Google, Inc. management wrote “10 Things,” orguiding principles, which they revisit every couple of years to see if theystill hold true.
How does this “thing” apply to education?
PrincipleNumber Ten: Greatjust isn’t good enough.
“We see beinggreat at something as a starting point, not an endpoint. We set ourselves goalswe know we can’t reach yet, because we know that by stretching to meet them wecan get further than we expected. Through innovation and iteration, we aim totake things that work well and improve upon them in unexpected ways . . . Evenif you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for; finding an answer on the webis our problem, not yours. We try to anticipate needs not yet articulated byour global audience, and meet them with products and services that set newstandards. . . . Ultimately, our constant dissatisfaction with the way thingsare becomes the driving force behind everything we do.”
This isdefinitely an entrepreneurial focus, and it can be applied to schools.Teachers, overall, are idealists. They dream of inspiring students to greatachievement, but they seem thwarted by demands of the educational system. Ihave observed their innovations for years. They are continually refining theirexpectations and practices to meet the needs of their students.
The guiding thought in the quote aboveis,
“Our constant dissatisfaction with the waythings are . . .”
Beingdissatisfied is not a bad thing if it leads us to improvement. Whatimprovements are you making?
