E18-Bill Sommers Podcast

Bill Sommers Podcast January 7, 2026 [link to podcast]

What an amazing man to listen and learn from. I really hadn't had much interaction with him for over twenty years until the past few weeks when his blog caught my eye again. If you haven't been there, I  invite you to go to Learning Omnivores.

Bill was a professor of mine in the EDPA program at the University of Minnesota. He was a big influence on me because he was one of those rare birds who had actually been an administrator. You literally can't help to learn when you have a conversation with him. Just talking to him again after a long time is a call to me about the things I stole from him. He actually talks about this phenomena, bringing in a concept from John Dewey, "You don't learn from experience, but through reflection on that experience." We can't change anything by just being employed or by just being there; we have to consciously receive the stimuli, make a plan to change what we are doing, and then to actually act on it. 

There are so many lessons you can have from our mentors. We have to choose what to take from them. In essence, great practice is not our own. Great practice may be part instinct, part insight, part individual, but mostly great experience is couched in mentorship. Because of the immensity of the content, and all the references he provides, I am also going to provide you the notes and questions that were used, as both Bill and I edited them. If you are looking for future ideas for reading, there is a good chance it is included here. 

I'm sorry we got cut off at the end. I have intentionally kept this blogcast series to the 40 minutes, hopefully to improve the chances you will watch the Podcasts. I'm taking feedback on this. I can easily get the Zoom subscription that would prevent this from happening, but some of these could go on for some extended time. 😁

Thanks again, Bill! It was an amazing 40 minutes. Happy New Year! ~Patrick

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