The post was written after the Beijing Winter Olympics, but prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The title of this post is in regards to my dismay about my daughter’s fascination with the Russian Figure Skating team. I firmly believe the message I am trying to convey in this post is just as, if not more relevant now as it was at the time I drafted it. I hope that you will read the post after reading the following appeal. The lesson I learned from almost unconsciously influencing my daughter's perception of Russians will be very important in understanding how to facilitate the type of dialog I am advocating for in this newsletter.

I am based in Hong Kong, where we are celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year. With this in mind, I want to wish you good fortune, Kung Hei Fat Choi! We have now entered the Year of the Tiger and for this monthly missive, I want to convince you to embrace what the tiger symbolizes.

Festive holiday events can be magical, but being caught up in all the planning and conflicts leading up to it can be quite traumatic, especially if you aren’t bought into the purpose. Having purpose and being bought into the outcome is what helps us navigate myriad obstacles and controversies. It also helps when we get positive reinforcing feedback from those that we did all the planning for and with.

As you prepare to break in the coming weeks, don't long for it as a break from the myriad of poorly articulated tasks and incomplete goals, or an escape from uncooperative colleagues. These beliefs form part of a self-narrative, the proverbial baggage, which will haunt you over the break. Sure, you can ignore it for the first part of the break, but as the break speeds to an end the anxiety will build, robbing you of the sorely needed refreshment your spirit needs. Sometimes to change this self-narrative of what isn’t working, we just need to spend some time with colleagues reflecting on what is working.

Virtualizing PD not only can give us access to all of the great speakers that we want to travel to see, but do it on our terms so that we can chunk the content enabling us to apply what we learn while we are learning it.

As you prepare to break in the coming weeks, don't long for it as a break from the myriad of poorly articulated tasks and goals that have been thrown at you, or an escape from uncooperative colleagues.

For years I have tried to impress on schools that they don’t need to fly in consultants for professional development, nor send staff to far off conferences. Great professional development can be as simple as a team…

Teams that step on the gas too hard at the start of the year and forget to let up will burn out.You can preserve and build on the goodwill that every team experiences at the beginning of the year, the “honeymoon period”.

A team getting derailed three to six months into the school year is highly probable. If the team does not have a shared purpose to remind them of what they are working to achieve, they will eventually retreat to their classrooms, where they can focus on and achieve personal goals.