The Innovator’s Mindset suggests a vision statement be “direct enough to memorize,” so here goes:

(Insert school here) is home to learners of all ages nurtured in a culture of curiosity, collaboration, and reflection and impassioned by the goals of sustainability and world peace.

I really, really wanted the “why” to be in there. Why not aim big?

Do I want learners of all ages in my school to innovate? Absolutely. But more than that I want us to move forward with the idea that we need to leave the world a better place than we found it. Or better yet, with the feeling that we want to.

Does the big idea of world peace require big acts of innovation?

Well, just the idea that world peace is the purpose of education is a rather big act of innovation. But from there, we can start to make it happen with small stuff: from what books we read to the language we use to the story problems we write to the projects we encourage. Why not peace/sustainability/kindness-themed?

One of my favorite ideas from #immooc so far is that of “vintage innovation.”  And now I’m thinking: what about “purpose innovation”?