If you can change the culture of a huge business that has over 124,000 employees, does that mean you can change the culture of schools that in many cases have only a few hundred, or in some cases a few dozen employees?
That’s the question Bruce and Will kick around in this the 24th episode of the Modern Learners podcast. They do a pretty deep dive into a profile of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in Fast Company, pulling out the key culture changing moves that he’s made in his five-year tenure, and reflecting on Bruce’s long consulting relationship with Microsoft over the first 15 years of this century. (Yes, Bruce has pow-wowed with Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.)
After that, they discuss the recent news that one large Maryland district has gone back to a letter grading system at the behest of frustrated parents. It’s a bit of a different discussion from Will’s post on the same subject in this week’s Shifting Conversations piece, and Will coins a new phrase that represents how most schools go about this business: “change in a vacuum.”
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Thanks for all of your support to build a high bar, serious conversation around reimagining schools.
Bruce and Will,
I “high five” your conversations at every opportunity. We too assist schools with school turnaround and advocate on similar platforms to what you present. The reason for little change in the education space is that their is little if any accountability from top to bottom. The current paradigm will be germain for a long time as it keeps all the incumbents in a position that they are very confortable with (the boiling frog syndrome). There is no incentive other than personal desire and motivation to change. We are on the same mission as you are to inculcate change as there is a better outcome for our students and after all education is the driver of economic development. All we can do is take those that have the brawn and gumption to change and propel them onto something bigger and better. In the meanwhile technology and leadership are probably the 2 platforms that will cause disruption in the system. We are getting more involved with defragmentation by way of badging, micro-credentialling and blockchain. I hope we can connect one day.