Customer Reviews

The Leader in Me: How Schools and Parents Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child At a Time

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This book caught my eye because I have been looking at how education will change to deal with the increasing need for more creativity and innovation within all employees in the future. This book provides a good overview of some changes tried by a number of primarily elementary schools that I did not know about, so it fulfills my need. However, it is primarily an overview. One looking for more of a how to do it will be disappointed.

Basically, the book tells the story of how, in particular, A.C. Combs Elementary School has adopted the seven habits as a kind of value set underlying the traditional curriculum across the school. Other schools are also cited, but with much less detail. Students have done very well, even on the standardized exams that are so important to schools today. In my experience this emphasis on underlying values is one key to a new generation of education, so this material validated what I have been seeing and provided other reinforcing models. (The idea of values is not "being good" but rather a way of life that brings success.) The seven habits do provide a good basis for leadership, and I am now considering how they can add to the initiatives I am doing. However, our focus on creativity and innovation means we use other values that reach beyond the seven habits, primarily think-team-trust. This does not detract from the value of the stories told here to stimulate more thinking about the ideal next generation of education for the 21st Century.

Note that Covey's company apparently now has a large business in providing materials and training for education activities such as those cited in the book. One could perceive this book as a sales pitch. However, I found the writing more an attempt to honestly spread the word rather than sell a given program. I guess the value, then, depends on whether you are in a position to build on the ideas, or you just want to try to copy what is described. In the later case you may have little option but to turn to Franklin Covey for the detail that is missing in the book. I, however, found the overview provided good food for thought for an unrelated activity that is already well underway, and thus a valuable contribution.

If you, as a parent, teacher, or mentor, are interested in fostering your child's growth in every aspect, then this book is incredibly helpful in doing so. The Leader in Me: How Schools and Parents Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child At a Time has real-life examples of case studies, such as the focus on A.B. Combs Elementary with over 800 students who represent 58 countries and 27 languages. With the strategy of "Developing Leaders One Child at a Time" they based their principles in both the 7 Habits and the Baldrige Program (see: http://www.baldrige.nist.gov/). In this book there are implementable ideas for not only teachers and programs of involvement and leadership for children, but ways as a parent you could come up with similar practices at home and with the family doing outreach and community projects.

In the "Aligning for Success" chapter, you find practices taught to the children and many acronyms for education. If you read Malcolm Gladwell's most recent book Outliers: The Story of Success some of these things will sound familiar to you already. In the "Unleashing a Culture of Leadership" chapter, you'll see some ideas of traditions to incorporate, like: Leadership Day, Inaugural Ball, International Festival, Silver-Tray Luncheon, Service Projects and Celebrate Success Day. There are, of course, a lot of evidence from other schools who incorporate the 7 Habits into their curriculum and the stats provided, and a lot of talk about the 7 Habits.

If you are interested in the 7 Habits, I'd highly recommend the Unabridged CD series to listen to in your car- Covey relates many stories and applications as both a parent and professional. It is easy to implement and honestly, it changed my perspective and practices personally. Here it is: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Unabridged Audio Program). As a parent, it is easily relatable, moreso than the book from that direction. I'd ask you to think about purchasing the CDs before even reading the book- the book can get a bit technical and lose people who flip through it the first time- whereas the CDs have interesting stories, elaborated details on each Habit, and are orated by Covey himself.

In chapter 8, "Making It Happen, One Step at a Time", covers The 4 Imperatives of Leadership: Inspire Trust, Clarify Purpose, Align Systems, and Unleash Talent. In the last chapter, "Bringing it Home", you will find a treasure trove on the 2 pages (216, 217) of the 7 Habits and bulletpoints of how to implement them into your life. The Leader in Me is truly a great resource for parents, in addition to teachers, school administration, mentors, parent helpers and Sunday Schools/church children's ministries. Covey does a phenomenal job of laying out the foundation and ideals, in addition to providing many applicable ways to do start right away.

With THE LEADER IN ME, audience is everything. Obviously it's pitched toward schools in search of an ethics program, but parents might find it of interest as well. Still, to my mind, the book's true target audience is the elementary school crowd. As over half of the book is devoted to elementary school case studies in general and the A.B. Combs Elementary School of North Carolina in particular, principals, teachers, and parents of elementary students will glean the most from this book. Yes, there are examples of middle and high schools thrown in -- but they're just that: "thrown in" to prove the universal appeal of the 7 Habits.

Speaking of, the 7 Habits are the foundation of the book (and, it would appear by the frequent plugs to a 7 Habits website, an entire industry). Covey encourages students to 1.) Be Proactive, 2.) Begin with the End in Mind, 3.) Put First Things First, 4.) Think Win-Win, 5.) Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood, 6.) Synergize, and 7.) Sharpen the Saw. Ample explanations (in layman's terms) and examples are provided. Covey takes care to map out an approach, complete with suggestions and cautionary tales. It's all good, but part of me was wary of the "training" which involved contacting the 7 Habits "people" (operators are now standing by).

Still, I like the message of the habits and am convinced that, with all hands on deck and complete acceptance by a willing school, this program could really turn an elementary school around. It is a positive and affirming approach -- one that all in education know works -- so there's much to be said for embracing it. Perhaps it could be done without the training? You decide. If you're researching approaches that can instill respect and responsibility in your school, reading this treatise on how schools can rally round the banner of "leadership" should be, at the very least, part of your research.

This book reads like an informercial. It's too superficial if you are looking for a research based tool. It does give some food for thought about teaching the seven habits to students, even those in elementary school.

This book is slapped together, mostly fluff. Don't buy it if you're expecting to learn anything resembling methods that parents or schools can use to inspire greatness in children (as the subtitle implies). It doesn't deliver on that promise.

The author of this book also wrote "7 Habits of Highly Effective People". Where normally it's an indication of quality for the author of a book to have written an earlier best seller, here it's a disadvantage. This book would never have seen the light of day if it had to stand on its own merits. Half the book is just talking about how great the other book was. To the extent that "The Leader In Me" has any useful content, it's mostly just a rehash of '7 Habits'.

Here's what's inside:

The author rambles on and on saying that "7 Habits" was so successful that organizations all over the world send people to his company's seminars to learn his leadership methods, including schools. He tells us how he realized there's a market for a book specifically about applying these methods to school children. He goes into great detail about a magnet school in South Carolina (IIRC) that turned around a declining enrollment when they realized parents wanted them to teach leadership skills and they started using the methods that Covey will soon be telling us.

Half an hour into it we still haven't learned what these highly touted methods are or how to use them. Note that I bought the audiobook version so I can't see chapter headings; it sounds like we're still in the Introduction and the book itself hasn't started yet. We've just heard the author explaining why he wrote the book and why we should read it. It all sounds very enticing until I gradually begin to wonder if there really is any "book" per se, or is this just a sales pitch for his seminars?

Finally the content starts. He explains a concept he calls 'primary greatness' (work ethic plus good moral character). He lists the '7 habits' from his other book, and makes a couple minor points. After just a few minutes that's it -- the end -- and he begins his closing remarks.

His closing remarks take another half hour (did I mention this was a poorly-written book?). He keeps rambling on saying things like "oh, one more thing" and "I almost forget to tell you", each time adding another isolated insight that he thought of. He says unfortunately there's not enough time to talk about how to actually implement his methods but you can visit his website or buy another one of his books to learn those things -- totally failing to acknowledge that's what *this* book was allegedly supposed to do. He reiterates the '7 Habits' again and congratulates himself a few more times, then it really is over.

The book was a complete waste of time for me. Perhaps if you're already a '7 Habits' junkie you might be interested to learn who else is using it, but you won't actually learn *how* to do much from this book.

Stephen Covey follows his previous best sellers, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" and "The 8th Habit" with "The Leader in Me", which documents how several schools across the country (and the world) have taught the 7 Habits to its students with tremendous success. Not only have these schools seen a dramatic rise in standardized test scores, but also a decrease in behavior referrals and more responsible, proactive, and self-confident students. Much of the book focuses on A.B. Combs, a magnet elementary school in Raleigh, North Carolina that was the first to use these principles with students and is considered to be the epicenter of the leadership in schools movement.

The biggest critique that I have read about this book is that it doesn't explain HOW to teach the principles to students. If you're looking for an easy, step-by-step guide for implementation, this isn't it. That's because there is no such thing; while the book does sprinkle some anecdotes and examples of how different schools, particularly A.B. Combs, teach these principles, it is up to each individual school to determine how to best plan, introduce, and present the material. This gives schools the flexibility to try different methods and tailor the lessons to meet the needs of their students.

Frankly, unless you are a teacher, school administrator, parent, or care deeply about educational issues, you will probably not find this an interesting read. As a teacher, I was able to take a lot out of this book, even if it didn't tell me exactly what to do or how to do it. Its main purpose is to lay the foundation by explaining what this movement is and how it is benefitting students. If you take it for what it is and not for what it "should" be, it is well worth your time.

This is a school-based version cum expression of Covey's 8th Habit (which is itself an extension of the 7 Habits). It's thus about recording examples and tactics of applying the 7 habits (and the 8th one of helping students "find their voice") in schools around the world.

Chapt 1, 2 and 3 set the tone, introduce A.B. Combs (Covey's model school) and makes the case that all stakeholders in schools `ultimately desire' the 7 Habits to be manifested / implemented in their lives and community. Chapt 4 and 5 are about what `great schools' look like. Chapt 6 and 7 are about global examples of the 7 Habits in action in schools (how it changed the schools, the students' lives, etc.). Chapt 8, 9 and 10 are about implementation, practical to-do stuff.

Whilst the book is inspiring and challenging and sets the bar very high and puts forth vision of `what can be'. We need to remember, though, that the examples are probably less than 1% of what's happening (and, perhaps, what CAN happen) in the world's schools.

Some highlights from the book:

* The `new winners' are those with 21st century skills (e.g. creativity, analytical skills, foresight, etc.), the right-brain rules! p.8
* Teaching leadership skills is about doing the right thing, p.12
* Obsession with scores is bad
* Ask what students, teachers, parents and business leaders `really want' and the answers should be easily mapped to the 7 Habits (chapt. 2 and 3)
* Promoting `ubiquitousness' - infusing the habits in `everything' the school does, as opposed to, say, introducing `character education' as a standalone topic
* Character/leadership is `sustained' via language (toxic or healthy?), behaviours ("what we permit, we promote"), `folklore' (the stories floating around our school), artifacts (what we hang around the corridors and classes), traditions (what we celebrate), chapt.5, p.90 onwards
* Some students, after learning the 7 Habits, began to become "teen entrepreneurs"! (whilst these examples are awesome, I think we need to recognize their limited nature...), chapt.7
* P.186 - good chart on why change fails, emphasizing `too much' and `too little'

Overall, a some what selective (though certainly helpful) glimpse of above-par school administration, leadership and student experience.

I picked up this book in a Toronto book store. I started reading and could not stop!! This book is eye opening to what a real child's education should be all about. I am so excited and looking forward to incorporating these principles in my daughters's daily routine.

I was really expecting more here. It spoke more of the results they achived and less about their methods to achive those results. A book like this needs to dig into the details. Hype without content.

The Leader in Me: How Schools and Parents Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child At a TimeReview by Richard L. Weaver II, PhD.

Stephen R. Covey's book, The Leader in Me: How Schools and Parents Around the World are Inspiring Greatness, One Child at a Time, is designed primarily for educators, however, in addition to principals and teachers, parents of elementary-school students, mentors, parent helpers, Sunday Schools, and church ministries will find it valuable as well. About half of it is devoted to elementary-school case studies. The foundation of the book is the 7 habits (1) Be proactive, 2) Begin with the end in mind, 3) Put first things first, 4) Think win-win, 5) Seek first to understand. Then be understood, 6) Synergize, and 7) Sharpen the saw), and references to the 7 Habits website are frequent. It is, however, written for the layman (without technical jargon), numerous examples are provided, the plan is positive and affirming, and the ideas are practical and implementable. Chapter 8, "Making It Happen, One Step at A Time," covers the 4 imperatives of leadership: 1) Inspire trust, 2) Clarify Purpose, 3) Align systems, and 4) Unleash talent. This is a book designed for a specific readership, but for that readership, it is well worth reading.