“If we want to move forward, see Apple healthy and prospering again, we have to let go a few things here. We have to let go of this notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose. We have to embrace the notion that for Apple to win, Apple has to do a really good job. And if others are going to help us, that’s great … And if we screw up and don’t do a good job, it’s not somebody else’s fault — it’s our fault … So the era of setting this up as a competition between Apple and Microsoft is over as far as I’m concerned. This is about getting Apple healthy, and this is about Apple being able to make incredibly great contributions to the industry, to get healthy and prosper again.”
Ross Cooper sent me this quote and it really resonated. I think competition in some ways (I talk a lot about competitive-collaboration here) is good because it pushes you, but I also know why educators need to work together.
This post could be applied not only at an organizational level, but as a personal level as well. How often do we (myself included) get frustrated because someone else gets recognized for something that they have done? This doesn’t mean that we are “less” and that someone is “more”. It is just that they got recognized. I know that if I just focus on doing my best work, then good things are more likely to happen. One of my favourite quotes is from Jim Valvano:
“Hard work does not guarantee success, but lack of hard work guarantees that there will be no success.”
When we both push and support each other as organizations and individuals, students are the ultimate winners, along with our schools.
