Transformative Principal

Jethro D. Jones: Welcome to
Transformative Principle.

I am your host, Jethro Jones.

And boy, I'm so excited
for this conversation.

This is gonna be good.

So upfront, I have an ask for you
today, and if you're listening and

you listen all the way through, you're
probably gonna want to say yes to this.

So I'm asking for 10 beta testers
for my school X book study.

But I'll get to the rest
of that in just a moment.

First of all, I want to say thank
you for listening to this podcast.

You are amazing.

I am so grateful to you.

I started this podcast in 2013
because I was not getting the kind of

leadership development that I felt like
I should be getting, and this has been.

My journey of learning how to be a
Transformative Principal, and seriously,

it has been amazing according to my feed.

This is episode 782, and I know
the title of this one is not

technically Episode 782, because
I've done some weird numbering

things over the years, but this is.

The 782nd episode on my podcast
feed, and that's just unreal.

I can't even believe it.

This podcast has been downloaded
more than just about any other

podcast for leaders out there?

Well, for educational leaders, you
know, I'm not in the realm of, uh.

Of other leadership podcasts that
get millions of downloads every week.

But, but I, I did break, I believe
2 million, uh, a few weeks ago.

I switched host recently, and so I
don't know exactly what my actual

download number is, but lemme tell you,
this has been amazing and I thank you

sincerely, from the bottom of my heart
for listening, uh, for all these years.

Now, I don't know if you remember,
uh, what happened in 2020.

But there was something, uh, momentous
in my life, which happened that I

released a book called School X. Now,
you probably don't remember that, or

didn't notice or weren't paying attention
because lemme tell you what the last thing

on everybody's mind was at that time.

Redesigning our schools because we
were busy dealing with a pandemic.

I remember I did a lot of reopening
workshops that year to help people

know how to reopen their schools, and
that's what everybody was focused on.

And in the middle of this, I released a
really amazing book that I was actually

looking for something last year.

And.

Saw this piece in my book and thought,
oh, I should, I should bring that up.

And I went and read a bunch of things
from my book and I was like, wow,

uh, this is actually really good.

In fact, I was surprised at how good
it was and how valuable it was, and

I thought, that's kind of a bummer
that nobody knows about this because I

released it during a global pandemic.

So, uh, at the end of 2024, I
created a little book study.

On this, and I released that in 2024.

And the feedback so far from people has
been phenomenal and people are really

liking it more than I thought they would.

And I'm not saying this to brag, I'm
saying this because I'm kind of surprised.

I knew that it would be good, but the
feedback has been more positive than

I thought, and that's pretty awesome.

I. So that's fun when that happens.

This is where the beta test part comes in.

Well, lemme tell you one more
thing before I get there.

There was one session where someone
could not make it to the session.

She forgot she had a community
event at her school that night.

And so she couldn't come to the
session and she actually watched

the two hour recording later.

And she wrote a thousand
word response to it almost.

Uh, that has never happened to me
before where somebody has watched

a recording of something I've done
and then put so much time and energy

into responding to what I created.

I mean, that's pretty awesome.

So.

It's valuable and she certainly
found value in it, and so are the

people who are attending each week,
and I'm having a lot of fun with it.

One of the things that I have
learned is unique about me is that

my focus is so practical about you
actually being able to implement

the stuff that I'm teaching that.

It.

It is unique to people and
they don't expect that.

So here's what I'm looking
for for beta testers.

Now, if you are listening to this show
right now and you're like, I listen

to Jethro's show every week, whenever
it comes out, then this is the thing

that you will want to be a part of.

Lemme tell you what I'm gonna do.

I'm going to create an asynchronous
version of this book study for people

to go through at their own pace.

And what I want beta testers for is to
help me transform what I did live and in

person into something that is meaningful
and valuable for them, uh, when they are

not, uh, in, in that thing with me live.

Now I'm gonna do something
that is, uh, a little.

Unique.

Also, when people go through
the asynchronous thing, there's

going to be time for them to get
one-on-one connection with me, uh,

outside of that asynchronous thing.

So when you get to a certain point,
there will be a point in the thing

where it'll be worthwhile for
us to meet and talk through some

of the stuff that you're doing.

So it's not exactly like taking a
class at, at a university, for example.

But the idea is kind of similar in that
it helps get you some feedback, gets

you some attention, and makes it so
that I can still connect with people,

because that's what I really like to do.

There's gonna be some things where
you'll submit things online and I'll

be able to give feedback that way.

And then there are other places
where you'll be able to actually

meet with me and we can chat
about something more in depth now.

I don't exactly know how to make that
work, but I have some ideas and I

need some people to run it by first to
get an idea of what that looks like.

So one of the other things is I've been
teaching a lot about ai, um, all across

the country for the last couple years.

I. And I'm going to really lean
into using AI to support this

work, but not do it for me.

Like I've already done the work to
create the course and everything, um,

but you know, I think I can make it a
little bit better and a little tighter,

and I'm gonna use AI to help with that.

One of the things.

For example, and here's,
here's a perfect example.

You can see this if you go to
Transformative principle.org and check

out the before and after that I'm
gonna play for you, for you to listen.

Now, first, uh, I'm just gonna take
a small snippet talking about the

Eisenhower Matrix and I'm gonna play
that for you so that you can hear it.

So let me start with that right here.

One of the things I talk about in the
book is this, Eisenhower matrix of urgent,

less, urgent, important, less important.

The saboteurs will tell you that
everything is urgent and important.

In their own way, the avoider will
say it is more important and urgent

for you to not say something than
it is for you to say something.

The avoider will say exactly the opposite.

I, uh, is what you need to do, uh,
and from the pleaser and vice versa.

And so these, all these saboteurs
will work together and say

everything is important and urgent.

And that is just not true.

And so as you are coming
up with your vision.

And your, your vital vision and
dealing with the saboteurs, you are

going to be able to say, oh, this
is a saboteur saying to put this off

or to do this or to focus on this.

And you can use the sage to help you know
which things you need to put in which area

and what actually goes where it should.

So these things work together and it's a
lot easier to rely on your vital vision

if you have it clearly stated for yourself
and make the right decision whenever

you are confronted with any issues.

It's a lot harder if you don't
have a clear vision for what you

should be doing to make those
clear decisions every single day.

So that was the first live recording
that typically you just throw

that in a LMS and then people
subscribe and you do your course.

So my thought though is to take that and.

Write a little bit better script
and do a better recording that

will give the same information,
but make it a little bit tighter, a

little bit less of my uh, awkward.

Live presentation that is,
you know, kind of endearing.

Some people say, but not quite
as good as as it could be.

And certainly if you're trying
to ingest things on your own, you

want that presentation to be tight.

So here is that first one.

Was a minute 23.

This one is only 57 seconds long, so
it cut out about 23 seconds, but the,

the text of it and what I'm trying to
say, I think comes out a lot better.

So, and here's the other thing.

Looking at this and the video that I used,
AI to help me create, which you should go

check out at Transformative principle.org
in the show notes for this episode, go.

Go check it out and look at
the difference between the two.

But right now, just listen to
the difference in these scripts.

One of the key ideas I discuss in the
book is The Eisenhower Matrix, a tool for

sorting tasks by urgency and importance.

But here's the catch.

Saboteurs will try to convince you that
everything is urgent and important.

The avoider will tell you it's more
urgent to stay silent than to speak up.

The pleaser will push you
in the opposite direction.

All these saboteurs work together
making it seem like everything

demands your attention right
now, but that's just not true.

When you define your vital
vision, you gain clarity.

You recognize when a saboteur is urging
you to delay or focus on the wrong thing.

Instead, you can rely on your
sage mind, your inner wisdom to

place each task where it belongs.

With a clear vision, making the right
decisions becomes second nature.

Without one, it's easy to get lost
in the noise of daily choices.

So take control, define your
vision, use the matrix, and

focus on what truly matters.

Okay, so tighter script, better visuals.

You'll have to go watch the visuals to
really get the full picture, but it's

definitely an improvement for sure.

Now, uh, that one, because
I was just mocking it up.

You listened to the AI Jethro
reading that one, which is my.

Voice trained on to, on AI to sound
like me, and you probably noticed how

it does and doesn't sound like me.

But the idea is that having that
with a transcript explaining the key

pieces there will be more valuable
for people who are part of this.

Now, here's the other thing that you're
gonna get as part of the beta tester.

Um, I'm going to, there are worksheets
and frameworks and things as well

that, uh, I'm gonna share with you.

Gonna get your feedback on.

You're gonna tell me how you like it,
what you think of it, but I'm also

not gonna hold anything back from you.

So if you are curious how things happen, I
will demonstrate whatever you want to see.

Um, I'm also going to be creating ads
to run to this, to, uh, to get the word

out there about it more because the,
the quality of it is so good already.

Um, it would just be a shame
for more people to not see it.

Um, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna be totally
open with you about everything.

You're gonna be able to give
feedback up as part of every aspect

of it and, um, and it'll be great.

So, uh, if you are interested in
this, here's what you need to do.

Go to Jethro site slash beta to
sign up The course will cost.

Right now it costs, uh, $200.

Um, I'm going to give beta testers a
$50 discount, and I'm going to limit it.

So only a certain number of people
will have a chance to participate.

Um, ideally 10.

The max I will take is 20.

Again, if you are listening to
this and you listen to my podcast

whenever it comes out, you're gonna
want to be part of this beta test.

It will be asynchronous
so you don't have to, uh.

Devote any specific time to meet
with me live unless you want to

join me on a work session and watch
how I, how I use AI and other tools

to create this kind of content.

Um, you're gonna be
able to see everything.

Uh, I won't hold anything back
from you, and I'll share all

the details about it with you.

Um, and what I really want are people
who are gonna actually do the work

and give me feedback and say, this
worked, this didn't, you missed the

mark here, and this could be improved.

And, um, I've never done anything like
this before, so I, I wanna work with

you and, and see how it works out.

So once again, Jethro site slash beta,
and there's a link to that in the show

notes at Transformative principle.org.

That's Jethro do site slash beta.

Now, once that discount is full, then
everybody will be able to just get,

you know, the regular version and
be able to not be part of the beta.

Anybody who is part of the beta, I am
also going to invite you into the project

that I am using to create all of this.

I use Basecamp for a lot of these
things that I do, and so I'm gonna

share that with you and show you how I.

Produce, uh, a, an event like this.

Uh, having started doing events
in 2016 with the Transformative

Leadership Summit, um, that was back
when, when I started creating content

specifically for school leaders.

Beyond just this podcast.

So I've been doing this for a long time.

I've learned a lot of
lessons along the way.

If you are interested in that kind
of stuff, which I know a lot of you

are, um, this will be your chance
to pick my brain and get some

ideas about what it will look like.

Um, I'm also going to be, like I said,
designing some ads and I'd be happy to

have your feedback on what is, what would
hit, what won't hit, things like that.

And, um.

This is just gonna be a
really fun opportunity to

dig into something like this.

I always find that I work
better when I have people that

I can bounce ideas off of.

And you know, honestly, my wife's
getting a little sick of my ideas.

Uh, I jest a little bit, but seriously,
um, it works a lot better when I

have people to bounce ideas off of.

So there's the info.

If you are interested or if you have
more questions, feel free to reach out.

You probably know how to get
ahold of me, but if not, at

Jethro Jones on all the socials.

So last time, go to Jethro dot site slash
beta BETA and I will see you in here.

We're gonna start in about a week.

So.

Let me know if you want to join.

I would love to have you.

That's Jethro site slash beta.

Alright, thanks everybody.

Thanks for being with me
during this solo episode.

Uh, I just love you.

Thank you for being amazing
and I wish you the best.