SPEECHES & WORKSHOPS
Learn about George Goens’ Presentations, Workshops and Speeches
Presentations & Workshops
George has inspired audiences with his unique brand of leadership vision, humor, and practical and concrete ideas and concepts. He examines America’s education system, programs and leadership through new lenses and the experience of having served in the real world of public schools. The presentations and workshops include:
Civility Lost
The U.S. is undergoing serious splintering that threatens, not only relationships, but also politics and society. Divisions are emphasized. Disagreements turn into name-calling and castigating. Issues are sharply painted in right or wrong, ethical and unethical, intelligent or unenlightened colors.
A few topics that are specifically addressed in Civility Lost:
- The Bedrock of Democracy: Public Education
- Reason & Truth
- Media & Political Parties
- Thinking & Civil Dialogue
The Fog of Reform
American public education has been on a merry-go-round of change for the past 40 years. We made something that is complex by its very nature into a strangled enterprise that is becoming even more knotty and complicated. A fog of reform has been created obscuring issues and deflecting our focus from the real mission of schools. We need to emphasize ideals and principles in providing an education for our children in a caring and creative way. This book is about the fog of reform and getting back the ideal of a place called school. The sections describe a new metaphor and approach to change and examine the forces and ideals that can bring about the schools children need. Principles and values transform organizations, not mandates and fear. Recipes for making schools into caring places for children do not exist. Great schools must be created one-by-one. Numbers don’t create change; people and passion do. Unless we focus on the moral imperative of educating children, we will fail them and possibly slide into an ethical quagmire.
The Promise of Living
Letters on the Promise of Living provides insight into the great philosophical questions and values that will help people lead a principled life — a good life, well-lived. The presentation offers several important things:
- A conversation about the great questions of life; those things we all ponder and confront as we live our lives. These great principles and ideas form the bedrock of our values and behavior.
- A means to understand the great ideas upon which our society and a life well lived is based. The letters provide insight into the values and principles that have stood the test of time.
- A powerful format around which to examine and think about how we are living our lives.
Soft Leadership for Hard Times
Leadership is essential for organizations to be successful. Getting results takes more than goals, targets, and procedures. Leaders coalesce people around a common goal. Soft leadership is not soft-headed or indecisive. It rests on the intangibles that establish a leader’s credibility and creates productive relationships rich in virtue and integrity.
Leading in a Crisis
George faced a tragic murder of a principal in school during the school day. The practical lessons in working through that crisis have value for private and public organizations. He learned what is essential in the heat of a crisis to respond to protect lives, address the crisis, and begin the healing process. In addition to a presentation, a workshop, complete with simulation, is available.
Leadership & Illusion
The illusions and mythology of leadership are galvanized in stories of political, corporate, or community leaders. Mythology creates illusions, and illusion produces the leadership fantasies. The illusions we have about leadership not only deceive leaders but also establish unreasonable expectations from those who are led. These expectations often perpetuate a fantasy of the super-powered individual who unilaterally solves other people’s problems and, in a sense, makes them victims of their own impotence.
Education vs Schooling
We are in danger of having a generation of children that is well schooled but poorly educated. A significant difference exists between being educated and well schooled. Re-engineering schools around metrics holds the danger of students getting the numbers but graduating without the wisdom to live a life of purpose and meaning. Our democracy requires well-educated people with principles and ethics to guide their lives and make wise decisions.
Leadership: Poetry or Engineering?
Can we re-engineer excellence into people and organizations in today’s complex environment? Or does leadership require much more? Each successful enterprise has a story. Leaders communicate the essence of that story and challenge the heads, hearts, and spirit to help people fulfill themselves in the pursuit of their work.
Leadership & Finding Meaning
Finding meaning does not come out of your computer’s c-drive or from the latest process or spreadsheet. Society’s fast pace and avalanche of technology can fog what calls to us. Meeting our calling is essential to living a life of purpose. Leaders help people find personal fulfillment while realizing the organization’s mission and purpose.
Customized Workshops
George customizes workshops and presentations for administrators, school boards, and others on ….. strategic and scenario planning, goal setting, leadership, accountability, and superintendent-board relationships.
Contact Info
George A. Goens, Ph.D.
Address
P.O. Box 1775
Litchfield, CT 06759
Phone
860.567.1974
cell – 860.601.8100
gagoens@gmail.com