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FINDING YOUR
LEADERSHIP SOUL
Finding Your Leadership Soul is a series of reflections, framed around letters Carlos writes to three young men whom he had the opportunity to teach and mentor. All three of these young men - Josue, Angel and Shawn - have passed; too young and too common for young men of color these days. Thus, Carlos' letters take the form of lessons he wishes he could have shared, impacts he wishes he could have made. Knowing that time with our young people can be fleeting, Carlos shares these lessons with the reader so that they don't miss the opportunity to introduce soul into their own leadership toolbox.
At its core, Finding Your Leadership Soul is about the important functions love, care and vulnerability play in education leadership and how our society tends to shun these characteristics in leaders, in favor of more traditionally masculine character traits (e.g. machismo, discipline, etc.). Carlos had to learn this lesson the hard way.
"This book is simply beautiful. Each page is filled with the power of vulnerability to heal and manifest justice."
Dr. Bettina Love
Professor and bestselling author of Punished for Dreaming and We Want to do More than Survive
CARLOS MORENO
A proud native New Yorker, Carlos Moreno is a passionate education trailblazer committed to supporting school and district leaders in creating high-quality, innovative schools designed to tackle systemic equity issues.
Carlos currently serves as Co-Executive Director for Big Picture Learning, a nonprofit organization that has developed more than 200 such schools in the United States and around the world. He also co-founded and leads the Deeper Learning Equity Fellowship in partnership with the Internationals Network for Public Schools as well as the newly created Ashé Leaders Fellowship; and is also the founder and co-producer of the highly acclaimed Leadership Journeys storytelling initiative; which has featured inspirational figures such as Christopher Emdin, Dena Simmons, Kaya Henderson, Nancy Gutierrez, Meisha Porter, Bettina Love, and many more. Carlos holds undergraduate degrees in marketing and business and a Masters Degree in educational leadership.
But those are merely Carlos’ representatives. At heart, Carlos is an observer, a family man, a learner, a builder of community, a student, and a teacher—someone who has simultaneously found and continues to seek his own leadership soul.
WATCH - What is Leadership Soul? (Virtual keynote from the 2021 Big Picture Learning Leadership Conference)
WATCH - What is Leadership Journeys?
READ - "Democracy Should Not Equal your Destiny." Is Equity Enough, 2021 State of Black Kansas City.
READ - Making Mattering Matter.
WATCH - Carlos Moreno, Acceptance remarks - ASU GSV 2020 Innovator of Color Award.
READ - In Loving Memory of a Different Time.
READ - Shining a Light on History.
WATCH - Carlos Moreno, Opening Keynote iNACOL (now Aurora) 2018 Symposium.
WATCH - Carlos Moreno, Keynote 2018 Deeper Learning Conference at High Tech High.
