Have you ever watched a marathon in person? 

I remember my first time watching the New York City marathon. I was standing near a bodega in Williamsburg, waiting for a friend to pass. It was a cool, overcast day in early November and I was drinking a cup of Starbucks coffee, bemused by the scene in front of me. Hordes of people that I don’t know and will never see again were lumbering by, numbered and panting. Meanwhile, people like me, standing in our pathetic jeans and scarves were there to just watch them strive.

Those humans flying by were not running away from danger nor running towards tacos: they were just running. Running to run.  

There is a majesty in normal slobs pushing themselves for no reason. The people in these events aren’t professional athletes. These are everyday people doing something extraordinary and difficult and amazing. 

Something strange and magical happens to you when you witness a marathon in person. Watching them run, you become a part of something much larger than a race. You clap for these complete strangers that you will never see again, willing some of your energy to leave you and transfer to them, helping them finish. Your hands start to turn red from the clapping. You start yelling the names that people have written on their own jerseys, constructing background stories for each of them. There’s Matt the programmer who has raised money on behalf of his sister with cancer. There’s Laura the paralegal who has lost 40 lbs in the last 18 months and is proving something to herself and her family. Tamikwa is running with her med school friends. Andy is a single dad with his son’s name on his jersey.  

Your eyes widen and start to tear a bit. You think: These people are heroes! You make eye contact with one of them and you automatically yell, “You got this!” In that moment, they’re not just running for themselves. They’re running for you, for the people standing next to you, for everyone-- for all humans everywhere, ever.
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I’ve come to find that almost everyone who has ever watched a marathon in person ends up feeling this for at least a moment or two. I’m talking about feeling a sense of awe in the face of other humans’ amazingness.

When Leaders Are In Awe of Their People

This is how great teachers see their students-- and it’s how great principals and department chairs see their teachers. Great leaders traffic in the greatness of OTHER people: they never forget that their most essential job is to uncover and develop it in their teams. Great leaders look for greatness in the people around them-- and, because they look for it, they find it.
As a school leader, it’s tempting-- hell, it can be fun-- to fantasize about hiring fresh runners in the race at your school. Some of your teachers are just plain tired and set in their ways, you can’t help but think. “If I just had some people with fresh legs and open minds, I could make this school really WORK,” you imagine.

But that’s the trap. This is a marathon you are all running every day-- and it wears everyone down at some point. You ever notice that everyone is tired at school most of the time? Your job as the leader is to help people find those wells of strength that even your people doubt that they have. Critically, you have to believe that strength is there, yourself.

Your most important job as a superintendent, principal, or a leader at a school is to attract, inspire, develop, and maintain great educators and their work. Point to a school that is really doing great work-- truly kicking butt and changing students’ lives-- and you will likely find at least one leader who is simply in awe of her educators.  

Sure, she loves the students. But she bleeds for her teachers and staff.

She’s their biggest fan. She paints her face in her staff’s colors, even when it isn’t game day. She’s been collecting her players’ trading cards since day one. She keeps and treasures the statistics of her team’s forgotten efforts and unsung wins. And she’s there at mile 18, standing next to a table covered with cups of water that she set up with her own hands. She has proud tears streaming down her face and has a hoarse throat from yelling “YOU GOT THIS!” Her job is to be a super fan of her people and, by golly, they all know it.

You have to marry that faith in your teachers’ and administrators’ greatness with a desire to honestly see it and support it. And you gotta let ‘em know, over and over. THEY GOT THIS!
This is their race, coach. You aren’t running it for them. And you never can.

Haven’t Got Time To Read About A Dang Marathon? Just Read This:
Each person who reports to you at school is an amazing human-- just like each of the students are. Try to be in awe of your teachers. Pay attention to those little details that reveal how great your people are. Open yourself to how hard they are trying and you will become aware of talents and strengths you didn’t know they had. If they believe you really see greatness in them, they will run farther, faster, harder, and happier for you (and the school and the kids) than they ever thought they could. 
 
Try This:

1. Pay warm attention to your teachers and administrators. Put your judgements aside whenever you can; your critiques often drown out your ability to notice the hard work your folks are doing.
2. Be relentless in trying to find the majesty of your people's struggles. Never quit on looking for their skills and talents-- and use that to help them see it in themselves. Help convince them of how strong they are and can be. It's your most important job.
3. Figure out how you can help THEM achieve what they are doing. Channel your inner JFK: ask not what your teachers can do for you; ask what you can do for your teachers.

Why This Can Seem Like Absolute Horse Manure:
Some of your teachers and fellow administrators are slackers and jerks. It’s true. There are folks who don’t want to walk 10 feet for you or the kids, let alone run a marathon. It can be hard to root for lazy, manipulative people. But even those folks can change for a champion. Try hard to see what’s great underneath all of that resistance and those mind games. You have to believe there is a great runner in there. You might be surprised to find a real star who has been hidden for years. Your belief in their greatness is the greatest thing you can give them.

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​"Be a Marathon Fan" is an excerpt from Mike Kleba and Dr. Ryan O'Hara's upcoming book "Otherful: How to Change the World (and Your School) Through Others." Due out in early 2020, "Otherful" is an earnest and irreverent collection of short and shareable essays about leadership, collaboration, efficiency, and authenticity.

To begin, I have no idea how to talk about suicide.

​I‘m sure that I’m not alone in feeling that way when it comes to talking about this and other don’t-embarrass-us topics like sex, race, gender, death, and poverty. Look, we can claim we’re all getting woke in the 21st Century. But for some things, it’s still very much the Victorian era here in the home of the free and the brave.

I’ve had my share of brushes with suicide. A good friend of mine killed himself in high school; a dear friend has lost a parent to it. And, like probably every single teacher you know, I’ve seen a more than a few of my students and grads leave a bewildered wake of anguished family and friends behind. It’s an awful, awful business.

I’m not here to talk about suicide — but I’m not sure I can talk about Anthony Bourdain without mentioning it. His loss hit me personally, like it did to so many others. His work inspired me to start writing about the power of teaching more than a decade ago. Bourdain’s death sucks. For those who knew the man, worked with him, shared their lives with him, for his family and his dear friends, we can only offer our weak condolences. To all those left behind by suicide, I wish whatever healing, truth, and peace they can find.

I wanted to write a few words about why I think Bourdain was such a powerful influence on so many people. Why so many people felt an intimate connection with this self-admitted crusty old soul. Why people the world over gravitated to his storytelling, his humanity, and his passion. Why they wanted to literally do what he did, eat what he ate, listen to what he listened to, watch what he watched, and read what he read.

For me, it’s simple. Anthony Bourdain was an amazing teacher.

I can’t claim to know about him as a man in his personal life, but his influence on millions through the page and screen reveals his keen understanding of how to teach like a master. Here are three things Tony did — and that you, dear reader, if you have any desire to teach, lead, or influence, should do too.

“If I’m an advocate for anything, it’s to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food. It’s a plus for everybody.” -Anthony Bourdain

Great teachers must first be great learners.

Becoming a visitor in another town, country, or culture is an act of humility, especially if you do it with a true dedication to discovery. Leaving your own dialed-in comforts and boundaries forces you from your easily-overlooked dictatorial power. You have to leave having your bed the way you like it, your bathroom routine, your coffee style, your “I’m the master of my own world, damn it, and I like it the way I like it” world every human craves. Every one of us loves to be King (or Queen or whatever-title-ya-like) of our own realm.

Many of us travel in bubbles in which we try to recreate our home lives around us. We don’t go to be changed. We go to be handled. To be fêted and fawned upon.

We say things like:
“They don’t even have HAMBURGERS?!”
“This beer is fking WARM”
“where’s the air conditioning?”
and
“A barefoot lady cooking in the kitchen?! Umm…NO.”

​As travelers, so many of us suck.

​Hell, I’ve taken high school students from Long Island on tours to three different continents and more than a dozen countries. Those kids will turn down the best morcilla you’ve ever had in your life in order to stuff their faces with vending machine Pringles and Coke. Unless it’s instagramable, they couldn’t give a rat’s arse about going into that 1000 year old church or taking that tango class. And before we laugh: how often do we go out of our way to go somewhere to be uncomfortable on purpose? 

The power in Bourdain’s sincerity speaks to the greatest power a teacher can wield: genuine and passionate interest in other people. Teachernomics' cofounder Ryan O'Hara and I call it being “otherfull” and we are writing a series of essay about it. We can think of few people who presented a better professional example of it than Anthony Bourdain. Because he started with respecting that other people’s stories were important, almost everyone opened their doors to him. They wanted to teach and learn from him.

Imagine a world in which every teacher — and every leader — was driven by being otherfull. A world in which we relished other people’s stories and let them impact us as much as we want to impact them.

I hate that Anthony Bourdain is gone and the way he left — but, man, let’s remember the way he lived and learned. You want to have an influence? You want people to follow you, learn from you? Get out of the center of everything. Be curious. Listen. Pay attention. Lose those reservations.


Sources not already linked above:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/08/how-anthony-bourdain-built-a-career-as-a-celebrity-chef.html
https://abcnews.go.com/US/anthony-bourdain-dream-job-appetite-life-reporters-notebook/story?id=55747428
https://www.wpxi.com/living/from-the-archives-anthony-bourdain-on-having-aposthe-best-job-in-the-worldapos/765564559
https://www.eater.com/2017/6/11/15771544/anthony-bourdain-oman-parts-unknown

Newton’s experiments grew out his curiosity about the world around him. Centuries later, scientists and science-haters alike still use his work to explain big ideas in simple ways. His willingness to try new things helped him invent calculus and physics, which you shouldn’t hold against him.

And while we all know Isaac Newton, many of us have never heard of his experiment that inspired a young Albert Einstein to create a theory that would change the world. In fact, it was another thinker named Ernst Mach (after whom the speed of sound is named) who put Newton’s experiment in Einstein’s lap to help him erect E=mc2. Don’t know what that most famous formula in the world even means? Don’t worry. Almost nobody knows what the hell it means. But this might help. Have fun with that later.
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For now, all you have to think about is Newton’s bucket of water — and how it can help you unlock the secrets of the greatest influencers, teachers, and leaders in human history.

Go out into a field some clear night, somewhere you can actually see the stars. Look straight up into the sky and start to spin around, as if you were a bucket in the 17th century. Notice two things: the stars appear to be “circling around you” with the ones over top your head going slower than the stars closer to the horizon. Also notice that your arms begin to pull away from your body.

Notice too that you are alone, spinning in a field in the middle of the night. This is what has become of your life. Maybe this is a good thing?

​Mach theorized your arms floating upward were somehow related to the stars spinning, in the same way that Newton thought the water spun because the bucket spun. Put simply, your arms lifting from your body as a result of centrifugal force are directly connected to your understanding that the stars are spinning. You can’t see the stars spin like that unless you also experience centrifugal force. Einstein, thrilled by this notion, explained it by saying that “a particle’s inertia is due to some interaction of that particle with all the other masses in the universe.” The big point: everything ever is somehow connected to everything else.

You might already be interested in this idea. You might be a fan of the Butterfly Effect, in which a butterfly flapping its wings in Beijing causes a tornado in Wichita. You might be a Moneyball baseball fan who sees every piece of meaningless-looking data as a yet-to-be-understood number that could help you predict the next World Series winner. Maybe you are political and believe this is why globalism is inevitable and that all humans are of the same family. You might find spiritual comfort in this insight as well, seeing it as proof that there is a reason for randomness, tragedy, and the inexplicable.
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You might also be a believer in the idea that Kevin Bacon really is only six degrees away from every actor in every film ever.

Theatre is the world’s oldest art form. Long before humans were building pyramids, painting the walls of caves, or making hand axes from stone, we were performing stories for our fellow hunters, the other mothers in our family groups, or our children.

You have actually been doing theatre since you developed consciousness- perhaps before. You taught yourself language, how to manipulate people to pick you up and comfort you, and how to sneeze exactly like your mother, all in the acting school of your own childhood. It is humanity’s primal art — and some non-human animals do it too. Both Plato and Aristotle talked about the universal prevalence of “mimesis,” a word that shares a root with mimic, imitation, and mime. Everything we do, make, or say is some version of something we are replicating. All of our stories grow from this.

So what’s my problem with Mission Statements?
I’ve been a critic of Mission Statements Written On Walls* for a long time. (*NOTE: I’m not a critic of Mission Statements themselves. Especially the act of writing them — it can be a remarkably useful way to bring a team together and focus on shared values, visions, etc.)

My problem is with posting them up on your wall at your workplace or website. Yeah, I know it seems like a good idea to put the Mission Statement on the wall. It's easy to imagine that seeing it on the wall inspires your own people and attracts new partners and clients.

I actually think it does the opposite. Here's why.

Three Reasons To Take That Mission Statement Down

1. It provides cover to a**holes. 
When you put a Mission Statement on the wall, no one has to change anything. No one has to act out the Mission Statement because, well, everyone is already doing it. The default IS the Mission Statement. The work is already done. Any of the weak members of your company/team/whatever can just point to the wall and say “that’s what I’m doing” no matter what they are actually doing. Don’t make it easy for those folks — they’re the last people you want to help on your team. They're why we can't have nice things.

2. It’s inefficient and unconfident.
None of you customers or clients will believe your mission statement unless your organization/company actually proves the mission through action. Writing it on the wall says "we're worried you might not know what we believe unless we write it up on the wall." Believe in your culture. Trust your people. Empower your people to BE the Mission Statement. 

3. It turns your mission into a compliance order. 
Every time you or your organization doesn’t measure up to your Mission Statement, your employees/members look at it and see the moral hypocrisy of your leadership. Every leader is a hypocrite at some point or another. You simply cannot be aspirational without falling short from time to time. Posting your Mission Statement can incentivize you and your people to care more about complying with the Mission Statement rather than embodying it. It makes people into lawyers on behalf of the Mission Statement (“well, you can see how we were really trying find a good solution during that colossal f**k up”) or to be harsh critics on the attack (“yeah, we believe in equality so much that so-and-so has been a jerk to every sales team member”).

I’ve always loved a good mixtape.

In the movie “High Fidelity,” the character Rob (played by John Cusack) explains “the making of a good compilation tape is a very subtle art. Many do’s and don’ts. First of all, you’re using someone else’s poetry to express how you feel. This is a delicate thing.”
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As anyone who’s ever received a killer mixtape knows: a mixtape can not only introduce you to new music, it can change how you hear the songs you already know.

Mikey’s Mixtapes for SXSW EDU 2018

Mixtape #1: Justice League Teachers
Sessions on equity, race, justice, and inclusion

Including the timely “Let’s Teach About Race,” a panel that will feature elementary school teachers Akiea Gross and Yvonne Tackie mixing it up with a professor and edtech product specialist.

02/13 Mixtape #2: Let the Teacher Drive
Sessions about teacher leadership/partnership in schools, industry, and policy

With featured session “Human Skills for Digital Natives,” presented by middle & high school science teacher JP Connolly and WNYC podcast host & writer Manoush Zomorodi.

02/20 Mixtape #3: Teacher Toy Story
Sessions featuring gaming, design learning, and the maker movement
Including “Toy Hacking, Robotics for the Rest of Us,” led by creative elementary school teachers Sara Boucher and Cicely Day.

02/27 Mixtape #4: The First Ones In
Sessions about teachers as edtech champions & the most important power users in the game
Including the visionary panel “Students Can Build the VR/AR Worlds of the Future,” featuring high school teachers Jordan Budisantoso and Mark Suter.

This article originally appeared on the SXSWedu blog.

Spilling in reds, oranges, and blues, the Spanish sun splashes graffiti on the medieval flagstones. They stand there, the children, in their Nikes and Adidas, Uggs and slip-ons. Looking up, their eyes try to adjust to the unforgiving contrasts of light and dark.

“These vaults, the crotch vaulting- look at it, amazing- are the work of unknown craftsman from the 14 and 1500's...” The voice of our guide, Salome, echoes into nothingness, quickly replaced by the muffled chatter of the students. “You are standing in a place that represented the place between heaven and earth for the people of this town. Hundreds of years ago, if you'd been a peasant, you would have been in awe.”

The high school kids appear split into groups on this, in classic adolescent fashion. Some are bored and tired, barely aware of where they are. Others are fighting the ennui, trying to make sense of any of it. And then others: transfixed, mouth agape, eyes filled with wonder.

​Getting a person to the place where she is willing to learn is the single most important job of a teacher. Sure, we've got to keep the buggers in their seats, patrol them for petty crimes, and drag them through mazes of mandated tests, forms, and procedures. But, mostly, it's about getting them into the zone.

The best teacher you ever had-- think about him or her for a moment-- was a master at getting you in the zone. You never liked math until you had Ms. Murphy. Social studies made no sense until Mr. Psota breathed life into it. Chemistry was an inscrutable cloud until Mr. Ferris helped you pilot it.

In the zone, you found yourself more interested in learning. You let your wonder free. You forgot about the burdens of everything and became engaged in the matter at hand. You suddenly cared about how or why something worked.

Nick got in the zone because a bunch of teachers, working outside of the typical parameters, did a lot of stuff to help get him there.

​​We are having the wrong conversations about education.  We want a more perfect education system-- and it's crazy.  We are spending too much money and time keeping kids in systems. Our education culture is stilted in its repetitive, construct-based model. We don't need better curricula-- we need better teachers. Frankly, we don't even need better testing-- we need better opportunities for the kids.  
We can't address what's not working in education by taking all the kids on field trips- that's not the point.  But creating conditions for kids to experience beautiful, inspiring, and challenging moments should be our prime focus.  And, culturally, politically, and economically, we aren't even talking about how to do it.  

Can we afford to take kids to Spain?  No, definitely not in this economy.  But can we afford not to?

Everyone can remember her favorite teacher. For some, it was a fifth grade teacher who read books aloud to the class. For others it was a softball coach, a mentor at a new job, or professor at university.

This teacher changed you — made you rethink the world and your place in it. The best teachers don’t just improve a person’s understanding — they change a person from the inside out.

We live in a world where everyone is trying to get a leadership edge. Your company wants to get more attention and convert people into followers/customers/clients. No profession has more experience in capturing and converting followers than teachers.

1. Be a Contexter.
Every message has context. Simon Sinek told you to know your “Why.” I’m telling you to know your “Who, When, and Where.” I call it Contexting.

You need to be a communication monster when you are a leader. Build your messaging around who you are talking to, their background knowledge, what they care about/are afraid of, where they are, and when they are. It’s not about you. It’s about them.

People aren’t empty vessels waiting to be the recipients of your genius. Have respect for the fact that everyone hears/sees things in a different way. If they don’t understand you, they won’t pay attention to you.

2. Take full responsibility for miscommunication.
People get so caught up in what broke down in a miscommunication. “Whose fault was it?” people ask. Who cares? Even if it isn’t your fault when you were misunderstood, it’s your job to fix it.

Miscommunication is one of the greatest creators of problems in human history. This is true in markets, too. Be the adult in the room. Deal with it.

3. Listen because you mean it.
​Respect and loyalty are plants in a garden. They take time to develop and are easy to kill. If you act like you give a shit but you actually don’t, your listeners will figure it out. And then they’ll not only bail, they won’t want to come back.

You want to build an audience/employee team without loyalty? Fine. Watch them leave when the next shiny object floats by. Pay attention to them — their needs, their worries, their dreams — and they’ll resist leaving you.

4. Your greatest success is achieved through others.
Teachers know: you can’t do anything TO your students. You can only achieve things THROUGH your students.

Your clients need to believe that their success is of critical importance to you — not simply a collateral consequence after you get them to sign a contract. Same with your employees: when the people who work for you believe that you actually care about their success, they’ll work harder and longer for you and with you.

Remember: your people are the ones who “graduate” — not you.

Great teachers aren’t selfless. They are “otherfull.” Make your work about building greatness in others.

Isn’t that what great leadership is all about?