Mining & Shining Idea Lab
Excavating Hidden Gold—In People, Educational Leaders, and Organizations
I'm James Robinson. I wear a lot of hats as a Christian and trained Jungian coach , a successful education and non-profit executive, a writer and poet, and founding excavator at Mining and Shining Idea Lab, my personal website for coaching and more.
My practice is simple: dig deep into the shadows—personal, historical, organizational—and bring forth the nuggets worth shining.
Whether it's unearthing a courage gap in leadership, or helping a school/nonprofit confront uncomfortable truths , I help individuals and organizations polish overlooked opportunities into lasting impact.
It's the mining and shining way.
1:1 Coaching
Discharging Your Loyal Soldier for School Leaders in Transition is for principals, principal -managers, and executive directors who are transitioning into new roles, new organizations or new projects. Ideas are never enough, you have to execute. I can help.
Courage Gap and InfoGraphics
Lo-fi talks and rants about education. Nothing like them anywhere. I dare you to watch. But if you can't , check out the infographics. You may be surprised.
U-Turns
U-Turns: A Life in Schools is the title of my substack. It's part memoir, part field guide and part critique of education. During the school year, I share the tactics we're using at Project Reflect, where I serve as the executive director, to elevate the first charter school founded in Middle Tennessee. -- Smithson Craighead Academy. In the summers, I go back to opinions, policy and the Courage Gap.