Schuyler Community Schools

Superintendent’s Comments
2/22/12

The following is a book report that I wrote for a group of Superintendents who represent their schools at ESU 7. It is written in phrase fashion. Because of this, the document will read rather "choppy", but I believe you will still receive the message. If not, don't hesitate to give me a call. I hope you find it informative and inspiring.

BOOK REVIEW – Presented by Robin Stevens - 2012
QBQ – QUESTION BEHIND THE QUESTION
BY John G. Miller - Published 2001

They say, “You can’t judge a book by its cover”……Wrong. Beyond the title you will see on the cover:
• Practicing Personal Accountability at Work and in Life
• What to Really Ask Yourself to Eliminate Blame, Complaining and
Procrastination?
This pretty well sums up this 115 page, easy to read book.
Beyond the general thesis, the following topics are emphasized:
• All questions that seek personal accountability should:
o Start w/ What or How v. Why (complaining/excuses), When (procrastination/excuses) or Who (blame/excuses)
o Focus on I v. You/They (blame/excuses)
o Be laced w/ [immediate] action v. complaining/excuses
 An example may look/sound like, “What can I do to help parents of poverty better prepare their child for the NeSA tests? v. Why can’t the parents of poverty find a way to help their child do better on the NeSA tests?
• How do we build a team?
o Modified Serenity Prayer: “God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it’s me”
 Accountable teams blame no one – not even themselves
• Fix the problem v. affix the blame
• Foundation of Teamwork:
• A teammate is someone who can look through you and still enjoy the view.
• Appreciate peoples strengths just the way they are [because that’s pretty darn good]
• Cannot legislate behavior
• Modeling is the most powerful of all teachers – Who is watching?
• Risk takers v. the Risk of doing nothing
o Action = mistakes v Inaction = stagnation
o Action = solutions v Inaction = the way we’ve always done it
o Action = courage v Inaction = fear
o Action = confidence v Inaction = doubt
• Servant Leadership
o Has little to do w/ salary, position or tenure
o Depends on our attitude – we want to make a positive difference
o [As labeled leaders we must empower others to be leaders at all levels so they can fix their problems v trying to fix everyone’s problems]
• Wisdom/Learning
o Wisdom: What we learn when we thought we knew it all.
o Learning is about doing something about our knowledge. v. just gaining knowledge
 The motor of learning is repetition
• Other interesting tid-bits
o Succeed w/in the box v. thinking outside the box
o Be good/flexible enough to overcome a bad call – we can’t change it.
o Is what we say about our job consistent? Do we say the same thing about our job at work, home, down town, church, etc.?
• We are never a finished product.
o [We/I mess up every day. However, every day we wake-up and start anew.]



Robin Stevens – Superintendent Schuyler Community Schools