DITCH THE DEFICIT STORIES, SEE THE WORLD THROUGH A STRENGTH-BASED LENSThe world has enough people who excel at identifying what’s wrong. What it desperately needs are people who can see what’s strong. That means people who ask better questions, lead with assets, see the opportunity instead of only barriers, and create conditions where people thrive in a real way.
Yet you've likely been trained since childhood to do the opposite. You can list your weaknesses in detail. You catalog mistakes with precision. You immediately spot what needs fixing in your students, your colleagues, your own children, and especially yourself. This deficit lens feels responsible, mature, realistic. But it's also why you're exhausted, frustrated, and on the verge of burnout.
In
Shift to What's Strong, Dr. Byron McClure reveals six practical habits that fundamentally change how you see yourself and the world around you. These aren't mindset tricks or positive thinking exercises. They're specific practices that rewire the deficit-focused patterns programmed into your brain, replacing them with an automatic ability to spot strengths, build on assets, and create solutions from what's already working.
The Six Habits:- See the Good: Train yourself to notice strengths in real time.
- Lead with Strength: Use your natural talents instead of exhausting yourself fixing weaknesses.
- Own Your Story: Reframe your struggles as sources of strength, not evidence of inadequacy.
- Ask What's Strong: Start with questions that reveal solutions, not catalog problems.
- Set Strong Goals: Build on your talents instead of fighting against them.
- Live in Your Strength: Design your environment to bring out your best.
These habits work in the real world, not just in ideal conditions. They work when you're facing thirty students with different needs. They work when your boss only focuses on problems. They work when your family thinks you're avoiding reality.
McClure draws from his experience as a school psychologist who shifted how IEP meetings run, his development of the SWAG program that helped struggling students achieve GPAs above 3.25, and his work with thousands of educators who needed practical tools they could use Monday morning.
You'll learn exactly how to shift your automatic response from "What's wrong?" to "What's strong?" through specific practices you can start tomorrow. You'll learn why your brain defaults to deficit thinking and how to build new neural pathways through deliberate daily actions. Most importantly, you'll recognize that the struggles you've been trying to fix are actually sources of strength you haven't learned to see yet.
Your students need someone who sees their potential, not just their test scores. Your colleagues need someone who asks better questions. Your family needs someone who builds on what's working. And you need to stop fighting against who you are and start building on the strengths that are already there.
This book shows you how, one habit at a time, starting with your very next interaction.
Dr. Byron McClure is a product of Prince George's County, Maryland, a proud HBCU graduateof Hampton University and a Black male National Certified School Psychologist.His mission has always been to improve outcomes for youth, especially those who have beenhistorically marginalized.After earning his doctorate in school psychology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, he returned to DC, where he led a school turnaround initiative for Anacostia High School. He was part of a team that won the 2020 Whole Child Award as a result of those school turnaround efforts. His work has garnered national recognition, including the Black Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Summit Award 2022 for his contributions to Black youth development and the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) President's Certificate of Achievement in 2019. In 2018, he was honored with the Counterstories Award by the non-profit Men Can Stop Rape.Byron has been featured in National Public Radio (NPR), Insider Magazine, and the American Psychological Association's Monitor on Psychology, to name a few. He created Lessons For SEL, a culturally responsive SEL curriculum used in schools across the country, which was acquired by 7 Mindsets, where he served as the Director of Innovation. Dr. McClure is coauthor of Hacking Deficit Thinking: 8 Reframes that Will Change the Way You Think About Strength-Based Practices and Equity in Schools with Dr. Kelsie Reed. Their book has consistently appeared in Amazon's top categories in Crisis Management Counseling and Inclusive Education Methods.As a keynote speaker, Byron has addressed audiences nationwide, from state psychological associations in Indiana, Arizona, Missouri, Maryland, Louisiana, Michigan, and Florida; school districts such as New York City Department of Education and Denver Public Schools; as well as conferences by organizations such as Utah's Promising Youth Conference.He developed School Psych AI, an online platform designed to alleviate the burden of writing lengthy psychological evaluations by automating the process and workload of school psychologists, allowing more focus on student well-being. Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics and cofounder of Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, has described Dr. McClure as "an emerging, powerful, transformative healer and justice leader, and a great American educator."Byron is married to Dr. Audria McClure, a special education teacher and former school administrator. Dr. McClure is the proud father to three children, Brayden, Adelyn, and Brendan. In his free time, he enjoys bringing new ideas to life, beating his oldest son in basketball, dancing offbeat with his kids, and envisioning the future and what it could be.Connect with Dr. McClure at byronmcclure.com and on Instagram, LinkedIn and SubStack.
