Foundational Principles
- Every decision must be considered through the lens of being a Mother. For the purpose of this foundational principle, a mother is considered a fellow, equally human being with her children, but she is not equal with her children. She is not their friend, she is not their ruler, she is their Mother. The first and most invested person in their health, their safety, their wellbeing, and their ability to experience themselves as the incredible people they are so that they and their world can benefit. Her children’s success is fostered through taking on the responsibility of being a healthy authority, ensuring critical needs are met, investing in strengths and areas for growth, communicating and upholding clear expectations and boundaries, providing constructive consequences to support healthy development, making the hard choices and being the ‘bad guy’ when the painful but right thing needs to be done, and being the loudest to cheer when constructive agency is practiced.
- Every decision must be considered through the lens of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs. This theory, visually presented in the form of a pyramid, identifies what foundational human needs must be met in order to ‘unlock’ the ability to experience one’s full potential as an individual and as a collective of humanity. The theory provides clear guidance on what the human mind prioritizes, what it will focus on and fight for if missing, stealing attention and energy until the need is met. One is not advancing their skill sets or investing in their relationships while choking to death. The immediate need that steals from every other potential endeavour is the need for air, to be able to breathe. Maslow’s Hierarchy prioritizes meeting Physiological Needs first, followed by Safety, Love and Belonging, Esteem, and Self-Actualization in order to be all you and we can be.
- Every decision must be considered through the lens of the Broken Windows Theory. While presented as a theory primarily for criminology purposes, it is an excellent leadership tool for shaping healthy and constructive environments. When something in society is broken, partial fixes will not address the problem. Solutions must be proactive, timely, detail-oriented, thorough, and executed with Excellence. Big problems are made up of little problems. The little things are the big things. And by not allowing a problem to remain unaddressed in any of its lesser or smaller forms, we clear out the bad so the good can thrive.