In college, podcast host Dustin Odham read Rick Warren’s A Purpose Driven Life. He’s been living by a mission statement he created ever since – “to make a positive and lasting impact on every person I meet, every single day,” said Odham. He intentionally chose to create a mission statement that was not job-specific but would apply to all aspects of his life on a daily basis. The choices in Odham’s life, from marrying his wife to working at FranklinCovey, have been guided by his mission. “Frankli...
Aug 23, 2022•25 min•Ep. 1
Throughout the second season Odham highlighted that he primarily focused on going more deeper and personal with his guests, by featuring the smaller tidbits of their lives like their hobbies, and how they contribute to their thought process. In the forthcoming season of “Change Starts Here” however, Odham plans on going a step further. He said he wants to discover how his guests beat adversity. “This next season my goal is to get better at diving deeper,” stated Odham. “I want to hear more about...
Jul 12, 2022•4 min•Ep. 1
As an author and Childhood Trauma Motivational Speaker, Clark now considers himself a “hope dealer.” But this wasn’t always the case. “I didn't grow up on love, affection, a wonderful mom and dad that just loved on me. I grew up on survival,” reflected Clark, “Over the years, I learned how to turn nothing into something.” After attempts to kill Clark failed, Clark was brought into the world with an imprisoned biological father and a mother unfit to raise a child. Brutally abused until the age of...
Jul 05, 2022•58 min•Ep. 1
From a young age, Chris McChesney fell in love with Stephen Covey’s application of principles over best practices. He wanted to be a part of Franklin Covey so much that he landed his first job with them over thirty years ago by pretending to be a newspaper reporter as a fake intern. That’s dedication. Today McChesney is a National Best-Selling Author, Keynote Speaker, and Global Practice Leader with Franklin Covey. He sat down with Dustin Odham to discuss how to create some wildly important goal...
Jun 28, 2022•58 min•Ep. 1
Andrew Houlihan, Superintendent of Union County Public Schools, Monroe, NC, is a Doctor of Education. His formal education took him to New York and Texas before coming back to his home roots in North Carolina. The best part of Houlihan’s day is walking into the classroom of any one of the 52 schools in his Union and watching learning take place. How does the superintendent of the 6th largest school district in North Carolina find the time to sit down in all those classrooms? Scheduling. “If it’s...
Jun 21, 2022•49 min•Ep. 1
The culture within companies is widely accepted as a critical element to success, but what is the culture within a school? Dustin Odham and Phill Boyte discuss the possibilities that open up when a school caters to a welcoming environment for students and staff. According to Boyte, connecting students fosters a healthy environment. The team has more influence, and students' success extends beyond the results of tests. Odham believes the critical takeaway from the conversation can be distilled do...
Jun 14, 2022•48 min•Ep. 1
Dr. Kelvin Adams, Superintendent of St. Louis Public Schools, doesn’t have a magic formula for success, or why his leadership role within the St. Louis public school system has lasted for nearly fourteen years. If honesty, sincerity, and providing people with the correct information are magic, he’s happy to reveal those secrets. “At the end of the day, it’s always about keeping kids first and making them the priority,” Adams said. He joined Dustin Odham to talk about his journey and reveal some ...
Jun 07, 2022•55 min•Ep. 1
Pollak’s interest in public speaking dated to her K12 years when she won a prize for reading a Shell Silverstein book. Next, a Rotary Club college scholarship requirement to give a series of Rotary Club speeches began a journey that has not ended. The speech requirement was four. Pollak did thirty-nine. “I realized maybe there was something about this that I’m starting to enjoy,” Pollak said. “And that’s how the writing and speaking thing came together.” Finding the right career path to channel ...
May 31, 2022•53 min•Ep. 1
The report aligns with the mission of JFF, founded in 1983, to create a system that benefits all students and prepares them for work in a realistic way. “The work over that time has always focused on the mission of creating and scaling up solutions that can really transform our education and workforce systems so that it achieves economic advancement for all equitably,” said Vargas. After working within the system, he went to graduate school to study “the problem of the American high school and i...
May 24, 2022•59 min•Ep. 1
Straight A’s are not always easy to come by, but often, earning them in a traditional setting means getting to the right answer, not learning why an answer is needed or how to go about solving a problem. Sally Amoruso, Chief Partner Officer at EAB, a firm dedicated to serving educational institutions, spoke with Change Starts Here podcast host Dustin Odham to discuss how to prepare for the changes that are set to come within the educational system. “My why is rooted in helping others, people and...
May 17, 2022•52 min•Ep. 1
Garcia speaks several languages, is a speaker, a teacher, a comedian, and a world traveler who has not yet made it to Antarctica, but he’s checked all other continents off his list. His strong faith background guides him, and Garcia believes everyone is born with a purpose. And through his struggles in high school, he learned the art of simplicity. When Garcia learned how to keep things simple, he uncovered his ability to understand languages. “When I realized I had a way to make learning simple...
May 10, 2022•29 min•Ep. 1
Mielke encourages educators to be in a space of happiness and purpose. “Every time I speak on a topic, I get to not only apply it to myself but see the shifts in people where they're not only thinking about their role as a student or a teacher, they’re looking at it through the lens of how does this impact my entire world view and it's a really and empowering thing,” he said. The challenges teachers often face that causes a burnout stem from emotional exhaustion, to where the job demands and job...
May 03, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 1
Finding this gift didn’t come quick to Lawrence, but that journey to self-discovery isn’t one he’d trade away. “I learned a lot of my lessons through sport,” Lawrence said. “I used the school system and the opportunities there to participate in sport. I had some great coaches, and I gravitated towards wrestling.” And it was there Lawrence first began to cultivate the mental toughness that would serve him well years later. Being a world-class triathlete is grueling. It takes a lot of time, effort...
Apr 26, 2022•55 min•Ep. 1
Fievre published her first book as a teenager, and she credited her aunt, a grammar and literature teacher, for introducing her to the understanding and importance of editing. “She could look at my manuscript and see what it lacked on the grammar side. Also, she could help me with the developmental.” Fievre quickly realized writing and editing were two essential but different crafts. Her advice to novice writers is to not worry about editing a piece while working on it. Take care of mistakes lat...
Apr 19, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 1
Because of his experience in Japan, and his continued education in learning Japanese in college, McIntyre was offered a sales position with an international trade publisher at their Japan operation. And the more he traveled and experienced different cultures; the more McIntyre wanted to learn. Although McIntyre built himself a strong resume in international business, some project work with FranklinCovey led to his next chapter. In 2001, FranklinCovey asked McIntyre to run their operation—guess w...
Apr 12, 2022•47 min•Ep. 1
Smiling nearly the entire podcast, Covey clearly loves what he calls his purpose, which is to increase trust and inspiration in the world today. Writing his first book 16 years ago, he found his inspiration because of the absence of these qualities and a lack of reliable content on the subject. With the only constant being change, it’s clear a disruption is needed since the paradigm of how we view leadership is still coming from the industrial age era. So, what’s the number one barrier to becomi...
Apr 05, 2022•59 min•Ep. 1
Okay. Full disclosure: Odham was away on vacation this week, but he wanted to give folks a chance to catch up on some great moments and amazing content from some genuinely inspiring educators and thought leaders. Whether this is the first exposure to these guests or a second time around, these agents of change are worth spending a few minutes with, and these hand-selected clips are some of Odham’s favorites from the past year. Enjoy!
Mar 29, 2022•53 min•Ep. 1
Dr. Cardenas has spent the past 13 years leading Janson Elementary. For eight of those years, the school enjoyed the status of being a Lighthouse school. And in 2022, they received the Legacy designation. The discussion opened with a look into what makes Janson different. “I think the most important thing that really helped our school was having a very clear purpose and vision,” said Dr. Cardenas. He went on to explain that the staff is dedicated to changing lives and helping kids which is evide...
Mar 23, 2022•38 min•Ep. 1
A culture of belonging includes diversity, the presence of differences in an environment, and inclusion, or making all community members feel included. Belonging is an outcome of those; it is a sense of acceptance, support, and inclusion in community. “When students and staff and families feel like they can bring their authentic selves, 100 percent who they are to that community, that truly turbo charges their contributions and results,” DiGioia-Weinfeld explained. Schools can measure how the co...
Mar 15, 2022•32 min•Ep. 1
Hild found her education influenced by her parents, both educators. “My dad was a U.S. history teacher, and he really instilled values of learning,” Hild said. And through her experiences and travels early in life, she recognized the importance of empowering people and giving them a platform to make a difference. Hild believes that people don’t always recognize their talents, so it is essential to recognize those abilities in others and then empower them to use their gifts to make a difference. ...
Mar 08, 2022•53 min•Ep. 1
Farouk Dey teaches life design for a living which he said is the opposite of career planning. “It’s trying to create a culture where we no longer ask people, ‘what do you want to do with your life,’” said Dey. “We’re essentially asking them, ‘what are you curious about?’ and getting them to act on that curiosity.” There can be a natural tendency to adjust their narrative based on presented opportunities in one's career. But Dey believes that people will end up defaulting back to their passions s...
Mar 01, 2022•54 min•Ep. 1
Garcia’s journey began unconventionally. Raised by a single grandmother who didn’t drive, Garcia grew up in an environment of love. Garcia’s Grandmother’s kindness shaped her and instilled a passion for doing great things , and making a difference in the lives of others. “I am who I am in my professional life because of that experience,” Garcia said. A little more on the conventional side, Garcia’s path towards education, like so many others, drew itself from great experiences with teachers she ...
Feb 22, 2022•54 min•Ep. 1
A wise old Jedi once said, ‘size matters not,’ and Covey takes that advice to heart. At 5'8" and 165-pounds, Covey’s size does not instantly scream NFL wide receiver, where the average size of most professional WR’s tip the scales at over six feet and 200-pounds. “I realized early on people were going to view my height and my size pretty much one of two ways: It was going to be the detriment, the weakness in my game,” Covey said. “Some teams told me, ‘We’re going to have to bulk you up if you de...
Feb 15, 2022•52 min•Ep. 1
Odham is clearly a fan of Reyes whom he refers to as Danny throughout the episode. Highlighting everything from his exceptional teaching skills that engaged 5th-grade students in solving community problems to creating a safe place with high expectations that improved overall student performance. This podcast is for any educator, school administrator, school employee, or anyone for that matter who is interested in learning from a truly humble leader who is the definition of service leadership. Re...
Feb 08, 2022•55 min•Ep. 1
Heath’s journey began with studies in engineering, then a Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University. Today he teaches organizational behavior at the Stanford School of Business and co-authored four bestselling books with his brother Dan. “I’d been teaching a course at Stanford on the marketplace of ideas,” Heath said. “I had done a talk with a Silicon Valley group, and the theme was what we can learn from urban legends about messaging. And my editor saw an account of that talk and said, ‘I th...
Feb 01, 2022•49 min•Ep. 1
High school students Jenaya Wilder, Jorge Sanchez and Mary Katherine Archer joined host of Change Starts Here, Dustin Odham, to discuss how to overcome the issues facing today’s schools. A common theme the three students mentioned as a struggle for the modern-day high schooler was the tendency for cliques to form, which discourages individualism and increases groupthink, and time management, like how to juggle social expectations with schoolwork and extra-curricular activities. How does a studen...
Jan 25, 2022•46 min•Ep. 1
“For me, education was something my mother always told me, ‘Once you have it, they can never take it away from you and that could be your golden ticket,’” he explained. Jackson found out the hard way how a lack of funds can impact a student’s ability to pursue their career of choice. While studying to be an astronaut, he was forced to make the hard decision of finding a different major, which is when the military presented him with an option to still become a pilot — just in the marine core. Whi...
Jan 18, 2022•54 min•Ep. 1
Portell wasn’t initially on the educator path. “I was into forestry, but people kept saying kids gravitate toward you. I didn’t receive my educational degree until 29.” Now, his days are filled with impacting the lives of children and unapologetically disrupting the education field. Portell’s days as a principal weren’t trauma-informed. It was a lecture he attended on ACES (adverse childhood experiences) that changed everything. “It happened fast that I changed from what we were doing to kids wa...
Jan 11, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 1
Now let's all take some time to hit pause and reflect on this previous year. See you in 2022!
Dec 28, 2021•5 min•Ep. 1
Safety and trust are developed in a child at just 18 months old, which is derived from the somatic nervous system (or the sensory nerves that relay sensation from the body to the central nervous system). Traumatized children usually have a faulty neuroception system – or they perceive danger when there is none. Author of “Brain Changing Strategies to Trauma-Proof Our Schools,” Maggie Kline is a former teacher and school counselor and current therapist and psychologist, and she is on a mission to...
Dec 21, 2021•41 min•Ep. 1
