2021: A Year for Leading with Questions, Part 1

Pablo Picasso once said, “Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.”

Putting aside the hyperbole of “useless,” he had a point: questions are more powerful than answers.

As we enter the second month of 2021, here is a question to contemplate:

What is our school optimizing for?

Here is a list—not exhaustive—of some of the things that private schools try to optimize for:

  1. Getting their graduates admitted to “elite” schools.

  2. Enrolling families who will pay full tuition.

  3. Making the parents happy.

  4. Making the alumni happy.

  5. Making the faculty happy.

  6. Pushing the faculty to innovate.

  7. Fundraising.

  8. Athletic championships.

  9. Developing emotionally mature people.

  10. Developing change makers.

Your school might be optimizing for other things. But only one thing can go in the #1 slot. Everything else has to be subordinated.

What matters is that you choose with intention. And the best way to choose with intention is to start with the question:

What are we optimizing for, actually?

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Check out the other posts in the “2021: A Year for…” series:

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Christian Talbot