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![The Innovator’s Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity by [George Couros]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51uo6sbasQL._SY346_.jpg)
The Innovator’s Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity Kindle Edition
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The traditional system of education requires students to hold their questions and compliantly stick to the scheduled curriculum. But our job as educators is to provide new and better opportunities for our students. It’s time to recognize that compliance doesn’t foster innovation, encourage critical thinking, or inspire creativity—and those are the skills our students need to succeed.
In THE INNOVATOR'S MINDSET, George Couros encourages teachers and administrators to empower their learners to wonder, to explore—and to become forward-thinking leaders.
If we want innovative students, we need innovative educators. In other words, innovation begins with you. Ultimately, innovation is not about a skill set but about mindset.
THE INNOVATOR'S MINDSET is for you if:
•You are a superintendent, district administrator, or principal who wants to empower your staff to create a culture of innovation.
•You are a school leader—at any level—and want help students and educators become their personal best.
•You are a teacher who wants to create relevant learning experiences and help students develop the skills they need to be successful.
THE INNOVATOR'S MINDSET includes practical suggestions for unleashing your students’ and teachers’ talent. You’ll also read encouraging accounts of leaders and learners who are innovating “inside the box.”
You'll be inspired to:
•Connect with other innovative educators
•Support teachers and leaders as learners
•Tap into the strengths of your learning community
•Create ongoing opportunities for innovation
•Seek more effective methods for measuring progress
•And, most importantly, embrace change and use it to do something amazing
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateOctober 20, 2015
- File size2002 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Review
Whether you're a classroom teacher, superintendent,or parent, you'll find something in here that will help you rethink andrefocus your efforts.--Dean Shareski, Community Manager,Discovery Education
We need to adopt the "innovator's mindset" that will be so essentialto our students becoming effective citizens in the rapidly changingworld in which they live. This book is an excellent read. --Angela Maiers, Educator, Author, Speaker,and Founder of Choose2Matter
With numerous examples of practical strategies that school leaders can implement tomorrow, George has created a guide to help infuse innovativepractices in schools and classrooms. This book will become a critical piece of yourlearning library. --Patrick Larkin, Assistant Superintendent for Learning,Burlington Public Schools
George has the ability to challenge what you didn't evenrealize needed to be challenged. He does it deliberately, thoughtfully, and instinctively. These challenges result in a perceptive andpractical book--one that will change how you "do" education. --Amber Teamann, Principal, Wylie ISD
About the Author
Although George is a leader in the area of innovation, his focus is always the development of leadership and people and what is best for learners. His belief that meaningful change happens when you first connect to people's hearts is modeled in his writing and speaking. You can connect with George on his blog, "The Principal of Change" (located at georgecouros.ca) or through Twitter (@gcouros). --This text refers to the paperback edition.
Product details
- ASIN : B016YTBZKO
- Publisher : Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc. (October 20, 2015)
- Publication date : October 20, 2015
- Language : English
- File size : 2002 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 279 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #211,255 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

George Couros is a leading educator in the area of innovative leadership, teaching, and learning. He has worked with all levels of school, from K-12 as a teacher, technology facilitator and as a school and district administrator. He is a sought after speaker on the topic of innovative student learning and engagement and has worked with schools and organizations around the globe.
Although George is a leader in the area of innovation, his focus is always the development of leadership and people and what is best for learners. His belief that meaningful change happens when you first connect to people's hearts is modeled in his writing and speaking. You can connect with George on his blog, "The Principal of Change" (located at georgecouros.ca) or through Twitter and Instagram (@gcouros).
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This is an excerpt from the final pages of this amazing book, but don’t fret, this is not a spoiler alert.
“We have always celebrated our top academic students and touted them as being successful, but sometimes they walk out of school only being great at the game of school and not much else. We can be so much more as educators, a fact that Erica Goldson shared in her very powerful high school valedictorian speech in 2010:
I am graduating. I should look at this as a positive experience, especially being at the top of my class. However, in retrospect, I cannot say that I am any more intelligent then my peers. I can attest that I am only the best at doing what I am told and working the system. Yet, here I stand, and I am supposed to be proud that I have completed this period of indoctrination. I will leave in the fall to go on to the next phase expected of me, in order to receive a paper document that certifies that I am capable of work. But I contest that I am a human being, a thinker, an adventurer – not a worker. A worker is someone who is trapped within repetition, a slave of the system set up before him. But now, I have successfully shown that I was the best slave. I did what I was told to the extreme. While others sat in class and doodled to later become great artists, I sat in class to take notes and become a great test taker. While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment. While others were creating music and writing lyrics, I decided to do extra credit, even though I never needed it. So, I wonder, why did I even want this position? Sure, I earned it, but what will come of it? When I leave educational institutionalism, will I be successful or forever lost? I have no clue about what I want to do with my life; I have no interests because I saw every subject of study as work, and I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning. And quite frankly, now I’m scared. We are more than robotic bookshelves, conditioned to blurt out facts we were taught in school. We are all very special. Every human on this planet is so special, so aren’t we all deserving of something better, of using our minds for innovation rather than memorization, for creativity rather than stagnation? We are not here to get a degree, to then get a job, so we can consume industry-approved placation after placation. There is more, and more still.”
I share this with you to not only capture your attention, as it did for me majorly, but to make you really think. How can we get out of this cycle of crazy that our educational system is currently STUCK in due to accountability gone wild? Please don’t ever misunderstand me on this, I believe accountability is important. But our current testing system is absolutely ridiculous for children. ABSOLUTELY.
My purpose is to share with you a book that can truly change your mindset about how to create innovative mindsets in today’s education systems. I’ve beat my head against the wall so many times about how to do this when we have such standardized measures and practices that occur because of current accountability systems. I’ve always wondered how you do what’s right for individual children in a personalized world with standardized measures. How do you allow students the opportunity to really learn? Not just recite and “do tests” as the incredibly insightful Erica Goldson shares. This book will teach you how to think differently. Couros himself states, “If we only teach students the curriculum, we have failed them.” But he goes on to say, “I believe you’ll find that small change may be enough to get things moving in a new and better direction.”
This book is structured into 3 parts: Innovation in Education; Laying the Groundwork; and Unleashing Talent. Without going into too much detail, I want you to know that there is some philosophy, as that’s important. BUT there are so many concrete and relevant ideas and suggestions! This is why I love the book so much, as to have these “real” ideas is a rarity. I felt like my educator toolbox expanded after reading this, and that was a wonderful feeling. I cannot wait to initiate these mindset changes beginning August 17th (when staff returns to school)! Couros says that the book is “not meant to give answers but to provoke questions.” Yes, it makes you think and ask, but it also gives so many ideas. If you’re an educator, please read it. And, I sincerely hope all of my sons’ educators read this book. My boys, Liam and Luke, are my inspiration every day to be a better person and better educator, so I want them to have classrooms where their teachers don’t teach them how to take a test. I want their teachers to help develop their passions and grow in their learning and challenge them to think and create, and create, and create. This book will help you do this.
After reading What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation (http://www.amazon.com/What-Matters-Now-Competition-Unstoppable/dp/1118120825) by author and London Business School professor Gary Hamel a few years ago, so much of what Couros writes is of the same ilk, only applied specifically to education rather than to business. Hamel pens, “To be an innovator you have to challenge the beliefs that everyone else takes for granted—the long-held assumptions that blind industry incumbents to new ways of doing business.” Couros captures this thinking throughout. “Without innovation, organizations—including educational facilities—cease to exist.” His words reflect a note highlighted in my copy of What Matters Now, “Truth is, every organization is successful until it’s not. There’s a simple, but oft-neglected lesson here: to sustain success, you have to be willing to abandon things that are no longer successful.” The parallels to the two texts are astounding with each author emphasizing the role of innovation to the continued relevance in business (in the case of Hamel) and education (from the lens of Couros).
“Change is an opportunity to do something amazing,” writes Couros who also quotes author John Maxwell, “Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.” Throughout, his tales of his own experiences and those of others, Couros provides insight and guidance on fostering a “growth mindset” towards innovation, which he defines as “a way of thinking that creates something new and better,” all while debunking the idea “innovation is synonymous with technology.” Melding the two concepts of innovation and Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck, he describes the “innovator’s mindset” as the “belief that abilities, intelligence, and talents are developed so that they can lead to the creation of new and better ideas.”
Of the numerous lines I’ve highlighted, one stood out above the rest. “Innovate inside the box.” While acknowledging “schools are not overloaded with funding,” he writes, “Innovating in our schools requires a different type of thinking, one that doesn’t focus on ideas that are “outside the box,” but those that allow us to be innovative despite budgetary constraints. In other words, we need to learn to innovate ‘inside the box.’” Whoa! Stop. Reread. #profound So often, educators give up or give in to what is in our “circle of concern” rather than build upon what is in our “circle of influence” ([...]) as noted by author Stephen Covey in his bestseller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. Couros does not allow readers off the hook to surrender to this age-old excuse despite its glaring reality.
When reaching out to committee members in my initial contact, I wrote, “I’ve no idea where the ‘District of Innovation’ process will take us, but one of the highlights I’ve underscored in the Couros book reads, “Innovation starts not by providing answers, but by asking questions. #InnovatorsMindset” Because there truly is no predetermined course of action, this quote solidly reflects my view going into the process.
From his “critical questions for the innovative educator” to the “eight characteristics of the innovator’s mindset” to the “characteristics of the innovative leader” to the “eight things to look for in today’s classroom” to “eight things to look for in today’s professional learning” (I’m sensing a pattern here.), Couros scaffolds a system of support for educators willing to embrace change and innovation.
From his stories about Carly Rae Jepsen ([...]) and analogies citing Blazing Saddles and Talladega Nights, this page turner kept me going; and I finished it over the three-day Memorial Day weekend. (Now what am I going to do with the next 27 days?)
In his book, Hamel writes, “Within any organization, it’s usually the malcontents and rebels who are the first to sense the impending demise of a long-cherished business model, and the first to see the value in wacky, new ideas. The best leaders are the ones who get the most options on the table before making a decision.” With The Innovator's Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity, Couros does just that; and for this fact, I am beyond grateful to have read this book.
And finally, although I am certain my heritage is German and not Greek and the fact he is Canadian and I American, I’m more than convinced we are “brothers from another mother.” From the same stylized spiked haircut to the similarities in presentation styles to our insistence to remain connected to the classroom (as I continue to teach students across our district (as in the 50+ sessions on the “growth mindset” with kindergartners to ninth graders this school year) to his ridiculously simple idea of talking his laptop to classrooms for hours at a time doing administrative work there rather than the office, I think it’s true.
Top reviews from other countries


What I especially loved about this book are the discussion questions at the end of each chapter. This really helped me reflect on my actual experiences in relation to the material presented in the book. The questions then also made hosting our staff book club for this book very easy and natural. This book is the first one to get my colleagues & I excited enough to start a book club!
Additionally, the ideas in this book live on in discussions long after you're done reading this book (if you choose) via social media using #InnovatorsMindset. Educators all over the world come together using #InnovatorsMindset to discuss, share and tell stories. The author himself participates - what better way to really live the ideas in this book!
I highly recommend this read for all educators!


The book truly challenges us to bring out the best in our colleagues and students by keying in on their strengths and challenging and supporting in a way that makes change happen.
This book should not only be on a must read list for any formal leader in education but also for any educator seeking to make change in his/her classroom and school.
Highly recommend!!!

And while no book provides all the answers, this provides some great questions, ideas and discussions.
If you're an educational leader, you definitely should read it. If you're not, reading this may make you want to become one.