Could “Too Late” Come Too Soon?

I recently read or heard somewhere a statement that really resonated with me;

“We expect innovation in every aspect of our lives except in the area that we work in.” Unknown

Think about it. The first iPhone was announced only in 2007, before there was even an app store available. Think about what could be done with that phone now and what you can do with the iPhone 6s today. Yet people regretted moving from the iPhone 6 to the iPhone 6s because the changes weren’t that significant.

“In general though, the iPhone 6S feels like the most modest “S” iPhone upgrade yet. The new features are cool at best, but only moderately useful. If you own an iPhone 6, you’re not missing much if you choose not to upgrade. Unless you plan on changing the size of your phone — upgrading to a bigger screen, for instance — don’t spend your money this year. Wait until the iPhone 7.” (Smith, 2015)

Think about the original iPhone to now and how significant the changes are in a short time. I can’t even imagine a phone that I couldn’t bank on, make video calls on, or have only a camera on one side. Gasp!

This is not just education.  Think about taxi companies and how they hate ridesharing companies. This put those companies in a situation where they had to get better or else people would (and in many circumstances) go with a different service.  Now some taxi companies are allowing you to pay with your phone, but I have had the experience in the past year (yes in 2015) where they had to get out the old credit card imprinter (I had to google that name because I honestly had no idea what it was called) for me to pay.  These companies have forced the taxi companies to innovate or die off. But if it comes too late, people could have already chosen something else. This is definitely forcing their hand.

Sitting in a session with Anthony Von Bank at the recent TIES conference, he shared this video from 2008:

What resonated with me more than anything, was not what was being said, but the date. This video came out in 2008, only a year after the release of the first iPhone.  With so much change in our world since then, has education mirrored that change?  Where are we in this journey?

The sooner we see (in education) that innovation is not only about everyone else, but us as well, the better off we will be. With many organizations (Blockbuster, Kodak, Taxis), “too late” came too soon. We need to expect from ourselves what we expect from others.

from Connected Principals http://ift.tt/1Ro29SA