Playing it Safe is Riskier Than You Think

Tom Fishburn's cartoon caught my eye and the message in his blog resonates as I contemplate the position many educators take when considering innovations, such as using mobile devices, social media or problem-based learning.

Fishburn references a great article by Bill Taylor, which is targeting business executives as his audience, but I think his message speaks to many leaders in our schools.

In the article, "Playing it Safe is Riskier Than You Think,"Taylor points out how most leaders and organizations are really good at quantifying the risks of trying something bold or striking out in a new direction.   "In a very real sense, the first job of leadership is to identify and overcome the costs of complacency."



Taylor writes about an analogy of risk first framed by two business professors 25 years ago.

“Executives and entrepreneurs face two very different sorts of risks. One is that their organization will make a bold move that failed — a risk they call ‘sinking the ship.’ The other is that their organization will fail to make a bold move that would have succeeded — a risk they call ‘missing the boat.’

“Naturally, most executives worry more about sinking the boat than missing the boat, which is why so many organizations, even in flush times, are so cautious and conservative. To me, though, the opportunity for executives and entrepreneurs is to recognize the power of rocking the boat — searching for big ideas and small wrinkles, inside and outside the organization, that help you make waves and change course.”

When campus principals are guiding a school faculty to innovate and change the way they work in the classroom, perhaps a big part of our job is to continually find ways to rock the boat. As Fishburn points out, "The most remarkable ideas go against the flow. We don’t want to sacrifice the remarkable parts of the idea for the comfort of a smoother ride."


Learning with mobile devices in a context of problem-based, student-directed learning is "rocking our boat" in education.  Many school leaders are seeing these initiatives as great opportunities to engage students and increase achievement, but many view them as threats to our control of student behavior, which will ultimately sink the ship.

Perhaps we should take heed of the logic of Doug Hall, who said that “meaningfully unique ideas spark fear, and fear causes shut down.  So the secret to reducing fear is to make the unknown known."

We have the capability to turn fears into manageable, calculated risks and work together to understand the unknowns of our ideas through open dialogue, coaching and connections to others in our field. Educators must begin to see the advantages of building a network where ideas are shaped and showcased.

We may not be in a position to alleviate the fears associated with change, but we can certainly rock the boat and make waves to change the course of education for the students of today's world.