How to Make Elephants Dance: Leading with Courage in the Age of AI
- Oct 24
- 1 min read
By Jim Best
At the heart of every independent school are relationships — between teachers and students, heads and boards, schools and their communities. Those human connections give our work meaning. They also make change feel risky, especially when that change comes wrapped in something as fast-moving and unfamiliar as AI.
Microsoft’s Rajesh Jha describes the challenge as “figuring out how to make the elephant dance” — helping complex, tradition-rich organizations become more agile and responsive while staying true to their purpose. Every independent school has its own elephant: the culture, the systems, and the deeply held habits that give it strength but can also make it reluctant.
At The Leader Network, our October Roundtables explored this balance — how to lead with courage, curiosity, and care as AI reshapes how we teach, learn, and lead.
Three kinds of courage can help:
Courage to Act. Start small. Learn in motion. Certainty can come later.
Courage to Experiment. Replace “What if this fails?” with “What might we learn if we try?”
Courage to Learn. Stay curious. Stay open. Stay human.
AI can make schools smarter — but only people make them soulful. As we evolve, let’s keep heart at the center of our innovation and help our elephants dance — with grace, courage, and purpose.
Join us at The Leader Network as we explore how.
— Jim