Keys to the Corner Office
May 29, 2015
On those rare Sunday mornings when I’m not traveling for one reason or another, my routine is a very early walk during which I purchase the Sunday New York Times.
Reading the Sunday Times has a routine as well: first the Travel section, next Business, then Opinion; and after that, national news and sports and theater in no particular order. And I always read the top of page 2 of the Business section, a regular Q and A by Adam Bryant who features successful businessmen and women. It’s called “Corner Office.”
Week after week, the people profiled will credit the extracurricular activities of their formal education for launching their successful careers. For example ...
- The chief executive of Bluemercury cited volleyball.
- The chief executive of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt cited “clubs and sports in high school.”
- The chief executive of the Hogan Lovells law firm was captain of his high school football team and president of the student council.
Obviously, there are many individuals who participated in those school activities and did not ascend to chief executive status, just as many other CEOs earned the keys to their corner office without participation in school athletics and activities.
But it has been difficult for me to miss how routine it is for the “Corner Office” to make the same connection I do – that outside the classroom school sports and activities are linked both anecdotally and statistically to leadership in later life pursuits.
Fixing Schools
August 16, 2013
Our fall sports have begun and, as usual, our good coaches are focusing on fundamentals during these early weeks of practice and play, especially if they are trying to bounce back from some losing seasons. Meanwhile, I’ve been thinking about the fundamentals for fixing schools themselves.
If we really would get serious about a comeback season, we would . . .
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Equip the best teachers to work in the worst places.
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Provide the highest pay to the teachers working in the lowest grades.
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Emphasize teachers more than technology,pre-Kindergarten more than college prep, andsmaller more than larger.
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Encourage fight over flight,tutors over transfers,school improvement over school choice, andinvestment over vouchers.
- And, for Pete’s sake, we would allow public schools to start classes as early as they see fit, even next Monday, not two weeks and a day later as state law mandates. Longer is better than shorter.
And sooner is better than later for putting these fundamentals into our game plan for education.