A Path Forward For Educators Who Want More Purpose and Connection

In a previous newsletter, I wrote that the best force for changes comes when you dream big, start small, and go deep.

In this newsletter, I want to share with you the big dreams I have in particular for educators and school leaders

This summer, I immersed myself in three transformative experiences that deepened my commitment to a powerful truth:

Now more than ever, education must become a human-centered force for connection, purpose, and flourishing

The first experience was a week long conference at the Harvard Graduate School of Education on building systems of care in schools (you can read my notes from that conference HERE).

The second was a five day overnight whitewater river rafting trip down the Salmon River in Idaho with 24 other school leaders, led by World Leadership School (more thoughts on this specific experience to come!)

Finally, I spent three days in Copenhagen doing research at the Happiness Research Institute studying the intersection between education, schooling and well-being (more to come from this research as well)

What These Experiences Revealed

Each moment brought rich learning—but the most powerful insights came from the confluence of these experiences that led to this revelation:

What we crave—what we need—more than anything in this rapidly shifting world is rich human connection, deep human purpose, and authentic human experiences

I spent time around the conference table with colleagues at Harvard, around a campfire alongside a river with school leaders in the backcountry of Idaho, and engaging researchers in Copenhagen, and the same themes kept coming up time and time again:

The future will belong to those who are able to stay grounded in their full humanity—and help others do the same

I’ve written before about the shift from teacher to educator—from content delivery to meaning-making.

I am more convinced than ever that:

• The future of teaching is about transformation, not transmission.

• The future of school leadership is not management—it’s human-centered, purpose-filled leadership.

For those of us who work with human beings in the work of education, this moment is a sacred calling:

To lead with care
To teach for meaning
To build schools rooted in meaning, purpose, and connection

To that end, I see my calling as helping recenter educators and educational leaders around experiences and opportunities that call forth their deepest need for purpose and connection

Over the coming months, I’ll be releasing a suite of tools, resources, and experiences designed to help you lead from a place of purpose, humanity, and hope, including:

Toolkits to help educators and leaders recenter their work around human flourishing
 Reflection tools for leading with authenticity and depth
 Video courses to equip you for bold, inspired, human-centered strategy
 Systems + frameworks that I personally use to flourish in life and work

I’m also dreaming up immersive gatherings and shared pilgrimages that bring educators and leaders together for rich moments of community through powerfully engaging experiences that foster wonder, meaning, and connection

Imagine joining a circle of like-hearted people:

• gathering around a bonfire relating hopes and dreams in the Colorado Rockies

• sharing a ha moments with colleagues as you hike the Dolomites in Italy

• getting lost in a common read with fellow educators at a retreat center in France

• pushing through moments of discovery walking the El Camino in Spain

• spending time in shared reflection after whitewater rafting in Brown’s Canyon

This summer clarified something for me:

My purpose is to create opportunities where others can flourish

This vision—this movement—is born from a deep longing to help educators and leaders rediscover why they said yes to this work in the first place.

And to give them the tools, language, and support to stay rooted in it.

Come With Me

If something in this message stirred something in you—come join me

Follow and share this newsletter  

Invite your friends. Spark the conversation.

Together, we can build schools—and lives—rooted in meaning, purpose, and human flourishing