| Volume 4. Issue 4 | JUNE 2008 |
Exploring New Possibilities for Old Problems
By Linda Gross Cheliotes
Many years ago, I became friends with a highly successful businessman. What struck me most about Jim was his highly positive outlook on life. As a school leader, I wondered how I might apply his principles to my own leadership practices.
I learned that he had faced a number of serious problems in his childhood. Jim repeated third grade due to undiagnosed learning disabilities and as a young teenager he had worked to help support his mother and younger brother because of the early death of his alcoholic father.
Jim explained that when he found out that he would have to repeat third grade, he decided to eliminate the word “failure” from his vocabulary. Imagine, a nine year old child making a decision that would impact the rest of his life and eventually enable him to become a very successful businessman and positive human being!
During this same time frame, I read an article that discussed entrepreneurs and how these risk-takers on average explored and tried out 100 unproductive ideas for every one concept that succeeded. I knew that Jim had patented a number of products and I I asked him if he, too, had faced numerous business disappointments. I was surprised to learn that, yes, Jim had developed many ideas that lost him both much time and money.
He told me that whenever an idea did not work out the way he originally envisioned it, he accepted the apparent failure as a gift to explore new possibilities and opportunities.
Wow! Instead of feeling frustrated and blocked in his endeavors, Jim turned his disappointments into even more productive ideas by exploring additional possibilities and opportunities that he might otherwise have missed.
When school leaders must deal with challenging people or difficult problems, most of us immediately turn to the same two or three solutions we have used previously. But trying the same solutions produces the same results. In my coaching experience, I have found that school leaders who are willing to consider multiple solutions to a problem, discover many creative, new ways to solve difficult issues. They generate the gifts of possibilities and opportunities for themselves and their schools. Failure is no longer an option!
Linda Gross Cheliotes resides in New York and has over 35 years of education experience. As a principal, Linda led her elementary school from a low performing school to National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence status. She has also been honored with the National Distinguished Principal award. You can read more about her at www.coachingforresultsglobal.com.
*Leaders can learn more about the coaching process and extend skills to implement coaching by attending one of our upcoming seminars. See details below.
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