The Tipping Point....

I just read a great book overview from Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point.  For me this was similar to the first time I read about my zodiac sign.  I am a Scorpio through and through.  Almost every characteristic a "true Scorpio" has, I also carry.  I am proud of it, I even have a tattoo (although outdated) that represents it.

In the three blogs I have written I have felt a bit boastful of myself and I acknowledge that.  I kind of hate how that feels on some levels but I am also learning the characteristics of good leaders and I am finding what I do have to offer as a leader and where I lack as a leader.  This is all very new to me and I am just sharing what I find about myself.

When I read the overview of Gladwell's book I realized quickly that I am a "connector" and often a "maven" as well.  As I was reading about these different types of people I was feeling pretty proud of myself for the connections I have made through being a teacher, a mom, a coach, a rotary member, a board member, an outreach coordinator, a friend, and for just being who I am.  When I read the assignment linked to the article stating we need to express what type of person we are in education and in leadership and I couldn't place myself.

The Tipping Point explains that we need to understand how change happens.  It talked of "epidemics in action" meaning clear examples of infectious behavior.  To explain a little better the concept they talked about Paul Revere riding through Lexington on his horse warning everybody that the British were coming.  There was also another young man by the name of William Dawes who did the same thing but nobody listened.  They explained the reasoning for this.  In life there are "connectors, mavens and salesman."  The connectors in life are the people who have the deep connections with the smaller circle of more important or persuasive people and/or leaders.  The mavens are the people who receive the information to be dispersed by the salesman.  Paul Revere was a connector and made sure he went past all of the house where people lived that were in come sort of power.  He knew these people and they listened to him because he was "connected and respected."  William Dawes was ordinary and did not have the same connections.  The salesman are the people who keep the business honest and therefor were able to get people up in the middle of the night to fight the British.

I am a connector in my every day life but in education I am not in terms of education resources.  As an example, I have a very good friend who has been the a teacher in our district for over twenty years.  Our Superintendent, trying to save the district money, called her last summer and told her she did not have a job because her teaching license had lapsed.  She had done all of the online work she needed and I knew that because I helped her.  It laid in the hands of our local standards board.  She asked for him to bring her back as a sub until the licensing department was ready to re-open her files.  He told her no.  I hung up the phone with her and called my previous Superintendent from a different school district just to pick his brain.  I emailed a retired union representative from a different school district because her long term partner had been my dentist since I was three.  I emailed our now Senator but then a member of the Committee on Education.  I also emailed our local State Representative.  All but my previous Superintendent were people I had connected with during my years in Rotary.  Within 24 hours her case had been opened and our local standards board needed to follow through on their part and "reinstate" her license.

While I have many great connections, my hope is to create more educational connections to help teachers and faculty with educational resources.

Arn, Jackson. "The Tipping Point Chapter Two: The Law of the Few." LitCharts.LitCharts LLC, 29 Nov 2016. Web. 28 Jan 2019.