The FRED Factor

I just read the inspiring and uplifting book, The Fred Factor, by Mark Sanborn.  I highly recommend it.  You can read it in about 2 hours - very quick read and lots of little nuggets to take away. 

I would like to share a "Fred" in my life.  In January of 2002, I started my first day of student teaching at Gahanna-Lincoln High School.  I graduated high school in a class of 120 and went to a small university with an on-campus population of just a few thousand.  So I was just a bit intimidated walking into a high school of over 2,300 students.

Because I arrived during bus drop off, I was forced to park in the back lot - which meant I entered the building somewhere in the back.  As I entered the building, I was reminded of the crowd from a recent concert I attended.  It was not chaotic, just crowded and busy.

I saw an adult and asked him how to get to the front office. He started to explain, "go down this hallway, turn right, go past the cafeteria, turn, left after the restrooms, go through the lobby..." He must have seen the gazed look in my eyes because he stopped in the middle of his explanation and said, "you know what, just follow me. I will take you there." 

The Fred Factor is all about finding those small opportunities to make a big difference in the life of someone else. 

Thank you Chuck Banks (@TheRealMrBanks) for being exceptional and extraordinary by walking me to the front office and engaging me in a comfortable conversation on that day. 

Find your opportunity to be a "Fred" to someone else today!

YOU Matter

In honor of New Albany High School's 2014-15 theme "YOU Matter" I would like to share one of my most humbling moments in which I realized a very valuable lesson related to our theme.


About two months after being named head coach of the boys soccer team (at Gahanna), my two captains were struggling with nagging injuries that could lead to something more serious if not taken care of.  I promptly scheduled a meeting for them to meet with the athletic trainer.  I had never met her so when we came into the room, I introduced myself  and the players to her.  I wanted to make sure that she understood how valuable these two players were to the team so during the introductions, I made the comment that these are my two captains, were really good players, and we needed them for the start of the season.  She immediately quipped back to me, "Well they are all important coach."


It felt like she hit me with a ton of bricks.  I had not intended to be disrespectful toward my other players, but I was.  I am grateful that she had enough courage to be honest with me.

So just a friendly reminder: EVERYONE in your organization matters.  We need to treat every person as if they are the most important person.  Not just the person who can give you a raise.  Not just the person who can get you a discount.  Not just the person with the office/room right beside you.  Not just the person who you get along with the easiest.

At NAHS this year, we hope that this theme will resonate throughout.  YOU matter.

The Man in the Arena

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. 

- Theodore Roosevelt

Excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic"delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910

A Short Tale of Two Schools

Which paragraph best describes your school?

________ schools had been very rigorous but had provided little outlet for individualism.  All the children had the same exact books and assignments.  Children were on the same schedule, no matter what.  Those who did well in their education were not rewarded or accelerated.  Children who struggled were not accommodated.  They had been taught to wait for someone else to tell them what to do, when, and how much effort to put in.

OR

In _______ schools children could play to their strengths and pursue their own interests, and their education was somewhat customized according to their abilities.  Kids had all sorts of ways to develop the capacity to act independently, to make one's own free choices, and to make decisions quickly - and not just through academic performance.




At first read, you make think these describe two very different present-day schools - at least I did when I read first came across this.   Actually, the first paragraph described schools in former East Germany and the second paragraph was used to describe schools in former West Germany. 

Researchers have explained that the students in East German schools displayed low confidence levels, gave up easily, and were more reliant on others' leadership.

On the other hand, the schools in West Germany created students who were self-starters - had personal initiative.  These students developed the capacity to act independently and became competitors and innovators.

STRESS and PERFORMANCE

I recently finished reading, Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing, by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman.  

A section of the book was devoted toward investigating the relationship between anxiety and performance. Conventional wisdom tells us that positive feelings should lead to a strong performance (athletic, social, academic, etc) and negative feelings, such as anxiety and anger, leads to making mistakes.  However the research does not necessarily support this.  

Over thirty years ago, Dr. Yuri Hanin proposed a theory in which he claims we each have our own Individual Zone of Optimal Functioning in relation to athletic endeavors.  Recent studies have confirmed that this is true in nonathletic contexts as well – from coping with stage fright to military operations to taking a test in a classroom.

The basic idea is that we each have our own individual arousal (stress) level that should be met in order for us to achieve optimum functioning. For example, if I go into an interview for a new job and my arousal level is too low I may not be on top of my game and perform poorly.  On the other hand, if my arousal level is too high I may freeze up and perform poorly.  It needs to be the right amount for me.

This section in the book concludes that anxiety in itself is not always bad.  The appraisal we give it and our coping strategies are just as important to channeling it into optimum performance.

 

So the next time you take on a new endeavor, consider the stress load that will accompany it.  Will it cause you to be at or above your zone of optimum functioning?  How will you appraise the new stressors?  Do you have coping strategies in place to maintain an optimum functioning?

Hanin, Yuri L., “Performance Related Emotional States In Sport: A Qualitative Analysis,” Qualitative Research, vol. 4(1), art. 5 (2003)

Jamieson, Jeremy P., Wendy Berry Mendes, Erick Blackstock, & Tori Schmader, “Turning the Knots in Your Stomach into Bows: Reappraising Arousal Improves Performance on the GRE,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, vol. 46(1), pp.208-212 (2010).