Educational Leadership & Technology

Hand-in-hand with the previous commandment, Display a Can Do Attitude, is Commandment Six: Beware! The Chicken Little Syndrome is contagious. Ever notice how a bad rumor spreads faster than a compliment? Ever notice how terrible news covers ground quicker than good news? Did you ever wonder why that is true? It is because the Chicken Little Syndrome is contagious! I think it is a throw back to our survival instincts that were necessary when we were all hunter-gatherers. Danger was around every corner waiting! Large animals were stalking us; predators were common; survival was hard. Now we struggle less to survive day-to-day, but the basic genetics that made us successful over the last couple of hundred thousand years are still inside. It is easier to believe that something horrible, terrible and disastrous is about to happen than to believe that things will work out fine. And this commandment deals with that human problem — the nay-sayers. Never be afraid to push ahead and do the right thing, but also be careful never to fall victim to thinking disaster is on the horizon because your colleagues believe it is impossible for problems not to occur. Problems are always going to occur; change is always going on; nothing will be the same tomorrow, and we need solutions. It is natural for people to think the solutions won’t work, but it is also our job to get them to try. Will we be able to solve all of life’s problems? NO! Of course not, but we will improve the situation and find new solutions; the new solutions will bring new challenges — that is life. Life is a challenge; anyone who says different is trying to sell you something.