Transformative Principal

Dr. Marcus Belin serves as the Principal of Huntley High School and President of the Illinois Principals Association. Dr. Belin, native of Chicago, Illinois. attended Bradley University, where he received his bachelor’s in elementary education (‘10) followed by a master’s in education administration (‘14). He completed his doctorate at National Louis University in July 2020. Why it’s important for kids to feel like they belong. Everyone who intercepts can pour into them If you signed up to work in a school and you think your title matters, you’re in the wrong place. How do you make the interactions worthwhile? It’s like watering plants. A teacher that has literally saved kids lives Classroom is a netflix genre. What a relationship can be, if trust is the foundation. They’ll tell you those things that you want to hear, but also those things you don’t want to hear. A pound of flesh in discipline restorative practices - it’s not being soft. It was about punishment, then it was about discipline, now it is about learning. Remember what you told me. Restorative is not just about Classroom as a netflix genre. 720 episodes in a high school career. Kids come together for a time, help it be meaningful. How to be a transformative principal? to actively listen and hear the stories and voices that exist within your building. Sponsors Transformative Principal Mastermind Lead a school everyone can be proud of. Being a principal is tough work. You’re pulled in all kinds of directions. You never have the time to do the work that really matters. Join me as I help school leaders find the time to do the work they became principals to do. I help you stop putting out fires and start leading. Learn more at https://transformativeprincipal.com Just Right Reader Just Right Reader Decodables are a great way to help your students learn how to read, with research-based strategies that are proven to be effective. Each grade level has over 100 books. Send books home in packs of ten, with video lessons accessible via QR codes on each book, with lessons in Spanish and English. Learn more at https://justrightreader.com LinkedLeaders: You need support. Get just-in-time mentoring at LinkedLeaders.comWe’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

James Moffett is a principal in Kansas and he loves kids. Pretty empathetic Relationships Teri Barilla Question things I did as an educator If you were doing these things before the pandemic, you were as ready as you could be for the pandemic If you wouldn’t accept it from your supervisor, don’t dish it out to your kids. Accountability, structure, consequences, - all structured in love. It’s such a mindset shift for educators because it’s not how school was for us. Model it, live it, let them experience it. How do we help schools see that kids are respected on day 1. Teachers are structured beings Each vs. every. The Rabbit Effect How to be a transformative principal? Rest and recover and put more focus on the relationships you have in your building. Sponsors Transformative Principal Mastermind Lead a school everyone can be proud of. Being a principal is tough work. You’re pulled in all kinds of directions. You never have the time to do the work that really matters. Join me as I help school leaders find the time to do the work they became principals to do. I help you stop putting out fires and start leading. Learn more at https://transformativeprincipal.com Just Right Reader Just Right Reader Decodables are a great way to help your students learn how to read, with research-based strategies that are proven to be effective. Each grade level has over 100 books. Send books home in packs of ten, with video lessons accessible via QR codes on each book, with lessons in Spanish and English. Learn more at https://justrightreader.com LinkedLeaders: You need support. Get just-in-time mentoring at LinkedLeaders.comWe’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

In this episode, there is a bit of passing of the baton, as we introduce the next Transformative Principal, Eric Makelky. Eric will be recording the majority of the podcast episodes you hear over the next few months as we try a little experiment. We don’t know how it will work out, but we are hopeful. Each month, Jethro will have a coaching session with Eric that you will get to listen to see what a coaching session is really like, and to see how someone grows over the course of a school year. We’ll try this out and see how it goes. There are other episodes that Jethro has already recorded that will be coming out throughout the year as well, so you’ll still hear from Jethro. If you’d like to connect with Eric, he has an email at erik at transformativeprincipal.com or you can follow him on Twitter at emakelky Here are some things Eric is looking for support in this year: - Matching expectations with culture - Onboarding and supporting teachers new to the profession and new to the principal. - Building trust with families. Eric has a couple big goals for this year, too: - Measurable improvement on district goals. - Building trust - Defining the culture they want. Sponsors Transformative Principal Mastermind Lead a school everyone can be proud of. Being a principal is tough work. You’re pulled in all kinds of directions. You never have the time to do the work that really matters. Join me as I help school leaders find the time to do the work they became principals to do. I help you stop putting out fires and start leading. Learn more at https://transformativeprincipal.com Just Right Reader Just Right Reader Decodables are a great way to help your students learn how to read, with research-based strategies that are proven to be effective. Each grade level has over 100 books. Send books home in packs of ten, with video lessons accessible via QR codes on each book, with lessons in Spanish and English. Learn more at https://justrightreader.com LinkedLeaders: You need support. Get just-in-time mentoring at LinkedLeaders.comWe’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

Nadine Levitt Twitter is a Swiss-born German, Kiwi, US transplant, and founder of the music technology company, Wurrly, LLC. She began her career as a lawyer but after 6 years of practice, she began to pursue a career in music as a professional opera singer and songwriter. She has performed extensively all over the United States and the world, sharing the stage with David Foster, Andrea Boccelli, Kiri Te Kanawa, Roger Daltry, Christina Perri, and Steven Tyler to name a few. Passionate about music in schools she sits on the national board of Little Kids Rock, and in 2016 led the development of the music education platform WURRLYedu, which empowers student voices and makes it easy to bring a fun and effective music education to schools. Nadine is also an author of children’s books, including the My Mama Says book series, which teaches kids to identify, acknowledge and direct their emotions. PDReimagined.com Mary Ellen Imodino-Yang TEDX Talk Value Care package. Each month has a theme. Work in groups to come up with strategies to come up in daily life. Do things in 2–3 minutes or less. How do you get up when you don’t know where the ground is? The power of curiosity. It’s not an end destination, it’s a journey. Music to move you. The power of music in SEL situations. We shouldn’t teach music to be a musician. Physiological - music is one of the only things that can really get into our brains. Music can interrupt other emotional cycles. People are more inclined to buy expensive items when the store is playing classical music. How to rekindle their passion? Time scarcity - brought on by an emotional response that you’re feeling overwhelm. Interrupt overwhelm - do something different Free to teachers, cost to districts. The more you apply these skills the easier it is to avoid and manage overwhelm. Emotions are just messages We are engineered to see patterns. Thoughts are just patterns. Often our thoughts are not based in patterns. When you become aware you’re telling yourself a story, just tell yourself. Respond rather than react. Communication cards Need to speak freely: challenged and rewarded. When we share, we don’t feel shame. The need for people to take responsibility for their part. Leadership - formal and informal leadership opportunities. Leadership is having control over the outcome. Controlling your own identity. SEL - Teach emotions in an isolated way How you can use for deeper learning Sponsors Transformative Principal Mastermind Lead a school everyone can be proud of. Being a principal is tough work. You’re pulled in all kinds of directions. You never have the time to do the work that really matters. Join me as I help school leaders find the time to do the work they became principals to do. I help you stop putting out fires and start leading. Learn more at https://transformativeprincipal.com Just Right Reader Just Right Reader Decodables are a great way to help your students learn how to read, with research-based strategies that are proven to be effective. Each grade level has over 100 books. Send books home in packs of ten, with video lessons accessible via QR codes on each book, with lessons in Spanish and English. Learn more at https://justrightreader.com LinkedLeaders: You need support. Get just-in-time mentoring at LinkedLeaders.comWe’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

Thomas R. Hoerr, PhD retired after leading the New City School in St. Louis, Missouri for 34 years and is now the Emeritus Head of School. He is currently a Scholar In Residence at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and teaches in the Educational Leadership program, preparing prospective principals. He also led the ISACS New Heads Network and founded the Non-Profit Management Program at Washington University in St. Louis. Hoerr has written several books, and his newest, _Taking Social Emotional Learning Schoolwide: The Formative Five Success Skills for Students and Staff_, was published in December of 2019. He has written more than 150 articles, including “The Principal Connection” column in Educational Leadership Magazine from 2004 to 2017. He was previously on the Transformative Principal Podcast episode 224 where we talked about who you are is more important that what you know, and episode 225 where we talked about his book, The Formative Five. - Why does Empathy matter so much? - If there were more empathy in schools, we’d be in better shape. - If you don’t have empathy, it’s hard for people to follow you. - If you do have empathy, it’s easier for people to follow you. - Empathy is a muscle. You can make it stronger - intentional and transparent - Voluntary - making it voluntary is having empathy. - listening, aggressive, pursuing. - One of your problems - you look too busy. - I was working; I was being accessible. - Who are you closest to in your school. - Even if my idea is the best, it’s not the best if nobody is on board. - Breakfast with Tom - agenda is yours. - Empathetic Conversations - extension of this notion that I really want to get to know people as people, not just teachers. - I know you as a student, I want to know you as a student - Leadership is about relationship. - Teacher observations - school principals should use them as a way to build trust and observations. - Educators are underpaid. - Herzberg’s theory of motivation - Teaching is far too siloed - If people can just read one part of the book, what is it? The part about listening. Sponsors Transformative Principal Mastermind Lead a school everyone can be proud of. Being a principal is tough work. You’re pulled in all kinds of directions. You never have the time to do the work that really matters. Join me as I help school leaders find the time to do the work they became principals to do. I help you stop putting out fires and start leading. Learn more at https://transformativeprincipal.com Just Right Reader Just Right Reader Decodables are a great way to help your students learn how to read, with research-based strategies that are proven to be effective. Each grade level has over 100 books. Send books home in packs of ten, with video lessons accessible via QR codes on each book, with lessons in Spanish and English. Learn more at https://justrightreader.com LinkedLeaders: You need support. Get just-in-time mentoring at LinkedLeaders.comWe’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

Dr. Sadin has served as a special education teacher, a gifted education teacher, and a building administrator.  Most recently she served as a director of special education.  Dr. Sadin has been vice-president of her local School Board and is recognized as a Master School Board Member. She has conducted research on the perceptions of teachers working to create trauma-informed classrooms.  Dr. Sadin is a published author and has produced numerous webinars on children with attachment trauma in schools. Currently, Dr. Sadin works a director of exceptional education and as an education consultant and developmental trauma expert providing professional development to school districts, municipal service providers and parents.  Nationally, Dr. Sadin is a highly sought-after keynote speaker and conference presenter. Her Trauma Guide Series of books are available on her website, www.traumasensitive.com. Building resilient students Hope - Start and end with the people. Over half of teachers are seeking to leave! We are doing it to ourselves. We have to start with what happened to us? Resilience is the ability to adapt and overcome challenges. Google Meet rooms open. Choose 1 issues The flight of teachers from the profession. What are the components that a school leader needs to create a resilient school? Deeply rooted in social justice and forgive yourself. Google Scholar - science of hope - When you say the word hope, you begin what they define as hope. Use the word Hope Then laugh. Sponsors Transformative Principal Mastermind Lead a school everyone can be proud of. Being a principal is tough work. You’re pulled in all kinds of directions. You never have the time to do the work that really matters. Join me as I help school leaders find the time to do the work they became principals to do. I help you stop putting out fires and start leading. Learn more at https://transformativeprincipal.com Just Right Reader Just Right Reader Decodables are a great way to help your students learn how to read, with research-based strategies that are proven to be effective. Each grade level has over 100 books. Send books home in packs of ten, with video lessons accessible via QR codes on each book, with lessons in Spanish and English. Learn more at https://justrightreader.com LinkedLeaders: You need support. Get just-in-time mentoring at LinkedLeaders.comWe’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

Show notes In this episode, Ross Romano and I share our vision for the BE Podcast Network! We talk about: 1. Origins of the idea and formation 2. What to expect when we launch 3. Vision and values behind the network 4. Benefits to listeners 5. Benefits to creators 6. How to engage https://bepodcast.network Sponsors Transformative Principal Mastermind Lead a school everyone can be proud of. Being a principal is tough work. You’re pulled in all kinds of directions. You never have the time to do the work that really matters. Join me as I help school leaders find the time to do the work they became principals to do. I help you stop putting out fires and start leading. Learn more at https://transformativeprincipal.com Just Right Reader Just Right Reader Decodables are a great way to help your students learn how to read, with research-based strategies that are proven to be effective. Each grade level has over 100 books. Send books home in packs of ten, with video lessons accessible via QR codes on each book, with lessons in Spanish and English. Learn more at https://justrightreader.com LinkedLeaders: You need support. Get just-in-time mentoring at LinkedLeaders.comWe’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

Ross Purdy Dean of Students at The Fay School in Houston. How can I best grab their hearts first? Want what’s best and care for them. 3rd year at Fay Being present asking questions, listening. Come in with a clean slate. I’m a goer and a a doer. Outdoor education program. With some students you have to earn the right to have their world opened up to you. 3.5 acres of forest that sits on the buffalo bayou. Start outdoor ed classes with team building. the power of the circle - inclusive Responsive classroom Everyone is seen. how to be a transformative principal? so easy to go down your checklist for the day and focus on your own stuff. Go out of your way to connect with kids. Take a time out from your personal agenda and be present Sponsors Transformative Principal Mastermind Lead a school everyone can be proud of. Being a principal is tough work. You’re pulled in all kinds of directions. You never have the time to do the work that really matters. Join me as I help school leaders find the time to do the work they became principals to do. I help you stop putting out fires and start leading. Learn more at https://transformativeprincipal.com Just Right Reader Just Right Reader Decodables are a great way to help your students learn how to read, with research-based strategies that are proven to be effective. Each grade level has over 100 books. Send books home in packs of ten, with video lessons accessible via QR codes on each book, with lessons in Spanish and English. Learn more at https://justrightreader.com LinkedLeaders: You need support. Get just-in-time mentoring at LinkedLeaders.comWe’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

Michael D. Toth is founder and CEO of Learning Sciences International and leads LSI’s Applied Research Center. He is also the author of the multi-award-winning book The Power of Student Teams with David Sousa; author of Who Moved My Standards; and co-author with Robert Marzano of The Essentials of a Standards-Driven Classroom, School Leadership for Results, and Teacher Evaluation that Makes a Difference. Michael gives public presentations and advises leaders on the most critical issues in K–12 education today, including equity and access, academic rigor, and student agency. As a thought leader, Michael has moderated high-level events such as roundtable discussions between some of the nation’s top superintendents on topics like reimagining schools of the future. How Florida’s Lowest Performing School Improved from an “F” to an “A” After Partnering with LSI External operator. Overcorrection is not helpful ensure student agency after a year, nothing but love. Building All students are capable of student agency If we just control them, we can’t go to rigor. Developing persistence Academic teaming - structures and responsibilities. “My kids can’t do that” means “I don’t know how to do that” The promise of public schools is that it will break generational poverty. Photos going back to the beginning of photography. Core instruction has to move kids from compliant, dependent thinkers to independent thinkers. Give students strategies on how to have structures, norms, and codes of conduct. culturally responsive learning environment helps significantly. Granting grace to schools Kindergartners self-regulating in groups. Parents, especially college-educated parents, are constantly teaching If we are attempting to teach SEL but on it’s own we’re missing the point. Teaching and learning are two distinctive processes. The highest level is application. “I didn’t know my kids could that!” “My kids are learning without me, what do I do?” Kids are built for rigor. Teacher-led groups and then student-led groups student directed classrooms. Perverse effects If you get your kids to deeper learning, they do better on tests. National Demonstration School. Productive struggle - it’s actually fun. How to be a transformative principal? Who’s talking more? teacher Sponsors Transformative Principal Mastermind Lead a school everyone can be proud of. Being a principal is tough work. You’re pulled in all kinds of directions. You never have the time to do the work that really matters. Join me as I help school leaders find the time to do the work they became principals to do. I help you stop putting out fires and start leading. Learn more at https://transformativeprincipal.com Just Right Reader Just Right Reader Decodables are a great way to help your students learn how to read, with research-based strategies that are proven to be effective. Each grade level has over 100 books. Send books home in packs of ten, with video lessons accessible via QR codes on each book, with lessons in Spanish and English. Learn more at https://justrightreader.com LinkedLeaders: You need support. Get just-in-time mentoring at LinkedLeaders.comWe’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

Dr. Susie Wise is a design leader with experience in the education, tech, and the social sectors. She coaches leaders in equity design and innovation practices. She teaches at the d.school at Stanford. Previously she founded and directed the K12 Lab at the d.school and co-created Liberatory Design. She is the author of the book Designing for Belonging. She was a previous guest on Transformative Principal Episode 121 Where we talked about #shadowastudent and Episode 122 where we talked about the design thinking process. I credit much of the work I did to write my book SchoolX to that conversation with Susie. One of four books that kick of a news series for d.school. - Equity vs. Equality - Belonging is the feeling we are going for when we talk about equity. - Work that I was doing with School principals. - Design cultures with their school. - John Powell work around othering and belonging. - using design tools differently. - Contributing is a powerful way to get to belonging. - Flow is one of the moments of belonging. - Creating a container of belonging. - We’re not just trying to get to one version of belonging. - Feel it, see it, shape it - Shape - create safe-to-fail experiments - Understanding comics with Scott McLoud - If people could only read one part of your book, what should they read? Exercise on page 137 - Design an activity to inspire belonging. Why is it so important for groups of any size to hope its members feel like they belong? When people feel like they belong, they are able to do their best and be their best. When we work toward belonging, we’re working toward creating a space where collaboration and cooperation can flourish. This is true for every kind of group, big and small. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, business manager, community organizer, or leader of any sort, your group is unlikely to thrive if the individuals don’t feel welcome, included, and valued for who they are.
 
 What is Design for Belonging? Sometimes when we hear the word design, we think it means visual design – like logos or web design. Design for Belonging provides tools that any group or organization can use to build inclusion. These might be rituals that bring us together, spaces that keep us calm, roles that create a sense of responsibility, and systems that make us feel respected. How do you use design tools to create a feeling like belonging? The tools in Design for Belonging help bridge the gap between the logistical planning of your office meeting or organizational restructure and the way you want people to feel when they participate. Here are some great examples from teachers and school leaders who have used them: Reimagining the kinds of assemblies hosted at school to be more culturally relevant. Creating new roles to support English language learners. Reinventing parent events to help parents build relationships instead of just sitting passively in an auditorium. We could quickly see how the kids benefitted by changes like this. However, we were most moved by the teachers. The redesign connected them to what they hoped to create for young people. They were able to care about their students in ways that related to their own understanding and feeling of belonging. They tapped into their own creativity and the reasons they wanted to teach in the first place. Your book describes what belonging and its opposite, othering, feel like. Can you summarize that? Belonging feels like you are seen and heard. You feel alive. You’ve been invited into any given group, and you know you can be honest with the people in it. Students I’ve worked with describe it as being in a good place and being with people they’re comfortable with. They feel validated. Othering feels like you’re not wanted or that you’re not welcome. Feeling like you have to hold back in order to fit in. Some people will have negative roles or assumptions unfairly projected upon them based on their race, outward appearance, or other aspects of their identity. My students have described it as feeling like they’re invisible or erasable. Being uncomfortable and disconnected from the group. Do you think this book about belonging will be received differently now than it would have before the Pandemic? Yes, the Pandemic has disrupted many of our rhythms, which gives us the opportunity to rethink how we do things. In addition, we’ve seen the reemergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has given us a greater awareness of the inequities embedded in our culture. Seeing the need for change is the place for design. Design for Belonging can help us redesign our schools, workplaces, and organizations to support people more effectively. It can also help us focus on belonging as the experience we are intentionally building. I have an exercise in the book: Assumption Storming. It’s a classic tool of design. This is a moment where we can ask: "What are all our assumptions about working in the office? What are all of our assumptions about working online?” We can then lay out our responses and see which ones we want to recreate and which ones we want to let go. My hope is that the book will help people see with a new lens and empower them to create change. What do you want people to understand about design for belonging? When you are working on diversity, equity, and inclusion, what you are really trying to get to is a feeling – the feeling of belonging. This book helps you use the tools of design to start building belonging and reducing othering in the places that matter to you. We all want to educate ourselves about racial equity and we want concrete changes in our worlds, but so many people are overwhelmed by the breadth of the problem and don’t know where to start. The book is designed to help people who are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion to get started. How do you define equity? Equity is important to distinguish from equality. In my work, the need for equity looks at how we each have different access to education and other resources because of history and all the cultural or systemic forces that we are (or aren’t) embedded in. Reaching equity means ensuring that one’s race or socioeconomic status does not predict the outcomes of their life and that everyone has what they need in order to evolve into their full potential. Belonging has become a hot-button topic lately. How do you feel about the current environment in the U.S. as your book comes out? I’m excited about the current focus on belonging. There are discussions everywhere. People from all walks of life–city leaders, businesses, transportation–are thinking about it. It will be interesting to see what happens as we come out of the social restrictions that were created during the pandemic. We have an opportunity here to look ahead and be intentional about how we rebuild. How can leaders and group organizers use this book? The possibilities are endless. The tools and levers in the book will help you recognize the opportunities you have in your context and to reimagine how people come together and are supported. Hosts of any space can experiment with how to create not just more welcoming environments, but also ways for people to be seen and contribute. I recently had someone reach out to me who was running a summer music camp and they w...