Schools as training grounds for start ups

Does it ever seem to you like the only exciting place to be in leadership today is the world of start-ups? What if schools just happened to be a natural place to practice start-up entrepreneurship? Would that be at least interesting?

The capital markets are certainly excited about the entrepreneurial momentum and investment potential of business start-ups. Large corporations are doing a good bit of investing in start-up businesses. Even start-ups are buying other start-ups. Obviously, venture capital, angel investors, some private equity and even high net worth retail investors are active in the funding of start-up capital needs. Business accelerators and incubators help founders to get their ideas to market and into going concerns. Graduate and even undergraduate schools of business management are deep into the business of entrepreneurship, innovation, and start-up business practice.

My thought for this post, though, is that regular old K-12 schools can be hotbeds of start-up leadership practice. Go with me a moment.

Start-ups, of course, are businesses at the start of some idea or enterprise. Some are hugely innovative, breakthrough ideas and technologies, while others are a new twist or fine tuning or improved implementation of existing business activity. If there’s nothing compellingly new about it, it probably doesn’t get funded, but start-ups aren’t just about revolutionary inventions.

Start-ups are about the momentum, excitement, commitment, potential, and possibilities of doing something new. They call for vision and passion. Their working culture is affected through and through by the risk and reward of newness. Customers have to be sold on something new, but customers can also get excited about something new. Employees have to accept uncertainty which goes with ‘the new’ but they also enjoy the drive, passion, energy and camaraderie of doing something that’s different.

Schools are generally considered fairly conservative work environments. That’s not a political statement, but a cultural one. They are known for changing pretty slowly. Schools that do encourage innovation stick out from the crowd because the crowd looks one year a lot like it did the year before.

But, except for year round scheduled schools, schools are enterprises which have annual practice in the dynamics of a start-up operation. Admittedly, many schools do all they can not to practice starting something new. Some schools ignore the potential found in what’s new, and try to pretend they aren’t starting a new endeavor with a new year.

But schools are given the opportunities of a start-up environment with every new school year. It’s modified by not being something brand new, but many of the dynamics and potentialities of a start-up are presented to schools every new August or September.

What if we made more of that opportunity? School leaders obviously don’t ignore the reality of stopping and starting their operations, but it’s fair to ask how many see more than the welcome rhythm change of a summer break (not stopping the recovering or ongoing work or planning or preparation) followed by the challenge of getting people and process back up to speed for a new school year.

This isn’t just about vague pep talks of the potential and challenge of a new school year. We can lead and manage intentionally toward the strengths of a start-up operation. A start-up opportunity opens great possibilities about the motivation and vision we share as a leadership and teaching and support team in school. A start-up endeavor can mean exciting things for the parents of our students. Start-up dynamics can mean new learning momentum and reward for our students.

If we truly want to capitalize on this start-up potential, it means concrete commitment for school districts to more than site-based management, but also leadership and vision and cohesion and pioneering spirit for our schools. For independent schools, it doesn’t mean we have to forsake the value of continuity and tradition, but it does mean that we won’t be blinded or bound by them. We will capitalize on the reward available in a start-up endeavor which so much of our capital market activity seems to value as specially opportunistic. Why should we let this opportunity pass us and our kids by?