November 06, 2026

I’ve been interested for a long time in the idea of soft skills. I even helped produce a podcast focused on this called Skilled by Design. Tom Bay has done a lot of work in this arena. As has Seth Godin.

I recently found Dr. Marvin Berkowitz’s book PRIMED for Character Education: Six Design Principles for School Improvement to have the best definition, and one that I will adopt and use frequently. I only wish I had come up with it.

I use the notions of organic vs. mechanical concepts, metaphors, and terminology. So much of what we say and do in education is framed in terms of mechanics. We teach. We transfer knowledge. We control behavior. We manage classrooms. We engineer school change. And so on. Instead, I want to hear us talking about and enacting more organic processes. We should nurture learning and development. We should foster understanding and human flourishing. We should educate for character. Humans are organic entities (p. 5).

Organic skills are what have traditionally been termed the soft skills. The beauty of this view is that they are the skills that continue to grow and develop. You can’t perfect these skills, for as soon as you are proficient, a new level is unlocked.

Mechanistic skills are the hard skills of math, engineering, and science. There’s a definitive answer. There’s a clear evidence of mastery. It’s less context-dependent. You can make a multiple choice test on mechanistic skills, but if you try to make a multiple choice test on organic skills, you’re sure to have some argument.

My friend Jeff Becker just created a new software to share his organic skills video lessons for schools. Check it out, and if you want to be part of a pilot with that, just apply here.

All the best,

Jethro

PODCAST Episode

Stop the Pathologizing of Adolescence with Dr. Briony Scott Transformative Principal 487

Dr. Briony Scott critiques the tendency to pathologize normal adolescent behaviors, advocating for a more compassionate approach that supports teenagers' developmental needs.

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Concepts & Frameworks

Vision Doesn’t Need to Be Big. It Needs to Be Clear.

A school vision doesn’t need to be inspiring poetry. It needs to be clear enough that everyone in your building can say it, live it, and apply it. I once worked with a school where the mission statement was three paragraphs long. Nobody remembered it. We distilled it down to: “Every kid known. Every kid challenged. Every kid supported.” Suddenly, teachers used it in meetings, students referenced it during projects, and parents knew what the school stood for. Your vision should be the compass, not the wallpaper. When people start saying to justify their decisions, you know they've internalized it.

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“

It's easy to be isolated, whether you're in a big school or small school. It's nice to have some like-minded principles that you can go to if you need help. And also Jethro has been great just personally, anytime I've needed help or struggled with something, he always has, some great wisdom to share with me and some strategies.

— Eric Makelky, Principal, Wyoming

Jethro Jones

Transformative Principal

Education and leadership nerd, and founder of Transformative Principal. You might know me from my latest books, How to be a Transformative Principal and SchoolX, and the longest running ed leadership podcast, Transformative Principal.