New View EDU Episode 9: Schools for the Long Term

Available October 5

Find New View EDU on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, and many other podcast apps.

In this episode—in the temporary absence of co-host Tim Fish—Lisa Kay Solomon sits down with Roman Krznaric to dig deeply into the concept of being a “good ancestor.” Roman, a public philosopher, bestselling author, and founder of the world’s first empathy museum, explains how the good ancestor framework can be a foundational guiding principle for school leaders. Starting from the place of asking what legacy our present-day decisions will leave for future generations, Roman traces good ancestor thinking from indigenous cultures to present-day innovations in Canada and Japan. He shares how grounding futures thinking in a deep understanding of empathy can lead people to make radically different choices than they would make under other conditions. And he makes the argument that the way we approach strategic planning may not actually be very future-focused at all.

Key Questions

• How can school leaders not only take a longer-term view, but communicate that stance clearly to their key stakeholders—parents, the board, alumni, etc.?
• Although our brains are vulnerable to short-term distractions, The Good Ancestor also makes the case that we’re hardwired for long-term thinking. What’s the difference between our marshmallow brains and our acorn brains, and how do we train ourselves—and our students—to be more attuned to acorn thinking?
• How can we practice the kind of long-term, good ancestor thinking that ensures our school community’s values are sustained and upheld through future generations? And how does this kind of thinking impact the way we design and plan for priorities like capital campaigns?
• Can good ancestor thinking help leaders to design truly diverse, collaborative conversations that invite multiple perspectives, rather than designing conversations that subtly seek buy-in to decisions that have already been made?
• How can we use good ancestor thinking and long-term perspective taking to inform our study of history? Can we begin to teach students to examine events both backward and forward—with consideration for how history informs what is happening in the present, and will inform the future?

Episode Highlights

• “What I mean by conceptual emergency around long-term thinking is that I think most of us have picked up newspapers, looked at websites and things, and seen people talking about the incredible short-termism of society, whether it's the fact that our politicians can't see beyond the next election or even the latest tweet, or businesses can't see beyond the quarterly report or a market spike and crash and speculative bubbles.And we're constantly looking at our phones.” (2:17)
• “Let's not just step into the shoes of people who are maybe voiceless or marginalized in today's world. Let's try and step into the shoes of future generations.” (8:20)
• “You know, in many ways we know we are the inheritors of very positive legacies from the past, you know, legacies of cities we still live in, or medical discoveries we still benefit from. But we also know we're the inheritors of very negative or destructive legacies, legacies of colonialism and slavery and racism that create deep inequities that must now be repaired, or legacies of economies that are structurally addicted to endless growth and fossil fuels that must now be transformed. And that raises a question. You know, about what are we going to pass on to the next generation, given what we've inherited, which bits do we want to keep and which bits do we want to move on from?” (8:50)
• “And it's to recognize that, you know, like for me, my 12-year-old daughter could easily be alive in the year 2100, you know, that future isn't science fiction. It's an intimate family fact, and caring about the lives of someone now in the future is kind of what schools are all about, right? Because it's about giving kids something great in their lives today, but also about doing something for their lives into the long future and giving them the tools that they need to survive and thrive in a very uncertain and turbulent world.” (21:11)
• “A satisfying conversation is one that makes you say things you have never said before.” (32:32)  
• “I think just that question of recognizing who I am as a leader, you know, the definition of a leader, in a way, needs to be inspired by the idea of seventh-generation decision-making. A good leader is one that's thinking seven generations ahead, let's say, as a rule of thumb. And that is a leadership quality that has worked for indigenous peoples for thousands of years, you know, it's a form of ecological stewardship, but the stewardship that a school leader has is also a kind of a social stewardship, you know, about the community they're creating and they're generating and regenerating.” (41:11)

Resource List

• Roman’s website: Dive into more of Roman’s work, including videos, cartoons, graphics, and resources for expanding your understanding of good ancestor thinking.
• The Empathy Museum: Explore the world’s first empathy museum and the “Mile in your shoes” exhibit.
• The Man Who Planted Trees: The short story by Jean Giono, which Roman cites as an inspiration for his own work.
• The David Suzuki Foundation: A future-focused climate sustainability foundation that embodies good ancestor principles.
• Future Design in Japan: Read more about the municipal planning practice Roman discusses in this episode.
• Roots of Empathy Curriculum: Get more information about the evidence-based program reducing childhood aggression and increasing social competencies.

Full Transcript

• Read the full transcript here.

Key Takeaways

• Use these prompts to spark discussions with your leadership teams. (NAIS member login required)

About Our Guest