Things I'm Thankful for: Reflections on Running a Small Business

I love Thanksgiving. No shopping. Just really delicious food while being surrounded by people you love. Delicious! I also like counting my blessings. I really do. I like the process of auditing everything I have to be thankful for. In that spirit, I was thinking about all I have to be thankful for within the space of running my business. Here’s my Top 10 list of things I’m thankful for within Eklund Consulting:

IT’S COMPLICATED: An Examination of the Complex Relationship Between School and Community

Relationships can be difficult. Spouses, parents and children, friends, coworkers, teammates; where human emotion is found, waters can get rough. Even under the best of circumstances, there are natural ups and downs, ebbs and flows, that occur between people. Add children, distrust, and momentum of the masses to the equation, and a strong undercurrent builds in our schools, leaving disillusionment in its wake.

A Ranking of Great Places to Teach: A Revolution

Today's "Throwback Thursday" blog post is from June 19, 2012.  Nathan Eklund proposed the beginning of a revolution that should take root in education.  Notice the plan is for a list of Top School Workplaces, not Top Schools.  There is a difference.

The Minneapolis StarTribune came out with its annual list of “Top Workplaces” in the Twin Cities. It’s a fantastic listing of workplaces through Minnesota who work really hard to make work work.

There are no schools listed.

There is no list of“Top School Workplaces.” Anywhere. Ever.

That’s ridiculous.

Courageous Listening: Are You Open to Criticism?

I often hear people talk about the need for courageous conversations – those discussions that put a pit in your stomach. The ones that you lose sleep over. The ones you rehearse over and over in order to get each word right. And the ones that you probably avoid as much as possible. In some vernacular we call them “Courageous Conversations.” In Eklund Consulting-ese, we call it “Punching the Shark.” 

But I’ve been rethinking this notion a bit. Or a lot.

The Cooling Frog Syndrome: Missing When Things Are Getting Better

You’ve probably heard of the boiling frog syndrome: the reality that a frog placed into a vat of water and then placed over heat will not adjust to the rising temperatures quickly enough and will literally boil to death. While a bit grotesque, it is an apt metaphor for our own propensity for getting ourselves into stressful situations and failing to recognize the conditions and their affects quickly enough to adjust.

This metaphor holds true both for individuals as well as organizations.