Leadership magazine May/June 2018 V47 No. 5 | Page 40

Networking K-12 public schools too often neglect po- tential outside partnerships. We are funded, we hire our staff, we create or buy our cur- riculum, and we do our thing. So often, we fail to recognize the community around us is willing to contribute to our schools and stu- dents. When we do seek support, it is usu- ally for a specified service: money, or a very specific way to volunteer. Rarely do we allow outside partners to bring their own ideas. What we found is there is a sleeping giant waiting to make our schools great. We were able to establish an advisory committee of com- munity professionals and forge partnerships with higher education, community mentors, the business community and local vendors. Sometimes these partnerships have taken a lot of time to build. Often, a meeting with one person leads to a meeting with someone else. As we have built a network, we have found more people equipped and excited to engage with us. We have found new skill sets we didn’t even know we needed. These partners have been instrumental to helping us build our school. Our advi- sory committee has been key in helping us to learn the needs of developing entrepre- neurial skills within our students and creat- ing a community mentorship program. I am shocked by how easy it has been to garner community support, when we sought their perspective instead of trying to fit them in to a specific square hole. Give partners real problems to work on and let them work for your school! The entrepreneurial mindset By adopting entrepreneurial systems, our staff has become more innovative and self- aware. We are more open to involving our stu- dents and the community in our school. We are more willing to change when needed, and we are constantly looking for opportunities. Our team has grown as we work to im- prove. Every day is a chance to do something different and learn from it. And make it bet- ter. Because the customers we serve in edu- cation should matter more than any others. Resources • Brown, T. (2009). “Change by design.” New York, NY: Harper Collins. • Gates, B. (1999), “Business @ the Speed of Thought.” Business Strategy Review, 10: 11-18. • Gemmell, R.M., Boland, R.J. and Kolb, D.A. (2012), “The socio-cognitive dynamics of entrepreneurial ideation.” Entrepreneur- ship Theory and Practice, 36: 1053-1073. • Liedtka, J. and Ogilvie, T. (2011). “De- signing for growth: A design tool kit for man- agers.” New York: Columbia University Press. • Osterwalder, A. and Pigneur, Y. (2010). “Business model generation.” Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. • Ries, E. (2011). “The lean startup.” New York, NY: Crown Business. Brett Taylor, Ed.D. is assistant professor, program lead for Social & Educational Entrepreneurship in the Benerd School of Education at University of the Pacific, Sacramento. 40 Leadership