đ€ Quotable Quote
âSuccess is where preparation meets opportunity.â
â Dr. Roderick Sams
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This Weekâs Curiosity: When Preparation Is the Opportunity
Dr. Roderick âRockyâ Sams didnât just sneak into a Michael Jackson concert... he snuck his way into leadership greatness by doing one thing over and over: preparing for opportunities that didnât even exist yet.
In this energizing episode, Rocky joins Marnie and Nick to talk about what it really means to stretch your skills, make time for the things that matter, and lead like someone who knows who they are - even when things get chaotic.
In this episode, Rocky shares:
đŻ Why every skill you develop should be transferable
đŠ The myth of the âone-bucketâ life. And how to lead by design, not default
𧳠Why he and his wife schedule monthly getaways (and you should too)
đ What Centegixâs âpush-button-help-comesâ safety system is. And why every school should know about it
đ Why weâre finally (finally!) on the cusp of personalized learning
đ§ And how showing up prepared today shapes the success youâll have tomorrow
Plus:
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Sneaking into a stadium bathroom to see the King of Pop
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Why âfirm, fair, and consistentâ still works in every role
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And how to lead with big energy without taking up all the oxygen in the room
More Musings
đȘ Biscuits with the Boss:
Icebreaker Question:
âWhatâs one skill youâve developed that keeps showing up in unexpected places?â
Why it matters:
When Rocky talked about transferable skills, he reminded us that preparation today makes opportunity tomorrow possible. This question nudges your team to name a hidden strength (maybe patience, maybe storytelling, maybe organizing chaos) and share how itâs helped in different roles.
How to use it:
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Ask everyone on your team to share one transferable skill.
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Listen for overlapâyou may discover shared strengths.
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Notice gapsâskills that only one or two people haveâthat could become your teamâs secret advantage.
đ Whistle. Whistle.
Leadership doesnât always look glamorous. Rocky boils it down to:
Firm. Fair. Consistent.
It works whether youâre a principal, a parent, or a corporate exec. If your team doesnât know where you stand, chaos takes the wheel. Roy would be all over this one!
đBeardâs collection:
đ Jocko Willink & Leif Babin. The Dichotomy of Leadership. St. Martinâs Press, 2018.
Marnie just used this one in a leadership training bookstudy. So many lessons on balance: knowing when to bring big energy and when to step back. Rocky lives this tensionâproof that you can be both calm under pressure and the pep-talk guy.
đ Herminia Ibarra. Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader. Harvard Business Review Press, 2015.
Preparation isnât just studyingâitâs acting into the role you want before it exists. Ibarra shows why experimenting with new behaviors creates opportunities you wouldnât recognize otherwise.
đ Chris Lowney. Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company That Changed the World. Loyola Press, 2003.
Lowney draws lessons from the Jesuits: self-awareness, ingenuity, love, and heroism. A reminder that leadership longevity comes from values and preparation that outlast trends.
đ This week in Here - There - Every Fâing where
This week has been crazy - in a great way! We did a LinkedIn live with Bob Burg and friends. Bob wrote the Go Giver - he's a hero of ours so this was quite the honor. One of the friends is Jeff C. West who just wrote The Hidden Heist - so good for teaching young folks financial literacy!
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We did an event titled Resumes Aren't Enough - 45 minutes of tips for college students (so if you know some, be sure to share).
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And there was a workshop for emerging leaders and a special innovators salon! (We have some special bits of that we are sharing for next week ;) ).
Barbecue Sauce!
Marnie & Nick
đ Bring a Friend to the Weekly Curiosities!
Who in your life might smile with some curiosities in their inbox? Who might be a good guest for one of our podcasts? (Would you? Let us know!)
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