From Indiana to Dubai, Dr. Byron L. Ernest has made his mark with decades of services in education innovation. We had the honor of meeting him in Dubai early this year when he won the Education Excellence Award 2024 at Impact Leadership Awards ceremony in January. Not only is his journey exciting, but his vision for the future and his dedication towards making an impact are awe-inspiring. Here is an interview with this global visionary leader.
Dr Byron L. Ernest is the leader of today and tomorrow. With a vision to bring the best improvements to modern education, Dr Byron L. Ernest has been serving for almost four decades in the education sector. He is the founder and Chief Positivity Officer at Leadery Global, which has been founded to offer custom tailored consultative packages for clients seeking stakeholder engagement, systems level visionary design, leadership development, education leadership, and facilitation services. The services offered by Dr Byron and his team are based on practical tools for growth and best practices to meet with many challenges of fast changing systems of today. Talking about his ‘why’ behind Leadery Global Dr. Byron Ernest shared, “Much of my career was in teaching, so I sat through many so-called “professional development sessions,” and the speakers were always static and dull – many weren’t even former teachers, so they lacked perspective. Teachers love their jobs, and they constantly want to improve their skills or discover new ways to reach their students. As a facilitator of adult learning I have studied the adult brain and learned to facilitate meaningful and lasting learning. I do this because I am passionate about it, good at it, and want to help others.”
Dr Byron coined a new term for his business inspired by the word bravery; “Leadery” is an adjective that means the act of practicing great leadership. It is a word that was created by participants and Dr Byron in a leadership program he was facilitating a few years ago. During that session they were discussing how bravery and courage were needed in leadership and there was no word describing those attributes. Thus, playing on bravery, they came up with “Leadery” and decided their business should be named Leadery Global as it prepares leader to serve better and build a better future.
While serving clients, Dr Byron becomes a value-added partner, using creativity and collaboration to contribute professional expertise and multi-level support to help the organizations he works with realize their full potential. He has been supporting clients of all sizes with customized solutions ranging from countries, states, districts, schools, universities, groups, and private and public organizations to serving students in PreK-12 and higher education. His diverse experience makes him a genuinely seasoned professional in educational systems and leadership development.
Dr. Byron’s Passion:
Dr. Byron is a globally recognized and highly sought-after speaker and facilitator. His passion is to deliver customized help and solutions while consulting, especially in education leadership. Dr. Byron has extensive experience globally, leading online and in person, facilitation of groups and consulting. He has experienced diverse business contexts and engaged in cultural exchanges with colleagues from around the world, while tackling international issues in education and other industries.
Leadership Development Program:
Known for being an impact-ful leader in education, Byron Ernest, has worked as a school leader and educator, advocating for student success and innovation in teaching methods. He has made significant contributions to education. He has served on the Indiana State Board of Education and has chaired the National Association of State Boards of Education. Additionally, Byron has been involved in various educational initiatives supporting innovative developments in various stages of learning programs and educational initiatives.
The global leadership development program, pioneered by Dr. Byron, is now empowering institutions and education systems in multiple states and countries. Initially, the idea behind this development program was to ensure effective and result oriented employee development but it went deeper than a conventional employee engagement program. It equipped participants with leadership skills to ensure they are prepared to meet the challenges of the future. The leadership program Dr. Byron developed values individual strengths and has a systematic approach to identifying the right talent. This program uses the theory of action: If we empower our people through leadership skill development…Then we will have leaders ready to contribute to the success of our organization and be an important part of our talent pipeline.
Use of Technology in Education:
Technology is a great tool available for both the educators and learners to facilitate learning. Discussing about the role of technology in education system, Dr. Byron said, “It is not about the technology itself, but how the technology is used to support learning. Technology has revolutionized education by making it accessible to individuals worldwide, regardless of location, age, or socioeconomic status. To best integrate technology into education, it is important for educators to embrace new tools and resources that enhance learning experiences. This can include implementing interactive online platforms, virtual reality simulations, and personalized learning programs tailored to individual student needs. Additionally, incorporating technology into traditional teaching methods can help engage students and make learning more interactive and dynamic. By leveraging technology in education, educators can create a more inclusive and innovative learning environment that benefits students of all backgrounds.”
AI is posing some fresh challenges in the sense that educators need to understand how it could be put to best use. Then they must make students aware of the best ways to use it for facilitating learning. Dr. Byron spoke very positively of the benefits of AI. Rather than stopping students from using AI, educators must equip them with the best practices of use. Dr Byron says, “Because the world is a global community and it is not possible to ignore the fact that children have access to information resources in very intense ways, there is no way we may stop them from using AI. We must prepare them for the future and with time technology such as AI will evolve further, therefore, it is better to make them smart and ready for the future rather than blocking away options. We need to be considering what AI’s ultimate role in education should be; especially when that utility function will play a major role in creating new learning environments and more equitable opportunities for students.
There are immense opportunities with AI, and we must vet the tools; we must have threat monitoring, and appropriate regulations to guide the immersion of AI into an equitable education system. There needs to be appropriate professional development for our teachers on using AI to grow genius in our students. What we teach has become more important than how we teach. We need to think not in terms of the technology infrastructure, but about what the technology can provide for improved student learning.”
Education and the Future:
Dr Byron believes that education plays an integral role in building the future of a person, it shapes beliefs, values and personalities. Great responsibility rests with educationists to help people grow into better humans. Dr Byron does not support the perspectives against college degrees or higher education. He believes statements such as “College isn’t worth the expense” are shallow and should not be heeded.
He believes every path matters and we should be contemplating the diverse needs of individual students and the ways to best meet them. While talking about this in detail, Dr. Byron shares, “In other words, we need to consider that not everyone has the means for what we consider the traditional “coming of age” experience of attending a four-year university. Do I wish they did? Yes! And I am doing lots of work toward this end. But for some, for lots of different reasons that is not possible.” At this point Dr. Byron again pointed out that every path that our students take matters saying, “We must come alongside every student and help them along that path.”
Dr. Byron continued, “Furthermore, even though I would love for everyone to have that “coming of age” experience appropriate to their individual needs, we must realize the college education is not the end-all-be-all. Recently, I heard someone say, “I’ve got a degree but I’m not going to let it ruin my life.” What I believe the person was saying is that despite having obtained a degree, the person does not want to let their education define or limit them. They recognize that a degree is only one aspect of their life and that they want to pursue personal happiness, fulfillment, and success beyond the boundaries of their academic achievements. This statement suggests a desire to maintain a balanced perspective on life and to prioritize personal growth and well-being over the pressures or expectations that may come with having a degree.
Let us face it, the traditional college education was built for the elite. There are strides being made to change this, but we still have a long way to go. We must keep working at this because the college degree is still the best predictor of social and economic mobility. And I want that for every student. A post-secondary education is a multi-generational wealth builder. As we continue to shift to a knowledge and creativity era this creates tremendous opportunities for our young scholars. We need to be thinking about bite-size learning or ‘stackable’ credentials.”
Dr Byron’s Achievements:
Dr Byron received the 2024 Impact Global Leadership Award for Education Excellence in Dubai, and has been entitled, 2010 Indiana “Teacher of the Year” and 2011 Christopher Columbus Foundation Outstanding National Agriscience Teacher. Additionally, he was awarded the Lilly Endowment Distinguished Fellow Teacher Creativity Grant, the Smithsonian Teacher Ambassador Diffusion Award, and Inspire Education’s Mentor of Excellence Award, among many other accolades. He continues to set his sights on being the source of growth development for educators and aspiring leaders from other industries everywhere as a veritable “map to the stars.” He is continuing his obsession for learning as a Visiting Scholar in Residence with the C. S. Lewis Foundation at C. S. Lewis Study Center at The Kilns and coursework at the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. His journey has been and continues to be truly inspiring.
Message to the Readers:
“It is important that a leader strives to make everybody feel included and invited. It opens doors wide to set the foundations of healthy relationships. Let me share the example with you, I make it a point to connect with educators in their home states or country whenever traveling on my personal time. Additionally, I take the time to meet with and talk to educators who are struggling or need guidance in certain areas of their career. “Relationships” are my key leadership quality and success factor. I strive to embody the skill and ability to lead others through relationships.
My ability to lead through relationships is different from the norm because I do not push for just test scores, meeting standards to make great performance reviews. Because I know that most people will not be able to perform to their full potential unless they establish positive healthy relationships, and they know that their leader cares about them as a human being. I try to be that supportive leader. I focus on building relationships, which is a lost art, one which I have mastered and continue to hone on many different levels. It really works well. I have witnessed teachers living out the concepts and practices they have experienced through interactions with me and my leadership development programs. I advise you to focus on building relationships too”.
Dr. Byron motivates all to be effective leaders and build healthy supportive relationships.
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