It's Nearly Impossible To Read The Label On The Jar You're Sitting In
Why EdTech leaders stay stuck despite smart teams and proven solutions—and how pattern recognition creates breakthrough.
As an EdTech leader, you're too close to see the patterns keeping you stuck. And it's nearly impossible to read the label of the jar you're in on your own—even with smart teams, proven solutions, and years of success behind you.
I’ve rowed uphill far too often that most of what I know for certain are lessons learned the hard way — failures that knocked the smirk clean off my face. This experience has taught me more than a decade of success ever did.
After several years of branding and UX work, I found myself trapped in a pattern I couldn't see. Clients would come to me asking for design work—a new logo, website redesign, marketing materials. I'd ask difficult questions: "What's the real problem we're going to solve? What about solving it today is important?" They'd get frustrated.
I felt stuck between two not so great choices: deliver what they asked for (and then defend the initial idea) or keep pushing back (and let ego get in the way). I thought this was a creative industry problem. I thought difficult clients were the issue.
Then I realized: I was the problem. I'd positioned myself as someone who would do whatever design work clients requested, even when I wasn't sure it would be beneficial. Meanwhile, clients were stuck in their own pattern—asking for tactical fixes to strategic problems, hoping for different outcomes.
We were both sitting in our respective jars, unable to see that the real problem wasn't the creative work. It was how we thought about the problems the creative work was supposed to solve.
Most of us focus on solving the symptoms: hire better people, implement new processes and systems, analyze more data. Don't get me wrong, you probably do need some of that. Yet when you're stuck despite having smart teams and proven solutions, the issue isn't what you're facing, it's how you're facing it.
You need someone willing to help you see the patterns that you can't see inside your own situation. Not someone to tell you what to do, but someone to help you see how you think about your problems. Juniper was built specifically with you in mind. This isn’t about working harder or faster. It’s about stepping back to see your business with fresh eyes to focus your talent and energy on what actually matters.
You're not broken. This isn't a flaw. The roadblocks you're experiencing—growth plateaus, decision paralysis, scattered team energy—it's what happens when the patterns that got you here won't get you to the next level.
Bridging the gap
This exact pattern blindness shows up everywhere in EdTech. EdTech faces a unique challenge to bridge the gap between not just building products but transforming how people learn and teach. The pressure to get this right while tiptoeing through traditional pressures makes it even harder to step outside your jar and see what's actually happening.
After working with EdTech leaders for several years, I see a few of the same patterns over and over again:
- You get in your own way: You tell yourself you need the right plan and the right information. This is really self-isolation and procrastination in disguise as preparedness and being thorough. You want the next decision to be the exact right decision with no risk of failure. What are you avoiding?
- You're too smart for your own good: You know your stuff better than anyone. If you just try harder you should be smart enough to figure it out on your own. You listen to all the podcasts, read all the articles, attend all the conferences. You tell yourself sophisticated solutions feel more credible; you just haven't found the right framework yet. And then what?
- Everything to everyone...or no one: You tell yourself if you satisfy your shareholders, your bottom line, your employees, your customers all at once, you'll win. You'll have proved yourself without missing any opportunities. You just need a broad enough message and be as efficient as possible, yet you change priorities the moment it's inconvenient. What are you sacrificing?
a peek behind the curtain
The last thing you want is another consultant or advisor to analyze your business and tell you what you're doing wrong. You've probably sat through presentations or been handed a 50-page report where someone explains your problems back to you using your own data.
How did that feel? Even if they could be right, did you find yourself thinking, "I'm not sure they really understood what I'm actually dealing with."
Here's what I've learned: Whose advice are you more willing to take—mine or yours? Think back to a significant moment in your past where you felt completely stuck. Did you confide in someone? Did that person help you see something you couldn't see before or tell you what they think you should do?
I'm guessing that moment isn't significant because of someone else's brilliant advice. It's when you finally were able to see your own patterns clearly.
That's what pattern recognition work actually is—an outside perspective willing to listen carefully to help you read the label on the jar you're in and ask targeted questions to strip everything else away so you can see clearly. When you see the pattern yourself, you see what needs to happen and you have the conviction to act on it.
The pattern is always the same: when you can finally read the label on your own jar, what needs to happen becomes clear.