When I was 18 years old, I moved to England and worked at a boarding school for a year before starting University. The year was 1994, and I had not yet heard of email or the Internet. I had to make friends quickly because I was a long way from home and calling Australia was extremely expensive! One of the boarding masters at the school had a book on his shelf by Dale Carnegie called How to Win Friends & Influence People.
This was the first “self-improvement” book I had ever read, and it changed my life forever. Mr. Carnegie wrote that the key to being a good conversationalist was being a good listener. He wrote, “I had listened intently. I had listened because I was genuinely interested. And he felt it… That kind of listening is one of the highest compliments we can pay anyone.” As a nervous 18-year-old, I eagerly followed Mr. Carnegie’s advice. In no time, I found that I was able to speak to anyone, at any time, because people indeed appreciate others listening to them and asking follow up questions. I quickly found that everyone has an absolutely fascinating story to share.
Over the last 25 years, I have loved meeting new people and asking them questions to better understand what they think, why they do what they do, and how they have overcome the inevitable obstacles that were set in their paths.
In 2005, I started listening to podcasts, and since that time I have loved absorbing thousands of podcast interviews with people from all walks of life. I have been fortunate enough to work at some excellent schools around the world and have always been humbled by incredible stories of those in the communities in which I have worked.
A few years ago, I began thinking about how I should create a podcast to share the stories I gathered during my time at Lake Forest Country Day School. We launched the LFCDS Community Podcast in the fall of 2019 and it was a great success.
When I accepted the position of Head of School at Davidson Day School I knew I wanted to start a Davidson Day podcast as a way to tell the school’s story. We are now partnering with Resonate Recordings and they are producing our new podcast which gives each episode an even more professional sound.
Podcasting is a tool that can be utilized as part of a broader communications strategy to tell a school’s story, and create conversations and “buzz” in the broader community. It has been rewarding to hear people, both inside and outside of the Davidson Day community, share how much they enjoy each episode and look forward to new ones being released.
The Davidson Day Community Podcast is available through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.