“Leadership develops daily, not in a day” (21).

 This sand “castle,” built at Patoka Lake last summer during a summer day trip with the  children is a good example of the law of process. The page on the left was a dragon in      the making and the facing page reads “Once upon a time.” This was made entirely by hand with details carved out by a small sharp stick I had found in the beach sand (keeping it from jabbing another beachcomber).

This “book” started as a pile of sand. Unremarkable. But, as the idea developed, this pile of sand began to take shape over the course of the afternoon, I was delighted when children would walk by, stop, take in the project underway, and exclaim, “Look, Mommy! It’s a book! It’s a book!” Even later in the day, as the sun prepared to go down, it was fun to watch from a distance the people who would stop, look, and point.

Books and stories. . .they just seem to resonate with people, in whatever form they take. We could easily build a story from what is here. We have all of the elements. . .time, place, and an invitation to consider that moment known to storytellers and their audiences around the world: Once upon a time.

We return to John C. Maxwell’s book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, to consider the third law, The Law of Process. This is the third installment in this 21 week consideration of Maxwell’s work and how it might lend to our deeper understanding of literacy leadership.

So, once upon a time, I wanted to think about literacy leadership. And I committed to discussing this topic for 21 weeks. And this brings us back to Maxwell’s introduction, “Leadership Develops Daily, Not in a Day.”

ONCE you have started to consider yourself a literacy leader, it’s time to put together your ideas and see what is there.

UPON these beliefs you must be most confident. You own your experiences–the utter failures and the great successes.

A literacy leader is born over the course of these experiences and revels in the gift of reflection.

TIME makes a literacy leader. Not tricks. Not the trade. Not a trial period or a notion.

So, if literacy leadership is a process–step by step–being cognizant of the laws and adhering to them by way of practice, then success would be on the other side, yes? Discovered after some time?

Maxwell cites his good friend, Tag Short, who says, “The secret of our success is found in our daily agenda” (23).

Our daily agenda.

This really made me stop and think about my own daily agenda. Where do I see literacy leadership in my daily agenda. What am I doing within the learning community that communicates that a part of my daily agenda is to introduce and promote literacy? A lesson? An invitation? A reminder to adhere to the school’s appointed reading time?

And outside of the learning community? Where do I see my daily agenda of literacy leadership here?  What do others think about my daily agenda? Do others see “literacy leadership” as part of my daily practice and presentation?

These are the questions that I wrestle with on a daily basis. And over time, I have come to believe that literacy leadership–seen through the lens of the third law–is a process.

Practice and Reflection. Repeat.

John C. Maxwell offers a list of facets associated with leadership. I thought it would be good to share those here if only to demonstrate literacy leadership as a process: respect, experience, emotional strength, people skills, discipline, vision, momentum, and timing. This is a list to which we could certainly add our own facets based upon each of those offered by Maxwell. Part of the process must be proposing where we stand–right now.

Okay. For me. . .discipline is probably the biggest of the facets that I must contend with right now. This post was supposed to have been done on Sunday. That was my commitment to the series. And yet, I am typing this up on Monday afternoon. No good reason. Two weeks of adherence that is followed by a postponement of ideas. I am taking my own gold star off of the wall for this, but emotional strength says, keep on with this week’s post. We’re three weeks in and this speaks to momentum.

When I am given a list, I can see what needs attention and focus and which facets compliment the others. Do I get respect because of my experience or is it because of people skills? Is this the right time to declare a vision in the midst of some other items that might need collaborative attention right now? What Maxwell offers by way of this list is a process checklist.

But my absolute favorite part of the Law of Process is found in John C. Maxwell’s Four Phases of Leadership Growth. I’d like to spend some time on these if you have not read the book.

Phase One: I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know:

Maxwell shares here that many young people do not sign up for elective courses in leadership because they do not see themselves as leaders. That leadership is a quality reserved for a few (24).

How many times have I felt this way, myself? With the number of truly gifted and talented writers that I follow at Facebook and Twitter. People with books with their name upon them? Those seemingly naturally born literacy leaders? I remember well driving back to Indiana from the Louisville International Airport with Penny Kittle. Penny, from the passenger seat of my truck, asked when I was going to put my own thoughts into a book. I told her that I had thought that the best material regarding reading and writing was already being done by her and a host of other people I hold in deep regard that I was able to cite like a Who’s Who in the World of Literacy Leadership.

And that’s when Penny got very quiet and looked right at me.

I was looking at the highway in front of us. But I could feel that look.

“That’s very dangerous thinking, Paul,” she said, “to think that your voice doesn’t matter in this conversation.”

I’ll never forget this moment. It was a moment wherein I was living Phase One: I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know.

John C. Maxwell writes, “As long as a person doesn’t know what they don’t know, he doesn’t grow” (24).

Phase Two: I Know What I Don’t Know:

Here, Maxwell cites Benjamin Disraeli who says, “To be conscious that you are ignorant of the facts is a great step toward knowledge” (25).

This is where I would cite literacy leaders like good friend, Donalyn Miller. I am continually impressed by her ability to pull snippets from research studies and apply them to something we are talking about at that time. Well read in the research regarding reading and writing, Donalyn is an example of knowing what she knows while I am working–as part of a process–to stop being awe-stricken by her ability and to put some of this research into my thinking and sharing box for myself and for those with whom I may have some influence.

I started to think about those students–okay, even peers–who might feel the need to tear down the gifts of another peer because the words they use are “too big,” lamenting (albeit somewhat shortsighted and perhaps a little ironic) that they will “never be as smart as _________” But, this is what Phase Two is all about and how timely that we would consider knowing what we don’t know as part of a process that leads to becoming a literacy leader.

Phase Three: I Grow and Know and It Starts to Show: 

I’ve had colleagues–in my first year of teaching–remind me of my neophyte status, mainly by juxtaposing their experience with my own. The veteran teacher with a number of years of experience can–with a degree of comfort–use the number of years they have been in a building comparatively as leverage, but what happens when that new teacher stays. . .and begins to collect experience. The gap remains the same. Time will never make us equals as time is not a competitive entity (I’m being tongue and cheek here, but take a look at other facets of our lives wherein we have tried to compete with time. As I write this, I am awaiting the delivery people who are bringing a new treadmill to our house).

But as I look back over the past eight years–to interviews, to podcasts, to articles written, to presentations delivered, to PLN’s built and maintained, I am starting to see some growth.

Phase Four: I Simply Go Because of What I Know:

When one gets to phase four, Maxwell writes, “your ability to lead becomes almost automatic. And that is when the payoff is larger than life. But the only way to get there is to obey the Law of Process and pay the price” (27).

The Law of Process is a good one to consider early on in this visitation of the Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and–in turn–the Laws of Literacy Leadership. It’s a good time to look at our daily agenda. Look for those places where literacy leadership presents itself.

Before you know it, a pile of sand becomes a work of art. By way of process. And practice. Carving out the vision to reveal the story that had been inside all along. Before you know it, you’ll have excited on-lookers who will want to share with others what you are working upon.

Next week we will consider THE LAW OF NAVIGATION: Anyone Can Steer the Ship, But it Takes a Leader to Chart the Course.

As a former sailor, I think I will really enjoy this next Law. I may have to dig out my dictionary of nautical terms.

The true measure of leadership is influence–nothing more, nothing less.

Last week, we talked about THE LAW OF THE LID. We made some comments about the placement of that said lid, and the impact that a lid has on every person who finds themselves under that lid. We were also encouraged by the fact that there are some steps a leader can take to raise the lid. And one of those steps is being aware of THE LAW OF INFLUENCE.

John C. Maxwell goes back to the summer of 1997 to talk about two losses in that year that had a profound impact upon the world, each loss carrying its own response groups, its own level of tragedy, and its own sense of irreplaceable loss in the hearts and minds of all of the people the two figures had influenced.

With their deaths coming no fewer than seven days apart, the world had lost two individuals who demonstrated the law of influence: Mother Teresa and Princess Diana.

I remember watching Saturday Night Live and still being awake on what would be early Sunday morning when the breaking news of Princess Diana’s death was announced. Without the flood of information that is two thriving social networks and multiple news channels with running twenty-four hour feeds, I got this information from the local NBC affiliate.

And, while we post this blog, the world has been impacted again–on a Saturday no less–with the news of Whitney Houston’s passing. In fifteen years, we might put all of these names together because of one quality each of the figures possessed while still alive: influence. Mother Teresa was revered for her work with the world’s poor and Diana was able–as a civilian–to impact policy regarding weapons being used at the time. Houston stirred the emotions of millions with her rendition of the National Anthem.

Icons. Each. For their influence.

General Colin Powell–quoted in John C. Maxwell’s book–says that you know that you have achieved a level of success as a leader when people will follow you everywhere if only out of curiosity (13).

A small, unimposing woman photographed with the needy.

A woman with no distinct political ties or claim to the crown whose fairy tale wedding captured the attention of the world with over one million worldwide viewers.

And a songstress that made it all look so effortless, we all wanted to be like her or to be around her.

John C. Maxwell offers that many times we assume that management and leadership are the same. Or that if a person is placed within a managerial status that they are in fact the leader. But Maxwell writes, “true leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned. It comes only from influence” (14).

And in The Law of Influence, Maxwell breaks down five common myths regarding leadership. I would like to offer these two you, looking at each under the lens of literacy leadership:

1). The management myth.

Leadership and management are not the same. Maxwell writes, “leadership is about influencing people to follow, while management focuses on maintaining  systems and processes” (14).

And while the term, “lead learner” is very popular these days as a means of perhaps getting away from the negative connotations of being a “teacher” (by the way, I am most proud to claim both). At least two or three times this week, I have been invited to be a part of an on-going conversation about reading management programs. Without tying up a large portion of this post to provide a summary of these discussion threads, can we immediately begin to see that complete and total reliance upon any program to manage reading does not bode well under the Law of Influence?

And here, I really like what Maxwell has to say about ascertaining whether or not a manager can be a leader. Maxwell offers this test: ask that person to create positive change.

In any given system there are ideas, approaches, and strategies that could be considered and implemented. Who is quietly considering these? Who is spending the extra time to keep up with the professional reading? Who can cite the work of those who influence literacy as a practice? And who is presenting these people and their ideas to the members of that system?

These are your leaders. Some of them are just coming into their new-found roles.

Give them time.

Which leads us to the next myth.

2). The entrepreneur myth.

Generally seen in infomercials and doorstop sales pitch delivery, we might assume that the person who blows onto the scene with a new idea, full of personality, vim, and vigor may be a leader. In the book, Maxwell cites Ron Popeil, who at the time of the book’s release, was worth over 300 million dollars in sales from the products he pitched to a national audience.

The only way to measure the influence of these people is the luxury of time. We might buy what they are selling, but who is following. One of my favorite quotes from John C. Maxwell goes something like this: “If you are leading and no one is following, you are simply taking a walk.”

Look within yourself, your building, your district–who’s book talking with their students? Who is writing alongside of them? Who is demonstrating reading voice and pacing, those little moves within writing that become a part of one’s writing craft? Who is peppering their instruction with the names of thought leaders within the industry that creates a continual sense of  a larger connectivity beyond the classroom?

3). The knowledge myth.

Maxwell writes, “You can visit any major university and meet brilliant research scientists and philosophers whose ability to think is so high that it is off the charts, but whose ability to lead is so low that it doesn’t even register on the charts” (15).

This would fall right in line with last week’s idea of the Law of the Lid. Attentiveness, dedication, and passion for one’s subject area is admirable–and these do much to drive the X axis from last week’s grid–but without influence, that lid stays firmly attached on a lower level overall.

I’m learning every day, aren’t you? I can think of two professional texts on their way to the house right now that I cannot wait to get to as well as ideas from the past week’s reading that will be implemented before the end of this school year. To know is to grow, and with knowing and growing, the whole group can get going.

4). The pioneer myth. 

John C. Maxwell says another misconception is that any one who is out front of the crowd is the leader. Maxwell cites Sir Edmund Hillary as the first man to reach the summit of Mount Everest. And yet, since 1953, many people have followed in successfully reaching this peak. But, Maxwell offers, Hillary was not the leader of that first group, a man named John Hunt was.

There is something important in this particular myth for me. I want to wary of the brand until I see the people who are out there using it. This week, I talked about Junior Great Books out there with some friends from Twitter. When I saw the people using this particular program with students, the program was afforded some credibility, not because of the company that created and sold it–or even for any attribute attached to the program itself–but for those people that I follow and trust who were able to communicate what the program does for their readers.

5). The position myth.

Maxwell offers this quote from Stanley Huffty, “it is not the position that makes the leader; it is the leader that makes the position” (16).

How many times do we see this myth play itself out in the area of classroom management? A licensed teacher is at the front of the room, but there is chaos in that room. One of the tenets of influence is that leadership without influence is like walking about one’s neighborhood telling other people’s dogs to sit.

For the rest of this chapter, Maxwell shares a wonderful anecdote about Abraham Lincoln, whose military leadership was so befuddled that he once had a group disassemble and reassemble on the other side of a gate because Lincoln did not know the proper marching commands to move the regiment through it.

And isn’t this what daily literacy leadership looks like in the classroom? We have thirty–sometimes more–learners in the room awaiting our suggested movements as they develop into readers and writers. And while this weeks post doesn’t suggest any tips for how to get to a place of influence, it does promise this:

We will begin talking about how to develop influence next Sunday with The Law of Process which suggests that “leadership develops daily, not in a day” (21).

Tomorrow is Monday.

It’s a day.

A new day ripe with opportunity.

It’s the first day of the learning week. Can you read the expectancy of the faces of the learners in the room?

I wish you well.

I wish you continued resources and connectivity.

And above all, I wish for you the influence to create positive change where it is needed.

“Leadership Ability Determine a Person’s Level of Effectiveness” (1).

Welcome to the first installment of the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Literacy Leadership. While putting this together this week, those voices kept a continual harassment maintaining a consistent message of “impostor syndrome” sentiments.

Those voices kept telling me, “Paul, you don’t have a book to lean back upon. You don’t present at national conferences. You’ve published what? Two? Three articles, tops? And in what forums? Further, what kind of job are you doing within your own building, let alone your own district, never minding the lack of influence you have projected within your own community. You’re a fraud, Paul. And you need to know this before you even type that first blog post.”

I have some nasty voices, don’t I? And when students ask where I get the voices for characters as we read aloud in Room 407, I half-jokingly tell them, “I assign the ones that are already in my head a part and that keeps them busy for a while.” And this is what I am going to do here. Because these voices are not only my own, though they come from no where else but inside my own head, and I would assume that there may be many a reader/potential thought leader who is hearing–and perhaps listening–to the very same voices.

And this is where we have to start with Law of Literacy Leadership #1: THE LAW OF THE LID

In using John Maxwell’s language from the original The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, we want to keep the subtext as well. Here is how The Law of the Lid reads:

Leadership Ability Determines a Person’s Level of Effectiveness (Maxwell 1).

Not what you have accomplished.

Not what you have presented.

Not what you have published.

You are a literacy leader.

What this law is really about is your literacy leadership ability. Your potential. Your purposeful movement in a direction that will guide your instruction, edify the literacy of your learners, and ultimately enhance your overall practice. Maxwell writes, “Leadership ability is the lid that determines a person’s level of effectiveness” (1).

So, let’s take an inventory of our collective ability, assuming that you have let me off the hook for the whole, “voices in my head” introduction to this post. Remember as lids have different properties, these questions may vary by the scope and scale of your practice, but consider these:

What are you reading–right now?

How will what you are reading right now lend itself to Literacy Leadership?

What are your students reading–right now?

How does what your students are reading reflect the Literacy Leadership of their lead learner?

What is the last book that you self-selected for the purpose of professional development?

To which professional organizations do faculty members and administration belong?

Which of of these professional organizations have the words, “literacy,” “reading,” or “English” within their titles?

Do you participate in any on-line forums that affirm as well as challenge your thinking in regard to literacy and leadership?

Have you ever considered submitting an article to a subscription site or to a journal?

Where might others put your lid in regard to Literacy Leadership?

And, for the purpose of full-disclosure, these are questions that I ask of myself as well. I have come to a point in my reading life that just about any title I pick up has some sort of connection back to my practice. Even “guilty pleasure” reading will find its way back to a reference or a connection or perhaps end up being a simple share with a friend at facebook or Twitter.

Maxwell goes on to say, “A person’s impact is only a fraction of what it could be with good leadership. The higher you want to climb, the more you need leadership” (6). In the book, Maxwell offers a simple graph with an X and Y axis. The X-axis is labeled, SUCCESS DEDICATION. The Y-Axis is labeled LEADERSHIP ABILITY.

And this simple graph is really the heart of the first law. For leadership and for Literacy Leadership. Take for instance the person who reads each and every day. Perhaps they share within a small circle or an on-line forum. But the sharing never reaches those learners in the room. Or to colleagues within the building. Or to the media specialists. Or to administration. We might consider this particular reader–with the very best intentions of being a literacy leader, with a leadership ability of +1.

And there is the lid.

Because what we measure when we measure literacy leadership is “effectiveness.” John C. Maxwell has this clearly indicated on the graph from the first chapter of his book. And maybe we should have a clear sense of where that gray bar of effectiveness exists on our own graph.

Maxwell offers a number of anecdotes that demonstrate this particular law: The McDonald Brothers who sold their company to a travelling milkshake mixer salesman who took a liking to their company and bought it when the brothers could not see the potential that franchising the company might bring (1-5).

Maxwell also cites the relationship between Steve Wozniak (a probable 1 or 2 on the leadership effectiveness scale) and Steve Jobs (off the grid) that in time would demonstrate what happens when SUCCESS AND DETERMINATION meet LEADERSHIP ABILITY.

Maxwell suggests that there is a way to lift this lid. Having read his book as a younger man and many, many times sense, I have come to believe that I have not always done well in the necessary steps to raise that lid as a literacy leader.

But this is why we write. . .right?

To come to terms with what we were thinking at that very moment? Perhaps that moment is a fleeting thought that was just passing through, or it could have been a week-long rumination on issues regarding literacy leadership that leads to an idea such as the one we will be sharing here for the next few months as we explore what Maxwell says about leadership and what we say about literacy leadership.

Success? How do we communicate success within our learning communities? What kinds of celebrations related to literacy do we recognize within those small microcosms of our buildings that let each and every member know that what they have just done was something good? How do our learners know when they have done something related to literacy well?

Determination? How determined are we to ensure that communication within the room is based upon the best possible choice of words and messages?

Between SUCCESS AND DETERMINATION is how we begin to build that X-Axis of  effectiveness? How are we doing here? What strategies and approaches are we attempting and utilizing to begin to color in the units of Literacy Leadership effectiveness?

And when we answer this question, we look to the Y-Axis to determine: how are we sharing out what we are doing? What do the stakeholders within the learning communities have to say about their learning community?

Here’s the rub, friends. THE LAW OF THE LID says that whatever level that lid is set at is the lid of every single learner within that room. This is why I am careful to use the term “lead learner” when it comes to my own practice in Room 407. THE LAW OF THE LID says that if the leadership level of the room is a + 1 or a +2, that is the lid for the group.

This always gives me a reason to pause and to reflect.

I’ll say it again.

If the leadership of the learning community is a +1 or a +2 that is the lid for each and every member within that learning community. And we are talking about literacy here, friend.

John C. Maxwell shares an experience he had with the chairman of Global Hospitality Resources, Inc. . In their extended interactions, Don Stephenson shares that every time their company was called into a hotel that was floundering, their first step was to fire the leader. . .no questions asked (10). Stephenson said they never interviewed the leader; their belief was that if they were called in to help the organization than the leadership was the problem. Instead, they trained the support level staff to increase their leadership efforts by way of improved customer service and relations.

This should sound hauntingly familiar to those of us in the field of education.

As I write this post, I am thinking and reflecting. . .as I type. I’m reflecting now. You probably can see this and you are frustrated by it, wanting me to get to the next point. I’m getting there.

Reflection.

Look at the graph. Draw it for yourself in regard to Literacy Leadership. I’ll bet that X-Axis stretches far off to the right because I already know the person that you are if you have gotten to the end of this post. I know you already. You are earnest. You do good things within your learning community as the lead learner because of what you believe about yourself, literacy, and the potential within every learner within the community you have been called to lead.

Take some time this week to go back through the questions we asked earlier. I will too. Feel free to share with me here. Agree. Disagree. Agree to disagree. And in the meantime, I will be thinking about even more questions to add to the list

Next week: LAW OF LITERACY LEADERSHIP #2: “THE LAW OF INFLUENCE:  The True Measure of Leadership Is Influence–Nothing More, Nothing Less” (11).

Maxwell, John C. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998. Print.

The “21 Irrefutable Laws” from John Maxwell’s The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership are used by permission granted by the John Maxwell Group for the purposes of a leadership template to consider laws of literacy leadership. Citations are offered to protect the ideas presented by John C. Maxwell.