It's no longer what you know that is important, it's how you can Learn Faster that will deliver the difference in our world. The outdated belief we can engineer an outcome, take a top down, directive approach, is no longer the way forward. It may have severed us well, but we are no longer in the industrial age. The world has changed and the evidence is clear that a world view that directs and controls is not improving the necessary outcomes for children or society. Certainly not to the extent that warrants the level of investment of human and financial capital.
Leaders need to transition from being knowers to learners...from talking and directing to Deep Listening. This is not what leaders have been doing the last couple of decades and it is time to create the conditions for this transformation to happen. The key is focusing on unleashing the meso-level in systems and schools by creating the psychological safety necessary for fast cycles of learning to happen.
Why is this understanding important to me? I'm at a stage in my career and life in which what I have learned needs to now make a difference. The work now is going beyond getting school leaders 'to do better', so that they can 'be better'.
This work has become an important legacy piece. It’s important now because humanity faces significant challenges. It’s not about me being right, or about getting kudos. Its no longer about building a career. It's about empowering the next generation of educators to challenge the status quo. To think differently. To be learners, not knowers.
Next: A New Narrative
DOT FROM preview-next-diagram