Hyde: 10 Lessons Learned

I recently engaged in an extensive strategic planning process with a team of Hyde faculty, staff, and boad members.  We looked at product, price, competition, marketing, family education, and on and on.  One of my assignments was to explore our 45+ year history with an eye toward trying to identify the major lessons we’ve learned about ourselves.  I took a Letterman-like approach and ended up with:  10 Lessons Learned: Beliefs, Questions and (Double-Edged) Swords

1.  There is a better way: “Every individual is gifted with a unique potential…” (1966).
– We are driven by that belief.

2.  The quest for that “way” demands that we hang in with kids longer than any other school.

3.  We can’t do it without the parents.
– The parent is the primary teacher and the home is the primary classroom.

4.  We must strive to put principles before personalities
–  We are guided by 5 Words and 5 Principles

5.  The great thing about being young is there’s no dogma to keep you in line… So’s the bad thing.

6.  We’re tough.  We rally when our backs are to the wall.
– We may be the only pure boarding school founded in the last half-century that still survives.

7.  Character: Guardian against temptation & catapult to greatness.
– It’s hard to do justice to both in a balanced fashion.

8.  Our entrepreneurial nature (+) magnifies opportunities and (-) strains resources.
– It brings “thrills, chills, and vitamin pills.”

9.  We do not fear controversy.
– 60 Minutes (1989).

10. We have long been a private school with a public vision.
– Hyde Foundation (1990) has built schools in some of America’s poorest communities.

Onward,  Malcolm Gauld