Interesting Times!

Thursday 13 May 2010

I moved on to another induction event at the Derek Fatchett Centre...

These sessions always inspire me as I meet great new colleagues who have made that decision to join the best education team anywhere and now to be part of building an outstanding children's services world for the children and young people of Leeds! I shouldn't really be surprised at these unique and extraordinary colleagues because they have just signed up and are totally committed, totally engaged and not at all cynical about the future... or why join us at a time like this? These colleagues bring creativity, imagination, ideas and experience and they certainly are talented, brilliant, gorgeous and wonderful additions to their teams.

They talked passionately about the Education Leeds culture and how much they loved their work and their team. They also talked about their worries that the magic might dissappear into children's services and into the Council. Our mission, our job, our opportunity, our challenge, as we move into the new world of children's services, is to continue to develop the leadership and culture that will continue to build on what we have already achieved. We must continue to release colleagues potential, magic and passion and target their hard work to continue to make a real difference for our children and young people... which after all is why we work here!

These are certainly interesting times and I always think it is strange to think about the power and the potential we have here in Leeds to change the world if only we could get everyone to believe. Our challenge is to get all our colleagues to believe passionately in themselves and understand that they really are talented, brilliant, gorgeous and wonderful. The question we must all ask ourselves is what couldn't 30000 plus human beings achieve if they work together as a children's services team. What couldn't we learn in the 30000 plus years of experience that we collectively accumulate every year? What couldn't we do if we put our minds to it?

Stay positive and keep the faith!
Chris

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Brilliant Quotes!

“I must accept life unconditionally. Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can only be felt if you don't set any condition.”
Margaret Lee Runbeck

“Happiness is not in our circumstances but in ourselves. It is not something we see, like a rainbow, or feel, like the heat of a fire. Happiness is something we are.”
John B. Sheerin

“Most true happiness comes from one's inner life, from the disposition of the mind and soul. Admittedly, a good inner life is difficult to achieve, especially in these trying times. It takes reflection and contemplation and self-discipline.”
William L Shirer

“The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase: If you pursue happiness you'll never find it.”
C.P. Snow

“Doubly rich is the man still boyish enough to play, laugh and sing as he carries and emanates sunshine along a friendly road.”
Charles R. Wiers

"Faith is not a shelter against difficulties, but belief in the face of all contradictions."
Paul Tournier

"Convictions are the mainsprings of action, the driving powers of life. What a man lives are his convictions."
Francis C. Kelley

"To do anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger; but jump in, and scramble through as well as we can."
Sydney Smith

"It is often just as sacred to laugh as it is to pray"
Charles R. Swindoll

"Things never go so well that one should have no fear; and never so ill that one should have no hope"
Turkish proverb

"Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself"
Chinese proverb

"Don't bother to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself."
William Faulkner

"In times of change, learners will inherit the earth,while the learned will find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists"
Eric Hoffer

"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."
John Lennon

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation."
Robert F. Kennedy

"The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems."
Mahatma Gandhi

"Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way."
Abraham Lincoln

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
Martin Luther King Jr.

"There is nothing in life so difficult that it cannot be overcome. This faith can move mountains. It can change people. It can change the world."
Norman Vincent Peale

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
Albert Einstein

"Life isn't measured by the number of breaths we take but the moments that take our breath away."
Anonymous

"Patience and perseverence have a magical affect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."
John Quincy Adams

"Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and woman to win them."
Ralph Waldo Emerson