Change Starts Here

On this episode of Change Starts Here, our host Dustin Odham sits down with Maria Fleming and Betsy Wierda, co-authors of the newest edition of The 4 Disciplines of Execution for Educators. While school leaders rarely struggle to write comprehensive improvement plans, turning those high-minded goals into day-to-day results amid the daily "whirlwind" remains a persistent challenge.

Maria and Betsy break down how K–12 leaders can move beyond endless initiatives to build real momentum. They share practical strategies for establishing a tight focus, acting on lead measures, keeping compelling scoreboards, and maintaining a weekly cadence of accountability. From empowering custodial staff to celebrating growth milestones with five-year-olds, this episode provides an actionable roadmap for aligning entire school communities around what matters most.

Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share your thoughts in the comments! 

Join the authors of The 4 Disciplines of Execution for Educators, district leaders, and superintendents for an exclusive live webcast featuring a virtual school walkthrough and live Q&A. Learn how to build alignment, shared ownership, and lasting focus across your district.

🗓 Date: November 13 at 12:00 PM EDT

Claim Your Spot for the Live 4DX Event Here 

Host: Dustin Odham

Guest(s): Maria Fleming, Leader in Me Coach/Consultant, and Betsy Wierda, Leader in Me Coach/Consultant

00:00 The Day-to-Day Disconnect

00:53 From Great Intentions to Results

03:18 Meet Betsy Wierda and Maria Fleming

06:42 Why Executing Priorities Is Hard

08:36 Escaping the Whirlwind of School

10:23 Aligning Wildly Important Goals

12:59 Activity Versus True Progress

14:32 Building Scoreboards and Alignment

16:49 Unifying Staff Around Mission

18:36 Falling to Systems Over Goals

20:34 Turning Around College Park Elementary

24:06 Talking With Students About Data

25:25 Hope and Student Agency Research

27:28 The 4 Disciplines Explained

30:59 The Power of Celebrating Wins

32:10 Practicing Selective Abandonment

34:19 4DX Educator Learning Opportunities

36:28 Shifting Paradigms to See Outcomes

In this Change Starts Here research conversation, Kim Yaris and Dr. Eve Miller pick up where their last episode on hope left off: you've named the goal and the obstacle in your way, so what do you actually do when that obstacle shows up? They dig into why following through has less to do with willpower than most of us were taught, starting with a study on distractible kindergartners and a confession from Kim about an exercise routine she abandoned on day ten.

From there, Kim and Eve walk through decades of research on implementation intentions, the psychologist Peter Gollwitzer's work showing that a simple “if this happens, then I'll do that” plan outperforms a plan with no trigger attached to it by a wide margin. They close with a practical way for school leaders, teachers, and anyone managing a team to write a plan that actually survives a busy day.

Download the Handout:

Handout: https://resources.franklincovey.com/c/csh-s7e8-handout?x=BaUe_e

Hosts: 

Kim Yaris, M.Ed. (Associate Director of Research with FranklinCovey Education)

Dr. Eve Miller (Director of Research with FranklinCovey Education)

Timestamps: 

00:00 Intro

00:14 The cartoon distraction study

02:04 Welcome to Change Starts Here Research Conversations

03:47 Kim's confession: the exercise plan that didn't stick

04:33 It's not about self-discipline

05:22 The principal who meant to get into classrooms

06:56 Getting practical with if-then plans

08:09 The winter break essay study

10:00 Eve's own dissertation story

11:06 642 studies and the real effect size

12:53 Building the principal's if-then plan

14:42 Writing your own if-then plan

16:18 Using this with teachers and with your team

18:24 This week's assignment and closing thoughts

In education, there’s always more to do. Competing priorities, urgent requests, new initiatives, and everyday demands can keep us constantly moving—but being busy and making progress aren’t the same thing. When everything feels important, how do we decide what deserves our focus?

In this episode, Change Starts Here host Dustin Odham explores how educators can move beyond activity and create meaningful progress by focusing on what matters most. Drawing from the FranklinCovey Education report Overwhelmed and Overcommitted, Dustin challenges us to define what progress looks like, make it visible, and stay focused long enough to see the work make a difference.

Download the report now to go deeper and help your team focus on what matters most: https://content.franklincovey.com/execution-report?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=4DX_Fall_Campaign&utm_term=4DX_fall&utm_content=report

Host: Dustin Odham

Time Stamps & Show Notes:

00:00 October Tells the Truth 

00:43 The Fading August Energy 

01:13 Culture Is What You Repeat 

02:05 Activity Versus Actual Progress 

02:58 The Trap of False Urgency 

03:30 Overwhelmed and Overcommitted Report Insights 

04:00 The Air Traffic Controller Analogy 

04:40 Doing Less to Achieve Better 

05:08 Leveraging October Evidence for Wins 

06:05 Becoming Intentional About What Repeats 

06:33 The Power of Visible Progress 

07:25 Saying We Are Not There Yet 

08:00 Three Questions for Leadership Teams 

08:48 Your Progress Determinant Final Thought

What does it take to keep improving when nothing is technically broken?

In this episode of Change Starts Here, Dustin Odham sits down with Dr. Monica Schroeder, Superintendent of North Shore School District 112, to explore how a high-performing district creates urgency, focus, and shared ownership around continuous improvement. Monica shares how years of intentional work around culture, leadership, data, and student outcomes have helped North Shore 112 keep moving forward—and how tools like the 4 Disciplines of Execution® are helping the district sharpen its focus around a few wildly important goals.

Their conversation gets into the leadership behind that progress: building collective efficacy, creating alignment without adding more noise, giving students a stronger voice, and continuing to raise the bar even when the district is already performing well. It’s a practical look at what sustained improvement requires when the goal isn’t to fix what’s broken, but to keep getting better.

Want to learn more about North Shore School District 112? Visit their website to check out their progress and WIGs: https://www.nssd112.org/

Host: Dustin Odham

Guest: Dr. Monica Schroeder, Superintendent of North Shore School District 112

00:00 Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast

00:41 Introducing Dr. Monica Schroeder

02:15 Embracing Technical Pivots and Patience

03:09 First-Generation Roots and Work Ethic

03:55 Two Decades at North Shore 112

05:56 Measuring Staff Culture and Engagement

07:48 Rejecting the "Good Enough" Mindset

08:39 Setting Wildly Important Goals for Kids

10:29 Creating Urgency Without a Crisis

11:59 Personal Literacy Story and Student Agency

13:29 Moving Data from Compliance to Ownership

15:02 The 4 Disciplines of Execution Framework

18:18 Cutting the Noise with Focus

19:31 Applying 4DX to Personal Wellness Goals

21:33 Addressing the Student Engagement Disconnect

25:08 Putting Eighth Graders on School Board

27:37 Merging Championship Culture with Academics

29:46 Leading with an Abundance Mindset

33:15 Avoiding Internal Competition Across Schools

35:10 Transparent Dashboards and Systemic Growth

On this episode of Change Starts Here: Research Conversations, hosts Kim Yaris and Dr. Eve Miller dive into a two-part research series on why setting big goals and visualizing success often falls short. Dr. Miller breaks down C.R. Snyder’s science-backed definition of hope, which hinges on having both actionable pathways and a sense of personal agency, and explains why relying solely on positive thinking can actually backfire.

Drawing on Gabriele Oettingen’s research, the episode highlights a surprising twist: daydreaming about success without addressing reality can lower your blood pressure and drain the physiological motivation needed to get things done. To bridge that gap, Kim and Eve walk through the WOOP framework (Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan). You'll learn how to use "mental contrasting" to spot the internal hurdles holding you back and pair them with simple "if-then" plans to make your school-year goals actually stick.

If you enjoyed the episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and drop your thoughts in the comments!

Download the free handout here: https://resources.franklincovey.com/c/csh-s7e6-handout?x=BaUe_e&utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes 

Hosts: 

Kim Yaris, Associate Director of Research with FranklinCovey Education 

Dr. Eve Miller, Director of Research with FranklinCovey Education 

00:00 Visualizing Success Delays Offers

00:46 Setting vs Achieving Goals

01:51 C.R. Snyder's Two-Part Hope

03:23 Identifying the Goal Execution Gap

04:19 Hope Predicts Academic Performance

05:22 Why Vision Boards Backfire

06:20 The Pitfalls of Positive Fantasies

07:06 Blood Pressure and Motivation Drops

08:38 Mental Contrasting Strategy Revealed

09:24 Explaining WOOP Acronym Framework

09:38 Urban Middle School WOOP Study

10:06 Defining Wish and Expected Outcome

11:06 Identifying Internal Personal Obstacles

12:30 Creating If-Then Execution Plans

13:27 Applying WOOP in School Leadership

14:35 Action Steps for the Week

In this episode, Dustin sits down with Adam Welcome, a former teacher, principal, and district leader who has spent his career challenging educators to rethink what kids are actually capable of. Adam has worked with over 500 school districts in 49 states, and he brings that same high energy into a conversation about the gap between the world schools are preparing kids for and the world they're actually walking into.

Adam and Dustin dig into why adults do too much for kids instead of with them, what it actually takes to let go of control in a classroom or at home, and how small shifts like starting a student podcast or a coding club can build real ownership without adding another initiative to an already full plate.

Learn more about Adam and his work:

https://www.adamwelcome.com

Symposium: https://www.leaderinme.org/symposiums/?utm_source=shownotes

Host: Dustin Odham

Guest: Adam Welcome, Speaker, Bestselling Author, Former Principal

Timestamps: 

00:00 Cold open: everything is contagious

00:32 Meet Adam Welcome

02:34 Welcome to the show

03:30 Who are you and what do you love

05:12 What's changed for kids in five years

07:50 The skills schools aren't teaching

09:10 What adults hold onto for comfort

12:54 Get kids ready for the world they're growing up in

14:41 Letting go and giving it to students

17:00 Learning through trying, failing, and following curiosity

22:41 Getting over the fear of trusting kids

25:21 What changes when kids stop just complying

29:25 All kids can achieve

30:13 One small shift, and what principals should stop doing

36:14 Everything is contagious

39:08 What to make contagious in kids

40:21 Closing message, where to find Adam, and final thoughts

In this episode of Change Starts Here, Kim Yaris and Dr. Eve Miller dig into what happens in the first few weeks of school, when attention quietly starts to slide toward the schedule, the mandate, or the situation you have no say over. They unpack Stephen Covey's Circle of Influence and revisit decades of research on learned helplessness, including newer work from psychologists Steven Maier and Martin Seligman that offers a different way of thinking about control and agency.

Kim and Eve also explore the Whitehall studies on job control and health, why repeated venting can sometimes keep us stuck in frustration, and what all of this means for leaders working in the real-world pressures of schools and districts.

Most importantly, they turn the research into three practical moves you can use when your attention starts drifting toward what you can’t change: catch the drift, find the edge, and act.

Listen now & download the episode handout for a deeper look at the research and practical ways to use Catch the Drift, Find the Edge, and Act with yourself or your team:

https://resources.franklincovey.com/c/csh_s7e4_handout?x=aD_z_A&utm_source=show-notes 

Hosts: 

Kim Yaris, M.Ed. (Associate Director of Research with FranklinCovey Education)

Dr. Eve Miller (Director of Research with FranklinCovey Education)

Timestamps: 

00:00 Podcast intro

00:15 Welcome back and the September feeling

02:21 The circle of influence

03:38 Download the handout

04:29 The research on learned helplessness

06:14 From learned helplessness to learned agency

08:25 Our natural response to what we can't control

09:36 When there's just too much to do

10:40 A Monday morning example

11:54 The trouble with venting

14:59 Three practical moves: catch the drift, find the edge, act

17:54 Closing thoughts

Culture isn't built in a kickoff meeting or a mission statement, it's built in what leaders repeat when nobody's watching.

In this solo episode, host Dustin Odham explores how the small behaviors leaders notice, encourage, or allow each day ultimately shape the culture their people experience. Drawing on the story of a broken thread on a 19th-century weaving loom, Dustin explores why excitement fades but repetition sticks.

Dustin shares new research connecting school leadership to teacher retention, breaks down See, Do, Get through the lens of Leader in Me, and leaves school and district leaders with three questions to bring back to their own teams this month.

Read the research Dustin references: Teacher Turnover in the United States: Who Moves, Who Leaves, and Why (Learning Policy Institute, 2026):

https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/teacher-turnover-united-states-report

Host: Dustin Odham

Timestamps: 

00:00 The thing you've stopped noticing

02:16 Good intentions and matching t-shirts

03:31 Where culture actually gets built

04:29 What culture really is

06:00 The story of a loom

07:17 Every school has broken threads

08:55 What the research says about leadership

09:58 See, do, get

12:49 Model it, notice it, repeat it

15:29 Three questions for your team

16:49 To the exhausted leader listening

18:59 What are we repeating

Today’s teens are growing up in a world that looks dramatically different than it did even a decade ago—but have the principles they need to thrive really changed?

In this episode of Change Starts Here, Dustin sits down with Sean Covey, President of FranklinCovey Education and bestselling author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, for a candid conversation about what today’s young people need most from the adults in their lives.

Drawing from his experience raising eight children, Sean shares hard-won lessons about connection, confidence, and knowing when to step back and let kids find their own way. He also takes us behind the scenes of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens: A Graphic Novel, sharing how his own family experiences shaped the story, why timeless principles still resonate with today’s teens, and why the way we deliver those principles needs to evolve.

Whether you’re a parent, educator, or school leader, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

Get Sean’s newest book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens: A Graphic Novel:

https://www.amazon.com/Habits-Highly-Effective-Teens-Graphic/dp/1668024926/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0

Host: Dustin Odham

Guest: Sean Covey, President of FranklinCovey Education

Timestamps: 

00:00 Cold open: hope for teens

00:34 Welcome to Change Starts Here

03:40 What humbled Sean as a parent

06:47 Trust, discipline, and apology

09:34 Why love is spelled time

11:20 Making time for one-on-one moments

15:48 Sharpening the saw in Moab

18:06 Modeling honesty over teaching it

21:07 How today's teens are different

24:11 Screen time, comparison, and mental health

26:09 What teens need most

29:26 Bringing the habits to life in a graphic novel

34:11 Victoria's story and the hope behind the habits

39:21 Using the book with your family

43:33 Raising free range chickens

46:03 The Leader in Me and the power of affirmation

48:26 Closing thoughts

In the season seven premiere of Change Starts Here, Dustin Odham asks a critical question: "What is the greatest threat to our leadership?" While it’s easy to point to external factors like budgets, teacher shortages, or politics, Dustin argues that the real danger lies within the internal conversations leaders have with themselves. Drawing on his own experiences, including a moment of deep reflection in a hospital bed, Dustin explores how leaders often mistake performance for identity, carrying the weight of unnecessary pressure.

Listeners will be challenged to evaluate their internal dialogue and consider whether they would allow someone to speak to their team the way they speak to themselves. This episode sets the tone for the upcoming season, emphasizing that healthy leadership begins from the inside out. By focusing on who they are becoming rather than just what they are accomplishing, leaders can build healthier cultures, achieve extraordinary results, and truly transform the lives of their students.

Host: Dustin Odham (FranklinCovey Education)

Timestamps: 

00:00 Podcast intro 

01:15 Building a community of leaders 

02:10 Leadership is a privilege 

03:38 The greatest threat to leadership 

05:03 The inner critic 

06:23 Carrying unnecessary pressure 

07:21 The hypocrisy of educational leaders 

08:21 Stephen Covey's Private Victory 

09:26 Why Dustin wears black 

11:34 A life-changing hospital stay 

12:32 Performance vs identity 

14:05 How do you speak to yourself? 

15:01 Change starts inside