Interesting Times!

Thursday, 15 March 2007

"We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
Aristotle

Anyone who has achieved anything significant has had to put up with people saying that it couldn't be done. Most of us dislike change but wht we do is all about change and the management of change and we should constantly challenge the status quo and refuse to take no for an answer!

We have to think differently…if you go on doing what you have always done you will go on getting what you have always got… and it can’t be about simply making do and it can’t be about hoping things will get better. In the real world people need to have 85% well developed attitudes and 15% knowledge and skills. So it's true that attitudes can change the world.

We must work to create an approach where there are no excuses and where we constantly learn from our successes and from our failures and setbacks. It is important that we lead by example, continue to develop relationships and trust with our colleagues and our schools, our stakeholders and our partners. And talking about brilliant learning places...

My colleague Graham Sephton, Team Manager in Personnel was out at Valley View Primary School with Sarah Griggs and her team on Wednesday. The school had a training day and Graham and colleagues had been asked to go in and do some team development work.
Graham tells me that they had a brilliant time and that the team there are really something special. They have managed, in just six short months, to build one of the most fantastic teams Graham has ever seen. Some words spring to mind about what they've got....... fun, spirit, all-for-one approach, energy, honesty, unity, passion, togetherness. Graham was 'blown away'.

It's very clear, from Sarah's work at Valley View Primary School, that leadership is about unleashing people's passion. challenging their beliefs and giving them a sense of self and purpose. This isn’t a sometime thing it is a passionate commitment to excellence in everything we do, including looking after our colleagues, ensuring their worklife balance and that they spend time with the people they care about and love.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,
committed people can change the world.
Indeed it's the only thing that ever does!"
Margaret Mead

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