PMP509: A Complaint Free World with Will Bowen
Jul 15, 2026
Show notes
Meet Will Bowen
Will Bowen is an internationally recognized speaker, author, and founder of the Complaint Free® Movement. This movement has inspired millions of people across more than 100 countries to live with greater positivity and personal accountability.
He is best known for his bestselling book A Complaint-Free World, which introduced a simple yet powerful idea: by becoming more aware of our words, especially complaints, we can transform our mindset, relationships, and results. His challenge has helped individuals, teams, and organizations break the habit of chronic complaining and replace it with intentional, solution-focused thinking.
His message has been featured on major media outlets, including Oprah, NBC’s Today Show, and People Magazine. Whether speaking to schools, corporations, or leadership groups, Will Bowen equips people with tools to elevate their thinking and ultimately, their lives.
Complaining, Mindset, and Personal Growth
In this conversation, Will Bowen shares the origin of his global initiative, which began with a simple purple bracelet and a challenge: go 21 days without complaining. What started as a small experiment quickly grew into a worldwide movement, helping millions become more aware of their thoughts, words, and habits.
At the heart of Bowen’s message is the idea that complaining is not just harmless venting; it reinforces negativity, limits growth, and shapes how we experience the world. Instead, he encourages individuals to take responsibility for their responses and focus on solutions rather than problems.
The G.R.I.P.E. Framework
A key takeaway from the conversation is Bowen’s practical acronym for understanding complaints: G.R.I.P.E.
G – Get Attention Complaints Will makes an important distinction between honest reflection and complaining; complaining is expressing something primarily for selfish appeal or ego. Response Tip: When others complain for attention, redirect their thinking toward gratitude. Ask: “So what is going well with __________?” For example, if someone complains about students, ask: “What’s going well with your classes?” This shift moves the conversation from misery to possibility.
R – Remove Responsibility Complaints Complaining is often used as a way to get off the hook. When faced with accountability, people may point to others’ failures or claim circumstances are beyond their control. This keeps them stuck and avoids ownership. Response Tip: Shift from excuse-making to solution-seeking by asking: “If it were possible, how might you do it?” This question removes the escape route and opens the door to action.
I – Inspire Envy Complaints (The Humble Brag) Sometimes complaints are really disguised attempts to appear superior. For instance, pointing out someone else’s shortcomings may actually be a way to highlight one’s own strengths. These “humble brags” create comparison rather than connection. Response Tip: Will Bowen suggests “complimenting the opposite.” If someone points out another’s flaw, you might respond by affirming their strength: “It’s great that you’re always on time.” This can gently expose the motive behind the complaint and shift the tone. Changing the subject is also an effective way to disengage from this pattern.
P – Power Complaints People who feel powerless sometimes use complaining as a way to gain control—often through gossip or criticism of others. This can be especially toxic in teams. Response Tip: If someone comes to you to complain about another person, respond with: “It sounds like the two of you have a lot to talk about.” If they continue, you might add: “Would you like me to arrange a meeting?” This redirects them toward resolution instead of reinforcing the complaint.
E – Excuse Complaints (Excusing Poor Performance) Complaining is one of the quickest ways to avoid accountability. Instead of addressing areas for growth, individuals may focus on obstacles or limitations. Bowen notes that, like in team sports, those who resist coaching often weaken the team dynamic. Response Tip: Replace excuses with ownership by asking: “How do I plan to improve next time?” This shifts the focus from justification to growth and from problems to solutions.
Complaining, Social Media, and Leadership
A powerful part of the conversation focused on how social media platforms often amplify and reward complaining. Bowen explained that algorithms are designed to prioritize emotionally charged content (especially negativity) because it drives engagement. As a result, complaints, outrage, and criticism tend to spread faster and wider than thoughtful or solution-oriented messages.
In a world where complaints are often rewarded with attention, leaders stand out by modeling steadiness, responsibility, and solution-focused thinking.
Listen for even more!
Will Bowen reminds us that eliminating complaints does not mean ignoring real problems. Instead, it means choosing to address those problems in a way that is constructive, responsible, and focused on solutions. Listen to the entire conversation for even more great takeaways, and as always, thank you for doing what matters!
Contact & Resources
To learn more about Will Bowen and the Complaint Free® Movement, visit https://willbowen.com/, where you can find resources, tools, and information about his work.
MONDAY MATTERS with Jen Schwanke and Will Parker – The Problem with Certainty
Jul 13, 2026
Show notes
Welcome back to another episode of Monday Matters! This week, Will Parker and Jen Schwanke talk about the problem with certainty. Certainty is not a bad thing. It is very soothing and comforting for us, but it doesn’t equal growth. In fact, being certain is a terrible substitute for growth. The idea of leadership as a single individual who believes they do not need help or input is a dangerous one. It’s important for leaders to lean into their relationships with others. Surrounding yourself with people who you can collaborate with to grow is powerful. We don’t want to shut out the voices of other people who might see things that we can’t see ourselves. By welcoming input from other principals, teachers, staff, and even students, we can truly grow as leaders. Listen in to the full conversation to hear more about the problem with certainty!
Stacey James currently serves as a Magnet Lead at Armwood High School and has held this role for several years, leading schoolwide efforts to align rigor, routines, and relationships to support instructional improvement and student success. With over 17 years in education, she has previously served as a classroom teacher, AVID coordinator, and instructional coach. James also has more than five years of experience as an AVID staff developer, facilitating professional learning for educators at AVID Summer Institutes and national conferences.
Dina Langston serves as principal of Armwood High School, where she leads efforts to improve instructional quality, school culture, and student outcomes through aligned systems and collaborative leadership. Her work has contributed to significant school improvement, including increased graduation rates and academic performance. In recognition of her leadership and impact on student achievement, Langston was awarded the 2026 Principal Leadership Award from Florida TaxWatch. Together, Stacey James and Dina Langston design and deliver professional learning grounded in real school contexts and focused on sustainable improvement for educators and students.
The Triple R Framework:
Today’s guests center their leadership work around what they call the Triple R Framework: rigor, routines, and relationships. These three elements work together to create strong learning environments where students and educators can thrive. When schools intentionally focus on all three, they create both the structure and the culture necessary for sustained improvement.
Rigor:
Rigor is not simply about giving students more difficult assignments. Instead, it involves designing learning experiences that require students to think deeply, engage meaningfully, and apply their knowledge in authentic ways. When educators maintain high expectations while also providing the support students need to succeed, rigor becomes a pathway to greater engagement and stronger learning outcomes.
Key ideas:
Maintain high expectations for every student
Design learning that requires critical thinking
Connect instruction to real-world applications
Pair high expectations with strong student support
Routines:
Predictable routines create stability in classrooms and throughout schools. When students understand procedures and expectations, they can spend less time navigating uncertainty and more time focused on learning. Clear routines also help teachers manage classrooms effectively and maintain a consistent learning environment.
Examples include:
Clear entry and exit procedures
Consistent assignment submission processes
Structured discussion and participation norms
Reinforcing routines regularly so expectations remain clear
Relationships:
Relationships are the foundation of a healthy school culture. When students feel known, valued, and supported, they are more likely to engage in learning and take academic risks. Strong relationships among educators, students, and families build trust and create a sense of community that strengthens the entire school environment.
Effective strategies include:
Community-building activities
Meaningful conversations with students
Learning about students’ interests, backgrounds, and goals
Creating a culture where students feel safe to participate and grow
Staying Connected:
Listen to the full conversation with Dina Langston and Stacey James for more insights on leading with rigor, routines, and relationships! You can stay connected with Dina Langston and Stacey James via the following channels:
MONDAY MATTERS with Jen Schwanke and Will Parker – Why Vacation Matters
Jul 06, 2026
Show notes
Today’s Monday Matters discusses the importance of summertime for mental break and the importance of disengagement from the worries. Will Parker and Jen Schwanke discuss the benefits of giving yourself a mental break from the stress of a leadership job. They talk about how taking a break will make the next school year better, and will allow you to re-connect to yourself and the things that you love. Will and Jen also talk about how taking a break from work is easier said than done. Sometimes you need a few days for your brain to reset and get into vacation mode. If you feel like you can’t stop working, or don’t want to, you don’t have to take the whole summer to stop working, but it’s important to take some time to mentally and emotionally detox. Take a few days in the summer to spend time enjoying time with family and friends, enjoying nature, and remembering what is important. Listen in to hear more about the importance of summer vacation! You can also read this article Will wrote several years ago about the importance of vacation. As always, thanks for doing what matters and enjoy your summer break!
PMP507: Steady Leadership with Paden Morris
Jul 01, 2026
Show notes
A Quick Note to Listeners:
Before this week’s interview, Will Parker and Jen Schwanke take some time to answer a listener question. This week’s question is:
What would you say is the solution for the current state of decline in U.S. schools?
Listen in to hear their response!
Meet Paden Morris:
Paden Morris serves as principal of Tyler Consolidated High School in Tyler County, West Virginia, where he has led for the past five years. Known for his steady leadership, Paden is passionate about helping staff and students believe in their own capacity for growth. He is a believer in collaboration and committed to reflection, continuous growth, and building a culture where belief drives performance. A husband and father of a curious three-year-old son, Paden is intentional about balancing leadership and family life while prioritizing what truly matters. In 2026, he was recognized by the West Virginia School Counselors Association as the Administrator of the Year.
In this week’s episode, Paden reflects on his 12–13 year journey in education—from special education and science teacher to career and technical education leader, and now principal. Leading a small high school of approximately 360 students, he shares how steady leadership, collaboration, and belief in people have shaped his school’s culture—especially in the years following the pandemic.
Rebuilding After the Pandemic:
Taking the principalship during the COVID recovery period, Paden focused on restoring normalcy, rebuilding relationships, and re-centering the school around a clear and memorable mission: To make it possible for all students to be self-supporting, contributing, and caring citizens. Rather than allowing the mission to sit on a wall, Paden and his leadership team distilled it into language that guides daily decisions. Each word carries weight:
Self-supporting – Students develop independence, resilience, and life readiness.
Contributing – Graduates move forward into work, military, college, or other meaningful pathways.
Caring – Students grow into high-quality human beings who care for themselves and others.
Building Culture Through Collective Efficacy:
Paden emphasizes shared leadership and collective efficacy. By empowering teachers as experts and forming a student advisory council, he ensures students have voice and ownership in school culture. He regularly meets with grade-level groups to ask what’s working, what’s challenging, and what they’d change—modeling transparency and trust. The results of his leadership style are inspiring: Over 90% of students participate in extracurricular activities, reinforcing connection, motivation, and belonging.
“Don’t Water Rocks”:
One of the most impactful leadership lessons Paden shares comes from his superintendent: DWR — Don’t Water Rocks. Instead of pouring energy into unproductive criticism or negativity, leaders should invest their time where growth and impact are possible. Paden reframed his mindset: “I will defend this place every day—but I’d rather be proud of it.” This shift from defensiveness to pride allows the school to spotlight the 95% of good happening daily rather than being consumed by the 5% of negativity.
Moving from Compliance to Deep Learning:
The conversation also explores Tyler Consolidated’s shift toward standards-based grading. Post-pandemic, Paden and his team realized their assessment practices had drifted toward compliance rather than deep learning. Through a voluntary summer cohort that grew far beyond expectations, staff began rethinking grading practices to focus on:
Clear proficiency criteria
Evidence-based assessment
Meaningful feedback
Learning over averaging
The shift reflects a commitment to authentic growth rather than traditional gradebook calculations.
Leadership and Family Balance:
As a husband and father of a young child, Paden shares the ongoing challenge of balancing school leadership with family life. He emphasizes intentionality, perspective, and protecting what matters most—recognizing that sustainable leadership requires healthy personal priorities.
PMP506: Hope Is A Strategy with Jamie Meade
Jun 24, 2026
Show notes
A Quick Note to Listeners:
Before this week’s interview, Will Parker and Jen Schwanke take some time to answer a listener question. This week’s question is:
What is the difference between procedures and systems?
Listen in to hear their response, and thank you for doing what matters!
Meet Jamie Meade:
With a career spanning over 35 years in education, Jamie Meade is dedicated to positive change and impact in our nation’s education systems, working to advance academic achievement, growth, and well-being for our nation’s youth. Jamie began her career as a high school English teacher in the rural Appalachian region of Ohio, and her passion led her to leadership roles in the school and district-level. Jamie has also served in regional school improvement services with the Ohio Department of Education and as Vice President at Battelle for Kids. For more than a decade, Jamie has done extensive research in the science of Hope—and why it matters for students, staff, education leaders, and communities.
The Science of Hope:
Jamie has made herself a student of hope, and has learned a great deal how we can focus on hope as a tool for leading, teaching, and learning. In this interview, Jamie explains that hope is different from wishful thinking, and walks us through the science of the brain— and where hope actually lives in our minds. Unlike “wishing” (which is passive), real hope is an active, strategic cognitive process. Neuroscience shows that hope is a skill that can be practiced. The more we choose hopeful thoughts, the more we physically rewire our brains to build capacity for resilience.
The GPA of Hope:
Jamie also introduces C.R. Snyder’s Hope Theory framework:
Goals: A vision for a future that is better than today.
Pathways: The ability to identify multiple routes to reach those goals and navigate obstacles.
Agency: The belief in one’s own ability and the mental energy to pursue those pathways.
Building Hope Among Students:
Students are often stuck in the downward spiral of losing hope, which often starts with anger , moves to despair, and ends in apathy. As Jamie says, “Don’t misdiagnose hopelessness as laziness. Apathy is the final stage of a depleted spirit.” Teachers and staff are key factors in increasing student hope. Look for staff who bring energy, share their power, and get students excited about the future. Hope is a gift that can be shared. A student who has lost hope can borrow it from a teacher, but only if that teacher has it to spare. This applies to leaders and their staff as well.
Staying Connected:
If you would like to learn more about Jamie Meade, you can connect with her via email at j-meade@outlook.com.
MONDAY MATTERS with Jen Schwanke and Will Parker – Let Them Theory
Jun 22, 2026
Show notes
Will Parker and Jen Schwanke spend this Monday Matters episode discussing one of Jen’s recent newsletters about the “let them” theory. The central thesis of their discussion is that school leaders can’t control other people’s emotions. They talk about how leading sometimes means making decisions that people disagree with, and being okay with that. Whether you’re dealing with teachers, parents, or students, someone is going to be upset by your decisions. Let people be mad, sad, and frustrated for a little while, rather than trying to keep everyone happy. Sometimes people just need to feel their emotions for a bit before they calm down and be okay with your decision. Still, it can be hard to gauge when someone’s reaction is worth responding to. Jen offers up a framework she calls the “four ten’s” to figure out how to respond. The “four ten’s” work like this: Ask yourself if this is going to matter in ten minutes, ten hours, ten days, ten months, or ten years. You can hear all of our takeaways by listening to the episode, or watch it on YouTube.
Tiffany brings more than two decades in education — from teaching at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, to instructional coaching and serving as an elementary principal before taking time to teach and support educators nationwide as part of the Connected Communicator movement.
Erika Bare has spent over 20 years in education as well, including roles as a special education teacher, administrator, and currently as a district leader committed to helping all students reach their potential. Together, they blend deep classroom and leadership experience with practical communication tools that help adults build stronger, more connected relationships with students.
They joined us on Principal Matters: The School Leader’s Podcast in Episode 369 to share insights from their work and strategies that empower leaders and educators to handle tough conversations with care and confidence. Now, they are authors of the new book, A School Leader’s Playbook for Tough Conversations.
Understanding the Challenge of Tough Conversations:
Tough conversations often create anxiety for school leaders, leading to sleepless nights and lingering stress. Tiffany Burns notes that, while most educators enter the profession to serve students, it is often the adult conversations — with staff, caregivers, and colleagues — that feel most complex and emotionally charged. In their book, Burns and Bare provide concrete strategies to help leaders prepare intentionally, reduce uncertainty, and approach conversations with purpose rather than avoidance.
The Importance of Relationship-Building:
A central theme of the conversation is the importance of building relationships long before difficult conversations arise. Erika Bare emphasizes the need for leaders to systematize relationship-building by intentionally scheduling regular check-ins and informal connections with staff. Simple habits — such as dedicating the first part of the day to walking classrooms and engaging in brief conversations — help staff feel seen, valued, and supported.
Will Parker reinforces this idea with the reminder: “Our systems support our habits.” When leaders prioritize relationship-building in their calendars, those behaviors become sustainable rather than reactive.
Strategies for Effective Communication:
Burns and Bare share several practical strategies for reducing tension and increasing clarity during tough conversations. One example involves responding thoughtfully when someone seeks immediate feedback or resolution. Instead of dismissing the concern or rushing a response, leaders can say:
“This conversation is important, and I want to give it the time it deserves. Let’s schedule a time to talk more.”
This approach honors the person’s concern while creating space for a more focused and productive conversation.
Another powerful strategy is the intentional use of supportive language. Bare highlights the impact of simple questions such as, “How can I support you?” This communicates empathy and helps leaders better understand what type of support is truly needed — whether emotional reassurance, problem-solving, or simply being heard.
Overcoming Obstacles to Communication:
Despite best intentions, school leaders often struggle to sustain these practices amid constant demands and crisis-driven work. Burns acknowledges how easily proactive relationship-building can slip as the school year intensifies. The solution, however, is not perfection — it is consistency and accountability. Leaders must protect their calendars, recommit to intentional habits, and recognize that meaningful connections are not optional extras but foundational leadership work.
Conclusion:
Tough conversations do not have to be overwhelming. When leaders invest in relationships, communicate intentionally, and build supportive systems, difficult moments become opportunities for trust, growth, and clarity. By applying these practices, school leaders can transform anxiety-producing conversations into meaningful moments of connection and leadership impact.
If you want to connect with Erika Bare and Tiffany Burns, you can learn more about them at their website.
MONDAY MATTERS with Jen Schwanke and Will Parker – Learning From Asparagus
Jun 15, 2026
Show notes
This week on Monday Matters, Will Parker and Jen Schwanke reflect on a story that Jen recently shared in her newsletter. She shares the story of watching the asparagus her father planted to see if it would grow, only for it to grow when she wasn’t watching it. Will and Jen take some time to apply this story to schools and talk about how change and growth happen over time, even when we’re not watching. So often, school leaders will want to see change happen immediately, and will get frustrated when it doesn’t. In these moments, it is important to remember how change happens gradually, over time, even when we’re not looking for it. Don’t fixate on the immediate; focus on the long-term. Listen in to hear the full conversation!
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