If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near. – Jack Welch 

Blockbuster . . . Record Tower . . . Kodak . . . Boarders Books . . . Sears . . . all industries that saw the rate of outside change exceed their internal ability to change.  

Some of these corporations had opportunities to create internal change, but they failed to create internal momentum. They held on, they were blind to the possibility of extinction. They thought there were too strong to fail.

Public education can’t be blind to the need to change. The rate of change in the outside world is exceeding the rate of change in our world. We are fighting internal forces – traditions, parents, and existing structures – that hinder our ability to meet the rate of external change.  

We must step-up, be the change we want to see in education, and lead from a position of strength and belief. If we don’t, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.