Summary: A few years ago, I sat in a gymnasium with bleachers filled with middle schoolers while I watched high school student <a href="https://www.jessehaynesauthor.com" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Jesse Haynes</a>, one of my own Skiatook seniors at the time, share about his new novel he published that year.<br> “This is one of my teammates and me after winning our first tournament of the year,” he said, as he scrolled through a Powerpoint presentation of himself playing basketball. Then he showed a photo of himself with his dog, and another one of himself sitting in his favorite chair at home where he wrote his first book.<br> Jesse was one of those students who didn’t need much encouragement to pursue his dreams or creative ideas. And he enjoyed sharing them with others. In fact, he possessed a rare gift. He believed that he could accomplish whatever he was willing to take action toward achieving. And that was his message for that gym full of middle school students.<br> One day, Jesse was visiting my office as we talked his plans for college. I asked him how he was keeping track of his readers and students who followed him on social media. “I haven’t thought about it,” he told me. “Do you have any suggestions?” I pointed Jesse toward some websites and resources I had found helpful for blogging, subscription email and podcasting. This began a series of conversations that has continued even after graduation.<br> Soon Jesse began experimenting with podcasting. When he shared his ideas with one of his communication professors, he suggested that Jesse start an independent study the next semester by creating a podcast as a class project. In response, Jesse wrote a drama series called <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-others/id1202066419?mt=2" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Others</a> that has been downloaded more than 2 million times. He second podcast drama, <a href="https://www.maziemeadowsmorningshow.com" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Mazie Meadows Morning Show</a>, has already seen more than 1.5 million downloads.<br> As I think about Jesse and students like him, I’m reminded of quote by <a href="https://managementisajourney.com/saturdays-quote-from-maya-angelou/">Maya Angelou</a>. She once said, “We are all creative, but by the time we are three or four years old someone has knocked creativity out of us. Some people shut up the kids who start to tell stories. Kids dance in their cribs, but someone will insist they sit still. By the time the creative people are ten or twelve, they want to be like everyone else.”<br> A Traveler’s Podcast<br> Let me tell you another story of creativity. A few months ago, I was on a road trip with my son Jack who is twelve years-old. We were heading to see my mom and dad who live in West Tennessee, nine hours away from our home in Oklahoma. It was a long drive and we had downloaded an audio-version of Tom Sawyer to pass the time. <br> About half way through the trip, we were getting stir crazy. So I turned off the story and said, “Hey, do you want to record a podcast?” Jack pulled out my laptop and plugged in my microphone. I coached him on how to cue a new recording using GarageBand, and he tapped the record button. Because we were heading to Tennessee, we decided we would narrate using our best southern accents. <br> For the next few minutes, we started our first “Traveler’s Podcast” – describing the scenery, talking about his first experience eating a Big Mac, and bragging about how I make the best burgers. Then something magical happened. <br> Suddenly, we pretended we saw something large and dark fly over the car. For the next twenty minutes or so, we instinctively moved into the realm of imagination. We switched the recording off and on again as we shared ideas on how to build the story. We described large winged creatures, listened to “reports on the news” about invasions of space-like-bat-creatures from outer space,
