by General Stanley McChrystal deserves five stars in my mind as it brings to our attention and makes it absolutely clear that the ways our world and organizations need to function now to succeed are vastly different from the silo-ed, departmentalized, competitive and territorial settings we have often been conditioned to function in. While words such as “collaboration” and “integration” have recently been more common in schools and workplaces, but in our day to day activities, at best such practices are localized in pockets of our organizations.  More regularly these are noble aspirations that fall short in reality.  (Beau Gordon has written a hepful summary of takeaways from the book.)

But why so?  Team of Teams and another great book, Todd Rose’s “The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness” show us that we have been indoctrinated by Taylorism and Averageism for the past century.  Most know no other way to function and manage in organizations.  We regularly measure ourselves against the “average”.  We rank, put ourselves and others in percentiles.  You know you are under the spell too when you have used the terms “above average” or “below average”.  Data collection has its place but to be consumed, controlled and compartmentalized for the most parts of our lives due to some interpretation of the collected data is another thing. So who is measuring?

Answer: A lot of people.  From the moment we are in school, we are ranked, bell-curved, compared, graded in a few, limited standardized systems.  I am saddened, moved but also greatly heartened by the movie “The 15:17 to Paris”. depicting three American young men, Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler.  These young men were seen as below average in the systems they have been operating in, whether in school or in the military or jobs.  They have been disqualified for this and that, told all their lives they have not made the cut, not good enough for this team or that role.  But somehow on one fateful day in 2015,  they rose to the occasion and became larger-than-life heroes on the 15:17 Thalis train from Amsterdam to Paris, saving all on board from imminent danger.

To be future-ready with hope and opportunities for us and those around us and to fight for authentic greater good for more people across the globe, we need to unleash such creative genius, faithful perseverance,  spontaneous courage, cross-pollination of ideas and leveraging of expertise from cross-teams and the harnessing of solutions from unexpected sources.

But where are the educators who will get our young people there, to do the sustained emotional, mental and character work to reverse a century of brain-washing (well-intended notwithstanding)?  It seems these REAL and desperately needed superheros are not as easily churned out as the Marvel and DC movie characters.  Not to mention, they make a pittance compared to most other career tracks.  Why we do NOT put our best minds in the educating of our next generations again shows how illogical and unproductive we as adults/planners/managers of societies can be.

Alas, take heart.  The battle is not lost yet.  There are a few “crazies” that have fought for decades and their lifework is seeing results now.

In the face of new competitive threats, America will thrive economically only if our education system takes a 180-degree turn. Sometimes I think only Dennis Littky knows exactly what needs to be done.

— Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies

Dennis Littky and Elliott Washer are a few revolutionaries among others who have been building and living a school model that counters everything that is soul-less in some of our school systems all around the world.  Big Picture Learning is passion-based and celebrates and coaches the individual while building communities and families that hold members accountable.  With one supervisor teacher following the same small group of students through out all four of their high school years, connecting them to mentors in the society throughout engaging internships, it is very hard for each student to not feel invested and believed in as a unique and talented being, no matter what background they come from.  I highly recommend “Leaving to Learn” by Washer and “Big Picture” by Littky.

So maybe with more and more of us “taking the blue pill” and seeing the real state of affairs and saying it is NOT okay for us to continue being a cog in the existing systems that are not taking us anywhere, let us learn to pay attention to our youth and each other, give healthy boundaries but show interest and time to encourage and support where needed.  We need to keep liberating each other from what Rose calls “the tyranny of average” and give ourselves permission to do great work every single day.  So many more of us need to become the “gardeners”  General McChrystal calls us to be, then maybe we will get closer to the “shared consciousness” and “empowered execution” needed for organizations to succeed as “Team of Teams”.  Difficult, revolutionary even, but worth the fight.  Our future depends on it.