To drive change and awareness, I needed authority. To gain authority, I needed to participate authentically—for a sustained period of time. So I stopped turning up my nose and dived in headfirst, writing op-eds and other articles, appearing on national TV and elsewhere in the media, and attending and keynoting at conferences all over the world. If I threw rocks from the outside, none of the people building the future of online learning would ever listen to me. If I wanted to help define that vision, I’d have to roll up my sleeves, participate, and add value from within.
