Effective Leadership in an Era of Disruptive Innovation

Scott McLeod, Iowa State University
“Current leadership models are inadequate for disruptive innovations”


Premise for workshop based on:
The Innovator’s Dilemma, by Clayton M. Christensen
Disrupting Class, by Clayton M. Christensen

What is a disruptive innovation??
Think of the following:

A Record→ replaced by a tape→replaced with a CD→ replaced the previous three iPod
(each one is a disruption to the one before)

Disruptive innovation has changed the game totally!
(land line---phone company started adding services to increase profit margins, and gave us “More than needed”) But then there’s “Good Enough”, where more than needed crosses the good enough line.

So in terms of K-12 education, what is the not “good enough” yet?
Learning management systems (Angel, Blackboard, virtual environments)
We move to new things in droves---and the old thing disappears completely (mini computers, land lines, etc.) And the cycle goes on…with new technologies arriving every day.

With school leaders, what are some things that disrupt innovations?
1. Good organizations with good peoples will disappear if they don’t understand the ‘natural laws’ of disruptive innovation. Leaders need to understand that these things don’t disappear because of bad management, they disappear because often times, we try to fit it in with the old thing(s) in existence, and it doesn’t work very well!

2. It’s very difficult for existing successful organizations to become dominate players in the new market, which is why we can't fit in new change with old ways.

3. It is much easier to create a new organization-or buy one-than it is to turn an existing organization around.

4. It is difficult to analyze the unknowable! (how do you design resources, when you don’t know what the future holds---especially with techonology!)

5. First-mover advantage is important when it comes to disruptive innovations. (iPod wasn’t the first music player, but when it came out, it erupted innovation world)

We can NOT do a new thing because we go back to the old ways. These things listed above totally apply to change!

So what are the implications for leaders of schools?

1. K-12 education is facing a disruptive innovation. It’s personalized learning. (cyber schools, online schools, etc.)

2. The existing educational model is not a given. ("We could be replaced—and no one is willing to admit it!!—we better make the shift from A-B or we will be replaced! It’s arrogance! We are sitting in the “good Enough” area, and we are going to be replaced if we don’t become “more than needed” In 2019, over half of HS courses will be online!"

3. All of this is going to sneak up on most school organizations!


So what should we do as leaders????????
1. We can’t wait until it’s NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

2. We must start with underserved student groups with pilot projects AND other disruptive things! (mainstreamed groups/parents will balk, so start with an underserved group instead)

3. Schools in Iowa are against online learning, but they have NO solutions to NOT having online learning!

4. Use different metrics of success. What data will you use to measure success? What will you do with the data that you collect?

5. Compete directly with the existing organization. (like IBM did….any kind of restraints delay innovation! Same thing with record companies---they sued their own clients and it wasn’t effective!)

Digital World and Global world are BOTH going to push innovation in the future. Baby boomers are going to retire soon! We will have a HUGE teacher shortage.

Accountability measures will hold schools accountable for change and drive the paradigm forward!

The 21st century is here…shouldn’t we be preparing our students for it?


presentation site: bit.ly/neccmcleod1