Manners Matter: How to Use Manners to Raise Incredible Kids

On-Demand Class · Supporting development

Manners do matter. After working for NASA, I learned that being smart isn't always good enough. This course will help you guide your child in cultivating their manners skills - skills that will take them where their brains won't.

Class Description

In this 6-session course, we will explore the role our manners play for adults and children. And as a parent, I know how critical it is to help our children emerge from our direct care to be responsible, successful people. My mother had always espoused to my brother and me that “manners will take you where brains and money won’t.” I hadn’t thought much about Momma’s wisdom until I reflected on my career and life and concluded that my own manners skills significantly helped me reach the pinnacles of NASA leadership. I am far from perfect with respect to my manners. I capture lessons learned in my book, “Manners Will Take You Where Brains and Money Won’t: Wisdom from Momma and 35 Years at NASA.” My aspiration for this course is the same as for the book: invite people to look at their world through the lens of manners and consider actively working on their manners for finding purpose, fulfillment, meaning, and true success. For young students to early-career professionals, it really begins with their parents, guardians, or other family members. Parents understand that one of the best ways to teach their children is to be good role models, and to expose their children to other good role models. If our children watch us and other adults exhibit good manners, they are more likely to emulate effective ways of being. Throughout this course, I share valuable lessons from my NASA experiences, my extensive training, and my mother’s wisdom, including “Muriel’s Eight Cardinal Rules of Life.” In all sessions, I share personal stories from NASA. I will give participants a rare look inside the storied space agency. I will offer specific recommendations on how you can help your children improve their manners’ skills. You will also gain insights into practices and personal behaviors you can develop that will serve as a model for your children. Thank you for taking this journey with me. As a parent, I honor the work you do for the hardest job you’ll ever have.

Class Materials

Notebook (paper or electronic) Pen

Your Instructor

Donald G. James

Donald Gregory James is an executive leader, a manager, a facilitator, a communicator, a mentor and author. He is also a son, brother, husband, father and friend. Donald began his 35-year NASA career as a Presidential Management Intern. He served in a variety of roles of increasing responsibility and complexity, including Public Affairs, Government & Community Relations and Education. Donald James’ journey of public service would take him from being an intern to the senior executive service and member of NASA’s senior leadership team. Career highlights include: Serving as Education Director from 1999 to 2006 at NASA’s Ames Research Center. Leading the record-setting Open House at Ames attracting over a quarter of million visitors in one day. In early 2006, James drafted the first project plan for NASA’s Orion crew spacecraft at the Johnson Space Center. Later that year, James was named Project Manager for NASA’s (successful) bid to host the International Space University’s 2009 Summer Session Program (ISU-SSP), attracting an ISU SSP record 136 students from over 33 nations, involving over 15 corporate and non-profit partners. In August of 2014, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden selected James to serve as the Agency’s Associate Administrator for Education where he led an enterprise comprised of 75 civil servants and over 250 contractors organized to strengthen NASA and the Nation’s future workforce. Under James’ leadership, NASA learner and educator engagement reached over a million people a year. James holds a BA in International Relations from USC. He was awarded a three-year graduate fellowship from the National Science Foundation to pursue his MA in International Economic Development from the American University. James also studied economics and history at Cambridge University and attended Harvard’s Senior Executive Fellows program. He is the recipient of numerous awards and citations for exemplary service. James is the author of “Manners Will Take You Where Brains and Money Won’t: Wisdom from Momma and 35 Years at NASA”. The book merges lessons he learned while at NASA with the timeless wisdom from his mother to help students and early-career professionals navigate their future and to help parents consider manners as a vital skill to teach their children their own success. James has given numerous talks about his NASA career to students and parents.

Degrees and Certifications

BA International Relations, University of Southern California MA Economic Development, American University Certificate: Cambridge University, UK, Economics and British History Certificate: Harvard University; Senior Executive Fellows Program Over 500 hours of executive training

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