don't be a cog

Today my ten year old son was on a learning website called Study Island. He's a smart kid who's heading into fifth grade and had straight A's in fourth. On Study Island, which is only accessible through schools, he has the high score in the state for one game and several other top 5 scores in other games. Today as he was showing off to me he gave me a disturbing answer to one of my questions. I asked him, "Why don't you start trying out the fifth grade games?" His answer, "Because my teacher told us not to." Wow! Is that what what the public schools are teaching our kids? Don't take initiative. Don't try something that might be difficult. Fear failure. Obey orders. The way I see it our schools are ancient institutions. They were designed to turn people into cogs. If you do what you're told you'll get a good, steady job. The problem is the good, steady jobs are not the same as they were 30, 40 years ago. We don't churn out machinery, parts and other factory items anymore. To succeed today you need to be able to stand out - not blend in. As a manager I will never tell you what not to do. The best people I've worked with always want more. They look for the next challenge and rise above it. If they fail it doesn't stop them. It only makes them want more. Don't be a cog in the system. Be a Linchpin. Stand out!