Why and how do world-class leaders and great performers consistently beat their competition? ​They realize they cannot go it alone. They use teams and coaches to amplify their results. Many performers who have already surmounted exceptional tests and challenges and have succeeded in business, sports, the military, or the arts well beyond their peers think performance is only up to the individual. Many become frustrated when hours of hard work, years of experience, and expensive educations don’t lead them to the top of their domain. They are already among the best, but they want to be the best. The elite realize there is only so much they can do on their own to achieve that status. They understand they need coaches, colleagues, and competitors to provide the collaboration and competition that serves as a constant push to keep forward momentum going toward attaining that next level. In Cultivating Excellence, Darryl Cross uses thirty years of experience to show top performers that the key to continued enhancement of performance and success is an exceptional coach and team. They guide the elite performers to see situations and challenges in new ways (art), to perfect their craft to the nth degree (science), and to commit to deliberate practice that eliminates performance gaps (grit) and puts the summit within reach.

This book critically analyses the current education political strategy of cultivating excellence in education. It shows how the new policy for selecting talented students in Denmark deconstructs the compromise from which the comprehensive school was built and reduces equal opportunities. It discusses how the current practice of measurement, selection and guidance of talented students brings about significant changes in education policies, in pedagogic practices, a restructuring of school organisations, and changed requirements of teachers. It explains how the internal differentiation of education systems based on self-selection and free choice, but also on new assessment techniques, tends to widen the inequality gap between students. The analysis clearly shows the relationship between the circulation of new ideas and normative frameworks at international level, and their transfer into national policies, while situating these developments in a socio-historical perspective. The book illustrates by means of a concrete case study with important empirical data that demonstrate the reality and influence of this new policy on the day-to-day work of teachers.

Never before have the pressures of a comparative and competitive world impacted on our sense of wellbeing, particularly among young adults. Building on the principles of Giving Voice to Values, which honors the complexity and difficulty of leading with our values, this book addresses the unique challenges faced by young adults. It provides a clear process that details how to harness natural wisdom to flourish through the relentless pace and pressure of today’s world. Moving beyond mere values clarification, Authentic Excellence helps the reader to develop a deeper relationship with their values and confidently express them, and builds effective coping skills to manage the relentless noise of our comparative and competitive world. Authentic Excellence answers five primary questions: How are young adults affected by this world of relentless change and pressure? Why are young adults vulnerable to a plateau that can negatively affect their resilience? What is the difference between fear-based excellence and authentic excellence and what role do values play in this distinction? What is necessary to move beyond fear-based excellence and why is it so hard? How do you train a deeper level of effectiveness that includes more consistent productivity, fulfillment and resilience?

In Cultivating Genius, Dr. Gholdy E. Muhammad presents a four-layered equity framework--one that is grounded in history and restores excellence in literacy education. This framework, which she names, Historically Responsive Literacy, was derived from the study of literacy development within 19th-century Black literacy societies. The framework is essential and universal for all students, especially youth of color, who traditionally have been marginalized in learning standards, school policies, and classroom practices. The equity framework will help educators teach and lead toward the following learning goals or pursuits: Identity Development--Helping youth to make sense of themselves and others Skill Development-- Developing proficiencies across the academic disciplines Intellectual Development--Gaining knowledge and becoming smarter Criticality--Learning and developing the ability to read texts (including print and social contexts) to understand power, equity, and anti-oppression When these four learning pursuits are taught together--through the Historically Responsive Literacy Framework, all students receive profound opportunities for personal, intellectual, and academic success. Muhammad provides probing, self-reflective questions for teachers, leaders, and teacher educators as well as sample culturally and historically responsive sample plans and text sets across grades and content areas. In this book, Muhammad presents practical approaches to cultivate the genius in students and within teachers.

Offers a real-life examples and suggestions to help women develop their leadership knowledge and skills and facilitate the development of others.

Perform to your potential with proven mental training techniques! Achieving Excellence: Mastering the Mindset for Peak Performance in Sport and Life offers a variety of peak performance strategies to help athletes, coaches, and performers of all kinds achieve a winning mindset. The book explores sport psychology concepts and provides practical, proven strategies to incorporate into your daily life and competitive career. Renowned mental skills coach and performance psychology expert Colleen Hacker has helped hundreds of Olympic and professional athletes to achieve their individual and team goals. In Achieving Excellence, she shares her approach for cultivating confidence, focus, and habits of excellence. She will teach you how to create action plans for success and develop performance routines that optimize achievement. Inside, you will discover the strategies and practical tools needed for success in life and sport, such as these: Bulleted checklists that offer step-by-step application tips for mental skills Sidebars that highlight strategies for overcoming common challenges Success stories from top athletes and firsthand accounts of their experiences using different techniques Inspirational quotes throughout the book will motivate you, and implementation worksheets—available both in the book and online through HKPropel—are provided to help you apply mental training strategies in competition or in other achievement domains. With Achieving Excellence, you will develop a winning mindset with evidence-based, step-by-step plans that lead you to peak performance. Note: A code for accessing HKPropel is included with this ebook.

"Henry Mintzberg's views are a breath of fresh air which can only encourage the good guys." The Observer Tied up in knots by KPIs? Confused by core competencies? Management doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, it shouldn’t be! One of today’ best-known and most controversial thinkers on management has joined forces with other leading business figures to provide a thought-provoking mix of writing on management. The cutting edge views depicted in this book are controversially the opposite of what is often held up as the truth in management. Management? Its Not What you Think! brings readers an unusual mix of perspectives to help stimulate more creative management thinking and more enjoyable, challenging and more productive ways to lead their teams. This is a book readers can dip into, a book they can savour, a book that won’t fail to get them reflecting on what management really is…

The combination of sustained hard work and resiliency, grit is the difference between those who give up and those who don't. Grit in the Classroom: Building Perseverance for Excellence in Today's Students assists educators in creating a learning environment that fosters grit development for all students, regardless of ability. Each chapter includes stories to illustrate the research and ideas presented and ends with discussion questions that can be used to continue the conversation. In an era of talent development and the pursuit of excellence, learners must be equipped with the perseverance that is essential to reaching high levels of success. This book provides a rationale for cultivating grit in the classroom with the goal of propelling this topic into discussions of building passion and talent in today's students.

In this eloquent plea for compassion and respect for all species, journalist and gardener Nancy Lawson describes why and how to welcome wildlife to our backyards. Through engaging anecdotes and inspired advice, profiles of home gardeners throughout the country, and interviews with scientists and horticulturalists, Lawson applies the broader lessons of ecology to our own outdoor spaces. Detailed chapters address planting for wildlife by choosing native species; providing habitats that shelter baby animals, as well as birds, bees, and butterflies; creating safe zones in the garden; cohabiting with creatures often regarded as pests; letting nature be your garden designer; and encouraging natural processes and evolution in the garden. The Humane Gardener fills a unique niche in describing simple principles for both attracting wildlife and peacefully resolving conflicts with all the creatures that share our world.