Practical Lessons for Aspiring Leaders

This past weekend I had the opportunity to serve as a pre-conference presenter for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development annual conference in Orlando, Florida (http://www.ascd.org/professional_development/Workshops/One-Day_Pre-Conf_Institutes.aspx#PD09PC034). My topic was “Practical Lessons for Aspiring Leaders and Superintendents.”

While I thoroughly enjoyed my time interacting with leaders from around the world, the highlight of the conference for me was a keynote speech by Greg Mortenson. Since a 1993 climb on Pakistan's K2, Greg Mortenson (http://www.gregmortenson.com/) has dedicated his life to promoting community-based education and literacy programs, especially for girls, in remote mountain regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Through his unique perspective on the region's culture, history, and geopolitics, Mortenson shared insightful commentary about his extraordinary journey and efforts to promote peace one school and one child at a time.

Mortenson is also founder of Pennies For Peace (www.penniesforpeace.org) and co-author of the #1 New York Times best-seller, Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School At A Time (Penguin 2007) (www.threecupsoftea.com). It was Mortenson’s work to promote peace that as earned him a Nobel Peace Prize nomination.

I was particularly moved by Mortenson’s efforts to raise money. After failing to attract business and corporate sponsors for his plans to build a school for poor children in Afghanistan, his daughter led a penny fundraising effort in her school. The students at her elementary school donated over 65,000 pennies for the first major donation. This may not seem like much to some, but for the boys and girls in an Afghan village with no school or books, and only sticks to write in the dirt to educate themselves, $652 was a blessing. The penny campaign is now worldwide and children who may have grown up to be enemies of our nation, are now being educated because of the generosity of American children.

The lesson learned here is that during tough times, pennies go a long way. They can even change the world if used creatively.