Innovation in Education

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Strategy Now Focuses on Change

Nothing could be more true for K-12 education than this by a team of seasoned management consultants writing in the MIT Sloan Management Review: A fundamental assumption underlying traditional approaches to strategy is that industry boundaries and economics remain broadly stable over time. This assumption is no longer realistic... Change, not stability, are the key [...]

There Is No “One Source”: Welcome To the Cognitosphere

The new normal you are experiencing is not new, but has been "becoming normal" for many years. I first used the term "cognitosphere" in about 2008 to describe the rapidly-growing global neuro-network that increasingly connects everyone in the world who has access to the internet.  Others have called this system the "metaverse" or other made-up [...]

Part 2: What Does Your Admin Leadership Team Actually Do?

Last week I posted Part 1 of  the evolving role of a school or district admin leadership team.  I want to dig deeper into this: How might we really amplify the power of this team of leaders? Think about your admin leadership team and your team meetings. Like any  group within an organization, your admin [...]

What Does Your Admin Leadership Team Actually Do?

What does your administration leadership team actually DO?  That is not a rhetorical question.  What are the actual tasks of the team that gathers around the conference room table every week or month for an hour or two?  Are these meetings just an aggregation of pieces, or is there something that is greater than the [...]

The Simple Thesis of New Book THRIVE: How Schools Will Win the Education Revolution

I just made two new slides that seem to sum up pretty much the argument for, and the content of, my new book, THRIVE: How Schools Will Win the Education Revolution, due out in the early fall. Whether we like it or not, this is the hand we have been dealt as K-12 educators today [...]

The Power of 10,000 Small Ideas

We have passed a fundamental tipping point in the evolution of human connectivity. For millennia, big ideas spread through a highly-constricted pipeline. Masses of humanity listened to a handful of political, religious, or social influencers and followed where those few led.  Humans were a metaphorical crowd of 10,000 people listening for one good idea from [...]

Where Is the Balance of Technology and Humanity in K-12 Education?

In his new book, Technology vs Humanity, futurist Gerd Leonhard explores the really big changes that are driving fundamental shifts in how we all lead our lives, and may, within our own lifetimes, challenge the very paradigm of what it means to be human.  These shifts will have tremendous impact on the role and relevance [...]

The Opportunity Atlas and the American Dream

There is no American Dream without the possibility of upward economic mobility. Education is, at its core, about preparing young people to succeed in a life to which they aspire, which is almost always at least as fruitful, if not more so, than that of their parents. Today, that dream is more remote for more [...]

The Simple Equation of Value-Strategy-Innovation

Following the lead of my new friend, Seth Godin, short blogs are better.  This picture really is worth 1,000 words.  Schools that are increasingly faced with the challenge that their students can and might select another school to attend, must develop, communicate, and deliver a winning value proposition or face loss of enrollment, and the [...]