(Inspired by and dedicated to #LeadWild, David Theriault, David Culberhouse, Jon Corippo, Dr. Brad Gustafson, Tom Whitford, Ken Durham, The Ramones, Bad Religion, The Clash, X and many others.) "PUNK IS: the personal expression of uniqueness that comes from the experiences of growing up in touch with our human ability to reason and ask questions.” - Greg Graffin, Bad Religion “The thread of culture that runs through the entire history of punk is also a dedication to challenging the authoritarian.” - Greg Graffin, Bad Religion You can’t peruse social media, even for a minute, without coming across another book, blog post or quote about LEADERSHIP. But, here I go anyway. Leadership, and leadership theory, are applicable to all industries, endeavors and human interactions. And no doubt that leadership, and our leaders, are going through major transformations as our entire global society questions traditional approaches and yearns for more meaningful and empowering ones.
In my last year of being a high school principal, I was reminded once again about the power of taking student work public. Then high school senior Destiny Anger – who later graduated from UC Santa Cruz and is now a Customer Relationship Manager and Marketing Specialist in the San Francisco Bay Area – used social media showcasing of her senior project to alter the trajectory of her career. As part of her senior project, Anger partnered with Helping Orphans Worldwide on a local awareness project. She was eventually connected to key organizational leaders in New York through a video she posted on her personal Facebook. The video had spread to her school’s Facebook page, and then onto Helping Orphans Worldwide Facebook page. Destiny’s story is not unique. However, it does depend on how much our schools use digital spaces and other public channels to showcase student work. Students need to have their work assessed, critiqued, evaluated, appreciated, and experienced by as many people as pos