Take A Judo Lesson, Leverage Trends To Make An Impact

As opportunity goes global, competence and initiative are valued more than ever. For individuals, communities and countries, getting smart is a priority.

Want to make a big impact? Take a judo lesson. First, rather than opposing strength, take advantage of momentum. Second, use levers to move big objects. That means change makers should be trend spotters and savvy about using levers like social media to bend trends toward equity.

Change forces, like technology, demographics, and politics, create windows of opportunity you can take advantage of if you are paying attention. There is usually a small window of time to build a solution, demonstrate some traction, and create something that, as my Learn Capital partner Rob Hutter says, “authentically delights a community of users.”

The Black Swan backdrop. The stock market is at record highs. The Dow reached 16,000 in December 2013 and 18,000 in December 2014. Consumer confidence is up, tax receipts and unemployment rates recovered to pre-recession levels. Real estate prices have rebounded in most areas. However, State K-12 education spending per pupil fell in 29 states since 2008. The need to do more with less continues. As Secretary Duncan announced in 2010, we now operate in a “new normal” age, one with the potential and need for “transformational productivity.”

Federal K-12 education policy (ESEA) should have been revised a decade ago and is badly out of date. It will eventually be reauthorized with less federal influence, and an unfortunate loss of bipartisan support for more equitable outcomes.

It’s a big complicated world. Our mental models can’t keep up. There are more black swan events–big bad stuff that no one predicted.

Despite broken politics, ineffective governance and bad surprises, new tools are powering a global learning revolution. Internet search and cheap devices means two billion people can learn just about anything and connect to the idea economy. After decades of neglect, $2 billion of venture investment flowed into EdTech startups last year. Foundations are supporting the development of new learning environments. School districts are ditching textbooks and phasing a digital conversion. Thoughtful blended learning implementations are producing promising results.

Below we recapped 30 relevant trends. The second table is a set of Judo instructions for impact investors and edupreneurs interested in leveraging some of those trends.

Trends Creating Opportunities & Challenges for U.S. Schools

Big Impact Opportunities