Change Starts Here

From digital health services in healthcare, and drone delivery services in technology, to creating a biliteracy instructional framework in education, innovators, change-makers, disruptors, and idea people create the solutions that make a difference in the world today.

Is there ever an idea that’s too crazy? Not in Kobi Yamada’s book, it’s not. Embracing crazy ideas is what Yamada is all about. He is a New York Times Best Selling Author and the CEO of Compendium, Inc. Yamada started Compendium thirty years ago to bring thoughtful and inspiring gifts to the masses. And then he had a crazy idea to write a picture book. That book, What Do You Do with an Idea, led to others.

Because Yamada’s books talk about creativity, courage, and persistence, they are often referenced, discussed, and taught in college and business settings.

Dustin Odham, host of Change Starts Here, spoke with Yamada about his career, the concept of embracing crazy ideas, and how he uses his books to foster that idea growth within people.

Odham and Yamada discuss:

• The nature and value of ideas

• Putting action into inspiration

• Yamada’s company, Compendium

“Compendium, at its heart, wants to make gifts,” Yamada said. “And they want to make gifts for people to share, connect, appreciate, and celebrate. We make journals, gift books, greeting cards, pop-open cards, and children’s books. We love the power of words. We love inspiration, and that inspiration is sort of in the DNA of the company. It’s something that ties and threads each product together.”

About Kobi

Kobi Yamada is a multiple New York Times bestselling author, including the award-winning picture books: What Do You Do with An Idea?, What Do You Do With A Problem?, What Do You Do With A Chance?, Maybe, Trying and Because I Had A Teacher, Because of You, Mom, Because of You, Dad, Finding Muchness and The Candy Dish. His books have sold millions of copies and inspired a dance performance, a symphony performance, a musical theater performance, and an upcoming animated film. His books appear in over thirty languages. Kobi also serves as the President/CEO of Compendium, Incorporated, an inspiring gift and publishing company.

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“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” – C.S. Lewis.

It’s hard to believe, but another school year is approaching the finish line. There’s always a desire amongst teachers and students alike to coast to the final school bell. A word of advice: don’t. Those who finish strong could find those last days of the school year the most rewarding. Early June could quickly become a time to slip into the comfort zone, but maybe it’s the best time to step outside of it.

To finish strong, it’s not always about a great start. It often is recognizing the need to change it up, make a stand, and focus on bringing things to a successful conclusion. Change starts here; it doesn’t mean the starting gun; it means the moment one realizes that change will bring success.

Dustin Odham, Managing Director at FranklinCovey and host of the Change Starts Here podcast, shared some inspiration from his nine-year-old son, Luke Taylor Odham, who recently reminded his dad of this lesson. Dustin admits that he finds it challenging, at times, to get into the kids’ zone and teach his children wisdom that can benefit them in their daily lives.

“Often I wonder if he hears the things I’m trying to help build in him,” Odham said. “A quote we talked about in February was from Dr. Martin Luther King. ‘The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.’”

In this episode, Odham discusses:

• Odham’s son’s ability to overcome three straight walks while on the pitcher’s mound, regroup, finish strong, and strike out the next three batters

• Standing up to the challenge and having the courage to finish

• As educators, fighting through the desire to coast at the end of the school year and to finish strong

About Dustin

Dustin Odham is a highly experienced and accomplished leadership consultant and trainer who works at FranklinCovey, a renowned global organization specializing in leadership development and effectiveness. With over two decades of experience in the field of leadership and management, Odham has helped countless individuals and organizations to enhance their leadership skills, increase their productivity, and achieve their goals. Odham holds a BBA in Finance from Southern Methodist University – Cox School of Business.

Being a teacher can be immensely rewarding just as much as it can be overwhelming. Some people who are inspired to teach later find other ways of utilizing the skills they learned in teaching to help out others outside just their classroom. So what kind of effect can children’s books aimed at classrooms have on a global scale?

On this episode of Change Starts Here, host Dustin Odham speaks with teacher-turned-author Shannon Olsen, who has penned multiple children’s books for elementary classrooms (and anyone who wants to read them). "I think when I first became a teacher, I always thought about helping to make a positive contribution within my own classroom." says Olsen. “And what I really love now about what I do, since creating things for teachers and students, is I really love knowing that I’m now making a positive contribution beyond just the bubble of one classroom.”

The episode covers:

What inspired Olsen to create teaching materials for other classrooms

How Olsen was inspired to write her first children’s book

How her books are used by teachers in the classroom, from elementary to high school

“I feel like I get to now be in multiple classrooms, and I don’t always get to see it or hear about it, but it’s just great knowing that things that I’ve helped create are being used in classrooms all around the world” says Olsen. “It’s the coolest feeling.”

Shannon Olsen spent fifteen years as a second-grade elementary school teacher before authoring her first children’s book, Our Class is a Family. She has since published other books, including A Letter From Your Teacher and Our School is a Family. She also has teaching resources and her own website and LLC with Life Between Summers.

The word trust is synonymous with many things. For some, trust means having confidence in something, believing in something, or having faith. For others, trust means having responsibility and accountability. No matter how you define trust, it remains an integral part of our everyday lives. Not only does trust help build connections and deepen relationships, but it supports a level of unparalleled transparency and communication in many different situations. So, how can trust change your perspective?  

In the latest episode of Change Starts Here brought to you by FranklinCovey, Dustin Odham hosts a discussion with guest Kim Nelson, Coach and Consultant with FranklinCovey Education, about the power of trust.

The two discuss:

How building trust is critical within the educational landscape

How trust plays a major role in everyday life

How leadership and trust pre and post-COVID has affected school and district performance

“I think it’s one of those things too, that when you walk into a school you can feel it. You feel a sense of trust in a building or the lack of - it’s the elephant in the room, and so, we have to be willing to confront things head on and, like I said, use those trust behaviors like being transparent, righting wrongs, some of those things and that’s hard,” said Nelson.

Kim Nelson is a long-time educator based in Alden, Iowa and has worked as a Coach and Consultant for FranklinCovey for the past six years. Her mission statement, “To encourage and inspire others to find their greatness” has helped her serve over 32 schools in Iowa and Minnesota. She earned her Master’s in Education Leadership from the University of Northern Iowa.

Preparing for the future has always been a main tenet of education. As the future of the workplace continues to change with advancements in technology, community workforce development initiatives are becoming a key part of local infrastructure in staying with the times and ahead of the curve. While these initiatives spark change in local communities, how is bringing back education helping to change lives?

In the latest episode of Change Starts Here brought to you by FranklinCovey, host Dustin Odham chats with guest Tricia Valasek, Executive Director at Raise the Bar, about the community workforce development initiative of “Raise the Bar” in Hancock County, Ohio.

The two discuss:

Why it’s important to continue learning at every age

How initiatives like Raise the Bar connect people with what they need

How partnerships with initiatives like Raise the Bar can spark other communities to make an impact

“We’re a heavy manufacturing community. One in four jobs in our community is manufacturing and…automation is coming, so how do we make sure that we are as progressive as we can be, as we bring in new types of products and materials to produce for our community and for the world? So, we started to diversify where we are heading and that brought in the adult workforce side as well,” said Valasek.

Tricia Valasek has had a diverse career in a variety of fields, with one common theme - always striving to help others. Valasek started off in the science field, even earning her B.S. in Biology and her M.P.H. in Epidemiology, both of which led her to a career with the National Association of Local Boards of Health as a Senior Project Director for six years. Following this, she worked for the University of Findlay as a Grants Manager and the Co-Founder for the Findlay-Hancock County Center for Civic Engagement before starting her role as Manager and now, Executive Director, for Raise the Bar Hancock County.

We are creatures of habit, always have been and probably always will be. We are now also, thanks to the success and efficiency of technology, creatures of comfort. Unwinding after a hard day's work is something everyone deserves, yet it is this very unwinding that can lead to an uncoupling of our surroundings, our intentions, and ourselves. How do we fix that?

In this short-feature episode of Change Starts Here brought to you by FranklinCovey, host Dustin Odham takes a deep dive into what it means to get comfortable being uncomfortable.

His main points:

1) How habits can turn negative when using them for avoidance

2) How silence is a springboard for growth

3) Why taking time to be uncomfortable has helped expand personal horizons and deeper reflection

“I feel so much more focused, so much more intentional and I don’t know how to explain the real feeling, but the ownership that food has over me is not completely gone…but I don’t crave them all now and I have the proper perspective on it…But the challenge I gave myself and each of us and my friend gave me was: Do we have the awareness to enter into the wilderness, into the silence, into the isolation, and do we have the courage to stay there?” said Odham.

Odham is the Managing Director for the Education Division at FranklinCovey and has been with FranklinCovey for over 10 years. He has over 16 years of experience in the educational landscape and in leadership roles for a variety of companies, including St. Louis Public Schools, Maritz, and Teach for America. Odham earned his BBA in Finance from Southern Methodist University.

In a post-pandemic world, students are playing catchup with their education, with additional needs for those in underserved communities. Educational disparities exist in all areas of education, especially in the STEM curriculum, where gaps can hurt students looking to take their careers in those directions. How can educators get students back on track? Extended learning time (ELT) is one method showing results.

Extended learning time is an equation involving all education leaders creating the right policies and strategies to achieve success with the correct balance of resources, a precious commodity in education.

Dustin Odham, host of FranklinCovey’s Change Starts Here, tapped a good friend and co-worker to discuss the importance of extended learning time and some best practices for making that time count in increasing student learning and engagement. Lynne Fox, Global Education Developer and Coach at FranklinCovey, joined Odham for that conversation.

Odham and Fox discuss the following:

Taking learnings from educational systems across the globe for best practices

Why extended learning time is more critical now than ever before

Best practices for successful extended learning time programs

“In the afterschool space, we have a vision in two parts,” Fox said. “One, raising up the staff that are in the space to know how to build a safe, caring, and sense of belonging culture, so kids want to be there. And the other side is saying, we also want to bring in building up the competence.”

About Lynn

Lynn Fox is an innovator, strategic planner, and coach. In addition to her role with FranklinCovey, Fox is the global education developer at Fox Educational Services. Fox is a lifelong educator, trainer, and speaker who excels at educational design and development and strives to impact children’s lives positively.

The last few years of the COVID-19 pandemic emphasized how important community and togetherness are. While being alone and on your own has its upsides, so does being and engaging with others. It’s something that people who travel a lot might also recognize when they attend events that bring groups together.

On this episode of Change Starts Here, host Dustin Odham talks about this topic by talking on his own about his recent travels to symposiums in different cities across the USA. While understanding the importance of being on your own, he saw and felt firsthand how great it is to be in the presence of others and how these different groups make you feel incredibly welcomed. As Dustin says it, “We need to be in community. We are created to be in community.”

The travels had Dustin go to symposiums in Tampa, Las Vegas, Dallas, and even San Diego, the latter with his wife. The different trips showed him how all these groups he works with are a vital piece of everything they do. “I was blown away by the energy, the love, the creativity that was ignited just by being in the presence of others” says Dustin, proving how healthy and exciting it is to be together. In essence, the group dynamic and the togetherness is necessary for everything to work as well as it does.

You can hear more about togetherness from Dustin on this episode, where he also talks about students he worked with and how they overcame stage fright in another moment that wowed our host.

Am I, or can I be the leader my people need? This is a serious question every leader needs to pose to themselves and be able to answer with the utmost humility. There are different definitions of leadership, which can be subjective, but two quite resonate: Adeoye Mayowa defines leadership as the ability to evaluate and/or forecast a long-term plan or policy and influence their followers toward the achievement of the said strategy. Charles Handy (1992) also describes a leader as someone who shapes and shares a vision that gives direction to the work of others. This is an interesting and extensive topic of discussion, but it was broken down by a professional on today's podcast of Change Starts Here.

Podcast host, Dustin Odham, brought on Principal Kafele, an author and transformational school leader, and a man so deeply ingrained in his purpose of leadership, to talk about how to be a transformational leader. He also spoke about his habit of discipline and how this can influence people and help him become the best version of himself. Kafele also explained how we can transfer transformational and influential leadership to our schools and kids to help them become the best version of themselves.

"The struggle for the liberation of the minds of our children is worth dying for," Kafele said.

Odham and Kafele also discussed…

• How to create a learning revolution

• How to get over speed bumps people put in front of themselves

• Leadership advice on how to get people on board and build relationships

"The children have to be able to see themselves in the learning if it's going to be relevant, if they are going to be able to embrace it, claim it, take ownership of it, and take it beyond the walls of the school," Kafele said. People only relate to what is in their lives (what is relevant to them); they relate to what they see themselves in.

"Can your teachers say they have grown exponentially because of the teachings and guidance they received from you?" How are you utilizing the human capital in your school? "Are you building people and nurturing relationships or stepping on people?" Kafele rhetorically asked, “Be brutally honest with yourself about the question, ‘Is my school a better place because I lead it?’, and don't let your ego answer.”

Always remember, it's never about you. "You can't be egocentric and think it's all about you—it's all about the people you lead; being a servant (servant leadership) is all that matters."

Principal Kafele has been a highly regarded urban public school educator in New Jersey for over twenty years. He distinguished himself in the classroom and as a school leader. He is also the author of seven books, including his national best-sellers, “Motivating Black Males to Achieve in School and in Life”, “Closing the Attitude Gap”, and his recently released title, “The Principal 50: Critical Leadership Questions for Inspiring Schoolwide Excellence”. Kafele is the recipient of over one hundred educational, professional, and community awards, which include the National Alliance of Black School Educators Hall of Fame Award, the Milken National Educator Award, the New Jersey Education Association Award for Excellence, and the City of Dickinson, Texas, proclaiming February 8, 1998, as Baruti Kafele Day.