About

The Leader in Me is Franklin Covey’s whole school transformation process. It teaches 21st century leadership and life skills to students and creates a culture of student empowerment based on the idea that every child can be a leader.

Why

Instead of seeing children through the lens of a normal distribution curve—some kids are naturally smart and others are not—The Leader in Me paradigm sees that every child is capable, every child is a leader. This paradigm changes everything.

What

The Leader in Me is a whole-school transformation model and process—developed in partnership with educators—that empowers students with the leadership and life skills they need to thrive in the 21st century. It is based on secular principles and practices of personal, interpersonal, and organizational effectiveness. Distinct in several ways, The Leader in Me starts from a powerful premise—every child possesses unique strengths and has the ability to be a leader—which shapes the views of staff to value and develop the whole child. The process integrates leadership development into existing programs, curricula and traditions and serves as a foundational operating system for the school, improving relationships, transforming culture, and highly motivating staff and students. All stakeholders are impacted by The Leader in Me, starting with the staff of a school, then expanding to students, their families, and the community at large. This Inside-Out Approach is a key ingredient to successfully creating positive change in a school.

The Leader in Me utilizes and integrates several leadership, social-emotional learning, quality, and educational models and processes from past and current thought leaders including The 4 Imperatives of Great Leaders and The 4 Disciplines of Execution. The process includes student participation in goal setting, data tracking, leadership roles, Student-Led Conferences, leadership environments, and Leadership Events. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is also a key component of the overall Leader in Me process and is a synthesis of universal, timeless principles of personal, interpersonal, and organizational effectiveness such as responsibility, vision, integrity, teamwork, collaboration, and renewal, which are secular in nature and common to all people and cultures.

The Leader in Me includes training on establishing a vision for the school, goal setting, data tracking, and personal-accountability systems and is aligned with best-in-class content and concepts practiced by global education thought leaders. The Leader in Me provides a logical, sequential, and balanced process to help schools proactively design a culture that reflects their vision of their ideal school. This shared leadership increases engagement and enables students, staff, and families to be self-confident and self-reliant, work effectively with others, and make meaningful contributions.

The Leader in Me differs from other whole-school transformation processes in that it offers a holistic, school-wide experience for staff, students, and parents, and creates a common language and culture within the school. The leadership principles and lessons are not taught as a curriculum, but instead are incorporated into coursework, traditions, systems, and culture.

How this Program is Different

The Leader in Me teaches students the skills needed for academic success in any setting. These skills include critical thinking, goal setting, listening and speaking, self-directed learning, presentation-making and the ability to work in groups.

The Leader in Me helps students develop the skills and self-confidence they need to lead their lives and succeed in school and beyond. Specifically, The Leader in Me focuses on students learning the following 21st century skills:

Students learn these skills through participating in goal setting, data tracking, leadership roles, Student-Led Conferences, leadership environments, Leadership Events, and more.