추가 적립 안내

1. Too Good to Be True?
2. Discovering What Parents, Business Leaders, and Teachers Want from a School
3. Crafting a Blueprint for Leadership
4. Aligning for Success
5. Unleashing a Culture of Leadership
6. Rippling Across the Globe
7. Moving Upward and Beyond
8. Making It Happen, One Step at a Time
9. Ending with the Beginning in Mind
10. Bringing It Home

Notes
Will Your School or Child Be the Next The Leader in Me Success Story?
Sponsor a School and Invest in Tomorrow's Leaders...Today
Index
About Franklin Covey
About Stephen R. Covey

Excerpt

Foreword

As much as any professional work I have embarked upon, this book comes from my heart. It both thrills and humbles me like you cannot imagine.

It involves today's young people. It involves our future. Whether you are a concerned parent, a professional educator, or a foresighted business leader, I am confident you will find it to be an invigorating breath of fresh air, a reason to celebrate and an inspiring call for action. For what you are about to read unveils a budding trend that is gaining momentum in a growing number of schools across the United States and in various parts of the world. It is an exciting trend -- one that is producing tangible, sustainable results.

From the get-go, I want you to know that I am not the mastermind behind the trend. Rather, credit goes to an expanding community of committed, creative, and caring professional educators who have synergistically joined forces with parents, civic leaders, and business proprietors to bring about a new level of hope in education.

To set the context, let me take you back a few years to what seems like yesterday. In 1989, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was published. Its subtitle was "Restoring the Character Ethic." The book caught a wave that even I had no way of anticipating, particularly in organizational arenas. Today, the 7 Habits are still thriving in boardrooms, government offices, and corporate universities around the globe.

About the same time as the 7 Habits book was launched, I was approached by Chuck Farnsworth, who at the time was superintendent of schools for a progressive district in Indiana. Chuck felt strongly that the 7 Habits had an important role to play in the world of education, and he was passionately determined to lead the charge. He began by taking the habits to school administrators and teachers. To date, nearly a half million professional educators have been trained in the 7 Habits, with many of them being certified as school facilitators.

As we brought the 7 Habits into schools, the focus remained on training adults, not students. That changed in 1998, when my son, Sean, wrote The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. Sean had been a Division I college football quarterback, which created frequent opportunities for him to be in front of teen audiences. He developed a sincere interest in young people that eventually propelled him to write the teen version. More than three million teen copies have now been sold, and Student Activity Guides have carried the habits to over a hundred thousand middle and high school students.

In the latter part of 1999, the 7 Habits made another significant entry into schools. During a presentation in Washington, D.C., I was approached by an elementary school principal named Muriel Summers. She wanted to know if I thought the 7 Habits could be taught to young children. I pointed her toward Sean's book, but she came back with the reply that she was referring to very young children -- as young as five years old. I responded, "I don't know why not," and then casually added that if she ever tried to do it to let me know how it went.....

The world has entered an era of the most profound and challenging change in human history. Most of our children are not prepared, and we know it.

Parents around the world see the change and know that the traditional three R's -- reading, writing, and arithmetic -- are necessary, but not enough. Their children need to become far more responsible, creative, and tolerant of differences. They need to increase their ability to think for themselves, take initiative, get along with others, and solve problems.

Business leaders are not finding people whose skills and character match the demands of today's global economy, including strong communication, teamwork, analytical, technology, and organizational skills. They need young people who are self-motivated, creative, and have a strong work ethic.

How will we bridge this ever-widening gap? The Leader in Me is the story of the extraordinary schools, parents, and business leaders around the world who are preparing the next generation to meet the great challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century.

In 1999, the A.B. Combs Elementary School in North Carolina was on the verge of being cut as a magnet school and needed to find new ways to educate its students. Teachers and administrators began teaching practical, principle-based leadership skills -- with remarkable results. In a short time, the number of students passing end-of-grade tests vaulted from 84 to 97 percent. Simultaneously, the school began reporting significant increases in students' self-confidence, dramatic drops in discipline problems, and striking increases in teacher and administrator job satisfaction. Parents, meanwhile, reported equivalent improvements in their children's attitudes and behavior at home. As news of the school's success spread, schools around the world began adopting the mantra to "develop leaders, one child at a time." Business and civic leaders started partnering with schools in their communities to sponsor teacher training and student resources. Each school and family approached the principles differently, but the results were the same -- attentive, energized young people engaging in the world around them.

The best way to prepare the next generation for the future is to emphasize the value of communication, cooperation, initiative, and unique, individual talent -- for nothing undermines confidence more than comparison. Whether in the classroom or at home, it is never too early to start applying leadership skills to everyday life. Drawing on the many techniques and examples that have already seen incredible success around the world, The Leader in Me shows how easy it is to incorporate these skills into daily life. It is a timely answer to many of the challenges facing today's young people, businesses, parents, and educators -- one that is perfectly matched to the global demands of the twenty-first century.