The Business of Educating

Title: Rework
Author: Jason Fried
Category: Small Business
Summary:
Rework is a collection of business thoughts from Jason Fried of 37Signals that are loosely organized by general, categorical themes. Each individual topic takes up about one page, along with a picture that occupies the opposite page. Rework covers all aspects of small business development, from the inception of your idea for the business, through getting it off the ground, to growing and managing your thriving company. 

The overarching theme is that the old business models are dead. Small is the new king. Passion and efficiency are the keys to success, along with the most important goal: Make a Great Product.

Education Connection

Seeing as the book is a collection of thoughts, here are a few highlights that relate directly to educators:

• Learn from past successes, not just failures.
  When writing lessons and curriculum planning, think about what lessons worked really well and analyze why they were so successful. Figure out how to repeat that success. 
• Embrace constraints. They force creativity.
  Constraints are often viewed as obstacles, blocking our path and keeping us from where we need to go. Instead, constraints should be looked at them as opportunities to be creative, think differently, and seek an alternative path to achieve the same goal…  and it may even produce a better result.
  
  This is also a good lesson to impart to students. Put constraints on them. En example of this would be: “Summarize the passage in exactly 12 words.” It forces them to become more creative. It is a good lesson for all. 
• When it comes to “Things To Do,” there are three levels: (1) Stuff you could do (2) Stuff you want to do (3) Stuff you have to do. Identify and start with the “Have Tos”
  Teachers are infamous for getting caught up in the millions of the “Could Do’s” and “Want To’s”, that we easily loose sight of the “Have To’s.” This causes us to spend far to long in our classrooms after school, working waaaaaaay to hard, and while often being underproductive. Identify the “Have To’s” and accomplish those first. Afterward, see how much time there is to do the “Want To’s.”
• When working, avoid interruptions. Fight for stretches of “Alone Time” to get into the your zone of working.
  This one is reeeaaaalllly tough, as schools are not places where you get much time that is uninterrupted and alone. The problem is that the best work gets done and the most work gets done in those long stretches of quiet alone time. We need to fight for each other to more of this. This leads to the next point…  
• Avoid Meetings.
  Brilliant advice. They are toxic and normally a time waster. When you have 5 people meeting for 1 hour, you have just spent 5 working hours. Most of the time the purpose of the meeting could have been served through an e-mail or a quick face to face with the person involved. Very rarely do meetings truly require all the people that are in attendance nor do they require all the time that they consume. The absolute worst meetings are the “you must meet weekly for 1 hour” type. Time and effort are wasted, when more productive things could be accomplished. If you are a leader or a Principal, please keep this, along with the  previous point, in mind as you plan.  
• Be You.
  Teachers can get lost in the idea of “Being the Ideal Teacher,” and forfeit being themselves. Students don’t need the ideal teacher. They need you to be you. Be authentic. 

Final Thoughts

Rework is a phenomenal, paradigm shifting, mind blowing book. It is a fast read that is written in simple, every day language. No big business jargon. No complex formulas or costly strategies. Just a refreshing call for people to act on their passion, stay small, work smarter not harder, and above all to be yourself.  

No matter your profession, Rework is a must read. Period. 

**Biz-Ed is a reoccurring segment of this blog where business books are reviewed, making connections between the business theory and the education world**

Title: Who Moved My Cheese?

Author: Spencer Johnson

Summary

Who Moved My Cheese? is a parable about two people and two rats who live in a maze, in search of cheese. Once a large pile of cheese was found, the cheese becomes the center of their lives: effecting where they live, their identity, their purpose for living. Then one day the cheese is gone. The book chronicles the reaction of each character as they grapple with what to do once their cheese has disappeared. It centers around the questions: (1) What is your “cheese”? (2) What do you do when change messes with your cheese?

Education Connection

This book is a soul searcher. It leads the reader to ask key, important questions about purpose and dealing with change. The educational applications of this book are two fold.

The first application is for Teachers. Teacher Burnout is a major problem in education today. At the end of each year, thousands of teachers, myself included, feel fried to a crisp; worn out from the intellectual and emotional marathon of the school year. A large number of teachers choose not to return. This is a big problem. Who Moved My Cheese? can lead teachers to ask themselves some important questions to avoid this burnout:

What is your cheese? What is it that fuels your passion, gives you identity and makes you feel alive? Teachers are often attracted to this profession because of a desire to serve a grander purpose. Unfortunately, teachers easily loose sight of them the fray of the daily tasks of the job. Once you have re-identified your cheese, what do you need to do to protect your cheese? What do you need to do to make sure that you are staying connected with those things that keep you vitalize? If you find that at the moment you do not have a cheese or that your cheese has been moved, what do you need to do to go find new cheese? A life without purpose a life not worth living.

Find out what your cheese is. Protect your cheese.

What do you believe your students’ cheese to be? What do your Students’ believe their cheese to be? What is the difference between our expectations and their reality? So often we focus on what WE want our students’ cheese to be that we loose sight of what our students believe about themselves. How much more power and influence if we identify and connect with their cheese; using that as a launching point of our curriculum?

Final Thoughts

Who Moved My Cheese is an excellent book that is a quick read. It provides nuggets of wisdom to shape and guide a soul-search for purpose and what to do when life brings change.