Ripples of Impact: The ROI of Rebel Leadership and Learnership
7 Ways to Reorient School and Work
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“We are the leaders of a REBELution to bring more humanity to leadership and culture. To celebrate each and every one of us as Human Beings, not Human Doings. And to show up every day with more authenticity and courage and compassion – for ourselves and others. Our collective impact is a powerful force for change. We are the ripples that become the wave.” Shelly Paxton
A few nights ago, our family was playing the sort of game my husband hates - with questions on cards that you pick and have to answer about things like your funniest memory or what your name would be if it weren’t what it is.
He got this question, “Do you ever break rules that you do not think make sense?”And he does. And it’s one of the things I love about him.
I mean, he’s mostly a rule follower, and so am I. But I (we) do believe that if you see a rule or a tradition is just wrong, you should not need to follow it.
Shelley Paxton, author of Soulbbatical: A Corporate Rebel's Guide to Finding Your Best Life, believes this, too. She is calling for us to rewrite the script of success.
“I finally reached a point in my life where to rebel against something—the establishment, the rules, the red tape—wasn’t nearly as productive, meaningful, or fulfilling as rebelling for something. Like myself.”
She calls this Rebel Leadership. To round it out, we need Rebel Learnership.
The Big Idea
To begin: we are all leaders and we are all learners. The best of either does both.
Research on leadership development shows that leaders who are in learning mode develop stronger leadership skills than their peers.
Parallel research finds learners who engage in leadership opportunities, big and small, can develop communication, decision making, and critical thinking skills. Let’s call this idea learnership.
Mindful engagement in learning and leading improves both.
Second, being a rebel. Leaders and learners who fight FOR who they are, what they believe in, and the impact they want to have in the world are the rebels. To build human centered, transparent, thriving cultures, we need tradition breakers.
Qualities of a rebel:
break traditions and non human centered rules.
create new rules.
do not say things like, “this is just the way we do it.”
courageously make change happen.
At any time, we may be playing the role of a leader or a learner, and each of us needs to ignite our rebel souls in service of greater fulfillment, well-being, and impact.
Making Big Ideas Usable
As rebel leader and learnership is appealing in these times, I have extracted some basic tenets for rebel in work, schools, work and life so we can roll with this idea.
1. Redefine success
Let’s collectively rewrite the script of success. Doing a good job as a learner or a leader is not all about measurements like grades or awards, or about money, titles or material goods.
Paxton says these leave us "feeling success-empty instead of success-full."
If we can focus on being success-full our orientation as a leader/learner might be to find our purpose, to feel passion or what we do, or to be our true selves. More on redefining success here.
2. Make room for ROI to mean Ripples of Impact
In business, an ROI means a return on investment. It is the money you make on an investment or project, taking the cost into account.
What about reframing ROI as, "ripples of impact."
In the end, if your story is that you changed lives for the better, the dollars are never going to compare. Our ability to set ripples in motion is a force for change.
3. Model radical self-commitment and care
There are too many schools and offices made up of individuals that tell a good story about “well being” or “self care” and then work late hours, expect 24/7 availability, including weekends, and generally do not take care of themselves nor others. It‘s our responsibility to make care a non-negotiable.
4. Flip the script about downtime
Paxton writes, “We’ve been burned out, stressed out, and checked out.”
Time off should not be the reward or the payoff for hard work, but we should see it as the prerequisite for smart work, that leads to increased productivity, creativity, and fulfillment. More on a Slow Schools movement here.
5. Stop with the busyness
Busyness is frequently a choice. We have a responsibility to slow down and create space in order to inspire connection, creativity, and innovation. All are essential to the future of learning and leading. Life is not always on time. More here.
6. Forge a path, don’t follow someone else’s
When the road ahead is unmistakable, it's likely mapped by someone else. More here.
7. Create space to be yourself
This might be the most important facet of Rebel Leader and Learnership. If we cannot feel like ourselves where we learn and work, we are not living life authentically.
What are you rebelling FOR? We can change the face of leadership and learning culture when we rebel for who we are, what we want, and the impact we want to have in the world.
We have work to do. Together. Share your favorite rebel souls for inspiration. Tag #schoolofthought. Or just click the ♥️ above so I know you are in.
Are you ready to rebel? Some favorite recommended resources:
Critical Connections
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