November of 2013, I gave a TEDx talk on how to fail successfully based on my own experiences. At the time, I was a budding entrepreneur who was working on a multitude of ideas including one that I laugh about most: The Conversation Coach. The main point of the talk was: “For my entire life I…
Author: Deborah Chang
I take down systemic barriers to education innovation.
TEDxPrincetonU: How to Fail Successfully by Deborah Chang [Transcribed]
“For my entire life I was taught how to be successful, but I was not taught to fail.” But “the only thing that’s certain about the future is that it’s uncertain. So failure is inevitable. And if failure is inevitable, we need to work that into our process of learning and growing.”
My Quarter in Review: Winter 2017
A Look Forward After two years of organizing #NYCEDU on a part-time volunteer basis, I’ve officially stepped into a new role as “founder.” In taking this step, I’m accepting the responsibility for guiding #NYCEDU from a loose collaboration of education innovators to an organization with the processes and discipline to scale up in both members and…
My Personal Mission Statement (v. 4)
January 10th, 2017: As a tree grows, it shifts its resources from growing quickly to growing deeply. That is how I’ve grown this past year, and my personal mission statement, lightly updated but more heavily imprinted, is a reflection of that growth. January 9th, 2019: As I read this personal mission statement over, I conclude that I’m…
My Quarter in Review: Spring 2016
Progress is the goal, not perfection.
My Quarter in Review: Winter 2016
What I Accomplished My greatest accomplishments over the last three months was that I finally made it to Thailand! My Thailand trip has been a dream since August 2014, and I was able to save enough money to go by September 2015. December 2015, I headed off to Thailand, and spent a whole month enjoying…
Words Matter; Symbols Matter: Technology Adoption in Education
Larry Cuban, a well-respected education blogger, recently posted the following: Technology Evangelists, Skeptics, and Those in the Middle In it, he points out that what is new is not always what is better and that the language being used to describe late adopters of technology include value judgments that are frankly dangerous. “Evangelists for technology seldom…
I Just Reached 2000+ Twitter Followers!
I just reached 2000+ Twitter followers, and I’m incredibly excited by this milestone!
How To Have the Conversations You Desperately Want To Avoid (Part 1): 10 Tips for Holding People Accountable
I’ve gotten pretty good at having conversations most people want to avoid. My first “business” was actually The Conversation Coach, which I shut down when I realized that communication skills alone was not the problem I wanted to work on and when I found that all my clients were education startup founders anyway. However, it remains…
My Quarter in Review: Winter 2015
My greatest accomplishment last quarter was clarifying what we do at #NYCEDU. We curate, coach, and connect community organizers who work across lines of difference in NYC education. Curate We find the community organizers who are aligned with #NYCEDU core beliefs. These are: We are a collective. Everyone is a founder. Lead with love. Be creative….
