MAC Week 3 Comments: Derek Gualandri

MAC WEEK 3 Reading Ch. 5-8 Art of Possibility

Rule number six according to Zander from the book Art of Possibilities.

The Art of Possibility

Ch. 5 Lead from any Chair

Leading from any chair is what teachers do every day. We take the lead role yet try to give others the opportunity to be the leader. We guide young people to be independent and to be in charge of smaller groups.  In high school, students are not always ready to be a leader and they need to mature in to the leadership role. I have heard of studying that says there are 7 billion people that walk the face of the earth and only 2% of these people are LEADERS.  So if my math does not fail me, that is 2 people out of every 100 people hence 2 %.  So, 1 person out of 50 is a leader. Truly that is not a lot of people; so to be ready to lead from any seat sometimes can become very challenging.  Sometimes leaders can become so confident that they think they are on top of the world, yet little do they know they can be replaced.  Like the old entertainment quote states when something goes wrong, or the leader cannot lead that “the show must go on.”   

This excerpt from the book says it all too. “Yet in the music business, as in all walks of life, a leader who feels he is superior is likely to suppress the voices of the people on whom he must rely to deliver his vision alive and kicking.” Zander says this statement with such veracity. Many leaders do not always know they are suppressing the voices of their colleagues.

Ch. 6 Rule number 6

“ Don’t take yourself so goddam seriously.” This is the best Chapter in this section of the book. Sometimes people are way too serious.  In the teaching world, teachers can be a bit to much as well. A teacher friend of mind stated to me one day that, “ Children don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”  This quote says it all and has a strong correlation to the not taking yourself so seriously. In order to be successful, you have to be having fun. If you are acting way to serious, then most of the time you are not having any fun. The key to this concept is to have FUN…. Seriously you can’t be serious."

Ch. 7 the way things are

In this chapter a light bulb in my head went off that reminded me of a quote I once heard. The quote said, “ Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.” Randy Pausch from the Last lecture.  A good friend of mine always says,” It is what it is.” These two quotes explain exactly what Zander was trying to convey to his audience or at least that is what I got out of it. Abraham Lincoln failed over 80 times before he became  very successful. Perseverance is the name of the game learning along the way and making those mistakes that will make us much stronger. I love the quote about ADVERSITY! “ Adversity, if it doesn’t kill you it makes you stronger.”  I try to covey these life’s little lessons daily to my student. I let them know I am human and will make a mistake.  I teach them it is ok to make mistake, yet they must learn from the mistake. 

Ch. 8 giving way to passion

I tell my students these same messages everyday about LIFE. Do what you love, and Love what you do and you too will be successful?  Be passionate about what drives you. Be passionate on what motivates you. Passionate about who you are and passionate for what you believe in. If your passionate and you give way to it. Passion will lead you to a good place. A place that makes you feel great, as a person and that will lift up your spirits.  More over the reading of this book has been awesome for me, and it has given way to passion. Once again, Zander has captured me in his book. I will probably read this book again and again. I can't wait. 
To be continued---

Comments to Derek


Well I looks like I commented on Marquita's blog about the Batman quote, sorry my mistake, but it was a great illustration of #6.
Ill see if I can get it right this time, lol.
Anyway, I agree #6 was the best section of this reading. Its a simple concept but can be truly difficult to keep up with the trials of day to day life. That is why short sweet reminders are perfect to keep the concept in out sometimes all important heads.   And this quote btw is great... "Children don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”