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You spent three days in a conference room.
Stakeholder voices. Sticky notes. A facilitator who cost more than your copier budget.
The result? A beautiful vision statement that now lives on your website, your email signature, and that poster by the main office that nobody reads.
But what if your vision statement is a liar?
Not because the words are wrong. But because words without operational clarity don’t create change — they create cynicism.
The Old Way (That Doesn’t Work)
Districts believe that if they can just nail the language, the transformation will follow. So they workshop phrases like “innovative learning community” and “prepare students for an ever-changing world” until everyone agrees.
Then they go back to their campuses and ... nothing changes.
Teachers still teach the same way. Leaders still manage the same crises. Students still experience the same school.
The vision becomes wallpaper. Inspiring, maybe. But invisible.
Why This Happens
Vision without systems is just aspiration.
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