Session 1a: The Leader’s Toolbox

Session 1a: The Leader’s Toolbox

Brandi Black Thacker: Hey, everybody, and welcome to session 1a, your introductory discussion to the "Leader's Toolbox." We are so happy to be with you. We can't even tell you how long we've waited to have this exact conversation with this exact group right now today. It's been a long-time dream realized. We have so much to think and talk about together that we're going to jump right on in with introductions, and hey everybody, you know her, your lover her, here she is. The one and only Dr. Guylaine Richard, everybody.

Dr. Guylaine Richard: [Laughter] Good morning. Good afternoon for some, good morning for others. It's a pleasure. It's a true pleasure and an honor to be with you. We welcome you. We are excited to start the conversation with you on leadership this afternoon. My name is Guylaine Richard, spelled like Richard, and I am the director of training and technical assistance development at the National Center. Thank you so much for this opportunity given to us to have such an important conversation with you. Brandi, take it away.

Brandi: Thank you, Dr. Richard. My name is Brandi Black Thacker. I'm the director of training, technical assistance, and collaboration at the National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement, and we're so tickled to get to spend this time with you. Side note, you'll see that Dr. Richard and I have a little playfulness in our time together. So, if you see us go to that space, it's one of the many ways that we try to honor each other, but also the excitement that we have to spend time with you and, of course, this incredible work. One of the things that we want to do to get you acclimated today is to show you around this platform. Now, many of you might not have used ON24 before, so we want to make sure that you have everything you need to navigate in the ways that really maximize our time together while we're here. So, what we have in the center of your screen is a little bit of an opportunity to take a tour. Let me show you around. We have these things called "Engagement Tools," and we want to show you how they work. I want to animate this slide so that you can see with me where they are and how they operate. If you look at the bottom of your screen now, you'll see that a whole dark band has populated, and that shows all of your engagement tools. But where I want to focus your attention first is in that top left-hand corner, and what you see there is the media player. That is actually where you're going to see G and I – we're the presenters for our time together over these two days – and any videos that we might show along the way.

The thing that you're going to see next is in the bottom left-hand corner, and you'll see it populate with a little yellow button. This is a very important place. This is the Q&A console. We want you to come here a lot because if you have any questions or even want to add comments while we're together, please do it there. Bottom left-hand side of your screen. You know who we are. We're the relationship people. [Laughter] We love to hear from you. So, please jump into that Q&A widget in the bottom left of your screen for any comments or questions. The next place I want to call your attention to is that center part of your screen. It's where you're going to see our slides today as we're thinking and talking together. So, that's where your attention may be most of the time. Another place that you're always interested in is on the top right of your screen, and that's the "Resource" widget. Now, you can download everything, side note, it's always your first question, including the PowerPoint [Laughter] is there for you. So, you can download anything that you need from that corner – in that top right-hand corner and use those at your leisure.

And then, on the bottom right, you're going to see a place for the presenters and our bios. If you want to know a little bit about who we are and how [Inaudible] we have the honor to be in front of you today, you can do a little sneaking around there in the "Bio" widget. The other thing that I want to show you quickly – is so cool about this platform – is you can actually customize your view. What I want to show you if you draw your attention back to that top left- hand corner of the media player, you actually have ways that you can expand out and even minimize your window. What's really great about that is if you minimize them, you can use them across the bottom to make the screen appear, and if you want to resize them, you can do that too. You can go to the bottom corner just stretch him out, just like you would in most of the other operating platforms. It's pretty user friendly after you get acclimated to how it all works together. You can drag windows around if you'd like. It's totally up to you if you want to make them bigger for larger font, you can customize that if you would like.

The other thing that I want to call your attention to again is that bottom panel with the dark band. You have a "Knowledge Check" widget there, and we're going to revisit this toward the end of our time together because what happens today is you're going to answer a few questions, and that's how your certificate will be given to you. So, I'll walk you through that a little bit later in our time together. But you'll see the "Knowledge Check" button. Right next to that is a "Certificate Completion" button, and last but not least there is a "Help" button as well, and there's a document over there that has a bunch of frequently asked questions. If you happen to need that during our time together, you can visit there as well. Hopefully, that gives you enough of a sense of how to make your way around, and certainly, we'll be using this platform for both days of our interactions together, so, we'll revisit this again in case you need a refresher. With that, Dr. Richard, I know we have a very important question to kick off our time together this morning, and I know you're going to want to weigh in on this. Is there a difference between a manager and leader? What do you think?

Dr. Richard: OK. I think, Brandi, I'm going to leave that question for our friends with us now, and they need to answer that question. So, let's get engaged in the Q&A widget and just start answering that question because I would love to tease ... I like to tease people. I'm going to tease you too, Brandi. I'm going to ask you that question too because I have my own sense of what I want to answer. But do I give you the first pass, or do you want me to keep my pass and just don't give it to you?

Brandi: Well, I'm having, as usual, all kinds of thoughts about this. Is there a difference? But you know how I want to do it. If there's a difference, why? And if you don't think there's a difference, why? We want to know – we want to know what you're thinking and what comes up for you . Just stream of consciousness, kind of like popcorn. What comes to mind immediately when you hear and feel that question.

Dr. Richard: So, you didn't want a yes or no answer. So, you know, you were trying to trick people, too. You see, it's not me only teasing you guys, ladies and gentlemen, this is also Brandi. We don't want you to say yes, we don't want you to say no only. We want you to tell us why as you are giving us some of those answers. But I would like to go ahead because I know when she's passing on something. So, I would like to say, myself, I would like to say, yes, there is. For me, when I'm thinking about a manager, I see someone with multiple task. So, let's take a tool now as we are listening to this so you can start juggling the task – jotting the task that you're doing. I know they are multiple. As family service managers, as coordinators, as other people in the program, you know in Head Start we wear many hats, and sometimes we have many task.

But I want to say that for me, the leader, when the focus as a manager is on task, the leader is really on possibilities. You didn't know I had that for you. Possibilities and opportunities.

Brandi: Well, you're always surprising me. As long as we've known each other, you continue to inspire and surprise. But I love where you're taking us here, G. I love this notion of a manager is task-oriented, and I want to just put my own flavor on this a little bit. To me, a leader is inspirational. In my mind, I feel and hear charisma, like somebody that you're drawn to that, you know, has a vision that you want to follow along with. What I love about the best leaders that I think about in my experience, is that you want to co-construct, and a leader offers that space for you to really lean in in the ways that you're inspired to do too. The word that comes to mind is there's a reciprocity, really. But G, I also know where you're going to take us in a little bit. In the chat, we're getting all kinds of great feedback about what folks say about visionaries and how we all need all of those skills, right? From the manager side of who we are, and the leader side of who we are to collide [Laughter] in the best possible way to absolutely function in the ways that we do through interactions and through continuous quality improvement in the context of our programs.

Dr. Richard: I like where you're going. So, keep on, my friend. Keep on and give it to us. [Laughter]

Brandi: Well, let's look. Let's take a look. Here's what we plan to do together today. If you ever been with us in the station before, in person or virtually, you know that we're totally going to follow your lead, but here's what we've planned: In this foundational session, we always want to start with the framework, and we want to think about how the PFCE framework ties into this dialogue. But more importantly, you used it in so many ways. We want to make connections for you so that not only will you have some confirmation or guess, but hopefully, you'll have a new set of ideas as well to apply as you go forth. Of course, we're going to be thinking about strategies together today. As usual, we're going to bring forth some new ideas, and we're going to offer those to you to consider based on where you're going, and where you're taking your team as a family manager. With that nods of the framework, here it is, everybody. If you're seeing it for the first time, I'm going to give you a shortcut. If you're seeing it again, we still want to offer you the shortcut because over the 10 years – I can't believe it, G – over the ten years now that this framework has been around, we figured out a way to really abbreviate the way we talk about it based on what you've taught us over the years and how you've applied it. What we've distilled it to now is this notion of, "If, this, then that." So, I missed the formula of sorts. The framework, Dr. Richard, is really a theory of change, right? So, fancy language for really documenting our evidence and what we've been doing for over five decades. Let's play it out: " If this, then that." If you use those two arrows at the top, the positive goal-oriented relationships, along with honoring families through equity, inclusiveness, cultural and linguistic responsiveness, if you use those two arrows, and then do what we're required to do already [Laughter] by the performance standards, which have strong systems, that's the yellow column, high-quality comprehensive services, that's the pink column, then families and children will grow, blue and purple column, respectively. Can I get a "woot-woot," G? Do you see how I make sure she's paying attention? [Laughter] This is our framework. It's the "If this, then that." If you use the arrows, stand on our systems and our services, families and children grow. We are set up to do this in the most incredible way. That's why we're the Nation's laboratory. G, we should be feeling a little puffed up about this, right?

Dr. Richard: Yes, you should, and you want another "hoot-hoot"? OK, I give it to you. [Laughter]

Brandi: I like your "hoot-hoots." [Laughter] All right. Let's look at the key messages before we turn it over to Dr. Richard so we can learn from her insight and wisdom as usual. Here are a couple of things for you to consider as we go into this discussion today. This first bullet is real for me. I love this bullet. "The manager does things right. The leader does the right thing." We can unpack that in all kinds of ways, but I want you to really think about that. Now, as we alluded, and Dr. Richard is going to take us here, we need all of that – we need all of that. But it's interesting in the way that we apply this and in the ways that we bring it into the space of our work as family managers. So, the next bullet you see here is, "Empathy is a display of strength from a leader." We're going to talk a lot about empathy. It's a just critical part of who we are and how we interact, period. We're going to pull that apart together. Then the thing that I love about this is leadership skills can be learned. We all have what we need to jump into this, and the awesome part is this totally aligns with who we are and how we are in Head Start. We can actually hone our skill set, which is awesome because it's what we've come together to do over these next two days. And then, certainly, it's part of our whole philosophy just in who we are around professional development and even professionalizing our field. With that, Dr.

Richard, I want to turn it over to you so that we can get right down into some of this rich dialogue that you've created for us today around leadership.

Dr. Richard: Thank you, Brandi. And actually, I just didn't want my friends to be feeling panic and saying, ''Oh, so, I'm a manager, so that means I do thing right, and I'm a leader, so, I do the right thing.'' No, we don't want you to be thinking that way. There is no good or bad on it. A manager can be a leader. A leader can also manage thing in the program. What we want to really focus your attention is what do leaders do. Leaders are action people. So, you know, when you think about leadership, you know, we would like to bring your attention to what leadership. Leadership is not a position. As Donald McGannon said, ''It is action.'' So, every time we do an action, and sometimes, it may be the action that you take, maybe even leading you to a mistake, but those are characteristic. Later on, I'll talk about the characteristics of a leader.

So, for us to understand that we are action. Anything that's in our role as managers, as leaders, so, don't go ahead and start changing your title to "Family Engagement Leaders" or when you have families saying [Inaudible] managers. That's the joke I have behind it. Don't go ahead and think that one is better than another. What do we say? We say that leadership is action. What does that mean in another position? Which means for me, when I hear something like this, my mind goes to greater definition of leaders because we all leaders. That's why this is not a position. From the director to the janitor, whoever is doing the work, whoever is doing the smallest thing, and you know, doing the biggest thing – the biggest position, it's about doing. I would like to take the opportunity to share with you other definition that some leaders have shared with us. Dr. Brené Brown has shared that, "A brave leader is someone who says, 'I see you. I hear you. I don't have all the answers, but I'm going to keep listening and asking questions.'" So, you see, that characteristic of a brave leader is a person who says, "I'm not the expert. I don't know it all. I can't do it all, but I am here to listen, and I'm here to support, but I'm going to keep on doing that until we together find solution." The other one, Stephen Covey, give us another definition that, for me, really makes it: "When we say leadership, it is a choice. It basically means you can choose the level of initiative you want to exercise in response to the question: What is the best I can do under the circumstances?" Which means that things don't happen to leaders. Leaders look at something and create them. They're in a way of creating thing, and they look at the level of initiative that is in front of them so they can act. You're going to get those quotes, and you can do some more reflection, but I engage you in reflecting a little more on those.

But as we go now, I wanted to unpack some foundational concept with you, and giving us a little bit more reflection on what leadership is. Leadership, like we said, this is an action, this is not a position. So, leadership, then, is everybody's business. This is one that we need to keep, and leadership is about relationship. You know how important it is for us to really be with someone in a position where you are finding each other, and just discovering each other, and doing for each other, doing with each other. So, really, it's a relationship, and leadership development is self-development. That is alike. Your leadership development belongs to you. So, therefore, it is an obligation. I'm using a big term. I don't like big term, but I'm going to use that one. It's a must for you as a leader to develop yourself. The best leaders are the best learners. You see that learning ability that we have. Of course, you're going to teach others, but you're going to also learn from others, and being open to that is really making you one of the best leaders because you're always open to seek opportunities and to seek opportunities for you to self-develop. Leadership development is an ongoing process. That's another one that is very important because you may have a starting point in your leadership journey, but you keep on going. Sometimes, you need to take a pause. Sometimes, you're going to need to keep on going faster, but it's an ongoing process, meaning we never finish. We make mistake, we stumble, we get back, we go back. This is what "ongoing," for me, means. Leadership development take deliberate practice. I like that. Meaning, like, you know, everybody usually says, when you ask the question, "Are you born a leader?" People say, "Yes, we're born a leader." I would like to convey to you that we all are born leaders. We all have that seed, but the deliberate part is the nurturing that we do to our leadership seed is what is going to make the nicest tree with the most beautiful fruits or flowers. Leadership is an aspiration and a choice. So, like, also, you going to want to be going there, but it is a choice that you're going to have to make. Once you make it, don't worry about the fact that you're going to stumble around the way. It is a good thing for you to continue.

So, leadership, what I like the most, leadership make a difference. Once you start doing that, when you start being with people in that relationship and you're now making that choice, you will make a difference. I don't know, Brandi, if there is anything we would add, but I would love to be having this opportunity to explore with our friends here some characteristic of admired leaders. There was a research done, and you know, really what we have here is an opportunity to look at ... I'm going to just highlight the four characteristics of admired leaders. Before that, I would love to give you the full table of all those characteristic that people thought were important in a leader. Like you have ambitious, you have fair-minded, and I'm sure that, you know ... Please engage with us in the Q&A. Just tell us the thing that comes to your mind when you think about a leader that you admire. What are the characteristics that this person has?

Definitely one of them will be probably highlighted here, but I want to bring your attention to what people say are the four best characteristic that a leader has. 89 percent of the people pulled to do that found that honesty was the characteristic that they admired the most from a leader. So, a leader has to be honest, a leader doesn't make excuses. A leader just ... Even when you make a mistake as a leader, accept it, and let people know that you made it, and you now go forward, and so, that would be an inspiration for people to know that nobody is perfect. We all strive for excellence, but nobody is perfect.

Another thing that I love when Brandi says to me when I have conversations with her about leadership is like, "G, leaders are human. We're all leaders." So, that's one. Another one that they look at as one characteristic is the forward-looking. A leader who is admired, has the possibility to look at what is coming next. What is looking? The leader doesn't go on the past and keep on revamping the past. They would go looking on what are the possibilities. That's why from the beginning, I was telling you that for me, a leader is action in opportunities and possibilities. The other one that Brandi, she says, and that's inspiring. Yes, 69 percent people felt like when I'm talking about leadership, I need somebody to inspire me. I don't need somebody to bring me down, I need somebody to tell me that the future is bright even when the things are hard, but there is one thing that they see that they can convey, that is inspiring, that is making people want to follow them. The other one is competent, of course, when I'm describing competency for me in my mind it is like another person who has a knowledge, the person who has also the skills, and the person who watches what they saying. So, really, you have an opportunity to demonstrate your leadership practices. The action that you take to make sure that people see that "Here, this is a leader."

I hope that you're going to have a chance to really look at those and keep them. You don't have to seek to get all of them, but you might do some practices. But remember, practice makes perfect, so we can go ahead and look at what we can take out of this and practice and make sure that we get there. I won't take a lot of time here, but I wanted to tell you because we said managers do task, leaders do – like, you know, what do leaders do? I would like you to be telling us a lot of the thing that you think a leader does. But, you know, I'm going to give you some of what people have come up with, and that makes a difference. Leaders listen actively. They listen actively. A leader displays empathy, and we're going to have a chance to look at what empathy means for us in a few. They encourage healing. Can you imagine that? A leader who comes when you're hurt, when you having something, and that person is there to really heal you, to really make you feel that you can do it and you will continue, and they will be right by your side to make that happen. Exhibit humility. This is the best for me. Humility means that you don't know it all, you can't do it all, you can't ... and you are open to learning. You are open to others giving you a little bit of the gift that they have, and they bring it to you, and you accept it. You don't feel like "I'm too pumped up" to get anything from anybody. So, that's humility.

And they demonstrate awareness. Awareness mean that opportunity that you have to look for information, to seek for thing, to seek for ways, to seek for opportunities ... So, therefore, this is awareness. I'm aware, I see, I know, I want to get somewhere ... Those are the characteristic of leaders. Employ persuasion, you know, like ... In order to lead people, you have to be able to tell them, "Yes, this is the away, and this is where we're going." So, persuasion. Conceptualize into the future. Possess foresight. So, all those things, but the one that I love, the last but not least – You see I'm making it up. So, don't laugh. It's OK – commits to the growth of people – you see, she went like this – commits to the growth of people. Commits to the growth of people for me means when you're a leader, you grow others. You do not grow yourself only, others are there too. As managers – as leaders in your program, you are there to grow others. I think, Brandi, I am, like, you know, I'm almost getting there. You know, I went on this, and I'm going fast. I'm sorry. I'm going to give you a little [Inaudible] because I'm going to pass the baton to Brandi because we going to look at the video on empathy. Remember, we said a leader is somebody with empathy.

Brandi: Ah, Dr. Richard. Thank you for that because I still stand by the notion that all of the things that you shared with us, from those admired characteristics to the last slide that you gave us on what leaders do, stand in that space of being human. Even though we make mistakes, we are constantly looking for ways, though, to connect more deeply with each other. So, if we do make a mistake, being able to admit it, you know, in a transparent way, and just stand on the fact that, "OK, yep, that happened. Wonder what we could do differently next time?" And to think together with your team is such a gift because then you're creating a culture of safety, and you're creating a culture of co-construction, which means that you really are a guide from the side, and you really are standing in a leadership space that brings folks along. So, with all of that, empathy is such an important part. Now, if you'll let me say it like we say back home. [Laughter] We would say that you walk a mile in somebody's shoes. Like, to really know how to experience someone else's pathway, you have to really put yourself in that experience. Empathic approaches are one of the ways to do that. So, we're going to play you a video from Dr. Brené Brown. I just know it; I keep saying this that if we ever got to meet, we would be best friends. [Laughter] I just love her work, and she really brings these concepts about being human into a very accessible, palatable way so that we can absorb and apply. So, we hope you enjoy. Here she is.

[Video begins] [Music] So, what is empathy, and why is it very different than sympathy? Empathy fuels connection, sympathy drives disconnection. Empathy, it's very interesting. Theresa Wiseman is a nursing scholar who studied professions – very diverse professions – where empathy is relevant and came up with four qualities of empathy. Perspective taking: The ability to take the perspective of another person or recognize their perspective is their truth.

Staying out of judgment: Not easy when you enjoy it as much as most of us do. [Laughter] Recognizing emotion in other people and then communicating that. Empathy is feeling with people, and to me, I always think of empathy as this kind of sacred space when someone is in a deep hole, and they shout up from the bottom and they say, "I'm stuck, it's dark, I'm overwhelmed," and then we look, and we say, "Hey, and climb down. I know what it's like down here, and you're not alone.'' Sympathy is [Noise] ... It's bad, uh-huh? [Laughter] No, you want a sandwich?" [Laughter] Empathy is a choice, and it's a vulnerable choice because in order to connect with you, I have to connect with something in myself that knows that feeling. Rarely, if ever, does an empathic response begin with "at least." [Laughter] We do it all the time because you know what, someone just shared something with us that's incredibly painful, and we're trying to silver lining it. I don't think that's a verb, but I'm using it as one. We're trying to put this silver lining around it. "I had a miscarriage." "At least, you know, you can get pregnant." "I think my marriage is falling apart." "At least you have a marriage." [Laughter] "John's getting kicked out of school." "At least Sarah is an A student." But one of the things we do sometimes in the face of very difficult conversations is we try to make things better. If I share something with you that's very difficult, I'd rather you say, "I don't even know what to say right now, I'm just so glad you told me." Because the truth is, rarely can a response make something better.

What makes something better is connection. [Music] [Video Ends]

Brandi: Dr. Richard, what makes something better is connection. [Laughter] And, did you ... I just, you know ... Empathy is feeling with somebody. It's everything that we were hoping to inspire. That's one of the reasons why I think that the connection to her work means so much to me because it's so much represents what we've always done and known in Head Start, about honoring each other and standing in a space of understanding and connection. And, G, I used to say, "Even when it's hard." Today, I say, "Especially when it's hard." That's a gift. If you can receive it that way, it's a tribute.

Dr. Richard: Yes, and I think, Brandi, this says it all. This is a connection in action. I didn't use that one before. This is a connection in action.

Brandi: I see you. Connection in action.

Dr. Richard: Yes. For me, leadership is being in action, but I like the connection, and giving us the opportunity to do those connections every day. As a leader, we know we can develop whichever characteristic we want that is most helpful for us to guide our team and maximize our performance. I'm not only talking about your own performance or performance of your team. I wanted to take this opportunity to do that wrap-up and give you the opportunity, Brandi, to talk about the resource that we have chosen for this session and cheer for everyone.

Brandi: That's perfect, G, thank you. May we all stand in that connection, G. I love that notion. It is the first time I've heard you say it exactly that way, but that really resonates with me today. Connection in action is what we need every day but specifically now. Our variables at this moment are ever-changing. If we can make that commitment to stay in connection with each other, we're going to get there. Speaking of getting there, as you predicted, [Laughter] Dr.

Richard, here's one of the resources that we wanted to offer for you to think about to extend and expand this knowledge base. It's a book that we've really grown to love. Of course, it is by Dr. Brené Brown. It's one of her newer ones, called "Dare to Lead." Guys, I'm a nerd. I love this stuff. You could actually go over to ... She has a "Dare to lead" hub, which, I believe, we have the URL for you. What's so cool about that is there are pacing guides. There are assessments you can take. If you'd like to even read this book as an organization in your program, she lays out how to do that based on the time that you might have to dedicate to it. It's amazing. If you're inspired by anything that you've heard here because it's so closely resonates with how we do what we do, then please check it out. We have the link to the resource in the "Resource" widget, so you can get it there. We actually have a "Reflect and Plan" handout for you there as well. If you want to take this back to your team and actually pull it apart a little more and put it back together in that co-constructed way, then we encourage you to do that.

Last but not least, we want to do a little knowledge check with you, as promised. We want you to look at that widget, the dark bar across the bottom of your screen. You're going to see at the third button from the end, the third widget is the "Knowledge Check." Here's what's going to happen. Let me explain to you, because this is how you get your certificate. We know this is very important to you. What we need you to do is go to those tools at the bottom, and click on that "Knowledge Check" icon, and it's going to give you a quick pop quiz or test, if you will, with three questions. Once you answer those questions, and you get them correct, you're going to get another pop-out window that says, "Congratulations, you can now access your certificate of completion." Now, once you get there, you can actually save your certificate to your desktop, which is actually what we encourage, or you can print it right in that moment. But we want to make sure that you get it and that you have it so that it's in your electronic files. We recommend that when your certificate of completion pops up in the other window, that you just go ahead and save it to your computer so you have it for whatever you need, and you can always print that later once you have it of your own accord. We're going to give you actually some space to think and do those questions. If you have a mistake on one, no problem, you can go back and fix it if you need to do that. We're going to give you little space so that you can take that quick pop quiz at the "Knowledge Check" widget at the bottom of your screen. Then we're going to check out some reflection questions before we wish you a fond farewell. So, Dr. Richard, as folks are thinking and as they're finishing their test and getting their certificate, we have a couple of reflection questions for them. Again, in the vein of extension and expansion of concepts and content that you might want to bring back to your team. What did you want to offer these for us?

Dr. Richard: Sure. I am sorry, I was sending you some hot thing because I know how difficult it is for both of us to stay silent for a second, and therefore, we would like you to keep on reflecting with us. If people are finishing their tests, let's reflect slow. Let's reflect in silence. So, what is your vision for the family services provided by your program? As leaders in your program, you have an opportunity to define your vision, and how can you communicate that vision to others so they can help you put it into practice? Remember, there is no leader without followers. The people that are going to follow, the people that are going to work alongside you need to understand your vision. I think, you know, Brandi, if we can reflect, and people, give them a little time if they need to. But I think with that, we are getting to the end of our dialogue conversation together, and we're going to give you guys, and ladies and gentlemen – I just said you guys, I'm sorry, but I say, ladies and gentlemen – we're going to give you a little time for you to take a coffee break – a bio break, and we will see you at the next session. Brandi, is there anything you would add and say before we say goodbye to everyone?

Brandi: Yeah, Dr. Richard, just gratitude, one for you and for allowing me to come along with you on this leadership conversation, for Kiersten and Dr. Bergeron for kicking us off today. I really think so much of what they spoke to really leans into this space as well. I'm just so grateful for leaders of Office of Head Start who know us and get us – they totally get us. Of course, last but not least, thanks to you guys. We're so grateful to get to spend any time with you. We know how busy you are right now, and to know that we have any more ones of your precious schedule is just an honor as always. We thank you for everything you're doing today and every day. See you in your next session.

Dr. Richard: Thank you, guys. Thank you so much for everything. Goodbye. We'll see you next time. Now, you can give me your heart. Thank you.

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