I firmly believe in learning beyond the classroom walls, for students and for teachers. Last week we took a group of Nishimachi International School faculty and staff to visit Goldman Sachs office in Tokyo.
An intent of the trip was to understand how a long established company is ever evolving in a changing world and for those of us in a school to see, hear about and experience the world of work.
For me, there were three main takeaways from the experience.
✅ The Business Principles. This along with the culture piece that Goldman Sachs values and fosters I think was really powerful. Having a shared understanding of who Goldman Sachs strives to be as a business, and how everyone can contribute to that was very insightful. This aligns with the work we have been doing and connects to the Portrait of a Nishimachi International School Teacher we use as a lens for who we are as educators.
✅ The spaces of Goldman Sachs. I have had the opportunity to visit EdTech offices and the flexible, lifestyle spaces they provide employees (from lounges, cereal bars, gyms, studios, etc) and have always been impressed at the value these spaces are given to create opportunities for employees to have the diversity of choice in their work environments. In what I might consider to be a more “traditional” company, I was surprised to see these spaces at GS. EdTech firms have a reputation for pivoting, fluid thinking, entrepreneurial mindsets and quick action so those spaces influence that thinking and it was nice to see it also in a well established company like GS. I think this is a huge direction for education as well. Creating flexible and diverse learning environments where students have voice and choice, along with autonomy to choose where they will learn best is an area education continues to move to, but seeing it in action at GS and other companies is a good reminder that the world has changed, and continues to evolve – just as education needs to as well.
✅ The people. I greatly appreciated everyone’s time and insights. I loved the diverse backgrounds, perspectives and skill sets/aptitudes everyone shared. It was really poignant for me in that again, there are assumptions with certain industries that there is “one type of job” but listening yesterday, you can see that all the personalities, passions, interests, abilities and more that we see in our students, will all add value and be impactful in roles later in life – we just need to help them see where their personal excellence lies, and give them the confidence to take their talents where-ever they want to go. We need to expose them to what’s possible in the world around us.
It was a great afternoon and I am greatly appreciative to Elizabeth Novak (Kano) for creating this opportunity and for her partnership as we explore more possible learning beyond the classroom walls.
PICTURE THIS... 