Lessons Learned
Shaping Relationships and the Culture of the Workplace
- Roland S. Barth - Educational Consultant, USA
`Lessons Learned is an insightful, funny, moving look at commonalties between life at sea and life in the schoolhouse. More than any other Ronald S Barth book, this one exposes Roland for what he really is-an avid sailor, loyal friend, life-long learner, and compassionate leader' - Milli Pierce, Director, The Principals' Center, Harvard Graduate School of Education
`This charming, humorous, and wise book teaches important lessons about relationships at work and at play. Once again, Roalnd S Barth has written a useful and invaluable book for teachers and principals alike' - Thomas J Sergiovanni, Lillian Radford Professor of Education Trinity University, Texas
Roland S`Barth's Lessons Learned is a powerful guide for defining the types of interpersonal relationships needed to bring about success' - Karen M Dyer, Manager Education Sector, Center for Creative Leadership, Author of The Intuitive Principal (Corwin Press 2000)
This book is a collection of aged stories and relates to experiences with astonishing insights. These stories and insights are expressed in metaphors and teachings, which are universal and lasting. The book provides hopes that each of us may find abundant and buoyant joy in our all-too-brief passages with one another. Relationships at work are as taxing and toxic as that aboard a sailing vessel, but yet can be replenishing and fulfilling. `Cruising Rules' is the term the authors use to describe his lessons learned at sea, and `Working Rules,' the lessons learned about relationships at work. Combined, both constitutes Lessons Learned in life.
"Few topics are more important than how school leaders can shape relationships and improve the culture of the workplace. In Lessons Learned, Roland Barth distills a lifetime of craft knowledge acquired both on the sea and in schools to provide readers with the guidance and wisdom that only such a reflective and insightful mind can provide. Barth advocates truth telling, and this wonderful book offers that rare and significant gift to its readers."
"School leaders will find treasures of wisdom in this profound, yet entertaining, easy to read, and witty account of Roland Barth's life as an educator and sailor, and his ability to connect the two experiences. The importance of creating a productive work culture through positive relationships remains Roland Barth's main message to educators. In Lessons Learned, he skillfully uses the navigation metaphor to draw simple, yet profound lessons rooted in his experience as a teacher, principal, and sailor."
"Lessons Learned is an insightful, funny, moving look at commonalties between life at sea and life in the schoolhouse. Using his head and heart, Roland Barth applies the many lessons learned from sailing (Cruising Rules) to the work of school leadership (Working Rules). Combining the two challenging practices makes for much shared wisdom and serious fun."
"If you’re curious about how to strengthen and sustain relationships in life, you’ll relish Lessons Learned. If you are a school leader who wants to build strong organizational culture, you’ll find it essential."
"Barth reminds us that relationship building is still key to creating and sustaining high performing schools. In this way, he walks the reader through the many practical strategies educators can—and must—use to grapple with the continuous adaptive challenges inherent in learning communities."
"Whether a sailor or a school administrator, on a boat or in a boardroom, out to sea or ashore, Barth’s Lessons Learned is a powerful guide for defining the types of interpersonal relationships needed to bring about success."
"Barth has mined his own experiences for a wonderful collection of tales that use open-water sailing as a powerful metaphor for work and life. By turns witty, entertaining, instructive and poignant, Barth’s stories will get you thinking, and the 'working rules' salted throughout the book will help you navigate the deceptive shoals and powerful tides we all have to deal with at work."
"This charming, humorous, and wise book teaches important lessons about relationships at work and at play. Once again, Barth has written a useful and invaluable book for teachers and principals alike."
"I found myself wanting to steal all his quotes and rules, and fill them in with my own stories. He left me making New Year’s resolutions and then laughing at myself. Roland Barth turns reflective craftsmanship into a revealing and wonderful venture, as he scans deeply over and under troubled waters, and comes up each time with a new way to see an old dilemma."
"Roland Barth’s Lessons Learned is a revelation about 'school' and those who practice it. To read it, every cruising rule, working rule and scene, is to be inspired, heartened, startled, delighted. Barth talks to us with astounding candor and humor and astuteness."