Janet Pilcher: Hello everyone, welcome to the Accelerate Your Performance podcast. I’m your host, Dr. Janet Pilcher, founder and president of Studer Education. 

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This is Accelerate Your Performance number 400. It’s hard to believe that I launched the podcast six and a half years ago. I started the podcast to share leadership reflections and impact stories of leaders who are doing extraordinary work. Our leadership coaches are in the field every day witnessing the impact our partner organizations are making in the lives of students, families and employees. And I wanted to share these stories with others. 

My vision was simple. Create a space for educational leaders and Studer Education partners to share their journeys of continuous improvement: the challenges they faced, the strategies they used, and the successes they celebrated. I wanted to build a resource where leaders could go to gain insights, refine their skills, and hear real stories of change and impact from their colleagues. 

Here we are today, years later producing our 400th episode. It’s something I’ve been committed to doing with the goal of not missing a weekly episode, except for those planned around holidays. We’ve accomplished that goal. I’m committed and grateful to tell these powerful stories. 

The Accelerate Your Performance podcast is about showcasing leaders who are extraordinary. We get to partner with leaders of educational systems who strive every day to be their best. These leaders don’t settle for average performance, rather they drive for exceptional results. And they do so by applying our Nine Principles highlighted in my book, Hardwiring Excellence in Education. These principles are grounded in research and they’re not new. They are cross-disciplinary evidence-based principles that build strength in people to achieve high-performing results. Accelerate Your Performance showcases extraordinary leaders. 

This episode takes me back to reflecting on why I produced the podcast and what I hope it will continue to bring to you. First, I hope the podcast reveals the things that seem to be ordinary as extraordinary. In education, we are constantly impacting people’s lives. We may see our work as common actions occurring as part of our jobs, yet the powerful stories of impact on Accelerate Your Performance show how what we see as ordinary is extraordinary. These stories are being led by excellent, excellent leaders working with teams to achieve extraordinary results. The impact stories and reflections on Accelerate Your Performance helps us see what we do with an appreciative lens. The gifts of our labor are right in front of us every day. On the podcast episodes, we get to celebrate bright spots showing how we make a difference in the lives of others. The podcast shows that the ordinary is indeed extraordinary. 

Second, I hope the Accelerate Your Performance podcast shows examples of how we add value to students, families, and each other. That’s why there are so many stories on gratitude, appreciation, and recognition about how leaders hardwire recognition in their educational systems. 

We can’t recognize the good enough. It’s why I partnered with Quint Studer to write our new book, The Extraordinary Gift: Our Teachers. Teachers and staff don’t always receive immediate recognition for the remarkable difference they make. Our book tells several extraordinary teacher impact stories. Almost all of us have a story about a teacher who has made a difference in our lives. The stories highlighted in this book are just some of the many stories of educators doing extraordinary work. 

In chapter one of the book, I share a story of a teacher that made an impact on me that had an extraordinary difference in my life, Ms. Melrose Coleman. It’s foundational to why I’ve had the opportunity to serve others in leadership positions. I would like to spend just a minute, you know, telling you that story. 

Like many young people, as I moved from middle to high school, life was more about being connected to friends than academics. My middle school friends lived in neighborhoods connected to a different high school than I would attend. On my first day of high school, I went to lunch during fourth period, and I realized that I didn’t have anyone to eat lunch with. I was humiliated. Over the first week, I found friends to eat with, but it was a rough few days at lunchtime. 

When I became a high school math teacher, I promised that I would not let that occur to my fourth period students. For those who didn’t have anyone to eat with, I asked them to eat lunch with me, knowing they too would find their way. During my freshman to sophomore year in high school, I made many good friends that I continue to connect with today. Some of my good friends were sitting in that same fourth period class during lunch. In these adolescent years, I gained energy by pushing the boundaries and valuing creativity, and I became the leader of scheduling fun. It was at this time that I was introduced to a teacher that paved the path for my future success, Ms. Melrose Coleman. 

I was a good student and a good athlete, but I was not the best at anything. Somehow Ms. Coleman saw me as the best. That’s probably the way she saw every student, but to me, I felt like I was the only one she felt that way about. I took every science course I could from her just to be in her class. I took every opportunity I could to stay after school and talk with her. She always had time for me. Even when I pushed the envelope beyond acceptable boundaries, she didn’t judge me. She greeted me with her beautiful smile and small laugh that was so distinguishable. That type of laugh let me know I was pushing the limits. She reached me with love and care. 

After graduating from college and working in business and industry for a couple of years, I completed my credentials to become a teacher. I moved back to Pensacola. There was a mathematics teaching position open at this same high school where I graduated. I received a job and I was reconnected with Ms. Coleman. In fact, my room was right across the hall from her room. To this day, I wonder if she had something to do with that. Is it a coincidence that I was a math teacher teaching in the science wing? 

At this point, I was in my early 20s and I believe the 20s are the most difficult time in life. Ms. Coleman was there for me time and again helping me learn how to navigate life. She listened to me. She guided me without judgment. And she loved me as if I were one of her children. She was my rock. 

Ms. Coleman was the wife of a preacher and she deeply loved her two daughters, Rosanne and Sherry, who were several years older than me. Rosanne and Sherry have lived a spiritual path grounded in their parents’ faith. Like them, my values always remain steadfast from my parents’ teachings and support, yet my path veered in various directions. I often wondered why, Ms. Coleman took an interest in me. I took up too much of her time and energy with little return for her. And she was truly an angel sent from heaven. 

Finally, my path started to straighten. I completed my master’s degree and then was accepted into a doctoral program in measurement and evaluation at Florida State University. Ms. Coleman saw me complete my doctoral degree and gain a faculty position at the University of West Florida in Pensacola. She was proud of me. And soon I didn’t have the daily connections with Ms. Coleman that I once had. In many ways, she gave me the wings to fly. And I did. 

When I saw her, it always brightened my day. Ms. Coleman was diagnosed with cancer and survived for several years. In 1999, she passed away from a hard-fought battle at the age of 67. And I was 35. I saw her in her final days continue to fight for her daughters and her husband. When I walked out of her hospital room that last time, I knew my job was to fight for all that is right and good that she showed the world. I knew that the least I could do for all that she had given to me. I hope that I carry her legacy in just a small way. 

She never saw me become the Dean of the college, start an education company that is grounded in providing the best services to others, and live life with purpose, touching people so they know they matter. Without Ms. Coleman’s influence in my life, I may not have had the opportunity to learn from Quint Studer, write this book and other books, and have an opportunity to dedicate my life work to leadership. 

The greatest gift her daughters gave me is asking me to speak at a celebration of life ceremony for Ms. Coleman. I’ve never forgotten that time, place, and moment. Ms. Coleman was an extraordinary gift to me. I hope Accelerate Your Performance encourages you to recognize more often, because indeed what seems ordinary is extraordinary. That’s what I hope the prior 399 episodes over the years have done: recognize leaders, teachers and staff for the difference they make in the lives of others. 

As I interview our guests, I gain insight on how we can continuously improve and persist to achieve excellence. My sincere gratitude goes out to every single guest across these 400 episodes for so generously sharing their stories and being extraordinary leaders. I’m honored to partner with you to accelerate our performance together. I look forward to continuing to bring your stories of impact to others. To my guests over the years and the future guests to come, you are extraordinary leaders in our profession. Thank you. 

And to you, our listeners, I’m grateful that you take a moment of your time to tune in to Accelerate Your Performance. You do so because you strive to be your best for students, family, staff, and teachers. You indeed make a difference in the lives of others. Leave today knowing that what seems ordinary is extraordinary. Listen to the impact stories while practicing the power of pausing and reflection and recognizing the bright spots and doing it often. They are occurring every minute of every day. 

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I thank you for tuning in to Accelerate Your Performance. And thank you for continuing to learn from your colleagues as we move forward telling the stories of extraordinary leaders. Have a great week, everyone.