The Innovator's Dilemma

In schools, we often discuss 21st century skills. We conceptualize the qualities individuals need to possess and the prerequisite training students must have in order to get there. Conversations frequently are around questioning, cooperation, collaboration, critical thinking and collaboration. We think about what it means to be ready for our future. Yet we measure and produce based on skills of centuries past. Students are not measured in creativity but rather reading, mathematics, and science. We value and structure our successes by how frequently students get answers in content correctly but want outcomes which inspire students to take risks and grind through failures to innovate.

In many components of our society we find that what is measured is what is focused on. Corporations focused on quarterly financial reports, make choices to ensure that the quarter's profits are high. Corporations that focus on long-term gains spend funds on research and development to create new products and enter new markets realizing that there short-term prices may suffer.  In schools, if we test  the quantity of correct answers in reading, math, and science, it's natural to think that students, teachers, and parents are going to focus on how to get correct answers in reading, math, and science.

And thus we hit the innovator's dilemma. If we want to cultivate creativity and risk-taking, we need to promote, encourage, measure, and celebrate those skills. Some teachers have begun to create these types of environments. Experiences such as Genius Hour or 20% time, which encourage students to define their own project, create their own research, and design their own outcome, are beginning to creep into some classrooms. Frequently these teachers and schools get people lashing back about wasting student time and not having clear outcomes. The results of these projects frequently do not directly impact student test scores. In fact, they may result in lower scores than if the time had be used for reading, science, or math. For months, we heard about the movie Rogue One and how it was going to be a failure because of how many reshoots it needed. Since it was not going predictably, people assumed that the product would be a flop. However, much like schools, the more the director took chances, was willing to change, and revised their product, the long-term outcome created something special.

Thus, if what we measure is what we value, schools and society may be shunning long-term gains for quarterly profits. Our quest for higher test scores may reduce children's willingness to create, innovate, and take risks. For us as parents, teachers, and school leaders we need to push back against these forces and look for opportunities to encourage our children, our teachers, and our leaders to take the next chance, and the next chance, and the next chance. Realize, much like an actor or a comedian they are workshopping the skills of innovation. Celebrate the failures of genius hour that don't work and those that do. For these are the skills, just like reading and math, that will promote the entrepreneurial spirit that we desire as a society.

This past week, my son's school decided instead of an open house they would have an innovation fair. Children created different projects and showed them off. Some were better than others. Children took to new opportunities, some slowly and some fast. The projects looked different and sounded different. Some were recognizable and some were not. Some had parent help and some did not. As a school, the students and teachers took a chance. It is something we need to encourage, a change, a chance, and an opportunity. In the end, we want each of our children to take a chance, and the next chance, and the next chances, until they win the day or the chances are spent.