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LEADING FROM VALUES
Author(s) -
Pesky Alan D.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
leader to leader
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1531-5355
pISSN - 1087-8149
DOI - 10.1002/ltl.20543
Subject(s) - institution , value (mathematics) , meaning (existential) , space (punctuation) , reading (process) , relevance (law) , public relations , sociology , psychology , literacy , field (mathematics) , compass , pedagogy , political science , social science , law , geography , linguistics , philosophy , machine learning , computer science , psychotherapist , mathematics , cartography , pure mathematics
The author discusses the mission, goals, and operation of the Lee Pesky Learning Center (LPLC), a nonprofit founded in Idaho in 1997. It is named after the author's son Lee, who grew up with undiagnosed learning disabilities and died of brain cancer at the age of 30. The author experienced success in business and other fields before establishing LPLC. He recounts how it started small, with a staff of two in a modest space and offered two services: diagnostic evaluations and evidence‐based remediation. LPLC grew organically as its expertise, client demand, and resources allowed. It has helped more than 100,000 children, has trained thousands of teachers to improve reading outcomes in their classrooms, and is recognized today as a research leader in the fields of learning disabilities and early literacy. It makes a sustainable difference every day in the lives of individual children and their families. The article focuses on such touchstones as mission/daily compass, the value of collaboration and being a “learning institution”— meaning, “an institution that learns.” Organizational takeaways are provided, as the author asserts that LPLC's experience has relevance for institutions beyond the field of education and for leaders who seek to effect meaningful change in their communities.