What We Believe

We talk and write a lot about how the beliefs and life experiences of adults shape the work they do with the children in their lives. It provides the foundation for much of our research, writing, and trainings.

To this end, we thought we'd take a moment to share with you the collective set of beliefs that the three of us share as change agents. This excerpt is from our new book, Motivation, Education, and Transformation: The Change Agent's Guide to Reaching Our Youth and Lifting Them Higher. Being able to sit down and talk about our beliefs, why they matter, and how they inform our work was an important part of laying the ground work for the writing of this book:

We believe, collectively, in the following core principles. These are the tenets by which we strive to live our own lives, both personally and professionally, and these are some of the guiding themes in the pages that follow:

• We believe that all children can learn when given the resources necessary to nurture their success.
• We believe in having meaningful, honest conversations about issues that matter.
• We believe educators and all other adults who work with youth matter. Tremendously.
• We believe educators and other adults who work with youth deserve to have opportunities to have their own spirits nurtured.
• We believe that education is an empowering, never-ending process and that the adults who are most effective in working with youth are people who are constantly striving, learning and growing themselves.

This book came about because we believe that in order to lead the leaders of tomorrow to greatness, we need to nurture and lead ourselves as well. In order to teach our children to live the "I'm Possible" message, we have to live the message ourselves. 


What beliefs guide the work that you do? We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.