Change Story

I am currently working on a MOOC through MIT: U.Lab: Transforming Business, Society, and Self. It’s been an incredible learning journey that I am determined to focus on, despite the craziness of my fall work and travel schedule.

Today in week 4, Otto Scharmer shared a change story about a time in his life when his family home burned to the ground. While I can’t point to such a dramatic even in my own life, I can remember a similar moment when I realized that I needed to take a leap forward without safety nets in place.

I had the good fortune to work at ACS Cobham in England as the deputy head of a preK-12 school. It was an amazing experience but for various reasons I could not move my family across the ocean with me. Sadly, I resigned myself to returning home, leaving a job I loved and with no work prospects ahead of me.

Shortly before I left England I had the pleasure of meeting Clay Shirky for coffee. We were discussing changes in educational systems as a result of technology and the internet. After a while, he asked for my story.

I told him my tale of woe and mentioned my nervousness about returning to the US without a job. His response has stayed with me ever since that conversation 6 years ago over coffee in Paddington Station. “Listen,” he told me, “everybody’s deck is being reshuffled over the next few years. Look at all the cards you’re dealt and something will emerge.”

Easy for you, I thought. Clay Shirky is an internationally-acclaimed speaker and professor at NYU. But he was right. I returned to the US and began to consult with K-12 schools across the country and around the world. Now I work with schools on all sorts of topics, ultimately all focusing on how we can make learning better for students. Not a bad hand to be dealt.