The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk - 091: Dr. John Marschhausen - Cultivating Innovators And Creative Thinkers

Episode Date: January 21, 2016

Episode 091: Dr. John Marschhausen - Cultivating Innovators And Creative Thinkers John Marschhausen is a very interesting and intelligent leader.  He is deeply interested in leading and empowering young people to develop their leadership skills.  This is the first time I’ve spoken with a school super intendant on The Learning Leader Show.  I’m really glad that I did.  John shares detailed, research backed evidence to how we can better lead our children.  We are extremely fortunate to have John share his knowledge with us, the loyal listeners of The Learning Leader Show.  Dr. John Marschhausen is a dynamic educational leader; he serves with passion, purpose, and energy. Dr. Marschhausen is committed to personalizing education for each student, facilitating a culture of growth, and supporting continued innovation in instructional practices. Dr. Marschhausen has his Bachelor of Arts in History/Political Science from Wittenberg University and his master’s degree from the University of Dayton. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy in Leadership from Capella University. John was appointed by Governor Kasich to the Ohio Digital Learning Task Force, has served on the Ohio Senate’s Testing and Accountability Committee and has testified many times before the Ohio General Assembly. He reports directly to the Board of Education and serves as the Board’s Chief Executive Officer. As superintendent he supports administrators and principals in their every day jobs so teachers can do what they need to do to prepare every student for tomorrow. Episode 091: Dr. John Marschhausen - Cultivating Innovators And Creative Thinkers Subscribe on iTunes  or Stitcher Radio The Learning Leader Show “We need to have students ready for tomorrow.” In This Episode, You Will Learn: Integrity, Trust, and Relationship Building Skills are the qualities of people who sustain excellence over long periods of time The need for a more personalized approach to teaching and leading students How we create the space for original thinkers and innovators The issue with standardized testing The need to look for additive opportunities to give feedback How to view failure as a learning opportunity Thinking Long Term… Tactical things all parents can do to be better leaders The 6 disciplines of the R factor How his work with Tim Kight has been such a positive experience Values, Behaviors, and Outcomes Having a sense of purpose as a leader “Grades are merely a marker of compliance.” Continue Learning: Go To John’s Bio on Hilliard’s website: org Read: Above The Line by Urban Meyer Follow John on Twitter: @drjcm You may also like these episodes: Episode 001: How To Become A Master Connector With Jayson Gaignard From MasterMind Talks Episode 085: Jessica Lahey – Why Your Parenting Style Is Wrong Episode 004: How Todd Wagner (and Mark Cuban) Sold Broadcast.com To Yahoo! For $5.7 Billion Episode 010: Shane Snow – How To Accelerate Success Using Smart Cuts Did you enjoy the podcast? This was a jam packed episode full of great content.  Dr. John Marschhasen is leader who is constantly learning in order to help us all live a better life. Who do you know that needs to hear this?  Send them to The Learning Leader Show! Episode edited by the great J Scott Donnell Bio From HilliardSchools.org Dr. John Marschhausen is a dynamic educational leader; he serves with passion, purpose, and energy. Dr. Marschhausen is committed to personalizing education for each student, facilitating a culture of growth, and supporting continued innovation in instructional practices. Dr. Marschhausen has his Bachelor of Arts in History/Political Science from Wittenberg University and his master’s degree from the University of Dayton. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy in Leadership from Capella University. John was appointed by Governor Kasich to the Ohio Digital Learning Task Force, has served on the Ohio Senate’s Testing and Accountability Committee and has testified many times before the Ohio General Assembly. He reports directly to the Board of Education and serves as the Board’s Chief Executive Officer. As superintendent he supports administrators and principals in their every day jobs so teachers can do what they need to do to prepare every student for tomorrow.    

We have students who are going to be in the right place at the right time, like Gladwell talked about the jobs as in the gates. How do we get them to seize that moment? And the more students we have ready to seize the moment, the better we're going to be in the future. So that's part of that break in the mold of public education. And it's hard because our teachers are so dedicated and so talented, we have to create safety for them to also. be willing to explore and to be creative and to be innovative. Because when teachers feel like there's only one way to do things, they too will be safe and follow directions. Because a lot of our teachers were phenomenal students, which is why they got into education. And as phenomenal

students, they did well in school following directions and doing what they were told. So we have to create an atmosphere in a culture where teachers, feel safe taking risks, because until the teachers feel safe, creating risks, the students won't feel safe taking and creating those risks. So as leaders, that culture and that environment that we create is so important. Are leaders born or are they made? Our host, Ryan Hawk, believes that leaders can be made through determined, focused work on learning the art and science behind the makeup of other successful leaders.

Now it's time to inhale knowledge and exhale success. You're listening to The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk. Hey and welcome to the Learning Leader Show. I am Ryan Hawk. Thrilled with tonight's featured leader. It's with Dr. John Marshhausen. John is a dynamic educational leader who serves with passion, purpose, and energy. He's committed to personalizing education for each student facilitating a culture of growth.

John is the superintendent for Hilliard City Schools. This is a school located in Central Ohio. They are the ninth largest school district in the state of Ohio. Couple of the things we got into on our conversation tonight. How grades are merely a marker of compliance. We need to focus on helping creative people be creative and not just good test takers. Reminds me a lot of the work of Seth Godin. We talked about Seth a little bit during our conversation.

Then also his work with Tim Kite and implementing the R factor, focusing on leadership, culture, and behavior. And then his long-term goals to not only help his district and the teachers and the student, but to help others so that we could positively impact our future leaders. Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, it's Dr. John Marshhausen. Okay, John, so excited to have you here on a Learning Leader Show. And I want to get us kicked off with some instant value. And that's around the fact that you have spent time around people who have sustained excellence over time. And you certainly are one of those guys. You've had this rocket ship type of career already for yourself and to vaulted yourself into a big time leadership role.

And you've spent time around other great leaders. And I'm curious, what are some of those common characteristics that people who have sustained excellence all seem to share? Well, thanks for the opportunity. to talk, Ryan. I think the most common characteristic is people who have integrity. It's people who can build relationships, can build trust. And as you lead in any organization or in any role, in order to have people want to be around you and have that magnetic type of effect on your team, you have to be able to build trust. And that comes from in difficult conversations, being open and honest. It comes with consistency and clarity of purpose. And it comes from when you make

mistakes and we all make mistakes being able to say, you know what, this is what we did wrong or this is what I did wrong. This is what we're going to learn from it. And this is why this isn't going to happen again. And I think that level of integrity is essential in any leader. And when I think about the people who have influenced my life and the people who I've been around, that is the core characteristic that separates them from just people who may have a job title or people who might be in a role where their role dictates leadership. And it's true of any teachers. You know, in the education field, when we look at, when we look back on who were the teachers that motivated us the most, they weren't necessarily the easiest teachers or they weren't necessarily

the toughest. They were the ones who set expectations. We would run through walls for them because we knew they would run through walls for us. And anytime you're around people, I think that's what you look for in terms of leadership ability and who you want on your team with you. Do specific people come to mind? They don't have to be famous, but when you immediately think of sustained excellence over periods of time, who are those people that pop in your mind initially? Well, Ryan, that's a really great question. I think, first of all, the people who have been most influential in my life were my mom and my dad.

And I'll give you an example of why I think that sustains excellence. Dad was a Lutheran minister. Mom was a teacher. And they taught me right from the very beginning that your job has to be more than just something that earns a paycheck. It's got to be something that is in your heart. It's part of your DNA and you get to live your life with a purpose. And growing up in the household where I did, that allowed me to see that every day. And I think that keeps you focused as an individual. And I hope to emulate that in them.

So that's one of the first things that come to mind. Secondly, when I first got this job in Hilliard, I had the opportunity. to sit down with Gordon Gee. And he was kind enough to give me a little over an hour of his time. And as we talked, he said, John, you want to sustain excellence and be a leader by surrounding yourself by people who have the same core and heart that you do, but don't necessarily have the same skill set. And that really struck home with me. And it was kind of the first time I thought about it that way, is as you go.

to build a team and you get to work with different people. You want people who have the same goals and passion that you do, but I'm the high energy idea guy. I need people around me who dot the eyes and cross the T's and people who have that laser focus. And I think that's really important for leaders to keep in mind as they put their team together. And you you surround yourself with those types of people. You just mentioned it. So let's dive in, John, to your background and what you're currently doing. So you are the superintendent of the Hilliard City Schools in Ohio.

That's the ninth largest school district in Ohio. It's in the Columbus area for the people who don't live in Ohio. And you're still a relatively young guy to be getting such a big time role. And so that's why I mentioned earlier. You've got this great career for yourself going. I'd love to learn more about your path, I guess you could call it your origin story of how you've gotten to this point of leading such a big and important school district here in the state of Ohio and also some of the leadership things that you've implemented along the way. Well, I've been fortunate along my path to have people that have kind of opened doors for me. I started as a social studies teacher and a coach.

and at the age of 27, 28, moved into an administrative role, became an assistant principal and an athletic director. I did that for one year and then became a building principal. And then at 33, became a superintendent of the East Knox local school district north of the Columbus area. And one of the great things about my path is at East Knox. It was a smaller district. So I got to do a little bit of everything. And in that role, I got to learn and work with people. to develop a lot of the skills that I think as leaders now we need. And as you start in those smaller leadership roles, it really gives you an opportunity to learn along the way. And one of the things I pride myself in is being able to develop skills and keep those skills going. And it's a

process that every day I feel when I wake up, I can be better today than I was yesterday. And my goal tomorrow is to be better than I was today. So I spent five years at the, East Knox local schools and then had the opportunity to go down to the Loveland City Schools, which is a suburban Cincinnati district where I served for three years. And then when the opportunity came to get to Columbus to serve the Hilliard City Schools, as you said, it's 16,000 students. And our motto is to have students ready for tomorrow. And it's an exceptional district with amazing leaders. And we're able to really influence the future. And I tell the people in our community and on our team that we are shaping the next generation of American leaders.

And you can't have a better challenge every morning when you wake up to think about we could be educating the kid who's going to cure cancer or the kid who's going to find an alternative to fossil fuels or then one of the political leaders that could help overcome some of the divisiveness and hatred that we have in our world today. And we could have those kids in our classrooms each day. So the opportunity to come to Hilliard has been wonderful. I've had the opportunity in Ohio to be appointed by Governor Kasich to the state digital learning task force, and we helped write and craft the current blended learning legislation in the state of Ohio. I've had the opportunity to be appointed by the president of the Senate to serve on the state testing and accountability

task force, which helped with some of the changes that we're seeing in this world of assessment and accountability that we face in education. And those times that I've been able to serve at the state level gives me kind of a different point of view because what we do in Hilliard, yeah, while we serve the 16,000 students in Hilliard, education is a bigger issue. Nationally, the opportunity to serve students and parents across the state of Ohio and to hopefully influence a larger conversation around public education. We've got a lot that we need to change in a lot of areas that we can and need to improve in public education. And Hilliard gives us an opportunity to model and do some of those things so that hopefully other people take note and take notice.

And we can all work together and learn together because our children are our future. And we've got to prepare them for a world that is changing at light speed. What are some of the biggest issues in public education today, specifically if you want to speak in Ohio or even across the country? Well, I think too often we try a one-size-fits-all approach to fixing the education. We are an incredibly diverse state in a diverse country. And I think the accountability movement has brought us to a point where we want to treat every student the same. And every kid's different.

and we know that, and we've got to move towards a personalized approach to getting students ready to be successful in the future. College is a great career path for a large number of our students, but in today's job market, not every student needs to go to college. We have to look to see what our students going to do to be successful members and productive members of our society. we are preparing students to be leaders in the 20s, 30s and in the 2030s and 2040s. And the skills that they're going to need to be successful aren't necessarily the skills that one single test can tell us if we're doing a good job. And we have to move off of that kind of one-size-fits-all model and go to a more personalized approach.

And we can do it. And it's just a question of breaking that mold. our schools today look very similar to the school that I went to in the 1980s and probably look pretty similar to the schools that my parents went to in the 50s and 60s. And we still in a lot of places follow an agrarian calendar. We follow a schedule that at the high school is 730 to 230 to 230 at elementary's or 9 to 3. And we, that model, I believe, needs to shift and evolve and change. We organize our kids by their born on date, not by what they can do and what their skill sets are. And when you do that, you pigeonhole everybody into that you're going to learn the way we want you to learn mode.

And we've got to learn as an institution to be a little bit more flexible, to work on the skills that students are going to need to be successful when they eventually graduate high school. and we have to have a conversation about what are the non-negotiables. There are some things that I don't think will ever change. When you talk about the key to success is being able to read and write, that's still the key and the foundation. There are still math skills that you just need to learn. But as students progress, I think there's got to be a more personalized path and place and pace for them to be able to go through the school environment.

You know, it's interesting. I was this morning reading Adam Grant's new book is called Originals. And he's an incredible researcher and storyteller. And he's talking a lot about he's studying and reviewing and researching some of the greatest creators, so to speak, in the world, in the history, really, of the world. And talking about people who have done big things and not been afraid to be created. and try new things and invent stuff like the jobs and Wozniaks and Elon Musk of the world and those types and some people that aren't as famous but have still done equally big things. And one of the things he talked about when you study these people while they were in school

is they typically did not get the best grades. They typically were not the teacher's pets. Typically they weren't even liked the best because they had a different way of the way they approached schooling and oftentimes they didn't do very well. But these are the ones who are going out and creating and doing the big things that we have to have happen, as you said, for the leadership to be there in over the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years. So when you see research like that, when you see very smart people studying history over time and what happens and how things are created, how does that have an effect on you as

the leader of a big time school district to say, you know, I have, I'm in this, this great position to make a difference with these kids' lives. Like, how do you implement things that will make positive change for those types of kids specifically who maybe don't get the best grades or aren't even into school as much as others because they're, they're more creative thinkers? Well, I think for in a large part, grades are merely a measure of compliance. You can get good grades when you study what you're told to study, when you do your homework, when you don't talk out, and when you follow the rules. And that has been the setup. And that was the setup for public education when we were preparing students to work in an industrial age model.

It's like Seth Godin stuff. Are you Seth Godin fan? Yeah, I'm a big Seth Godin fan. So schools were set up to prepare kids to work in industries. And when you look at the Steve Jobs and you look at these people who break the mold, they're innovators. They're creative. thinkers and in a traditional school model, creative thinkers may struggle in certain classes because you don't get points in some of these classes for creativity. You get class, you get points for memorizing and regurgitating back what we tell you to know. So we have to look at our school model and find places for those innovative creative creative creator thinkers, those students in our schools who may be thinking in an entirely

different realm from their teacher. How do you create the space for them to take that creativity to one, demonstrate the core knowledge that we still want them to be able to demonstrate, and it might not be on a multiple choice test. It might be on, okay, here are the things we need you to learn. And can you show us you've learned them by actually create a something because we have to empower those students to want to continue to do what they do. And I think when you look at schools, in some cases, we almost stifle that creativity in far too many kids. We still have kids who are old school traditional students, thinkers, and learners, and we're still going to need people in our society who are the doers, who are the doers,

who are the ones who are the workers who are following directions who are doing those things. And that's where when we talk about personalizing education, how do we find out what's your role going to be? What is your skill set? What do you do really well? And can we create an environment in school where all of these students can flourish? So we're not turning off a future Steve Jobs. We're not turning off a future Albert Einstein. turning off those types of students, the Bill Gates is of the world. You know, and when you talk about what makes these people successful, I don't know if you've had the opportunity to read outliers. Oh, yeah. Malcolm Baldwin. Where you, yeah, when you talk about those types of people, we have students who are going to be in the right place at the right time, like Gladwell talked about the jobs

is in the gates. How do we get them to seize that moment? And the more students we have ready to seize the moment, the better we're going to be in the future. So that's part of that breaking the mold of public education. And it's hard because our teachers are so dedicated and so talented, we have to create safety for them to also be willing to explore and to be creative and to be innovative. Because when teachers feel like there's only one way to do things, they too will be safe and follow directions. Because a lot of our teachers, were phenomenal students, which is why they got into education. And as phenomenal students, they did well in school following directions and doing what they were told.

So we have to create an atmosphere in a culture where teachers feel safe, taking risks. Because until the teachers feel safe, creating risks, the students won't feel safe taking and creating those risks. So as leaders, that culture and that environment that we create is so important. But how do you do both? Because when I say both, I mean cultivating the relationship to have the creative thinkers go out there and be creative yet also receive the necessary passing grades on the standardized test. Well, I think if the student learns the material and they demonstrate, to their teachers, they're going to be successful on the standardized tests.

It's kind of like a chicken and an egg argument. Like, I would never want a teacher to teach specifically to the test so the kid can do the bubbles on a bubble sheet to show they know the material. I feel like, though, that that's, that's, and I haven't been in high school and I graduated high school in 2000, so it's been some time. But I feel like that was, I loved my high school experience. It was fantastic. It's a great school at Centerville High School.

However, I feel like there were certain classes that it was like that. And I understood it because there was an immense pressure on the teachers for their students to do well. And so I completely get it. But so how, you know what I mean? Because you're saying if you can say, hey, you know, if you're there and you're gathering, you're understanding the information, you're going to do fine on the test. But it seems like there's a, there could be a conflict there because teachers really want to show, hey, look, my students do great on these tests,

but at the same time, I want them to be creative and not worry about the test, you know? Yes, and that's why I said there's that chicken and the egg. What we have to do is create opportunities where the data supports the work we're doing. When you have students who are engaged in class, when you have students who are paying attention, when you have students who may be demonstrating

that they understand the material, but they're demonstrating it by creating something, I believe that when that student then has to take a test down the road, they're going to perform on the test. It's kind of like in coaching, when you go through and you're running the drills and running the drills and you're doing all of the different things that you do in practice, when you get to the game, you perform because you have practiced and repped

and prepared for game time. You might not practice exactly like you're going to do in the game. you try to recreate that productive discomfort. You try to recreate the opportunities to perform in your practice so that when you have to utilize those skills, you're ready to utilize those skills. And I believe when we do that in education, the tests will take care of themselves, but we also have to look, Ryan, what are the tests we're using? Do we value the outcome that is on those tests? and how much importance are we going to put on those tests when students have to go and perform at the next level? It's one of the struggles that we're having in public education now because the tests are changing all the time.

So in order to get good at performing on those tests, where are you going to put your time and your resources? And are you going to motivate students to be thinkers and learners and performers? Or are you going to motivate students to be test takers? and I believe our job is to motivate students to be thinkers and performers. Yeah, I just had an interesting conversation with a great leader by the name of Jessica Leahy. She wrote a book, a New York Times bestseller called The Gift of Failure, how the best parents learn to let go so their children can succeed. I urge people to read that book.

But what she talks about in our conversation we had, too, that was recorded for this podcast. That is, when this one's released, the Jessica one will have already been released as well. but we talked about the fact that I asked her, she's a former teacher and is really into education, obviously, and I said, how do you respond when your kid brings home a report card with straight A's? What do you say? Do you take them out for dinner? Do you give them money? Do you give them gifts?

And she says, no. I think that's the wrong way to motivate a child. I look at the specific comments that the teachers write about my children, and I focus solely on those. and I almost don't even care about the grades. Her children happen to be the types of kids who do get straight A's, but she said her only focus is on what the teachers are saying as far as how the kids are in class. You know, how do they handle failure? How do they handle tough moments?

What specifically do they do to help others? Things like that. So when you grade in your school district, are you giving a lot of feedback outside of just the A, B, C, and D grades on the report cards? unfortunately no and i think it's one of the places that we're falling short in education now because we've gone to a lot of just computer generated report cards and back in the day teachers would literally handwrite comments for the parents that would be on the report cards and i think those comments often carried as much weight as the grades themselves just like the jessica was talked with you about and you know today in the world of

of instant communication that we have, I think we need to look for additional opportunities. We have parents who email, we have teachers who will email parents back and forth, who will message parents back and forth. And I totally agree that our students need to be able to, one, understand that a single failure doesn't make you a failure. A single failure is a learning opportunity. Every time you fail at something, you tried. and if you get up, you're going to be able to try again.

And that self-discipline is something that we in schools have been lacking in preparing our students to do. Self-discipline is so important. And I think we've come to a place where the path of least resistance in some cases is great inflation. It's to give kids A's. When you look at grade point averages now, we have weighted AP classes. we have weighted honors classes. We have kids who, you know, we've tried to make a system so that everyone can get an A. Everyone can do well.

And I really wish it wasn't just about that great because it really should be about the learning process. And I think when you talk to employers and you talk to folks in the Chamber of Commerce, what they're looking for in future workers are the kids who are able to learn, who are able to be persistent, who are able to be innovative and creative and intentional and purposeful because the straight A student who's never really had to work very hard and has never experienced failure, that student's untested in a world that probably is going to put a lot of bumps and barriers in their way and we're going to have to overcome them as adults. Well, the world is full of two types of people.

People who are humble or people who are about to be humbled. And so I think it's really important that, and I've been fortunate to be in leadership positions where I've interviewed hundreds and hundreds of candidates for certain roles, specifically in the profession of selling. And one of the questions that we always ask in that process is learning about true experiences of adversity, of tough times that those individuals have had to go through. And what specifically they did and how they reacted is a very, important part of that interview process and you can tell when somebody's kind of making it up or they haven't really experienced it and if someone has is 22 to 25 years old you know one of the first jobs outside of college and they haven't they don't have a really good answer for that question that's tough that is

tough for us don't want to to want to hire that because in real life and whatever job you're gonna do you're gonna get beat down you know it's gonna happen and so we want to see how can you respond to that and and John this This leads me to the second part of this conversation that I've been meaning to get to now. And this is about your process for implementing leadership and skills and developing other leaders within your district and beyond to both the leaders as well as eventually to the students. And previous guests on this podcast, Tim Kite, has been a guy who has already had a pretty big influence on you.

And I love to learn more about how you are using. the things that Tim talked about on the previous episode and what he preaches every day, whether it's with Urban Meyer and the Ohio State Buckeyes and beyond. But how is that now getting into the Hilliard City Schools? Our leadership team had the opportunity to this summer to have Tim come and speak to us at one of our summer retreats. And Tim introduced the R factor and the premise that the events that we face every day in life, are things that are out of our control. And the only control we have is how we respond to those events to get an outcome

and hopefully the outcome that we want to achieve. And when Tim brought that to our team, almost to a person with 85 people in the room, we all left thirsty for more. So I immediately contacted Tim the next day and said, I want to continue down this journey and I want to bring our team down this pathway with you. And Tim and Brian have been so engaged with us over the past six months. We have created our value handbook, and we laid out what the values are. And they're really values that were already in our school district.

So we created and put those down on paper so that we have clarity and focus in the work that we're doing. and Tim during this fall has worked with our leadership team, and we have gone through the training to go through the R-Factor training and learned the six disciplines that are part of the R-Factor training, and it has had an immediate impact on the way that we work and lead in our school district. The work has been so purposeful with us and had such an impact on our team that we have now brought the R-Factor training to all of our principals, assistant principals, and coordinators in the district. And we are creating the curriculum so that our teachers in the first

part of 2016 will all receive R-Factor training. And we will all specifically talk about how our behavior affects the outcome that we have every day. And it really is about purposefully and intentionally leading a life that is discipline and that allows you to make decisions that you would be proud of and decisions that will affect the outcome each and every day. And as Tim talked about on your program earlier, those six disciplines, press pause, get your mind right, step up, adapt and adjust, make a difference, those factors in the way that you can live in that way have such an impact on the work that we're doing in our school district. And starting in the 2016-17 school year, we are going to bring this to the students,

all 16,000 students in the Hilliard City Schools. Wow. Just for a quick note, if you haven't heard the Tim Kite episode, that is episode 74, the Learning Leader Show, Tim Kite. It's been an extremely popular episode of as far as people listening from all over the world and gotten responses. So I'm not surprised to hear that he had such an impact on you, John, and all of the leaders that you work with. So you mentioned for the 2016-2017 school year, not only is this going to be taught to all of your principals and your teachers, but it's going to go on down to the student level, which I love, and I think it's fantastic. However, I'm trying to put myself back. to take myself back to when I was 16, 17, 18.

I was in leadership positions from an athletic perspective. However, I'm wondering, for the most part, how a 17-year-old kid is going to respond to, you know, older guys coming in saying, hey, these are the six things you need to do because at times, that's an age that people don't necessarily want to listen to older people. I remember I listened a little bit to my parents, not nearly as much as I should have. I really listened to my football coaches, but outside of that, I wasn't well read. I probably didn't study this stuff nearly as much as I have now as I've gotten older and I've matured. And I think that's part of the deal is the maturation that happens with just humans over time. How do you think the kids are going to respond to you guys coming in there saying,

hey, this is the R factor and we need to do this every day and live this way? Well, just like we're going to do with our teachers, we're going to first explain it as a whole, and then we're going to break it into chunks. And over the course of the year, they're going to get a discipline every couple months. And since this is already starting to be part of our vocabulary and every teacher will have this training, we'll start with kind of an overview. We'll introduce E plus R equals O. We'll bring in and try to Ryan, like you said, your football coach may have been influential with you. we want to find that adult that has that relationship with each group of students. And we are blessed to have amazing teachers and principals and leaders.

So it may be the football coach with some kids. It could be the band director with other kids. It could be the chemistry teacher in a chemistry class. So as we introduce this, we'll introduce E plus R equals O to our students next fall and just kind of start talking about it and plant those seeds and give them an overview of where we're going to go during the course of the year. And then we will be purposeful and intentional with press pause, which is the first discipline.

And we will work over the course of a month or two district-wise as putting the opportunities to stop and reflect about press pause from all of these different places. So if you're a football coach and there's something that goes on and that coach is able to say to those players, hey, guys, let's press pause for a second. and stop and reflect on what we're doing. As we do that district-wide, whether it's in a chemistry lab, whether it's in the lunchroom,

whether it's a bunch of kindergartners at recess and there's a conflict on the playground and the teacher's out there at recess and has a couple five-year-olds and says, okay, let's press pause. What's going on? So we will teach it purposefully over time. And then once we've got press pause, then we'll move into get your mind right. And so we will build this over a course of a school year. And I think that really allows each of those teachers who has the connection with each kid

to find the opportunity to make this part of what we do. Because it's not like flipping a switch. And I think too often in leadership, both with adults and with students, you'll read the book, you'll get the process, and then you just expect it to work kind of miraculously. this takes reps, this takes practice, this takes building the skill of putting these disciplines into your life so that when you face events, you're in a position to have better outcomes and be more productive and working groups better. So that's kind of how we're going to do it with the students and how we're going to do it

with the teachers over the next six months when we start rolling this out for them. you've already developed some values specifically three of them around personal responsibility and power of the team as well as your passion for growth which is the one i particularly really want to talk about so discuss more how you came up with those values and what they stand for in regards to you your leadership team and your district well we sat down with tim and tim shared with us some of they're called your vbo it's your values your behaviors and your outcomes and every organization has specific values that are part of how you function and what you do. And I think too often we don't take the time as leaders to build clarity and focus around what is it that we truly value and what

is it that we truly want to be able to do in our organization. So this summer, we got a group of teachers and administrators and support folks together with Tim. And we wanted to lay out what are the values in the Hilliard City schools and how can we get these values to be part of what we talk about and do each and every day because once we get the common vocabulary and we bring that clarity and focus into our work, it's much easier to be all working in the same direction. We all, each individual has a specific role that we do and we call it your 20 square feet. and it's part of Tim's teaching, and you own your 20 square feet. And each teacher, each bus driver, each secretary has their 20 square feet.

And that's what they do each and every day. That's the space in which they work. And if we're all working in our small area with a common goal and a common focus, then the results are going to be that much more powerful and that much more successful. So we developed three values, and there are things that I don't think too many people could argue with. Our first value is stand up and own it, and that's to make a difference every day. And that's the value of personal responsibility. Our second value is the power of the team.

And we talk about think we, not me. You got to think about we as a group and not yourself. And then our third value is our passion for growth, where we're going to pursue excellence each and every day. And part of pursuing excellence is embracing that productive. discomfort. That means we're going to break out of the status quo. We're not going to do the same things we've always done just for the sake of doing the same things. We're really going to work to get better each and every day. And that's the growth mindset. That's the work of Carol Dweck. And that's one of our focuses each and every day in the Hilliard City Schools. Then with each

value, we have specific behaviors. And if we live those behaviors, then we'll get the outcomes that we want to achieve. And that all fits in with the six disciplines of our factor, because as you press pause to get your mind right, you want to make decisions based on our shared organizational values. And to think about 1,500 employees and 16,000 students all working with this clarity and this focus and a common purpose, we will be able to set our students further apart than we do now and have them really prepared to be successful when they go on to what's next. So when they're with you in an interview at 22 years old, and they're interviewing for that first job, and they're able to say, well, I embrace productive discomfort. I'm okay knowing that it's going to be hard to get

better each and every day. And here are some ways in my life that I have broken out of the status quo. Here are some ways that I've gotten off autopilot that I have purposefully done things to make myself better. That's going to be impressive when that students able to live their life with this discipline and this ability to be focused and have clarity in what they do. Why do you think the study of the art and science of leadership is not or has not in the past been done very much in high school? It seems like the best and most perfect time to do it, but I don't recall ever really hearing about it. I think you talked about it earlier, Ryan.

We've been so focused on the pure academics, that that focus on academics and getting ready for a test and the accountability for teachers in some cases that have come with, just preparing students to perform on those assessments, that academic skill has really drowned out some of the life skills that are really more important for our students to be successful when they move on to what's next. Because the static academic skills in some cases that we're preparing students for, those skills are going to change.

Those skills that we're giving them as a foundation, it's the foundation. But when you look, especially in the areas of math and science and medicine, and how we're creating and growing and innovating with technology and computer science and all of these things all the time. The skills that you and I learned when we were in high school, some of those skills are obsolete, but what's not obsolete is how you learned them. And the ability and the desire and the self-discipline

to continue learning is what's going to make a graduate from high school in 2016, who's going to be a college graduate potentially in 2020, the ability and the passion and the community, commitment to continue to learn, that's what's going to make them successful leaders in the future. Absolutely. I think that it's really important points we just brought up around why this hasn't been done, but why it's so important to be done in the future. And you're obviously leading that. What's next? What do you hope happens from this? Do you want to be one of the pioneers for this to happen at high schools across America? Do you want to help lead this effort? What is it specifically?

that you hope come from your efforts? Well, I think Hilliard's going to be a leader in this area. As we implement this, we want people to take notice of what we're doing, and we're always willing to share our experience. Right now, we've done some amazing things with technology and blended learning in our innovative learning center, and we've had 300 districts come into Hilliard in the last year or so to look at what we're doing with our blend. learning and writing our own curriculum and doing our own things with technology. I think this is

going to be that same type of opportunity for us in Hilliard to say, look at what we're doing with our students in the area of culture and life skills and preparing them with these soft skills to be successful and to develop this discipline for what's next. And I think when you look at education on the national level, the pendulum starting to swing back a little bit of away from that one size fits all. And my hope is we're ahead of the curve, we're being innovative, we're being progressive, and we're leading the way, and we want to be able to share and show other people that this can be extremely successful and that when you make a commitment to your culture and you

make a commitment to the behaviors that support specific outcomes with clarity and with focus, that your students will be better prepared and that they will be more successful as they move on and graduate. So yeah, that's what's next for us is to be that beacon and to be that megaphone to continue to share this work. And with folks like Tim Kite helping us out, him and Brian Kite have been instrumental for us. They've been great working with our team. And they will be instrumental as we bring this to other people because that's our hope. Tim and Brian have a true sense of stewardship and service when it comes to this work in education. And we have a shared vision that we want to bring this to as many people who want to hear it

because it's that important in where we're going to be going as a district as a state and as a country. Absolutely. A couple more questions, John. First one is one I ask just about every person I meet. and that is what are the books that you have gifted the most to others, meaning you think they'll have the biggest influence on them? Okay. Recently, it's been above the line by Urban Meyer because that has a lot to do with this work. And I actually, we purchased 100 copies for all of our administrators. I've sent it to my mom and my dad to former colleagues because it's really a playbook for the work that we're doing now.

John Gordon's the energy bus. Yeah, former guest here. Yeah, I like a lot of John Gordon's work. It's got a lot of the similar messages. And I love the idea when you look at John's work, and he's going to be coming to Hilliard next year to work with our team as well in the summer. I love the idea of it's almost like little parables.

It's the ability to take a message and put it in a easy-to-read story with characters that we can all relate. to. So any of John's work from the energy bus to the carpenter to the seed, those are books that I have given to people. Todd Goner's book, Lead for God's sake, have shared that with my wife, with my colleagues, really talks about why we do what we do. And I think Ryan, as a leader, you have to have a sense of purpose. My sense of purpose has to be more than earning a paycheck and being a superintendent. and Todd's work has really influenced me. It was given to me by a teacher at Davidson High School, one of our high schools. It was given to me as a gift after one of my keynote presentations,

and it was one of those that you just stay up all night reading it because you want to finish it. I've mentioned some of Gladwell's work as I've gone through and read those works. There are certain people that that resonates with me. It resonates that I think I want to share this with someone. And then finally, Daniel Kenerman has a book. He's a Harvard psychologist that's titled Thinking Fast and Slow. It's one of those books that you have to read some of the pages multiple times because it's pretty deep and it's a pretty thick read. But I think it goes right along with the work we're doing with Tim Kite and the work that John Gordon talks about where if you get on autopilot and if you allow those thinking fast decisions to take over your life, you're going to miss things.

And when you think slowly and when you press pause and allow yourself to reevaluate situations, there are some decisions that you want to think fast in because it allows you to be more productive, but you almost have to ask yourself all the time to want to think fast or slow here. And I think that the repetitions and the developing habits and purposeful habits, that's part of being self-discipline. And that's part of leading a productive life is knowing when you need to think slowly. So those are a couple of things that I would throw out there that I've read recently that have had an impact. Great books.

Funny story. Daniel Kahneman, I sent him an email because I'm a huge fan of his writing, especially thinking fast and slow. And he sent me a note back and said, I'm retired. I'm not doing those. And I said, oh, that's a bummer man. So if you know anyone who could change his mind, I'd love to get him on. but just side note. So anyway, final question, and this is around the fact that the whole purpose behind this podcast,

it's called The Learning Leader Show for a specific and intentional reason, John, and that's the fact that I love the art and science of leadership. I firmly believe you're not born a leader. It's a learned skill or trait, and it can be developed and doing things like this, listening to podcasts, reading books, going to keynotes, going to workshops, can help develop those skills, those leadership skills. I'm curious, when you hear the phrase learning leader, what's the first thing that pops into your mind? Essential.

That would be the first phrase. When I saw Tim was doing a podcast with you, Ryan, and I listened to Tim's, and I have subsequently gone back and listened to your other ones, I think you're dead on. I think as a younger leader, I thought that leadership was natural. I think people, and then I looked at some of the people in my life who were exceptionally. leaders, and I thought, wow, they just have an it factor. And the more that I mature and the more that I do this and the more opportunities that I have to learn as a leader, I think you're spot on. The elite leaders obviously have some aptitude and some skill, but they also have a drive and desire to always be better and to always learn more. And I think a lot of it is what you read and who you

talk to and having an openness. It's kind of that growth mindset that, in a order to be elite, you have to be willing to embrace that productive discomfort. You have to be able be willing to grow and to learn and to learn from mistakes. And I love the title learning leader. And it's something that I really hit home with me. Awesome, man. Thank you. That's, that's great, John. I really appreciate the fact that you've invested your time with me and our listeners here. I'm excited to see everything that you guys do at Hillier over the next few years, as well as how that spreads to other schools. And I'd love to somehow help if there's any way that I can

because it's so important. I'm a firm believer that what you're doing is the right thing. And so I think it's great. Where can everyone go to find you and what you're doing online? Well, if you go to our school website, which is simply www.hilliard schools.org, you can follow and see us. I do a probably bi-weekly blog that's titled Get Connected.

and the blog that is posted each week will be focused on the work that we're doing in this area for the next couple months as we roll this out for teachers. I'm also on Twitter at Dr. J.C.M. Simply DRJCM. And you can follow me on Twitter. And we'll be continuing this journey and posting and talking along the way. And if there's anyone out there who wants to learn more about this, the email is on. the school webpage with a last name like Marshhausen. It's probably easier for you to click on it than it is for me to spell it for you. But if you go to our webpage and if you have questions or if anybody wants to know what we're doing, as I said earlier, we're happy to share.

And I'm like part of your title, being a learning leader, is being willing to have conversations with this because I believe with each conversation and each relationship that we build, we have an opportunity to get better. Whether I'm talking to you on this podcast or you're talking to someone from business or industry about the work we're doing, those interactions and those conversations are opportunities to share what you're doing

and to learn from other people who are in the field because leadership is truly a team sport and you've got to be able to be part of that team. Could not agree more. So, John, this has been great. Thanks again, man. And like I said, I look forward to us continuing this conversation and our dialogue as we both progress, man. Thank you so much, Ryan.

I appreciate the opportunity. All right. Thanks, John. Thank you. This episode of The Learning Leader Show is over, but we have plenty more to keep you locked in until next time. Head over to Learning Leadershow.com for more information and to request your favorite entrepreneur, CEO, world-class athlete, or anyone else that inspires you. You can also talk to Ryan directly by reaching out to him on Twitter, at Ryan Hawk 12. Thanks again, and we'll see you next time on The Learning Leader Show.