The Better Leaders Better Schools Podcast with Daniel Bauer

Transform your school through story

Jul 5, 2021

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Meghan Gardner is the founder of Guardian Adventures, which provides consultation and development of innovative and educational online and live events, training programs, and STEM programs. Her company specializes in story-based and emotionally immersive experiences where participants are highly engaged and readily transfer their education from the learning environment into practical use. Guardian Adventures also provides curriculum and training development for making education exciting and memorable for adults and employees (including an OSHA training program for corporate lab safety which involves a zombie invasion). Translating High Tech media and Transmedia into In-Person and High Touch experiences are the company's core competencies by developing innovative and educational training or adventures that engage participants in a manner that improves understanding, retention, and transfer.

Meghan is also a STEM Curriculum Designer for ST Unitas (the parent company of The Princeton Review), a story-based adventure designer and staff trainer for Royal Caribbean Cruises (providing onboard educational adventures for their 6 million clients a year), a guest lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education and other major universities, and an international speaker on the topic of Immersive Experiences in Education, Learning, and Training for all ages.

In her free time, Meghan mentors women and minority entrepreneurs in the USA and Uganda and volunteers for hospice where she works with terminally ill patients of all ages as well as their families.

Show Highlights

How being a hospice volunteer helped create a non judgmental leadership approach.
Creating emotionally engaging cultural educational experiences.
Masterclass on empathy, listening, and powerful storytelling for leaders to use.
Decision making requires enough time to be uncomfortable with time
Fantasy and games create commonality and open up necessary possibilities for students
How to cause good trouble in the world
Before you can make a ruckus, you've got to create a sense of belonging.
Inspire the idea of challenging what we think.
Decision making is about mistakes and the outcome. Own any outcome.

"One of the hardest things to do is to give that kind of compassionate listening when you are being judged. When the person you're listening to is having a hard time listening to you. It's tough because as a leader, you're in a position of authority. By that very nature, you are the one who has power over them or over the outcome. It can be very challenging when that emotional burden is in your chair because it is upon you to give more compassionate listening. Boy it can feel lonely. There can be days when you're human too, and you just don't want to hear yet another reason why someone thinks you're wrong."

-Meghan Gardner

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Meghan Gardner Transcript

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