What Are You Too Certain About?

“Certainty is the enemy of learning… a barrier to change and innovation.” This was a timely reminder from Andrew Hoover in his ignite speech last week at the Expanding and Enhancing Student Support Institute, hosted by the Office of Overseas Schools. That’s where so many of us get stuck. In our desire to do what’s right, we often cling too tightly to being right. But, Andrew reminded us “if we can’t change our minds, we cannot change anything.” To lead transformation in schools, we have to be willing to question our values and assumptions. “We need to stay open to changing our minds.”

Last week Andrew and I shared our collaborative work on a new playbook for international schools—created to help schools say yes to more students, more often. The playbook was developed in collaboration with writers, readers, and schools around the globe. The playbook explores the imperatives of inclusive education, the deep work of culture change, sustainable financial models, programmatic design, and—most importantly—stories from schools around the world that are carving out courageous, community-driven paths toward greater inclusion.

This week was a powerful reminder: this work is culture work. And culture work is relationship work.

Andrew reminded us, “Certainty is one of the reasons that we aren’t where we want to be in terms of expanding and enhancing student support in international schools.”
Let’s be honest, we cling too hard to OUR way. What if we got over it? What if, we were open to other ways, as long as there is A WAY.

In a conversation with Christian Talbot, President of Middle States recently, he said “I take pleasure in changing my mind.” Talk about a growth mindset.  Christian leads with the openness that there are many ways, but there must be a way.

According to Andrew, and I agree, one of the biggest challenges schools and organizations face when expanding and enhancing disability inclusion is “the fixed mode we find ourselves in.” That rigidity can show up subtly: in how we write our policies, how we structure our teams, even in how we define who belongs. But if we can pause and ask, “What are you too certain about?”—we might begin to see those cracks in the system as openings for something new to emerge.

Andrew reminded us that “truth is fragmented by human perception.” And so, in this work, we must “expand the narrative space of the work. Put aside practical differences regarding the hows. To carve out practical context-based fixes and solutions. They’re not out there, they’re in your community. There isn’t a single way to do the work.”

“As certain as we are about what needs to be done, we are often times too certain about how it must be done.” That kind of certainty keeps us from listening to each other, from experimenting, from being truly inclusive—not just in who is welcomed, but in how decisions are made and whose voices shape them.

“Leading through transformation requires being changed and changing, not simply implementing systems… Leading through change is all about relationships.” It’s about trust. Listening. Shared responsibility. Because ultimately, “embracing responsibility, not certainty, will help build strong teams.”

Andrew reminded us that, “most of an organization’s culture is hidden below the surface.” And yet we must be brave enough to go there—because, as Andrew so clearly put it, “consider the stakes… we will no longer accept that some belong and others don’t.”

We work in human-centered organizations. Let’s build human-centered systems.

Leaving the week in DC, I felt encouraged. I saw teams from around the world engage in thoughtful, honest conversations—asking hard questions, listening to each other, and shaping solutions that made sense for their context. The desire to say yes more often is real. The work of saying yes—and meaning it—is underway.  How we get to yes is contextual.

So, again: what are you too certain about?

A big thank you to Andrew Hoover for such a timely and thoughtful speech.  It was so inspiring I wanted to share much of it here, so that more people have access to the take aways and reflections posed.