START Leadership

Be Well,
 

Developing Leaders in Challenging Times

We have the opportunity to build compassion, empathy, and integrity
in our kids / students every day - with every interaction we have
with them and every action we model for them. 

When we articulate, stand up for, and take action to support what
we believe, even when it is difficult or uncomfortable, we model
the every day leadership attributes we want to develop in our kids.

We raise leaders by being leaders.
 

Information

Self-Control: How to Build it in Your Kids (or Students)

                     
The Big Idea: In a classic test of willpower, psychologists found that preschoolers who could resist eating one marshmallow now to get two marshmallows later fared better as adolescents and in life, predicting higher SAT scores, better social and cognitive functioning, a healthier lifestyle and a greater sense of self-worth. For decades the famous marshmallow test has been cited as evidence that those children who happen to have greater self-control will be more successful in life.
 

But there’s more to it. The nature of the interactions a child has with an adult prior to the test of self-control has a statistically significant impact on their ability to control themselves and to delay gratification - influencing their success for decades to come.

Read the full article to learn what you can do to build self control in kids and to amplify their success.

Insight 

Early Specialization is Out: Sampling is In

For too long, we’ve believed in a narrow path to getting ahead: start early, specialize, eliminate distractions, and  deliberatively practice for at least 10,000 hours.  For students on a college prep path, this narrow approach has resulted in an unprecedented rise in anxiety, stress, and distress levels and an unprecedented fall in preparedness for college, work, and life.

But in this groundbreaking work, David Epstein presents the research to effectively challenge the specialization path – good news for parents (and teachers) and their kids. 

Epstein shows that those who specialize early may advance more quickly in the short term, but in almost every field, generalists who have sampled widely, made mistakes, and taken detours are primed to excel in the long term - and to find work that is more enjoyable and meaningful to them and is more valued in the world. 

“As experts silo themselves further while computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive.”  
From Range: Why Generalists Triumph is a Specialized World.