This year I am celebrating thirty years as an educational professional.  Perhaps my age makes me prone to nostalgia, but lately, I find myself reflecting on the numerous thought leaders, scholars, colleagues, family members, and friends who have influenced my thinking and my work. On a daily basis, I draw upon the lessons of others, mapping their words and ideas against new situations and novel dilemmas.  Inevitably, their wisdom clarifies and illuminates. 

What follows is an initial list of the borrowed ideas that regularly bounce around between my ears. These ideas are presented in three different forms:

  • Those in quotations are drawn from written pieces of work or from presentations I witnessed.
  • Those ideas italicized represent paraphrased ideas I have borrowed from the individual noted.
  • Those in plain text, absent quotation marks or italicized font, are lessons I have borrowed through observation of their behavior and dispositions.   

I am blessed to say that I have met and worked with most of the individuals on this list.  However, there are some whose work has long affected me though I never had spoken with them directly.  

This is an admittedly incomplete list.  Consider it the launch of a personal audit of influential ideas and people.  No doubt I will inadvertently leave as many off as I will include. Perhaps in the future, I’ll create a second volume.

Please feel free to share with me those individuals whose life and work have most influenced you.

Person Big Idea
Deborah Ball “Teaching can have very powerful amazing effects. It can also do incredible damage. Even in a moment.”
Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan “The smallest unit of work in organizations is dialogue.”
Anthony Bryk “Your theory of change is definitely incomplete and possibly wrong.”
Sherrill Curtis Take pride in your practice. The moral importance of education demands we bring a seriousness to the work.
W. Edwards Deming “Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.”
Amy Edmondson “Psychological safety isn’t about being nice.  It’s about giving candid feedback, openly admitting mistakes, and learning from each other.”
Richard Elmore “Ours is the profession without a practice.”
Paulo Freire “There’s no such thing as neutral education. Education either functions as an instrument to bring about conformity or freedom.”
Michael Fullan A good turn of phrase can help people hold onto a complex idea.
Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky “Leadership is disappointing your own people at a rate they can absorb.”  
Deborah Helsing No, the presence of a clearly-stated objective on the chalkboard is not evidence of good teaching.
Robert Henry See and hear the people around you. REALLY see and hear them, as human beings with wants, needs, hopes, and challenges.
Joey Hill You shouldn’t dim your light because people are used to sitting in the dark.
Susan Moore Johnson In your teaching, the details matter.  Be prepared.
Robert Kegan Well-spun tales and extended metaphors are powerful vehicles for developing understanding and sometimes shifting perspectives.
Ibram X. Kendi “The opposite of racist isn’t ‘not racist.’  It is anti-racist.”
Ralph B. Lassiter, Sr. Recognize the power of a good dirty joke.
Richard Lemons, Sr. Lower your head, bear your load, and keep grinding.
Steven Leonard The purpose of discipline is to correct the behavior, not punish the student.  
Lynwood Leverette Find your passion. Educate yourself. Keep hustling.
Milbrey McLaughlin “Policy-directed change ultimately is a problem of the smallest unit.”
Jal Mehta “The consequence is that equity has become, more often than not, a conservative force in American public education. The effort to close achievement gaps has in practice doubled down on the century-old industrial model of schooling, leaving in place all of the essential elements of its grammar: teaching as transmission, batch processing of students, conventional assessments, tracking and leveling, and all of the rest.”
Richard Milner “Young people need educators. They need adults. They need people in their lives. From my view, based on what I’ve come to understand from about 20 years of studying these interactions and these practices, they need adults in their lives who they believe will walk through a wall. So it’s not only about how do I get through the day, a cordial interaction with my students. It is not, I’m going to get to know you because I’m going to advocate for you. I’m going to get to know you because I’m going to knock down walls for you on your behalf to make sure you get the education that you deserve.”
Teresa Weatherall Neal Lead with unapologetic passion and don’t be afraid to minister.
Pedro Noguera The quality of a child’s education in America should not be determined by the zip code of that child’s crib.  
Barry Sheckley “Learning is a byproduct of reasoning.”
Peter Senge “The gap between vision and current reality is also a source of energy. If there were no gap, there would be no need for any action to move towards the vision. We call this gap creative tension.”
Theodore “Ted” Sizer “Things remain the same because it is impossible to change very much without changing most of everything.”
Gary “Smitty” Smith Build a team culture that is about performance and joy, not control and order.
James Stigler and James Hiebert “Teaching, in our view, is a cultural activity.”  “Although most people have not studied to be teachers, most people have been students. People within a culture share a mental picture of what teaching is like.  We call this mental picture a script”
Margaret Wheatley “In organizations, real power and energy is generated through relationships. The patterns of relationships and the capacities to form them are more important than tasks, functions, roles, and positions.”
Dudley Williams Show up and give, give and give. Then, give some more.
Charles V. Willie The subdominants in a given society will always know the culture of the dominants much more than the opposite.  They may even understand the culture of the dominants much more than the dominants themselves.  

In Partnership, 

Richard Lemons
Executive Director
Partners for Educational Leadership
rlemons@partnersforel.org
Twitter: Richard_Lemons

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