No Excuses Leadership

The Next Greatest Generation 

In 1998, Tom Brokaw wrote a book about a group of Americans who were born roughly between 1900 and 1924. These individuals suffered through the great depression, went on to fight in World War II, and then came back to rebuild their country in such a way that continues to benefit us all to this day.  He called that book, The Greatest Generation, and the name stuck.  If you’re lucky like me, you got to know a grandparent or great grandparent who were deserving of such a moniker as well as our gratitude and respect for their hard work and sacrifice.

At the time of this post, there are only a couple million individuals left from the Greatest Generation.  The youngest ones are well into their nineties and on their way to becoming centenarians in the matter of a few years.  Needless to say, we don’t have much time left with them.  Because of this we must do two things:  First, find every moment we can to celebrate their lives.  Second, commit to replacing them with The Next Greatest Generation.

TAKE ACTION

The Next Greatest Generation is staring you right in the face.  They’re in your classrooms watching you teach.  They’re on social media searching for what’s real and what’s not and begging to be accepted and admired by others.  They’re at your dinner table as you eat and in the passenger seat of your car as you drive them to and from school.  And because they’re with us all the time, we have a unique opportunity to teach them the character traits, social skills, and academic knowhow to make them into something special. With so much at stake, this is our moment as leaders to rise to the occasion and ensure that the next book written about a great generation will be about them. What’s your dream for The Next Greatest Generation? What are you currently doing to make that dream a reality?

BE BOLD

"One of the greatest dignities of humankind is that each successive generation is invested in the welfare of each new generation."

- Fred Rogers -