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Advice from Chicken Man
June 4, 2007
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
-Rumi
-Rumi
Frank Perdue, who was the hands-on CEO of the Perdue Farms poultry business, will be remembered for his saying, "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken." Surprisingly, this concept very much applies to the early childhood world, where in fact, it takes a tough director to craft a nurturing environment for children.
On first glance one would think that the ideal center leader would be someone who is gentle, caring, and warm. While indeed these traits are important, if this person lacks a certain degree of hardiness, the center, and ultimately the children, will pay the price. This hardiness enables a director to stand tall in the face of the many challenges confronting a typical early childhood program...
- facing a cash flow crisis brought on by dips in enrollment;
- losing a valued teacher unexpectedly with few good candidates in sight;
- being confronted by parents highly agitated over recent biting incidents;
- negotiating a truce between two teachers in conflict.
Contributed by Roger Neugebauer
Exchange's popular guidebook, The Art of Leadership: Managing Early Childhood Organizations, is on sale this week at a 20% discount. This comprehensive text offers sections on leadership development, organizational development, legal and financial management, organizational structure, staff supervision, staff development, evaluation, curriculum development, parent relations, and marketing. Review or order Art of Leadership today!
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The Institute for Early Childhood
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Comments (2)
Displaying All 2 CommentsMelbourne, Vic, Australia
While the thrust of the article rings true and I have no issue with the content per se (after a hard week of my own) I still get a bit petulant when gender assumptions are made in early childhood settings. Yes, probability is that 'she' is a female, but what is wrong with the words 'They must present...' etc.
Early Years services have often been very proactive in discussing the social norms of Gender role assignment and the dangers of stereotyping by society, and has in many cases included specific program content and pedagogy to balance the learnings of children in these areas.
As an often isolated Male workiing in the sector I expect to be acknowledged with the same equality and lack of stereotypical language.
Taman Pendidikan Raihan
Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
How refreshing to read Roger Neugebauer's article on managing an early childhood program. We tend to think that only large corporations and institutions need to equip their staff with such skills.
'People ' and financial skills are so crucial in ensuring that an early childhood program runs smoothly and effectively. Yet we tend to take these for granted UNTIL a crisis develops.
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