“I’m a teacher.”

As an assistant superintendent in Texas, trying to create change in my district, I became impatient. Why did change take so long?

In a quest for answers, I became Executive Director for an association tasked with improving teaching and learning. I successfully lobbied the state legislature for better, faster professional development for teachers.

Still. It took too long.

One day, a colleague called and said, “We’re about to publish a new book [about professional development]. It’s about the brain.”

Right between the eyes, it hit me. While I was trying to redesign programs, passing laws, I missed one thing: right between the eyes.

The brain. That’s where it all starts.

This revelation led me on a quest to learn more about the brain, how we think, how we develop. And how to harness the power of the brain to create real change. Fast.

All the while, I explored systems: family systems, systems thinking, systems dynamic.

It all converged when the Texas Education Agency awarded me a grant to blend neuroscience and systems in the leadership development process. This combination led to accelerated change.

Finally.

I learned that simple blockages – usually the ones we learned in childhood – keep us from the lives we want. Once we clear those blockages, energy propels us forward. The path forward becomes vivid. Not easy work, but simple.

People ask me, "Are you a psychologist?"

Laughing, I reply. "No. I know a little bit about the brain, and I'm a teacher."

Backed by a 30-year career in education, Nancy Oelklaus is a leader in the fields of organizational development, change, systems thinking, and adult learning. Her national and international experience brings diversity to her work, which is grounded in a knowledge base of the brain and systems.

Dr. Oelklaus has written for The Systems Thinker, Leverage, The American School Board Journal, Leaders of Learners and Austin Business Journal. Her leadership profile, "The Power of Love," appears in Appreciative Leaders: In the Eye of the Beholder, published by the Taos Institute.

Nancy Oelklaus holds the Doctor of Education degree in Educational Administration from Texas A&M University, Commerce. Awards include Vision to Action Award from the Visions of a Better World Foundation, Boston, MA. She is an executive coach in Austin, Texas.