Igniting the Flame: Lessons from a Dancing Man

“You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.” ― William W. Purkey

I have to admit that in my mid-thirties I'm probably STILL much more adolescent in behavior that a seasoned high school principal should be.  Many times it may even appear that I am resistant to enter the world of adulthood.  Should anyone need a letter of recommendation regarding my resistance or my self-endorsement of my adolescent behaviors my wife Lesley is now accepting calls and emails.


Since I'm cleansing my conscious of my adolescent behavior and openly disclaiming my faults and tendencies I should also mention my love (dependence) of technology and my a fixation on TedTalks and Youtube.  I find there's an endless world of videos that say and demonstrate things far more articulate than I could EVER dream.

Which leads me to the video, "Dancing Man Gives a Leadership Lesson" I invite you to watch the video and perhaps comment on what you learned from "The Dancing Man."  Or respond to the Question of the Day at the bottom.

Lessons I learned/Questions I have....

I wonder how many people have enough passion for anything in life to do what the Dancing Man does: Think about it.  It really does take guts and perhaps a little insanity to make yourself completely vulnerable and to display it to the world.  Perhaps we don't all need to take our shirts off and dance in the middle of a crowd, but shouldn't there be something that we are so passionate about that we do "get up and dance?"  As educators, what is that internal flame that causes us to get up and engage students day to day?  Is your faith life strong enough that you would openly share a reflection? What about your family and friends? Do they know how much you care for them and love them?  How frequently do you truly display your affections?

Maybe we need more "Crazy Nuts" in the world: The narrator of the video suggests that the 1st follower is more important than the crazy nut.  I'm not sure I agree.  In fact, I would contend that there aren't enough crazy nuts in the world. In every school in America there are dynamic, engaging, EXCELLENT teachers encouraging our students to reach unimaginable goals, motivating students to exceed beyond what they even believe is possible! These educators are always on the top of their game. They prep for hours to master their craft.  They are always seeking professional development opportunities that will raise student achievement.  They never settle for good enough when they know GREAT is attainable. Unfortunately, even though they possess the power to dramatically change the face of education, they too often stay in the shadows. Perhaps afraid to step in to the light and challenge the status quo of education.  Is it isolation that scares them?  Fear of the unknown or acceptance/rejection by their peers?  Whatever their hesitation we as administrators need to find the antidote and cure them.  We need their ideas, we need their innovation and creativity, we need our halls infused with their passion!  We need someone to start the spark!

We need more "dancing":  Let's be clear.  I'm NOT condoning dancing!  I'm NOT a dancer and refuse to engage in most actual dancing.  By dancing I mean we need more fulfilling moments in life.  Too often we wake-up, go through our routines, and 10-15 hours later  fall asleep to only repeat the monotonous process again the next day.  Think about your BEST moments as a child, a student, a teacher, a person.  What moments truly stick out?  For me it's the ones that brought me to tears.  Either from laughing so hard with my peers or from crying over a devastating loss. When my emotions are triggered, that's when lasting memories are made.  My favorite teachers always knew how to trigger the nuerotoxins in our brains and get us engaged.  My most memorable childhood athletic moments stem from fun and laughter.  And moments in life that shaped who I am often centered around a loss of a loved one and the absence of the JOY they brought in to my life on a daily basis.

The late Jim Valvano has a terrific quote that resonates with me.

“To me, there are three things we all should do every day. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special.”
As educators we need to seek, lead, and participate in moments of emotion. Life is too short and too important to let anything else fill up our time.

Question of the Day: Will you be the follower who ignites the positive change you want to see in the Vianney? In your community? In your life?  

Or will you be the crazy nut?  And is there anything wrong with that?

Have a GREAT weekend!