Dearly Ebony

Your Partner in Education & SAEF Place!

I am an award-winning education professional that loves to learn and share knowledge.

Welcome to the Evolution: Dearly Ebony, Your S.A.E.F. Place

March 14, 2026 8:42 a.m.

Well, it is 2026, and I want to start by apologizing for my absence. Simply put: life has been lifing. And guess what? It’s allowed to.

Yes, I am an award-winning educator. Yes, I am well-trained and well-versed. But none of that stops me from facing challenges and obstacles in my own life, both professionally and personally. What my education and experience do afford me is the equipment to surmount those obstacles. When dealing with the perils of the world, I am reminded of the words of my late Sensei, Daisaku Ikeda: “Roar like a lion.” And that is exactly how I am moving forward.

From “Why Not Get Smart” to True Partnership: When I started Why Not Get Smart in 2012, it was the beginning of a long journey that evolved into Dearly Ebony in 2023. At the core of this evolution is one fundamental concept: Partnership. https://whynotgetsmart.blogspot.com/

What I am about to say might be unpopular, but I despise the word “serve.” I prefer that we partner and support. Servant leadership has, unfortunately, been deeply abused; people literally begin to think you are there to serve them while nothing is required of them in return. I have watched leaders be drained and abused by the very beings they are trying to help.

By reframing our professional and personal relationships as partnerships, we remind our communities of what true collaboration looks like. Everyone has a role to play. The weight does not—and should not—fall on one person.

Welcome to Your S.A.E.F. Place: As we step into this new chapter, Dearly Ebony is not just your partner in education; we are your S.A.E.F. place.

Safe traditionally means being protected from danger, harm, or risk—being secure. I made a promise to myself to only go and stay in places where love is present, because feeling safe is a fundamental component of love. If I do not feel safe, I do not go, and I do not stay. We all have a part to do, but we must do it respectfully. I have been disheartened by the behavior of my fellow Homo sapiens lately. We are all worthy of respect, and we all deserve to feel safe.

So much of the discontent we experience in the world today is the result of people speaking without studying, and destroying instead of creating. That is why we are spelling it S.A.E.F. It is an acronym for the work we do at our firm:

• S – Study: We believe in putting in the work to truly understand the issues.
• A – Apply: We put what we study into actionable practice.
• E – Engineer: We create and build solutions based on that knowledge.
• F – Firm: We are a steadfast foundation for our partners.

I am so grateful to be back, and I am better than before.

Welcome to Dearly Ebony. Welcome to The S.A.E.F. Place.

XoXo,

Eb

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Please select the links below to enhance your knowledge. It is with great hope that the content adds value to your life.

New content will be uploaded monthly.

My services for consulting are $125 per hour.

I provide consultation in the following areas: Leadership, Pedagogy, Education, Evaluation.

Tons of free, yet valuable, information will be shared on this platform, thus I have included a pay it forward page.

I highly recommend reading the three books listed below. They are life changing.

“Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In,” by Roger Fisher & William Ury

As I have stated, stop taking things personal. We have to focus on the problem; attack the problem, not each other.

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“The Culture Code,” by Daniel Coyle

What type of culture do you create?