Proud mom was in NYC this month to enjoy a performance of my son's and daughter's recently signed LA band Bay Ledges. Before the show, I played tourist and visited the Fearless Girl; the bronze statue, by Kristen Visbal, in Bowling Green's financial district. Fearless Girl stands with hands on hips, head and chin held high proudly facing the 7100 pound Charging Bull by sculptor Arturo Di Modica.  Underneath the Fearless Girl, the inscription reads "Know the power of women in leadership. SHE makes a difference." A crowd gathered around both statues for various photo ops. Afterward, with a little research, I discovered that the Fearless Girl statue was commissioned by State Street Global Advisors to serve as their brand and message for the company's fund encouraging gender diversity in corporate boards. SHE refers to their NASDAQ ticker symbol. (See Amy Smucker's Member Views blog earlier this year Gender Leadership Gap: Beyond the Bubble.) 

Arturo Di Modica has publicly objected to the placement of Fearless Girl as both "free advertisement" and as altering the intention of his work "Charging Bull" which captures the resilience of the American people after the 1987 stock market crash.  The message and meaning of his art, for him, has been disrupted.

Disruption is now the new normal. We experience it daily especially in the classroom and teaching. ISANNE schools are finding ways to unleash their students' natural entrepreneurial inclinations and set them free to study and explore unique topics of interest.  Berwick Academy invited me this month to their  Innovation Pursuits Celebration to serve as a panelist. The program began with a handful of students 8 years ago and has grown to over 50 students presenting their findings to the community and panelists. 

Approaches such as Design Thinking and Innovation Pursuits require curiosity, independent thinking and ease with trial and error problem- solving. Students are encouraged to encounter numerous "failures" as they test their hypothesis and are instructed to regard these as inevitable valuable steps in the learning process; each failure is a step closer to a discovery. 

Disruption gives us the opportunity to question, examine and consider new possibilities while cultivating qualities of fearlessness, resilience and creativity. In the end, we want to encourage the whole person. As Rene Menard expresses so well in his Member Views blog, Engaging the Whole Person, below; "We seek to prepare good people, humane and positive and productive individuals, persons of acute judgment and active imagination" who will  make their own positive impacts on society.

 

Here's to productive disruptions ahead,

Laurie

Laurie Hurd

Executive Director