.
00:28:28.476 --> 00:28:33.105
And back in the eighties, I read the, in search of excellence by Tom Peters.
00:28:33.625 --> 00:28:43.306
And that was different because it was making a distinction between perfect and excellence and there's a huge difference there And obviously the work you're doing here.
00:28:43.306 --> 00:28:46.576
You all are shooting for a level of excellence We are high standards and
00:28:46.796 --> 00:28:47.256
absolutely
00:28:47.316 --> 00:28:52.965
I think particularly sometimes young emerging leaders really get strapped with that.
00:28:53.256 --> 00:29:09.955
but I think too as more and more women are coming into leadership roles, there's seems to be a higher level of self imposed pressure that I can't make a mistake because I've worked so hard to get here and I can't let them see me make a mistake.
00:29:09.965 --> 00:29:10.226
Correct.
00:29:10.625 --> 00:29:16.256
And I say that with the privilege of having lived a 25 year career.
00:29:16.685 --> 00:29:21.536
I've done a lot of things, and so it's probably a little easier to say that than as somebody starting out.
00:29:21.885 --> 00:29:23.756
But You're going to make mistakes.
00:29:23.756 --> 00:29:24.996
That just is going to happen.
00:29:25.016 --> 00:29:29.405
And I think that we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be perfect.
00:29:29.405 --> 00:29:31.566
And that stress is not good.
00:29:31.645 --> 00:29:32.786
It's not good for anybody.
00:29:33.115 --> 00:29:42.746
And so laughing, having the right group of people, knowing that you're doing the very best that you can do every single day and that it's actually still going to be there the next day to keep going.
00:29:42.746 --> 00:29:44.455
You don't have to answer that text at midnight.
00:29:44.455 --> 00:29:45.316
Susan taught me that.
00:29:45.715 --> 00:29:51.486
I answered texts 24 hours a day, in her former job and she said, you don't really have to do that.
00:29:51.536 --> 00:29:52.236
You can stop doing that.
00:29:52.635 --> 00:29:54.039
And that's a lesson learned.
00:29:54.039 --> 00:29:56.089
Last year I stopped doing that.
00:29:56.089 --> 00:29:56.779
You have to.
00:29:56.779 --> 00:29:57.740
Was some freedom in that.
00:29:57.789 --> 00:30:01.509
There is some freedom in that and we're all human, right?
00:30:01.559 --> 00:30:01.930
Yeah.
00:30:01.940 --> 00:30:04.720
So lots of great lessons learned, I think, over my career.
00:30:05.069 --> 00:30:11.000
What are three things a young, emerging leader needs to know to be successful?
00:30:11.059 --> 00:30:18.319
Whether it's finance, whether it's education from your lived 25 years in the world of work.
00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:22.970
What are three things that are just, you think are very important for a young leader?
00:30:23.059 --> 00:30:24.990
Being willing to learn and watch others.
00:30:24.990 --> 00:30:25.900
I think it's huge.
00:30:25.900 --> 00:30:30.640
You mentioned it before, and I remember doing that along the way and I still do it.
00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:36.509
You want to take the best piece of everybody and kind of mold it together and Make it who you are.
00:30:36.869 --> 00:30:42.529
And so I think, watching for those traits that you really see as a reason those people are successful.
00:30:42.539 --> 00:30:46.099
Whether that is a social connection that people have with each other.
00:30:46.109 --> 00:30:47.740
Whether it's a leadership style.
00:30:47.750 --> 00:30:49.519
Whether it's a communication style.
00:30:49.720 --> 00:30:56.958
Just watch what you think is It works for them and then think how do I do that same thing and is there something I can learn from that?
00:30:56.978 --> 00:30:59.278
I think that's a great way to grow as a person.
00:30:59.837 --> 00:31:04.077
I think understanding the financial world is huge.
00:31:04.167 --> 00:31:13.647
I think especially teachers there's a lot of Teachers who believe that they have to get in and retire out of a system or they're not going to be okay.
00:31:14.028 --> 00:31:16.657
That's not really true, but we're taught that.
00:31:17.038 --> 00:31:23.337
And I think having the knowledge of how to make money work for you early on.
00:31:23.738 --> 00:31:25.538
It's a really powerful lesson.
00:31:25.897 --> 00:31:26.478
Money sense.
00:31:26.538 --> 00:31:28.397
You have to know how to do that.
00:31:28.397 --> 00:31:34.252
And for anyone who's listening, if you're in your twenties, please if, you never think you have enough money.
00:31:34.262 --> 00:31:37.163
It doesn't matter if you're 20 or 40 or 60, you never have enough.
00:31:37.512 --> 00:31:46.593
But putting some money away into an investment and retirement kinds of things is a really powerful idea that will give you freedom later on.
00:31:46.932 --> 00:31:50.153
And I have my own children investing in a Roth right now.
00:31:50.403 --> 00:31:54.063
We don't talk about it enough and giving you financial freedom later on.
00:31:54.442 --> 00:32:00.048
I don't want to interrupt you on your third point, but really what we're talking about is that law of compounding.
00:32:00.128 --> 00:32:00.628
Yes.
00:32:00.949 --> 00:32:03.048
And I would just say to young leaders
00:32:03.098 --> 00:32:03.249
you
00:32:03.249 --> 00:32:09.479
Bring out some good thinking points for me, Compounding those good leadership habits every day.
00:32:09.858 --> 00:32:12.169
Leaders are not made in a day.
00:32:12.179 --> 00:32:12.479
No,
00:32:12.749 --> 00:32:17.679
they're made in small increments over time consistently
00:32:18.078 --> 00:32:18.479
yes
00:32:18.489 --> 00:32:24.679
That's why when you're now talking at 20 years into a career you have a much different perspective.
00:32:24.689 --> 00:32:28.663
Very But for those that aren't there, it's about compounding.
00:32:28.943 --> 00:32:30.933
You're making those investments in people.
00:32:30.933 --> 00:32:35.144
You're making those investments in your own training, your own growth.
00:32:35.324 --> 00:32:40.124
And that level of compounding then pays off as you get down that road.
00:32:40.634 --> 00:32:41.804
That's a great parallel.
00:32:42.193 --> 00:32:48.463
The third is something I always say and I will continue to say and I've believed it and have lived it since my 20s.
00:32:48.763 --> 00:32:49.594
Take chances.
00:32:49.663 --> 00:32:51.554
Take chances and say yes to things.
00:32:51.634 --> 00:32:53.144
Opportunities will come to you.
00:32:53.173 --> 00:32:54.564
Don't say no to opportunities.
00:32:54.874 --> 00:32:55.763
Take the chance.
00:32:55.864 --> 00:33:01.663
Everything I have done where I said, I'm just gonna do it, has turned out to be really great.
00:33:01.763 --> 00:33:05.713
Don't let yourself get too bogged down in should I or shouldn't I.
00:33:06.193 --> 00:33:08.263
If the opportunity comes, go through the window.
00:33:08.713 --> 00:33:16.374
I've always told people usually younger leaders the time for preparation for an opportunity is not when it presents itself.
00:33:16.453 --> 00:33:17.243
It's previous.
00:33:17.304 --> 00:33:20.584
You've got to work hard when you're not knowing where it's going.
00:33:20.594 --> 00:33:20.943
Yep.
00:33:20.993 --> 00:33:23.163
But then when that opportunity knocks.
00:33:23.173 --> 00:33:23.814
Say yes.
00:33:23.874 --> 00:33:24.173
Yeah.
00:33:24.364 --> 00:33:24.634
Yeah.
00:33:24.939 --> 00:33:26.038
You have to be willing to do it.
00:33:26.239 --> 00:33:29.929
I never, ever would have worked at Edward Jones as a financial broker.
00:33:30.328 --> 00:33:31.199
Never in my life.
00:33:31.558 --> 00:33:35.199
The opportunity came to me, I did it, and it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
00:33:35.358 --> 00:33:38.858
Jill, it's been great talking with you about what you're doing.
00:33:38.868 --> 00:33:39.939
Yeah, it's been fun.
00:33:39.959 --> 00:33:45.848
Great just to be with you again, and you've always been a great thinker, and Hard worker.
00:33:45.898 --> 00:33:49.648
And thank you so much for contributing early on in this.
00:33:49.648 --> 00:33:51.368
We'll see where this podcast goes.
00:33:51.368 --> 00:33:51.949
We will.
00:33:51.979 --> 00:33:53.729
We've already got a plan for a future.
00:33:53.778 --> 00:33:55.169
Thank you for joining me today.
00:33:55.298 --> 00:33:55.929
Hey friends.
00:33:55.929 --> 00:34:01.659
Thank you so much for joining me on this very first broadcast of lead.
00:34:01.659 --> 00:34:03.278
Learn, laugh, and grow.
00:34:03.548 --> 00:34:05.078
It's been exciting for me.
00:34:05.078 --> 00:34:06.429
I hope you've enjoyed it.
00:34:06.848 --> 00:34:09.909
And join me back in two weeks for another episode.
00:00:06.972 --> 00:00:08.752
Hello friends, I'm Randy Gooch.
00:00:08.967 --> 00:00:13.378
Thank you for joining me on the Lead, Learn, Laugh, and Grow podcast.
00:00:13.897 --> 00:00:19.667
I lead because everything rises and falls on leadership, and it's too important not to lead.
00:00:20.068 --> 00:00:22.807
I learn because I'm not the smartest one in the room.
00:00:22.917 --> 00:00:25.777
There something to learn in every situation.
00:00:26.457 --> 00:00:28.998
I laugh because it's good medicine.
00:00:29.358 --> 00:00:33.107
It's cheaper than a therapist, and easier to swallow than pills.
00:00:33.508 --> 00:00:37.218
I grow because I can be better than I was yesterday.
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So grow or die, I prefer to grow.
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My guest today is Dr.
00:00:43.287 --> 00:00:47.128
Jill Brown, an amazing entrepreneurial educator.
00:00:47.667 --> 00:00:55.188
We're going to dive into the subjects about restlessness, growth, and embracing a bit of discomfort.
00:00:55.588 --> 00:00:58.307
Allow me to roll back the calendar for a few years.
00:00:58.787 --> 00:01:04.787
It was a major discomfort that completely changed the way I led and approached my work.
00:01:05.188 --> 00:01:13.908
I was feeling uneasy, you know that feeling when something just doesn't sit right and you can't quite put your fingers on it.
00:01:14.308 --> 00:01:18.817
I was restless and the questions just kept coming in my mind.
00:01:19.218 --> 00:01:23.558
Was it the high turnover and instability in my district central office?
00:01:23.957 --> 00:01:28.168
Was it that I was worried about my kids and their choices?
00:01:28.567 --> 00:01:29.028
Maybe.
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Was it my team?
00:01:30.798 --> 00:01:32.638
Was I doing enough for my team?
00:01:33.037 --> 00:01:34.688
Were they struggling because of me?
00:01:35.087 --> 00:01:40.237
I felt like I was drowning in questions and wasn't finding any clear answers.
00:01:40.798 --> 00:01:46.257
But here's the kicker, despite my internal struggle, my team was thriving.
00:01:46.828 --> 00:01:54.427
In fact, they had recently been recognized nationally for excellence in their development of project based learning in our center.
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We were comfortable soaking up the glow of the award and the accomplishment and the recognition.
00:02:03.278 --> 00:02:07.308
But deep down, I knew we couldn't rest there.
00:02:08.277 --> 00:02:17.568
I wanted to help my team set new aspirational goals and to reach even higher and do more things that were great for students future success.
00:02:17.967 --> 00:02:20.457
I thought, how do I fix this?
00:02:20.858 --> 00:02:25.177
How do I get us in the right space, the right mindset?
00:02:25.578 --> 00:02:27.048
How do I coach them through?
00:02:27.418 --> 00:02:28.598
How do I coach them up?
00:02:28.997 --> 00:02:35.068
Finally, I pulled out John Maxwell's 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.
00:02:35.467 --> 00:02:41.487
It didn't take more than 10 pages to find clarity in the form of Law of the Lid.
00:02:41.888 --> 00:02:48.807
The idea that leadership ability is the lid on a person's level of effectiveness.
00:02:49.207 --> 00:02:52.717
It wasn't my team that needed fixing and coaching up.
00:02:53.367 --> 00:02:54.087
It was me.
00:02:54.487 --> 00:03:03.527
If we, the team, were going to break through to a new level, I first had to up my game and lead better.
00:03:03.927 --> 00:03:09.527
Then I remembered something from my time while I was stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky in the 80s.
00:03:10.038 --> 00:03:13.018
The post commander was Major General Thomas Tate.
00:03:13.418 --> 00:03:16.548
He had a motto, comfort kills.
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It hit me like a gut punch, a reminder of the hard truth that rests in comfort kills growth, kills progress, and sometimes can be life threatening.
00:03:29.888 --> 00:03:34.258
That comfort kills phrase and the law of the lid fired me up.
00:03:34.657 --> 00:03:43.068
The six months that followed was the most productive growth, both personally and professionally, that I've ever experienced.
00:03:43.467 --> 00:03:53.487
I leaned forward in the foxhole, went on the attack, I got hyper intentional about my growth, and deeply committed to adding value to others daily.
00:03:53.888 --> 00:03:59.508
Thank you, John Maxwell, and thank you, General Tate, for the truth and the wisdom I needed.
00:03:59.907 --> 00:04:05.608
I needed that uncomfortable reality check, the kick in the butt to drive me forward.
00:04:06.008 --> 00:04:17.557
So if you're feeling restless, stuck, out of answers, reach out to a coach, a mentor, a trusted friend, a great book or a podcast like this one.
00:04:17.958 --> 00:04:23.728
They offer perspective and resources that can open doors that you can't yet see.
00:04:24.127 --> 00:04:28.687
Don't let comfortable situations hold you back from a better future.
00:04:29.088 --> 00:04:33.927
About a year after that growth period, an opportunity came my way.
00:04:34.088 --> 00:04:38.028
The chance to become Chief Operations Officer of a large district.
00:04:38.427 --> 00:04:44.468
But, I knew that the intense season of preparation made me ready for that leap.
00:04:45.158 --> 00:04:50.437
I encourage you, start preparing now for the opportunities you can't see.
00:04:51.137 --> 00:04:54.927
And remember as General Tate put it so well, comfort kills.
00:04:55.257 --> 00:04:58.067
Step out of it, even just a little.
00:04:58.637 --> 00:05:02.257
You might be surprised by the incredible places it will take you.
00:05:02.658 --> 00:05:08.677
On a side note, I chose the Maxwell Certification, not the doctorate, and have not regretted it since.
00:05:08.927 --> 00:05:11.827
Now I want to bring our guest into the conversation.
00:05:11.937 --> 00:05:13.668
I'm thrilled to welcome Dr.
00:05:13.677 --> 00:05:16.848
Jill Brown, an educational entrepreneur.
00:05:17.197 --> 00:05:21.387
Jill is no stranger to the power of stepping outside comfort zones.
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She's here to share her story and insights on navigating discomfort to achieve growth and leverage opportunity.
00:05:29.307 --> 00:05:37.598
So welcome Jill Brown Thank you for joining me today, and I'm gonna start with a few questions and it's so good to see you
00:05:37.767 --> 00:05:38.288
great to see you
00:05:38.827 --> 00:05:43.898
so I have billed you as an Educational entrepreneur.
00:05:44.437 --> 00:05:44.747
Yep,
00:05:45.077 --> 00:05:47.117
and a micro school pioneer.
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Hey That sounds fancy, Randy Gooch.
00:05:50.293 --> 00:05:54.252
I'm just wanting to know, have I categorized you and labeled you accurately?
00:05:54.322 --> 00:06:01.322
Yeah, I think I've been in this lane now for just a short time, but edgepreneur is one, that's a word that they're using a lot.
00:06:01.992 --> 00:06:08.142
So people that have been in education for a long time but have taken a little detour and shifted it just a little bit.
00:06:08.153 --> 00:06:09.403
So I think you've nailed it.
00:06:09.653 --> 00:06:09.802
Alright.
00:06:09.812 --> 00:06:10.103
I might
00:06:10.103 --> 00:06:10.783
steal that.
00:06:11.002 --> 00:06:11.392
Alright
00:06:11.413 --> 00:06:14.122
Tell me about what you're currently building and creating.
00:06:14.293 --> 00:06:16.783
And cause I know you've got a couple different avenues.
00:06:16.783 --> 00:06:18.762
It's not just the actual school.
00:06:18.762 --> 00:06:19.632
It's some other things.
00:06:19.682 --> 00:06:19.923
Yeah.
00:06:19.983 --> 00:06:20.742
Tell me about what's going on.
00:06:21.213 --> 00:06:21.713
Yes.
00:06:21.733 --> 00:06:23.862
I can never sit still, my husband says.
00:06:23.872 --> 00:06:30.713
So once I get one thing going, I just find myself another project that has tended to be a reoccurring theme in my life.
00:06:30.723 --> 00:06:32.153
We have two businesses.
00:06:32.153 --> 00:06:35.012
So we have kale which is the school.
00:06:35.023 --> 00:06:39.593
So the CALE School, Columbia Academy for Learning and Enrichment is the actual name.
00:06:39.882 --> 00:06:43.103
We knew when we named it, it would probably go down to CALE and it has.
00:06:43.403 --> 00:06:46.283
So our CALE School has grown.
00:06:46.293 --> 00:06:48.463
We opened in August of 2021.
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And we have grown from 10 students that first year to 90 this year, right now.
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And we're on track to be at about 100 for fall.
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About 120 is about the ultimate number we're shooting for.
00:07:01.483 --> 00:07:05.012
And we serve students age 4 through 12th grade.
00:07:05.413 --> 00:07:07.103
So we opened our high school this year.
00:07:07.163 --> 00:07:13.973
That has been a new addition to us, and we partnered with a local college, Columbia College, and we have our students on campus there.
00:07:14.002 --> 00:07:15.083
So we have two campuses.
00:07:15.132 --> 00:07:15.502
So I
00:07:15.502 --> 00:07:24.122
understand, am I correct, that when you started that, you were trying to even connect that to some career learning, real world learning as well, is that correct?
00:07:24.132 --> 00:07:24.952
The high school.
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Yes.
00:07:25.608 --> 00:07:27.677
The high school is definitely unique.
00:07:27.937 --> 00:07:31.627
So it lives between high virtual and in person.
00:07:31.658 --> 00:07:33.418
So it's like a hybrid kind of option.
00:07:33.737 --> 00:07:46.137
If you're a student who maybe doesn't want to sit in a building all day, go from class to class, you might want to move a little faster or perhaps we have some kids who play sports and need some extra time off because they travel.
00:07:46.538 --> 00:07:50.314
Sports that are connected, not directly to the school, but probably traveling
00:07:50.314 --> 00:07:50.675
Gotcha.
00:07:50.675 --> 00:07:56.625
We have some kids who work and need a flexible schedule, and again, they just don't want to sit in that building all day.
00:07:56.985 --> 00:08:02.925
And they can do their classes online, but they can also choose to do classes in person if they want to.
00:08:02.935 --> 00:08:02.966
Yeah.
00:08:03.065 --> 00:08:11.225
Our administrator who runs that program builds the schedule one on one with the student, and they create exactly what they want school to look like.
00:08:11.596 --> 00:08:26.545
So they decide if they're going to go be in class, they decide if they're going to be on campus at Columbia College doing their coursework online, and then he also works with them to get internships or go to college visits or go to business visits.
00:08:26.805 --> 00:08:32.546
So is Columbia College designing that curriculum and the academic curriculum or is it beyond?
00:08:32.596 --> 00:08:33.405
That's a good question.
00:08:33.416 --> 00:08:36.025
So right now the kids have two choices.
00:08:36.296 --> 00:08:46.936
So they're either a local public school student online, CPS student online which allows them to still take all the courses from the career center or play sports if they want to.
00:08:47.166 --> 00:08:52.125
So they can still access everything and never have to go into that large 2000 person building if they don't want to.
00:08:52.576 --> 00:08:58.456
So they can choose that route and they get all of their academics through that and they can still do dual credit and they want to take that.
00:08:58.836 --> 00:09:07.625
Or if they are a student who doesn't live in Columbia or doesn't want to be a CPS student, then they can do Missouri Connections Academy.
00:09:07.676 --> 00:09:10.535
And so they're on one of those two learning platforms.
00:09:10.806 --> 00:09:11.446
Pretty cool.
00:09:11.515 --> 00:09:11.865
It is.
00:09:11.926 --> 00:09:16.635
Before I ask you the real juicy questions tell me a little bit about the other path.
00:09:16.696 --> 00:09:17.285
The other path.
00:09:17.346 --> 00:09:21.265
The second business that we have is Kale Education and Company.
00:09:21.676 --> 00:09:25.436
And that part of our business is supporting educators.
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On the CALE side, we're living, breathing with students every single day, doing the work.
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I still teach full time.
00:09:31.640 --> 00:09:32.860
Susan teaches full time.
00:09:32.860 --> 00:09:34.750
We are in the trenches doing the work.
00:09:35.030 --> 00:09:37.990
On the other side, we're still helping educators.
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I said when I left my other job to start something new, I said I'm only going to do the things that I love from this point forward.
00:09:44.961 --> 00:09:48.130
So I love working with kids and I love working with educators.
00:09:48.431 --> 00:09:53.541
And so that side of the business has concentrated into three different areas.
00:09:53.760 --> 00:09:57.541
One, we support educators and any kind of educator.
00:09:57.541 --> 00:10:07.716
So if you're a homeschooling parent, if you're a micro schooling founder, if you're a public school, if you're a private school, whatever you are we have, Ways to support you on that side.
00:10:07.975 --> 00:10:34.666
So I wrote a book a few years ago in 2019 my expertise and passion lies in literacy teaching kids how to read Helping teachers understand how to teach kids to read and so I've turned that book into a course in order to help educators have better access to that and so that course walks them through how to take data and Actionize their data and then do something about it hook it to the intervention get the results for the kids all about reading.
00:10:35.066 --> 00:10:36.066
And so we have that.
00:10:36.306 --> 00:10:45.405
Then we also have all of our everything that we have developed to start our school is on that website to help other micro schools who get started or other private schools who get started.
00:10:45.686 --> 00:10:53.025
And then we also have our tutoring center, which we help kids that don't come to our school, but still need additional support and reading.
00:10:53.086 --> 00:10:55.686
And then we also host a national conference each year.
00:10:55.706 --> 00:10:58.326
In the same lines of that literacy passion.
00:10:58.556 --> 00:10:58.916
Dr.
00:10:58.916 --> 00:11:07.056
Erica Lemke out of the University of Missouri and I started a conference this will be our third year and it's called the Show Me Science of Reading Conference.
00:11:07.416 --> 00:11:14.765
So each year we have in wonderful national Speakers and experts and then we host some really great breakout sessions.
00:11:14.765 --> 00:11:17.615
And we have roughly 500 educators from around the U.
00:11:17.615 --> 00:11:17.826
S.
00:11:17.826 --> 00:11:20.145
and Canada who join us each year.
00:11:20.285 --> 00:11:26.125
Is just first hearing about this how do they find out a little bit more and how could they register for that?
00:11:26.355 --> 00:11:29.120
So that will open on January 6th.
00:11:29.581 --> 00:11:32.510
It sells out pretty fast, so it is on www.
00:11:32.681 --> 00:11:33.791
CALEEDCO.Com.
00:11:33.811 --> 00:11:36.211
C-A-L-E-E-D-C O.com.
00:11:36.490 --> 00:11:38.260
And you'll find the registration for that.
00:11:38.260 --> 00:11:44.100
You'll find all the course online course, all those kinds of things will be on the CALE Education and company website.
00:11:44.191 --> 00:11:49.071
And then if you're just curious about the school that is www.COMOCALE.Com.
00:11:49.091 --> 00:11:50.350
C-O-M-O-C-A-L-E.
00:11:50.750 --> 00:11:51.171
Excellent.
00:11:51.260 --> 00:11:54.711
And I'll make sure we get those links in the notes for this.
00:11:54.730 --> 00:11:55.140
To help.
00:11:55.341 --> 00:12:03.620
What were you doing exactly prior to this and how and why did you make that move?
00:12:03.870 --> 00:12:08.900
My path is probably A little different, which spurred my love for entrepreneurship.
00:12:09.171 --> 00:12:13.421
I was in public education for just over 20 years.
00:12:13.431 --> 00:12:17.681
So this is my 25th year doing something professionally.
00:12:18.061 --> 00:12:25.341
Just over 20 of those I spent in public education with the exception of two or three years that I spent at Edward Jones.
00:12:25.801 --> 00:12:43.546
At that time when I broke off for just a minute, I trained brokers, and it was a fantastic job, early 20s, learned so much, so thankful for the time there and learning about finance and how to do all that kind of important life work if you will, and so I got a taste of it there, loved it.
00:12:44.225 --> 00:12:52.346
As I was finishing my PhD, I also was independent for a time doing consulting before I got into administration.
00:12:52.625 --> 00:12:57.775
And so I had owned my own business there for a small stint while I was consulting.
00:12:58.056 --> 00:12:59.076
And I really loved it.
00:12:59.270 --> 00:13:04.530
Then I went into 10 years of administration work where I was a principal and an assistant superintendent.
00:13:04.760 --> 00:13:09.995
When I left the assistant superintendent position after, the pandemic.
00:13:10.326 --> 00:13:13.936
I was definitely ready to do something different.
00:13:13.975 --> 00:13:22.066
I had said to you recently I wanted to leave and just do the things that I wanted to do and leave behind all the things I never ever wanted to do again.
00:13:22.346 --> 00:13:25.966
And so that's how I've built the last three years of my life.
00:13:25.985 --> 00:13:27.275
I wanted to do education.
00:13:27.285 --> 00:13:28.186
I wanted to help kids.
00:13:28.216 --> 00:13:38.995
I wanted to help teachers, but I did not want to spend my day doing paperwork or with attorneys or all the other things that come with being in districts.
00:13:39.556 --> 00:13:39.785
Sure.
00:13:39.885 --> 00:13:40.005
Yeah.
00:13:40.005 --> 00:13:40.725
Absolutely.
00:13:40.725 --> 00:13:43.105
And so this is themed comfort kills.
00:13:43.166 --> 00:13:48.265
Talk a little bit about what it was like leaving that because were all well paid in those positions.
00:13:48.265 --> 00:13:52.485
It was a great job we worked in a district that had a certain level of esteem.
00:13:52.556 --> 00:13:53.875
Good things were happening.
00:13:53.936 --> 00:13:54.196
Yeah
00:13:54.306 --> 00:13:58.796
So but that stepping out what was that getting out of a comfort zone?
00:13:59.056 --> 00:13:59.745
What was that like?
00:14:00.025 --> 00:14:01.255
Yeah, that's scary, right?
00:14:01.306 --> 00:14:14.135
That's the reason people don't do new things is because it's really hard to step out And decide to do something different and my husband's a teacher my salary was important and he was incredibly supportive.
00:14:14.176 --> 00:14:19.525
He knew that I was ready to do something different and was really great about that, but I'm also a big planner.
00:14:19.556 --> 00:14:23.316
So anyone who knows me knows If I'm going to do something, I'm going to have a plan behind it.
00:14:23.586 --> 00:14:29.115
So I definitely, for a year before I left, was thinking about how to make that happen.
00:14:29.375 --> 00:14:34.446
And financially you get yourself into a plan and you know what that's gonna look like.
00:14:34.735 --> 00:14:40.905
I believe that We have one life to live, and I think you have to do that doing the things that you love.
00:14:41.206 --> 00:14:49.225
And if you are in a position and you think, I just want to make the change, at some point you have to decide to take the leap.
00:14:49.765 --> 00:14:59.686
Because I can always go back into education in public school if I really needed to or wanted to but I wanted to try something different and you just have to do it.
00:14:59.946 --> 00:15:08.676
So as people listen to this, hopefully there are a lot of them, maybe not, I don't know, we hope so, but what do you say to those?
00:15:08.956 --> 00:15:10.765
I think a lot of times.
00:15:11.066 --> 00:15:16.046
There aren't a lot of people that are entrepreneurial that are attracted to education.
00:15:16.056 --> 00:15:27.605
Yeah, but they're sitting there and they may be having some of those same feelings wanting something different, but maybe not have that background you did What's some encouragement you could give maybe somebody that's sitting in that spot?
00:15:27.755 --> 00:15:28.076
Yeah,
00:15:28.176 --> 00:15:30.015
knowing they want to do something different.
00:15:30.066 --> 00:15:45.255
I think you have to be willing to talk to people, when susan and I decided to do this We wanted to take everything that we knew worked really well, leave behind the things that didn't, and create this new kind of educational environment that we'd always hoped to have.
00:15:45.556 --> 00:15:56.605
And we did that, but then we learned that there's this whole micro schooling world out there that is actually 2 percent of the population, which is equivalent to the Catholic school population.
00:15:56.796 --> 00:16:01.596
There are about a million students doing some kind of schooling like we're doing.
00:16:01.985 --> 00:16:05.586
And once we found that group it felt better.
00:16:05.865 --> 00:16:10.966
You think, oh, like I'm learning so much more about other facets of education.
00:16:11.316 --> 00:16:15.975
But I also think that, we're seeing a huge decline in teachers leaving.
00:16:16.186 --> 00:16:17.196
The field right?
00:16:17.645 --> 00:16:23.035
And that is a real crisis that needs to be discussed because they're not readily available there.
00:16:23.046 --> 00:16:25.306
We're not graduating hundreds of teachers out.
00:16:25.686 --> 00:16:28.515
And I think there's a lot of reasons for that.
00:16:28.785 --> 00:16:36.966
But I'm not sure these young people go into a career now thinking I'm going to go into a building and be there for 30 years and teach third grade and then retire.
00:16:36.966 --> 00:16:39.816
I just, I don't think that's the current reality of what's happening.
00:16:40.216 --> 00:16:48.735
If we had some tracks of entrepreneur study, that might bring some of these young people back into our field.
00:16:49.056 --> 00:16:51.725
I think there are lots of people who want to work with kids.
00:16:52.056 --> 00:16:55.556
I don't think there are lots of people who want to work in the current system.
00:16:55.985 --> 00:16:57.576
Wow, now you've turned my brain on,
00:16:57.975 --> 00:16:58.235
yeah,
00:16:58.635 --> 00:17:07.115
entrepreneur track even at a, maybe a college level, And so maybe that's your third project, and maybe you and I can work on that,
00:17:07.115 --> 00:17:08.576
Because I have talked a lot about it.
00:17:08.925 --> 00:17:13.326
And I think there's really something there, and I think it would attract people in.
00:17:13.326 --> 00:17:16.286
Because there are a lot of people doing what we're doing.
00:17:16.346 --> 00:17:19.465
And it started far before the pandemic.
00:17:19.465 --> 00:17:24.125
But during the pandemic, a lot of learning pods and things like that popped up.
00:17:24.425 --> 00:17:29.076
And I think teachers learned like, oh, wait, I can do exactly what I love.
00:17:29.125 --> 00:17:36.236
And I don't have to do it within the system that I'm not any more crazy about, and I think there's a whole field out there doing this.
00:17:36.266 --> 00:17:39.465
And there's a lot of very esteemed universities studying it.
00:17:39.796 --> 00:17:41.875
That is a definite interest for me.
00:17:42.125 --> 00:17:46.925
And that's why part of our company on the other side is really working to support these people who want to do it.
00:17:47.326 --> 00:17:48.635
Want to jump and take the lead.
00:17:48.826 --> 00:17:49.526
Absolutely.
00:17:49.846 --> 00:17:58.016
So as I hear you talking about your preparation be very careful before you just run from something.
00:17:58.026 --> 00:18:00.615
But that you leap to something better.
00:18:00.625 --> 00:18:02.516
There's a landing zone you're going.
00:18:02.516 --> 00:18:05.246
Sounds like that was definitely part of your planning.
00:18:05.560 --> 00:18:13.580
And that might be part of what is so scary for these young people, not really understanding how to set up some of those positive things.
00:18:13.861 --> 00:18:14.320
Yes.
00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:16.151
I think there definitely has to be planning.
00:18:16.230 --> 00:18:21.260
I knew that I was going to go back in and do consulting, so that was part of what I was going to do.
00:18:21.540 --> 00:18:22.980
We knew we were going to open the school.
00:18:22.980 --> 00:18:24.500
We know that would take some time.
00:18:24.510 --> 00:18:25.701
We were doing tutoring.
00:18:25.881 --> 00:18:26.881
It takes time though.
00:18:26.980 --> 00:18:32.171
It does take time and we, there was many months before we got paid one dollar.
00:18:32.570 --> 00:18:43.101
And I tell people early on someone made a comment that I left because I was wanting to make more money and I thought to myself no I had a great salary and great benefits and great place to be.
00:18:43.101 --> 00:18:44.030
That was not it at all.
00:18:44.030 --> 00:18:52.760
I went from that salary to zero for a very long time because my passion and my drive and my values were steering me in a different direction.
00:18:52.770 --> 00:18:56.431
But you understood up front that was going to be a piece of the equation.
00:18:56.891 --> 00:18:57.951
And then all of a sudden,
00:18:58.540 --> 00:19:00.431
The reality is you're starting a business.
00:19:00.471 --> 00:19:01.550
It takes a lot of time.
00:19:01.941 --> 00:19:06.990
And I think that's where kind of the Edward Jones piece of my life was really helpful.
00:19:07.230 --> 00:19:09.701
And owning my own business in between that was really helpful.
00:19:09.701 --> 00:19:11.490
I had done a little bit of that before.
00:19:11.701 --> 00:19:13.611
And so that part wasn't scary to me.
00:19:14.020 --> 00:19:15.141
But you never know.
00:19:15.721 --> 00:19:28.036
I think that's interesting because it just, And maybe that's why we got along fairly well because we had a little bit of a professional life in a different sector before we came to this.
00:19:28.365 --> 00:19:32.925
And I think it gave some clarity And just a broader perspective.
00:19:32.976 --> 00:19:37.405
It's interesting that Edward Jones, my daughter just recently become an Edward Jones advisor.
00:19:37.405 --> 00:19:42.905
So I know that and that training process and what she went through was so thorough.
00:19:43.185 --> 00:19:53.875
So many accountabilities built in, but just in the confidence level that they have coming out of that, they know, but it's hard and the amount of work.
00:19:54.125 --> 00:19:57.286
And, maybe when we do this joint venture here, I love this idea.
00:19:57.336 --> 00:20:01.865
Maybe we can borrow some of that because they have an excellent model for success.
00:20:01.925 --> 00:20:02.195
They do.
00:20:02.195 --> 00:20:07.236
The people that enter their ability to be successful is so high when they exit that.
00:20:07.286 --> 00:20:07.675
Yeah.
00:20:07.675 --> 00:20:08.816
They used to call it segments.
00:20:08.861 --> 00:20:10.441
Segment one, segment two, segment three.
00:20:10.441 --> 00:20:12.290
And I was a segment three trainer.
00:20:12.320 --> 00:20:17.411
And so they had to have hit profitability level at a certain amount before they went to our training.
00:20:17.820 --> 00:20:26.330
And I can remember being 23 years old, sitting in there with a bunch of men who were listening to the second grade teacher, teach them how to build their business.
00:20:26.730 --> 00:20:34.191
And so I learned how to hold my own real fast, but That job was in so many ways valuable for me as a leader and as a person.
00:20:34.300 --> 00:20:34.540
Yeah.
00:20:34.590 --> 00:20:34.750
I
00:20:34.750 --> 00:20:41.631
look back on my leadership training and somebody asked me what courses did you take to help you as a leader?
00:20:41.780 --> 00:20:43.496
And I said, I'll be honest with you.
00:20:43.895 --> 00:20:49.266
None of my educational preparation really prepped me to be a leader.
00:20:49.635 --> 00:20:51.296
Most of that came from the military.
00:20:51.675 --> 00:20:52.496
Self study.
00:20:53.145 --> 00:20:56.705
And, Observing good leaders and saying, what are they doing?
00:20:57.086 --> 00:21:01.826
Observing the not so good and saying, man, I want to eliminate that.
00:21:01.826 --> 00:21:06.455
And just really looking at those people that, that were being successful.
00:21:06.855 --> 00:21:09.855
And I think too, interestingly, the climate's changed a little bit.
00:21:09.996 --> 00:21:17.526
I start thinking about when I entered the army, that culture's changed immensely, and now it's very much more culturally sensitive.
00:21:17.615 --> 00:21:23.625
But making those transitions too, but still the hard core piece of Developing people
00:21:23.736 --> 00:21:24.056
right
00:21:24.506 --> 00:21:28.056
Although it was a very authoritarian Sure system
00:21:28.346 --> 00:21:28.546
Yeah,
00:21:28.586 --> 00:21:36.506
there was always some really key leaders that were wanting good things for me professionally and personally and Expectations.
00:21:36.506 --> 00:21:37.625
Yes, and
00:21:37.625 --> 00:21:44.266
the accountability was high and it was tough and sometimes your feelings got hurt But I think
00:21:44.266 --> 00:21:44.816
that's okay.
00:21:44.885 --> 00:21:45.195
Yeah,
00:21:45.226 --> 00:21:46.125
What are you learning?
00:21:46.165 --> 00:21:46.526
Yeah.
00:21:46.705 --> 00:22:04.056
I'm trying to expand my thinking because we still have moments where, we've been trained one way for so long and in the public sector to think about how school looks and what schools should look like to get ourselves to think outside that box has really taken a lot of time.
00:22:04.395 --> 00:22:08.875
And so I am part of the National Microschooling Center.
00:22:08.925 --> 00:22:10.605
I'm on some committees with them.
00:22:10.625 --> 00:22:16.316
And one of the committees that I'm on is evaluation and academic growth and how you're going to see that.
00:22:16.316 --> 00:22:19.415
And so I take my lens of public education into that group.
00:22:19.885 --> 00:22:27.115
I get to hear from a lot of other people who have done a lot of other things for a lot of years and it's just helping me.
00:22:27.526 --> 00:22:31.986
Assimilate that information into what I know and growing it into something even bigger.
00:22:32.276 --> 00:22:42.256
And so I think that I'm just trying as quickly as I can to learn what's happening in other ways to educate in the field.
00:22:42.355 --> 00:22:48.746
At home and abroad across the world these conversations are happening.
00:22:48.756 --> 00:22:57.895
And I'm trying to learn as quickly as I can other models and other ways and how to bring that into what we know and boost our best practices.
00:22:58.125 --> 00:23:03.195
Are there any particular people that are just like these key thought leaders that are just like making your head explode?
00:23:03.415 --> 00:23:04.395
Luca Perry.
00:23:04.476 --> 00:23:05.145
Do you know that name?
00:23:05.746 --> 00:23:06.476
Neither did I.
00:23:06.675 --> 00:23:13.516
He's out of Australia and does so much work with different models of education across the world.
00:23:13.516 --> 00:23:15.155
He's very fascinating to me.
00:23:15.185 --> 00:23:16.935
He has his own podcast as well.
00:23:17.326 --> 00:23:24.895
And I was listening to one early on as Susan and I were trying to figure out, where we fit in the model of education.
00:23:25.155 --> 00:23:31.695
And he had a guest on and he said, I have always been in public education as well.
00:23:31.826 --> 00:23:37.536
He said, and some of us are deciding that we're ready to work public adjacent.
00:23:37.935 --> 00:23:43.086
And it's not that we don't love public and believe in public and want the best.
00:23:43.086 --> 00:23:43.695
We do.
00:23:43.746 --> 00:23:47.415
And we're going to continue to help our friends in this lane.
00:23:47.836 --> 00:23:51.155
But we also know that not every kid is fitting in this.
00:23:51.155 --> 00:23:53.846
We've known it for a long time and it's okay to say it.
00:23:54.486 --> 00:24:04.945
So we're just going to say we're working publicly adjacent while also trying to help this system over here that's not doing so great because we can't root for it to fail.
00:24:05.256 --> 00:24:18.846
You need all these different choices for kids it's okay to say that it's okay to say that not all kids fit one mold and I think we say it but we don't And sometimes it can mean it's outside our system.
00:24:19.125 --> 00:24:25.875
And just learning about all these different ways that kids are being educated now has been very eye opening to me.
00:24:25.895 --> 00:24:32.006
If I had a dollar for every time as an administrator, I said, If this kid just had a different environment, they would be fine.
00:24:32.056 --> 00:24:35.855
And now I get to live it, and now I get to prove it.
00:24:36.355 --> 00:24:56.986
100 percent we have had kids who came in who were not, they didn't have friends, they didn't want to go in their building, they weren't doing well academically, and they come here and they're no longer anxious, and they're off medicines, and they're doing their work, and they're growing, and they just needed a different environment.
00:24:57.221 --> 00:25:00.121
It's not that we're magic, it's just a different environment.
00:25:00.361 --> 00:25:06.691
Sure I'm sure you've heard in, during this transition and growing this, that maybe the question, what are you trying to do?
00:25:06.701 --> 00:25:08.310
You're trying to hurt public ed?
00:25:08.361 --> 00:25:09.830
I think that is, yep.
00:25:10.080 --> 00:25:17.391
But it sounds it's truly, many of your students might be those that were not thriving in the environment.
00:25:17.631 --> 00:25:18.671
And couldn't find.
00:25:18.750 --> 00:25:19.391
Find a group.
00:25:19.441 --> 00:25:20.861
They just need a different environment.
00:25:21.141 --> 00:25:33.641
And my belief is that we could all work together and probably build even stronger faster there's politics and things again in the way of that But especially with our high school program, we're still very much supporting our public system.
00:25:33.941 --> 00:25:41.171
We're just offering a different alternative to allow kids to stay in that system and do well.
00:25:41.441 --> 00:25:42.820
I like that term you're talking about,
00:25:43.060 --> 00:25:43.750
it's adjacent.
00:25:43.750 --> 00:25:45.230
Because it's not competitive.
00:25:45.480 --> 00:25:46.691
It's running along the side.
00:25:46.721 --> 00:25:47.040
Yes.
00:25:47.070 --> 00:25:52.260
And what you've described for that high school level is those paths are intertwining.
00:25:52.361 --> 00:25:57.090
I think that now we've been doing it long enough that we can prove that it's a good working model.
00:25:57.151 --> 00:25:59.570
And so we'd love to see it continue to grow.
00:25:59.820 --> 00:26:00.891
Exciting stuff to hear.
00:26:00.951 --> 00:26:06.510
I know when I worked with you and I think probably you remember when you worked with me.
00:26:06.510 --> 00:26:06.840
Yes.
00:26:06.941 --> 00:26:08.611
I think laughter is pretty important.
00:26:08.621 --> 00:26:09.181
Important.
00:26:09.631 --> 00:26:16.080
So what role does that humor and a lightheartedness bring into your leadership?
00:26:16.411 --> 00:26:17.740
And tell us about a moment.
00:26:17.800 --> 00:26:21.250
that was just funny, it was good medicine.
00:26:21.310 --> 00:26:23.661
I think we laugh all the time.
00:26:23.730 --> 00:26:25.040
I know your partner too.
00:26:25.040 --> 00:26:28.820
It, yeah, that we don't go a day without laughing at each other.
00:26:28.871 --> 00:26:41.000
We want teachers to be happy in their environment, and we have the most amazing staff, but I think the difference, the pressure is often a smaller environment, and so we just have a lot of fun.
00:26:41.401 --> 00:26:47.070
So yes, laughter is important, and you have to find a way to laugh at yourself, because there's still gonna be things that make you really mad every day.
00:26:47.195 --> 00:26:50.816
There's still going to be kids or kids, right?
00:26:50.816 --> 00:26:52.476
Kids are, it doesn't matter where they are.
00:26:52.496 --> 00:26:53.226
Kids are kids.
00:26:53.536 --> 00:26:55.046
And adults are adults.
00:26:55.046 --> 00:27:02.476
So there are still going to be things that come up that you're just like beating your head against the wall about.
00:27:02.776 --> 00:27:03.625
So that happens.
00:27:03.726 --> 00:27:04.935
The grass is the same color.
00:27:04.996 --> 00:27:05.965
It's just a different field.
00:27:06.375 --> 00:27:12.425
Laughing is important, and I was trying to think of one funny story that really happened but they happen every single day.
00:27:12.826 --> 00:27:20.726
I don't know that I have a funny moment, but I will say that if you don't find yourself laughing in a job, That is a problem.
00:27:21.266 --> 00:27:26.576
And you either haven't found the right people to talk with at your job, or you're not in the right job.
00:27:26.865 --> 00:27:28.905
One of those two things is probably happening.
00:27:29.306 --> 00:27:31.836
Because, life is short.
00:27:32.276 --> 00:27:34.215
No one really knows all the ins and outs.
00:27:34.246 --> 00:27:36.445
Everyone has their own thing that they're doing.
00:27:36.455 --> 00:27:37.506
Everyone's on their own road.
00:27:37.506 --> 00:27:48.175
We're all managing our own time every single day and the biggest crisis at your job that day, probably no one knows anything about, but you feel like the entire world knows about it, right?
00:27:48.516 --> 00:27:57.865
And getting out of that environment and going into a different one, I think that was very true and I wish that my previous self had known that better.
00:27:58.355 --> 00:28:09.205
I think I had a lot of stress upon myself in my former job, we all on our team were very much perfectionistic kind of people and so we wanted everything to go right all of the time.
00:28:09.256 --> 00:28:14.266
One of the biggest lessons I think I've learned since I've left is that it's okay to not be perfect all the time.
00:28:14.596 --> 00:28:21.695
You just have to do the job, love the people, love what you're doing, and fix things as they go.
00:28:21.715 --> 00:28:28.476
It's interesting because I've been thinking a lot about early on Some of that leadership reading and training that I did.
00:28:28.476 --> 00:28:33.105
And back in the eighties, I read the, in search of excellence by Tom Peters.
00:28:33.625 --> 00:28:43.306
And that was different because it was making a distinction between perfect and excellence and there's a huge difference there And obviously the work you're doing here.
00:28:43.306 --> 00:28:46.576
You all are shooting for a level of excellence We are high standards and
00:28:46.796 --> 00:28:47.256
absolutely
00:28:47.316 --> 00:28:52.965
I think particularly sometimes young emerging leaders really get strapped with that.
00:28:53.256 --> 00:29:09.955
but I think too as more and more women are coming into leadership roles, there's seems to be a higher level of self imposed pressure that I can't make a mistake because I've worked so hard to get here and I can't let them see me make a mistake.
00:29:09.965 --> 00:29:10.226
Correct.
00:29:10.625 --> 00:29:16.256
And I say that with the privilege of having lived a 25 year career.
00:29:16.685 --> 00:29:21.536
I've done a lot of things, and so it's probably a little easier to say that than as somebody starting out.
00:29:21.885 --> 00:29:23.756
But You're going to make mistakes.
00:29:23.756 --> 00:29:24.996
That just is going to happen.
00:29:25.016 --> 00:29:29.405
And I think that we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be perfect.
00:29:29.405 --> 00:29:31.566
And that stress is not good.
00:29:31.645 --> 00:29:32.786
It's not good for anybody.
00:29:33.115 --> 00:29:42.746
And so laughing, having the right group of people, knowing that you're doing the very best that you can do every single day and that it's actually still going to be there the next day to keep going.
00:29:42.746 --> 00:29:44.455
You don't have to answer that text at midnight.
00:29:44.455 --> 00:29:45.316
Susan taught me that.
00:29:45.715 --> 00:29:51.486
I answered texts 24 hours a day, in her former job and she said, you don't really have to do that.
00:29:51.536 --> 00:29:52.236
You can stop doing that.
00:29:52.635 --> 00:29:54.039
And that's a lesson learned.
00:29:54.039 --> 00:29:56.089
Last year I stopped doing that.
00:29:56.089 --> 00:29:56.779
You have to.
00:29:56.779 --> 00:29:57.740
Was some freedom in that.
00:29:57.789 --> 00:30:01.509
There is some freedom in that and we're all human, right?
00:30:01.559 --> 00:30:01.930
Yeah.
00:30:01.940 --> 00:30:04.720
So lots of great lessons learned, I think, over my career.
00:30:05.069 --> 00:30:11.000
What are three things a young, emerging leader needs to know to be successful?
00:30:11.059 --> 00:30:18.319
Whether it's finance, whether it's education from your lived 25 years in the world of work.
00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:22.970
What are three things that are just, you think are very important for a young leader?
00:30:23.059 --> 00:30:24.990
Being willing to learn and watch others.
00:30:24.990 --> 00:30:25.900
I think it's huge.
00:30:25.900 --> 00:30:30.640
You mentioned it before, and I remember doing that along the way and I still do it.
00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:36.509
You want to take the best piece of everybody and kind of mold it together and Make it who you are.
00:30:36.869 --> 00:30:42.529
And so I think, watching for those traits that you really see as a reason those people are successful.
00:30:42.539 --> 00:30:46.099
Whether that is a social connection that people have with each other.
00:30:46.109 --> 00:30:47.740
Whether it's a leadership style.
00:30:47.750 --> 00:30:49.519
Whether it's a communication style.
00:30:49.720 --> 00:30:56.958
Just watch what you think is It works for them and then think how do I do that same thing and is there something I can learn from that?
00:30:56.978 --> 00:30:59.278
I think that's a great way to grow as a person.
00:30:59.837 --> 00:31:04.077
I think understanding the financial world is huge.
00:31:04.167 --> 00:31:13.647
I think especially teachers there's a lot of Teachers who believe that they have to get in and retire out of a system or they're not going to be okay.
00:31:14.028 --> 00:31:16.657
That's not really true, but we're taught that.
00:31:17.038 --> 00:31:23.337
And I think having the knowledge of how to make money work for you early on.
00:31:23.738 --> 00:31:25.538
It's a really powerful lesson.
00:31:25.897 --> 00:31:26.478
Money sense.
00:31:26.538 --> 00:31:28.397
You have to know how to do that.
00:31:28.397 --> 00:31:34.252
And for anyone who's listening, if you're in your twenties, please if, you never think you have enough money.
00:31:34.262 --> 00:31:37.163
It doesn't matter if you're 20 or 40 or 60, you never have enough.
00:31:37.512 --> 00:31:46.593
But putting some money away into an investment and retirement kinds of things is a really powerful idea that will give you freedom later on.
00:31:46.932 --> 00:31:50.153
And I have my own children investing in a Roth right now.
00:31:50.403 --> 00:31:54.063
We don't talk about it enough and giving you financial freedom later on.
00:31:54.442 --> 00:32:00.048
I don't want to interrupt you on your third point, but really what we're talking about is that law of compounding.
00:32:00.128 --> 00:32:00.628
Yes.
00:32:00.949 --> 00:32:03.048
And I would just say to young leaders
00:32:03.098 --> 00:32:03.249
you
00:32:03.249 --> 00:32:09.479
Bring out some good thinking points for me, Compounding those good leadership habits every day.
00:32:09.858 --> 00:32:12.169
Leaders are not made in a day.
00:32:12.179 --> 00:32:12.479
No,
00:32:12.749 --> 00:32:17.679
they're made in small increments over time consistently
00:32:18.078 --> 00:32:18.479
yes
00:32:18.489 --> 00:32:24.679
That's why when you're now talking at 20 years into a career you have a much different perspective.
00:32:24.689 --> 00:32:28.663
Very But for those that aren't there, it's about compounding.
00:32:28.943 --> 00:32:30.933
You're making those investments in people.
00:32:30.933 --> 00:32:35.144
You're making those investments in your own training, your own growth.
00:32:35.324 --> 00:32:40.124
And that level of compounding then pays off as you get down that road.
00:32:40.634 --> 00:32:41.804
That's a great parallel.
00:32:42.193 --> 00:32:48.463
The third is something I always say and I will continue to say and I've believed it and have lived it since my 20s.
00:32:48.763 --> 00:32:49.594
Take chances.
00:32:49.663 --> 00:32:51.554
Take chances and say yes to things.
00:32:51.634 --> 00:32:53.144
Opportunities will come to you.
00:32:53.173 --> 00:32:54.564
Don't say no to opportunities.
00:32:54.874 --> 00:32:55.763
Take the chance.
00:32:55.864 --> 00:33:01.663
Everything I have done where I said, I'm just gonna do it, has turned out to be really great.
00:33:01.763 --> 00:33:05.713
Don't let yourself get too bogged down in should I or shouldn't I.
00:33:06.193 --> 00:33:08.263
If the opportunity comes, go through the window.
00:33:08.713 --> 00:33:16.374
I've always told people usually younger leaders the time for preparation for an opportunity is not when it presents itself.
00:33:16.453 --> 00:33:17.243
It's previous.
00:33:17.304 --> 00:33:20.584
You've got to work hard when you're not knowing where it's going.
00:33:20.594 --> 00:33:20.943
Yep.
00:33:20.993 --> 00:33:23.163
But then when that opportunity knocks.
00:33:23.173 --> 00:33:23.814
Say yes.
00:33:23.874 --> 00:33:24.173
Yeah.
00:33:24.364 --> 00:33:24.634
Yeah.
00:33:24.939 --> 00:33:26.038
You have to be willing to do it.
00:33:26.239 --> 00:33:29.929
I never, ever would have worked at Edward Jones as a financial broker.
00:33:30.328 --> 00:33:31.199
Never in my life.
00:33:31.558 --> 00:33:35.199
The opportunity came to me, I did it, and it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
00:33:35.358 --> 00:33:38.858
Jill, it's been great talking with you about what you're doing.
00:33:38.868 --> 00:33:39.939
Yeah, it's been fun.
00:33:39.959 --> 00:33:45.848
Great just to be with you again, and you've always been a great thinker, and Hard worker.
00:33:45.898 --> 00:33:49.648
And thank you so much for contributing early on in this.
00:33:49.648 --> 00:33:51.368
We'll see where this podcast goes.
00:33:51.368 --> 00:33:51.949
We will.
00:33:51.979 --> 00:33:53.729
We've already got a plan for a future.
00:33:53.778 --> 00:33:55.169
Thank you for joining me today.
00:33:55.298 --> 00:33:55.929
Hey friends.
00:33:55.929 --> 00:34:01.659
Thank you so much for joining me on this very first broadcast of lead.
00:34:01.659 --> 00:34:03.278
Learn, laugh, and grow.
00:34:03.548 --> 00:34:05.078
It's been exciting for me.
00:34:05.078 --> 00:34:06.429
I hope you've enjoyed it.
00:34:06.848 --> 00:34:09.909
And join me back in two weeks for another episode.
