Post 21: Rohn and Widener's Twelve Pillars (of Success) Part 1

Summary of Jim Rohn and Chris Widener: Twelve Pillars
by Michael Horton

I read a LOT of leadership, motivation, and influence books so I appreciate it greatly when one of these books is an easy read.  Such is the case with “Twelve Pillars” by Jim Rohn and Chris Widener.  It is the story of Michael Jones whose car breaks down near the mansion of a successful businessman, Mr. Davis.  The groundskeeper, Charlie, then shares Mr. Jones’ 12 Pillars of Success with Michael and encourages him to practice each pillar between visits.  There are some twists in the plot (although predictable) to make this book an enjoyable, easy read with many quotable lines in it (in fact, I posted many of them to Twitter @rimsavid).

In this post, I’ll apply the first 6 pillars to successful school leadership and then I’ll follow up with a second post to cover the last 6 pillars.

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In summary, here are the first 6 pillars:

1) Personal Development

2) Total Well Being

3) The Gift of Relationships

4) Achieve Your Goals

5) The Proper Use of Time

6) Surround Yourself with the Best People

Personal Development is about reading and staying current on educational research, leadership theory, and motivation techniques.  Just as an athlete works out and practices daily, you should hone your craft daily as well by improving your knowledge and skills.  I’ll be blogging soon about a book that helps professionals do this, Practice Perfect by Doug Lemov.

Total Well Being is about taking care of your mind, body, and spirit.  Pillar 1 is focused on the mind.  Pillar 2, eating well, exercising, and giving up bad habits are necessary to care for the body.  Clearing the mind and thinking about meaningful subjects through meditation, religion, spending time in nature, or through recreation helps feed the spirit to enable you to be most attentive and effective at work.

Well-developed relationships can help both your personal development and total well-being.  Surround yourself with others who have similar goals and objectives as you and others that you strive to be more like and your friends will be a good influence on you and help you grow personally and professionally.  I regularly go hiking or to sporting events with people at work who I respect greatly who I have a great deal to learn from.  One colleague regularly reminds me that relationships are more important than anything else and anything that jeopardizes the relationship might not be worth pursuing.  I have another friend who I call each time I’m headed to a school and falling back on old habits of trying to force change too quickly or trying to motivate people using negative data.  I know that I shouldn’t be doing it, but I just need to hear it and he helps me get over it every time.  Another friend constantly recommends books, websites, and apps to help me get better at what I do.

Using time properly can take many forms.  I constantly consult with principals and encourage them to use their time to walk through classrooms and give expert feedback.  But this pillar is bigger than that.  It is like Covey’s idea of “Sharpening the Axe.”  A quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln says, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I’ll spend the first four sharpening the axe.”  Here, you should practice self-discipline in spending time efficiently, focusing on what’s most important, and preparing thoroughly for important events.  It doesn’t mean to spend 15 hours a day at school.  It means to spend your time at school efficiently and wisely.  Too many principals burn out and lament the fact that they cannot get out into classrooms often because of problems around using time properly.

Since instruction has a bigger effect on student achievement than any other factor that schools have control over, it makes sense that a large portion of an administrator’s time should be spent recruiting, retaining, and training teachers.  Surrounding yourself with the best teachers, counselors, classified staff, and administrators is not only wise, but is the only way to build a successful organization.  Avoid the temptation to surround yourself with “Yes Men,” “lackeys,” a fan club, or mini-me clones.  Instead, surround yourself with great people who complement your skills and abilities in order to have a well-rounded faculty that will focus on student achievement.

Surely, these items cannot be explained completely in just a page or two, so grab a copy of the book.  As I mentioned, it’s a fast, easy, worthwhile read.

How do you develop yourself personally and find time to spend with friends who are a positive influence on you?  Share your ideas in the comments section.