EARCOS Leadership Conference 2016 “Create, Connect, Commit”
The 2016 EARCOS Leadership Conference was hosted at the Shangri-La in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a splendid venue for the gathering of learning leaders from our region and beyond. EARCOS hosted nearly 1200 delegates and conducted more than 20 daylong and multi day pre-conferences, which saw enrollment of over 450 participants. Colleagues and special presenters conducted more than 140 workshops on topics catering to the wide range of EARCOS members’ interests. The regularly scheduled three-day conference began on Thursday morning with an inspiring and highly practical keynote address by Sir John Jones. Sir John’s passion and knowledge brilliantly showed through his straight-talk and stories, which moved the audience to each end of the emotional continuum. Sir John weaved a magical tapestry of creativity, commitment, and compassion, which he skillfully details in his bestselling book, The Magic Weaving Business. Sir John Jones’ message was celebrated throughout the conference and served as an enthusiastic beginning to the 48th EARCOS Leadership Conference. On Friday delegates had the good fortune of hearing from an engaging speaker, Dr. Ruby Payne, an expert on the mindsets of economic class. Dr. Payne carefully and vividly led delegates across defined socioeconomic boundaries of school and work. She shared the unembellished actuality of poverty and cleverly explained the adorned truth of wealth. Ruby discussed the rules and resources of poverty and wealth. She explained how these rules and resources could stabilize or destabilize a person’s life. Dr. Ruby Payne instilled with EARCOS delegates a thirst for more learning in this important topic. EARCOS Leadership Stories has become a central feature of the conference and this year’s storytellers masterfully delivered clear reminders of the enormous responsibilities undertaken by those choosing to be learning leaders in an international school. Shelly Luke Wille shared the power of books and the impact they have on her work as leader and development as a person. Steve Cathers took us on an impressive journey of self-discovery and through many experiences and adventures, which led him to develop as a leader. Finally, Tim Carr and Elsa Donahue provided vibrant and endearing explanations of the indispensible ingredients for ideal team players and shared personal discoveries they cultivated along an extraordinary path to a sturdy, enduring leadership team. Preceding and following each of these stirring “starters” was the delivery of a myriad of workshops and daylong seminars, which took place over an entire week of professional development opportunities. The versatility and talents of the EARCOS practitioners and special presenters were particularly notable and led to a broadening of the learning horizons of our members. We hope the “die was caste” for deliberate follow-up and systemic organizational and personal learning to take place. There are too many contributors who work tirelessly to make such a conference possible and impossible to name them all, individually. However, we do have heaps of heartfelt well wishes for the talented students who joined us each day to “kick start” our engines and remind us of the reasons we have dedicated our professional lives in such a noble pursuit. The student musicians from International School Kuala Lumpur, Mont‘Kiara International School and Garden International School and their directors are to be commended and applauded for their contributions to the success of our conference. We hope you have reserved 26 – 28 October 2017 on your calendar, which are the dates for next year’s conference. Thanks to all of you for making the conference a resounding success. Dr. Joe Petrone EARCOS Assistant Director
2 EARCOS Triannual Journal
