What weekend does Father's Day land on this year? Google it.
What will the street view of your new apartment look like? Google it.
Who is this new teacher that was hired? Google them.
Who seems to know exactly how to run a creative, profitable, and happy company? Google.
Over the last 20 years, there have not been many companies that have been more revolutionary than Google. They have brought the world's information to our fingertips and seem to have a lot of fun in doing so. It would be difficult to accomplish what they have without having astronomical amounts of creativity brewing within their company.
In their new book, How Google Works, business executives Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg give readers a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on at those fun Google offices that we've seen all over the world.
Google is very proud of the environment that they have created for their staff. It is a culture that promotes creativity, wellness, collaboration, and enthusiasm. All qualities that should also be present in a classroom where, as teachers, we strive to get the most out of our students' potential.
A consistent term that is mentioned many times in the book was, Smart Creative. A smart creative is an adjective to describe a Googler (Google employee). These are the people behind Google Docs, AdSense, Gmail, a self-driving car, and any other cool innovation that comes out of their offices that seems to make our life a lot easier. Schmidt and Rosenberg define a Smart Creative as, "a person who combines deep technical knowledge of his or her trade with intelligence, business savvy, and a host of creative qualities." These individuals are no doubt uncommon and would be a hot commodity for any employer. As educators, would this not be exactly the type of students that we would like to foster?
All of our students possess an individual passion. It is not always obvious to others but it is somewhere in them and its often struggling to get out. A huge influence of mine, Sir Ken Robinson, describes this passion as one's element. In his book The Element, Robinson describes this state as "the place where the things we love and the things we're good at come together."
If we could help foster their Element, not only will they enjoy their learning more but we could also show our students the avenues that could allow them to monetize their passion to develop a business savvy. The creative qualities will follow.
When a student feels they have the freedom and opportunity to be creative, innovation becomes possible. It is this innovation that allows companies like Google, Apple, Nike, and other highly successful brands to have such a large impact on their consumers. These companies are on the leading edge of their field and do so because they hire employees who fit the fluid description of a Smart Creative.
Our schools should foster the smart creative that lies inside each of our students. You'll never know what you may uncover!
Enjoy!
Dante
Up next: Part 2: How Can We Prepare Our Students to Work at Google.
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