The Business of Montessori
Some months ago a colleague asked me whether we should consider developing a fully-fledged Montessori course for business which could take aspects of the highly popular Montessori School Leadership Certificate to an even wider audience. We’ve had our hands full in the past five years introducing Montessori Sports Fundamentals and Montessori for Dementia, Disability and Ageing, not to mention the Adolescent Diploma course and a suite of blended courses unimaginable at the start of the 2020s, so Montessori for Business is not immediately on the horizon. However, the conversation led to some interesting background reading and some insights into the way Montessori principles have already found their way into the business world.
Employee Development, the “Corporate Kindergarten” and Leadership
Back in 2012, Ambiga Dhiraj, the head of talent management at Mu Sigma, a decision science and analytics service firm, wrote a piece for the Harvard Business Review which highlighted how the business had modelled its employee development on Montessori schools. It was fascinating to read about a business that had transformed itself from a traditional approach to talent development, where promotion or sacking were the primary drivers, to a new model based on interest, praise, guidance and encouragement. He suggested that “an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits, and respect for a child’s natural psychological development” were basic tenets from the Montessori classroom equally applicable to the workforce.
There were insights into the impact of the changes emerging from the new approach. These include employees developing a longer-term vision of their career with the company, an emphasis on intrinsic motivation and higher retention rates. The ultimate payoff for the business was that it translated into better service for clients and “keeping the right people for the right reasons”. The latter is a particular advantage in a world where the best talent can be hard to find and even harder to keep.
Writing in Forbes on Leadership Strategy in 2015, Justin Wasserman, a Managing Director with Kotter International, (the strategy execution firm founded by world renowned Harvard Business School professor, Dr. John Kotter) considered the “corporate kindergarten” and “how a Montessori mindset can transform your business”. He reflected on the uniqueness of Montessori classrooms, the benefits of mixed-ages, self-directed learning, children gravitating to what interests them and teachers as “coaches and facilitators rather than puppet-masters or dictators.”
Wasserman noted that most in corporate America grew up “confined by the rigid structures of our conventional education system” and tend to wait for directives on high to determine their actions. He contrasts that with Montessori children full of new ideas, confident that failure is acceptable and that mistakes are best seen as learning opportunities. He argues that businesses need to create a “corporate kindergarten culture where Montessori mindsets are cultivated and rewarded”.
In his comments about the “conventional education system”, Wasserman makes very much the same case as Angeline Lillard in her marvellous and fiercely argued piece “Why the time is right for an education revolution”. Bringing the principles of Montessori education into the workplace is one way of building a new and more productive approach to business but it seems to me that it would be so much better for society if the work began in school. The thought of a continuum where Montessori is embedded in every part of an individual’s education from pre-school, throughout their career and into the support they receive as elders is an attractive proposition.
In 2016, Supriya Sankaran was working with Ashoka, an organisation that focuses on identifying and supporting social entrepreneurs. She outlined for Forbes magazine how the Montessori approach could offer “big lessons for managers” with a focus on recognizing the innate desire and ability to learn, environments that activate and the leader as facilitator. The piece draws on authors like Daniel Pink speaking of “autonomy, mastery and purpose” and Frederic Laloux on teams that self-organize to deliver outcomes by building on the inner drive of individuals to participate and contribute.
Even at the practical level of making presentations the Montessori influence can be seen. Pablo Junco of the Forbes Technology Council described the day his presentation about generative AI was likened to the Montessori Method. Exploration and interactivity, manipulation of the environment, repetition for mastery, time for self-reflection, and self-directed learning are all words that would not sound out of place on an AMI course.
The title of his article is “Delivering Montessori Inspired Business Presentations” which shows that even in presentations, one of the most commonplace of business practices, the underlying philosophy has relevance and gives good guidance to those curious enough to learn. The text is packed full of thoughts and concepts that are everyday discussions among our trainers and our teachers. It is a powerful reminder that Montessori is wholly relevant to people’s everyday working lives and the way they engage with their colleagues.
Relevance and an Education Revolution
Commentators as diverse as Joe Rogan and Ezra Klein question the ability of existing mainstream education to satisfy the needs of a modern, knowledge economy. The gap is seen in research from the UK suggesting that hiring managers rank problem-solving (63%), communications (63%) and creativity (53%) as three highly sought after skills. In the US similar research suggests employers are looking for practical problem solving, team working, and global mindset but that new graduates do not feel they have received these skills in their education.
There is further resonance with Montessori ideas in the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report 2025 which suggests that over time, “Creative thinking and resilience, flexibility and agility are also rising in importance, along with curiosity and lifelong learning. Rounding out the top 10 skills on the rise are leadership and social influence, talent management, analytical thinking and environmental stewardship.”
Reflecting on my essay “The Revolution of the Universal Child” for the NAMTA Journal it is clear how well the human tendencies so central to Montessori philosophy match the demands from hiring managers and the needs of the working environment as we approach the mid-2000s. These include critical personal skills such as exploration, curiosity, independence, exactness, calculation, gregariousness, and communication. Resilience comes with the human tendency for repetition, orientation and self-perfection of our capacities. Environmental stewardship is central to cosmic education and the very important notion of global citizenship.
Developing appropriate skills, from reading, writing and mathematics onwards will always be important and we know that studies show how Montessori education offers positive outcomes in cognitive, creative, social, and motor skills, as well as academic achievement. But in an uncertain world where change happens rapidly it is likely that personal characteristics enabling adaption will be critical. As is so often the case Dr Montessori was ahead of her time when she noted that “Adaptation is the starting point; it is the foundation of development….and tendencies are the tools that will promote this adaptation."
Geeks, Growth and Globalism
Montessori education can undoubtedly provide the grounding that will help people excel in their careers and make significant contributions to business success. This was an underlying theme of the BBC article, “Montessori. The world’s most influential school?” and has been amplified by FasterCapital, a global venture builder and online incubator for innovative start-ups. It is also central to Andrew McAfee’s book The Geek Way: The Radical Mindset that Drives Extraordinary Results which he discusses in the Harvard Business Review.
There are plenty of examples. When Barbara Walters, interviewed Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 2004, they credited their early Montessori education for their success. Page said, “We both went to Montessori school, and I think it was part of that training of not following rules and orders, and being self-motivated, questioning what’s going on in the world, doing things a little bit differently.”
A similar response came from Will Wright, the inventor of the bestselling videogame series, “The Sims”, who said, “Montessori taught me the joy of discovery. It’s all about learning on your terms, rather than a teacher explaining stuff to you. SimCity comes right out of Montessori…”. A spokesperson for the Bezos Academy noted that Jeff Bezos credits the Montessori school that he attended as being “…a big break in his life..”
Businesses and Beyond
There are powerful lessons for leaders in the way that Montessori principles can develop teams that are both happy and high performing. Generational changes have increasingly meant that command and control structures considered the height of good management in past decades are being soundly rejected by younger people. Self-managing and self-motivated groups that embrace diversity, aspiration and novelty are part of a Montessori culture.
Our advocacy is always for education and leadership that enables every human to create themselves and become fulfilled, which does not necessarily mean they will choose to work in an organisation or pursue a career. However, we also believe that workplaces which introduce Montessori ideals that nurture and cherish the potential of each and every individual will excel. If it works for business, there may even be scope for developing a course on how Montessori principles can support policy formulation for building a better future for humanity!
Lynne Lawrence (MBE), Executive Director
