"This journey has shown me the power of networks." Wendy Kopp Reflects on Leadership

Pinpointing exactly when the social entrepreneurship movement began disrupting philanthropy and driving innovation in social problem solving is challenging, but many people would agree that a seminal moment came in 1989, when Wendy Kopp used her graduate thesis to introduce Teach For America to the world. Since then, TFA and the other partners of Teach For All, which she co-founded in 2007, have become a global network of tens of thousands of teachers and educators. Alums of the programs have gone on to assume leadership positions across the education systems of the U.S. and other countries, where they relentlessly push for better classroom and life outcomes for underserved children.

Wendy’s influence on teachers and educators and other education system influencers, as well as her staying power as a leader in the overall movement, are remarkable. I’ve had the honor of serving with Wendy on the board of New Profit, the national venture philanthropy organization that backed both TFA and Teach For All in their early days, and I have seen her give her time and energy to mentor so many other leaders at different stages of their journeys. One of the things that keeps me in awe of Wendy is the fact that she looks at the 48 member Teach For All network as something like a single organism, kept alive and marching towards a mission of educational equity through kinship, collaboration, and resilience. That’s a leadership lesson in itself: while the day-to-day grind of running an organization or an initiative is consuming, the real path to transforming systems lies in the larger movement for change. We must always situate ourselves within it and give and take collective energy from it, even as we focus on our own daily tasks.

For the second installment of Ensembles, Not Soloists, my new interview series on system entrepreneurs, I asked Wendy to look at the long scope of her leadership and think about how her vision and values have evolved. Her answers were so illuminating and valuable for leaders across sectors that I decided to publish them in full. The interview is long, but I encourage you to read, comment, and share. To check out the first installment of the series, featuring Deloitte’s social impact chief Sam Silvers, click here.  

Jeff Walker (JW): Over 25 years of leadership in social problem solving, how has your vision for changing he education system evolved?

Wendy Kopp (WK): In the early years of Teach For America, I was thinking that we needed to focus on building capacity inside the education system; my view was that we could affect all the policy change we want, but in the end it wouldn’t matter without the capability to enact new policies in the system. When some game-changing political leaders were elected in some of the regions where we worked, I saw the power generated when political and educational leadership align.

What soon became clear, however, was that political leadership wasn’t sustainable without strong community support and leadership among families and teachers and other stakeholders. Ultimately, I’ve come to think that we really can effect system change, but only if we have enough leadership across the whole ecosystem around children.

I’ve seen that we can do a lot to address all the extra challenges that disadvantaged kids face by expanding the mandate of schools. And yet I’ve always felt it is also necessary to take the pressure off of families and schools in the first place through increasing the quality of early childhood education, improving nutrition and health care, strengthening child protection, developing employment opportunities, and so forth. This was an early rationale behind Teach For America’s two-year commitment – that we can’t solve such systemic inequities from within classrooms and schools alone and ultimately need many people taking them on from inside and outside of education.

As I’ve progressed in this work, I’ve grown in my conviction about how important it is that those who have themselves experienced the inequities we’re addressing guide and lead the work. I’ve seen how vital it is to have some of the most privileged people in society and members of the establishment gain proximity to inequity and determination to address it. But I’ve also seen that we move faster, more responsibly, and more sustainably when the push for change is defined and owned by the people within communities who know their reality and their aspirations. To progress otherwise is to perpetuate a world that is dominated by the privileged class, and to forego enlisting the incredible strength and perspective of the people who’ve endured the injustices for so long. 

JW: Can you explain "collective leadership", the central systems change approach at Teach For All, and give us an example of how it plays out practically to increase impact?

WK: I think of collective leadership as having three parts.

First, it requires leadership around the whole ecosystem around children. For each individual child, we need to think about whether she attends school regularly or whether there are family responsibilities or other social issues that keep her away. We need to think about the quality of her health care, about whether she has access to clean water, about how many meals a day is she eating, and how nutritious those meals are. We need to think about how clear and high the educational expectations are for her, whether she has access to the teachers necessary to meet them, whether her family members and guardians support her in meeting those expectations. In short, we need people around the whole ecosystem—from parents to health workers to policy makers to teachers and school leaders—who are all aligned around a vision for children. 

Second, collective leadership involves a coalition between the current members of the establishment— the most privileged people who currently hold the power—and, as I mentioned above, those who have experienced inequities themselves.

Third, collective leadership is about making space to build the relationships necessary to reflect together, learn together, grow the collective wisdom, develop shared vision, and collaborate. In the communities I’m closest to, in the United States, I’ve seen firsthand that it’s possible to have a whole bunch of incredible people—a diverse coalition of people—all working to change things for the better but all rowing in different directions without a shared vision for student success, They’re working within silos, with competing theories of change and without airing their disagreements, working so hard and giving it their best but without coming up for air to reflect together with others on what we’re learning collectively and what we most need to do to make progress. I’ve come to see—in part by learning more from people around the world and from different sectors about what’s at work where there is sustained system change—that creating space for relationship-building and collective reflection and co-creation is a big part of the key to developing collective leadership.  

In one of Teach For India’s first placement communities, the city of Pune, there is an incredible effort to develop collective leadership to improve the system. In a city of more than 3 million people, where 16 percent of enrolled students completed 12th grade, Teach For India fellows are working together with many allies and stakeholders to build a movement to ensure all children fulfill their potential. They are leading reimagined schools, launching teacher development initiatives, designing “children’s zones” with cradle-to-career support for health, parenting, financial literacy, and career development. Students themselves are leading as social entrepreneurs, and parents are advocating for their rights to a high-quality education. The question used to be, “Is it possible for a child from a low-income background in Pune to attain an excellent education?” Today, the question is, “How do we ensure that every child in Pune is attaining an excellent education?”

JW: Many founders make career transitions in ways that allow them to continue to tackle their chosen systems challenge, sometimes from a different angle. How did that play out when you moved from Teach For America to Teach For All?

WK: Just over a decade ago, I started hearing from people around the world who were interested in Teach For America’s approach and the role it could play in their home countries. Their interest led to the launch of Teach For All, which we established as a network of independent, locally led organizations that share a common purpose and a commitment to certain unifying principles, with a global organization to help them all learn from each other and accelerate progress. My decision to focus on Teach For All was rooted in my growing conviction in the power of our unifying theory of change and a desire to make it my life’s work. I felt I could continue pursuing it while learning so much more and challenging myself. 

The global journey has been so energizing for me. I can’t get over the brilliant hearts, minds and souls all over the world, and the ways in which they’re pushing and improving upon our unifying approach. I’m inspired by the diversity of their contexts, and how much more quickly we can move when we’re learning from each other across borders. This journey has shown me the power of networks and the deep potential of individuals all over the world to transform themselves and pioneer transformative solutions. It’s shown me that we need leadership from everyone to fulfill our potential and that there’s a tremendous amount of leadership around the world.  

I’ve learned that this work is such a long game and feel so privileged to have started in it so early, so that I have a chance to see it generate really meaningful impact. Pursuing Teach For All wasn’t about “leaving” Teach For America for me but rather about continuing the long journey of learning and impact. I guess the lesson is to stay open to the new ideas and opportunities even as you gain experience.

JW: What rising leaders and organizations in education have caught your eye as promising systems change actors or ingredients?

WK: There are so many important innovations taking on different pieces of the puzzle—from fostering parent leadership in advocating for their children’s education to leveraging technology to better support teachers and learners. I’ll mention one particular innovation I’ve recently seen that I think has a lot of potential and that’s an effort pioneered by Teach For India’s Shaheen Mistri to cultivate student leadership. The Kids Education Revolution supports students to work “in equal partnership” with their teachers to reimagine education. Through supporting students to initiate changes and improvements in education, they’re fostering student-centeredness and seeding change in a way that is more irresistible than top-down approaches. In the process, they’re also developing students’ agency, awareness, skills, and dispositions so that they’ll be more equipped to shape a better future now and as they grow older. And finally, the Kids Education Revolution is developing an incredible pipeline of young people who themselves have experienced the inequities in their countries and are deeply committed to addressing them.

JW: Who is a systems change leader, or what is a successful systems change campaign, that has inspired you personally and your work?

WK: I’m so inspired by Fazle Abed, who founded and leads BRAC, which he has scaled into the largest non-profit organization in the world. BRAC reaches millions of people with its poverty alleviation programs and wields the kind of influence on government policies and global trends that whole governments typically wield. I’m so impressed with Abed’s humility and learning orientation, and also with his longevity and commitment. 

Because he believes so deeply in the importance of developing leadership for the social sector in the way that he saw Teach For America do, he reached out and encouraged me to go forth in launching Teach For All even as many others were discouraging this idea. I honestly can’t be certain I would have pursued this if it weren’t for his push in the right direction—such a reminder that in a world where skepticism pervades, it is so invaluable to be encouraging of new ideas and to just say yes.

JW: Thank you, Wendy, and thanks to all of you for reading. Look out for another installment of Ensembles, Not Soloists soon.