States of Being
Center for Coaching & Leading
Founding Director, Linda Belans, Ed.D.
Groundbreaking … Belans thoughtfully integrates real examples from her coaching experience with theory and qualitative data… An innovative, holistic analysis of the coaching process will surely make an indelible impact on the future of educational leadership studies. —Daniel R. Porterfield, President and CEO, The Aspen Institute
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States of Being Center for Coaching & Leading stands resolutely WITH ALL children born or naturalized in the United States of America to claim all rights and privileges as American citizens granted them by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. We stand resolutely AGAINST the cruel, inhumane, and despicable January 20, 2025 executive order that attempts to deny children their birthright. We commend NC AG Jeff Jackson for signing on to uphold the law, one that leaves no executive room for reinterpretation.
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14th Amendment. Section 1
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
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States of Being is a strengths-based philosophical approach to coaching – anchored in belonging, benevolence, and seeing the higher self – embodied in a practice that cascades from senior leaders to the youngest student.
Belans clearly elaborates the essential equity questions that should be at the heart of every decision a school leader makes. – Dr. Mahalia Hines, President - Common Ground Foundation, Board Member - Obama Foundation, former Board Member - Chicago Board of Education
States of Being Empowers us to coach from a place of love, compassion and empathy. Dr. Belans teaches us to honor and recognize the humanity in others, the adults we lead and the students we have the privilege of serving. I am a better human being in the world as a result. -- Constance Ranae Jones, CEO Noble Schools
States of Being conveys the urgent need for compassionate and equitable leadership in our schools. Belans has distilled decades of coaching experience into a methodology that all leaders and mentors will be able to apply their own coaching practices. She is clear at every moment that leadership must be grounded equity and social justice, and she never wavers from her insistence that students’ well-being should be the center of educational decision making. The 11 states of being presented in this book are practical, insightful, and most shocking in their immediate effectiveness. Belans shows once and for all that reductive or deficits-based leadership is damaging, unproductive, and most of all unnecessary. Here, she presents the assets- and equity-based tools to create true transformational change.