Cultivating Your Leadership Courage by Being Yourself– The Parable of the Suburban Waver

James Robinson • July 25, 2024

What's your  personal leadership "wave" to the world?

Between 6:45 and 7:45 AM, a man in his 70s walks the main thoroughfare near my home. This segment of road connects the rural fairgrounds to a suburban highway populated by mediocre chain restaurants, car dealerships, and supermarkets. From one end of this thoroughfare to the other is five miles–  a good trek for anybody, of any age. 


But what makes this man peculiar is that he waves at every car that passes by. It’s not a lukewarm greeting, but a vertical stretching of his arms, punctuated by a smile.  His vocabulary of waves, smiles and greetings is extensive. My favorite is the two-handed arm raise that he lowers down while extending two fingers, directly pointing at the driver – and his lips yelling, “Good morning.” 


The energy is contagious. Drivers smile and wave back. It’s impossible not to at this point.


His practice of waving has been going on for years. Now,  drivers  expect to see him every morning. They honk, slow down, and  acknowledge the Waver to reciprocate. On the few days the Waver doesn’t walk, it’s noticeable. On those days, the part of the world I live in seems different– there’s something absent and its visceral. Once, I saw the Waver at a local coffee shop, and witnessed his brand of celebrity in action. All patrons paused, gawked attentively at the barista, and eavesdropped. She asked him what we all wanted to know, “Are you the guy who waves at everyone in the morning?”


“Yep.” 


And that was it. He smiled, paid for his coffee and left.  It was  perfect.. 


What I love most is that the Waver’s social media platform is simple. It’s a sidewalk and a busy street. That’s it.  Observing the Waver for nearly ten years, here are a few insights I’ve gleaned:


  1. Conjure the Courage to Be You, No Matter What: Waving 100s of times per hour is both eccentric and generous.  There’s no guarantee anybody will wave back or if if will help your reputation. In the early days of his practice, he may have been frustrated and drivers may have perceived him as a kook. Going into the world to perform your personal work takes real courage– even if one’s reputation takes a negative shot initially. 
  2. Consistency and Persistence Pays Off:  Because the Waver consistently shows up, he has led people to expect that small shot of joy every day, at those times.  Had he done it on some random Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays, the result wouldn’t  be the same.  The same would be true if he didn’t persist through storms or the scalding Tennessee Sun.
  3. It's Done in Good Faith: Based on the Waver’s response in the coffee shop, he’s waving to people and spreading positivity because it’s a good thing to do. He knows people like to be seen and acknowledged. He’s not looking for fame or recognition, he just wants the world to have a great day. That’s a task worth waking up for. 



I'm going to finish with a question:  What's your personal leadership wave to the world?  For me, it's posting this blog, creating content and coaching .If you’re an introverted leader wanting the courage to be yourself within your organization, let’s connect. 


  .


Precious Metal Notes

Venturing into the Courage Gap, #1

By James Robinson • February 21, 2026
context In an earlier post, I wrote about the need for a self-inflicted sabbatical from educational leadership in 2024. The time-off allowed me to step back, read, study, think, and create at a level I've not known in years. Although we went without my salary for six-months, the data reflects it was also the most stress-free time in recent years-- likely driven by the walks, meditation, prayer and just leveling myself to a position of just learning again. The openness matters. During that time, I created a series of talks, titled The Courage Gap: Another gap in education that a consultant can't close. Originally, they were called "Career-Suicide Notebooks", the reason being my plan was to walk away from education all together. Instead, what I learned will inform my work for years. I've heard it said that Buddhist monks can see the world in a grain of rice. After being immersed in education for several years, I see the world in a school ecosystem. Often, schools enter my creative work and the way I think about creativity enters my work in schools. The first video is called 33% and it looks at the proficiency scores of 4th grade students on the NAEP Assessment. Additionally, it looks at the broad economy that works to maintain the status quo. It's a very performative video, very low-brow-- but it sets the context for the rest of the talks. Moreover, many of the issues can be extrapolated across sectors.

Lettuce Entertain You: Why Fluency Matters

By James Robinson • February 21, 2026
Lettuce Entertain You “Lettuce entertain you” is a classic line from an old reading assessment passage. When kids read it aloud, assessors listened for more than just smooth delivery—they hoped for laughter, or at least a chuckle, as a sign the pun landed. Too often, though, the reading was fluent but flat. No chuckle meant the joke flew right over their heads; students weren't picking up on the playful language. In one district, coaches and a principal were so eager for better results that they printed t-shirts featuring “Lettuce entertain you” with a cartoon head of lettuce. The goal? Prime students to spot the pun. It backfired into a perfect illustration of two broader lessons that apply far beyond reading: Fluency goes beyond word-calling and prosody—it's also about the fluency of ideas, vocabulary, and real understanding. Outcomes aren't a competition; chasing short-term wins can undermine genuine mastery. Fluency In reading instruction, we often emphasize how smoothly words flow from a student's mouth—rate, accuracy, expression. But we under-discuss the clearest marker of comprehension: real-time emotional responses. A laugh at a pun, a gasp at a twist, or a puzzled frown when something doesn't add up—these are the tells that a reader is truly processing and connecting with the text. Genre knowledge matters too. In a mystery or whodunit, fluent readers adjust tone for foreshadowing or suspense. True fluency integrates decoding, word knowledge, genre conventions, and quick comprehension. This isn't unique to reading. Fluency of ideas—the ability to recall and apply mounds of knowledge fluidly, under pressure, with little time to look things up—is a universal hallmark of expertise. A doctor in the ER doesn't have minutes to Google symptoms; they need instant recall of anatomy, pharmacology, differentials, and protocols to make life-saving calls. That's fluency in medical knowledge. A chef in a busy kitchen doesn't pause to consult recipes mid-service; they fluidly combine ingredients, techniques, flavors, and timing to plate perfect dishes under the heat of the line. That's fluency in culinary craft. An artist doesn't deliberate over every brushstroke in isolation; in flow state, they draw on a deep reservoir of techniques, composition principles, color theory, and intuition to create without hesitation. That's fluency in creative expression. States have experimented with measuring aspects of this in reading. Tennessee came close around 2020 with a foundational literacy fluency component on the TCAP ELA assessment (especially in Grade 2). It was a simple yet powerful timed task: students read short, grade-level statements and quickly marked YES or NO to indicate if each was true. In a minute or so, it gauged decoding speed, basic vocabulary, and instant comprehension—exposing gaps that many elementary programs overlook . See the snippet below: