They’re just kids… but honestly, they’re some of the best students I’ve ever taught.

Right now, I’m running a cohort on how to launch an online school, for high school students.

When I started, I figured I’d need to dumb it all down. Less jargon, fewer frameworks, more pop culture references. I even thought about swapping out some of the business strategy stuff for something more “teen-friendly.”

Turns out, that was unnecessary.

These students are holding their own. In fact, they’re doing just as well (and sometimes better) than the adults I’ve worked with at the Harvard Innovation Lab.

Are they perfect? No, not even close.

Some wait until the very last minute to do the work. You can tell. It’s not subtle.

Others are clearly on their phones during the Zoom calls. And yes, no matter how slick you think you’re being… we can tell that too.

But here’s what really surprised me.

I thought high school students would be way different from adults. Turns out, they’re really not.

If anything, they’re easier to teach.

They still respect the idea of a teacher. They take advice seriously. When you give them feedback, they actually listen. Not all the time, but more often than most adults.

And maybe the most interesting thing? I’m more patient with them.

When a teenager zones out or misses a deadline, I give them the benefit of the doubt. I think, “They’re young. They’re still learning.”

But when an adult does the same thing, my brain goes straight to, “You should’ve known better.”

But here’s the thing… maybe that ain’t fair.

Because adults can still change. We just don’t expect them to. And after a while, they stop expecting it of themselves.

That might be the biggest difference between teenagers and grown-ups.

Kids still think change is possible. They know they don’t have it all figured out. So they’re open to learning.

Adults? We get older, we get busier, we start clinging to what we know… and before you realize it, you’ve stopped being a student altogether.

But being coachable doesn’t have an age limit.

The students who grow the most aren’t the ones with the highest IQ or the best resume. They’re the ones who are still willing to learn, still willing to try, and still willing to mess up in public and come back the next day to do it better.

And that’s exactly what a well-built Productized Education business supports.

It doesn’t rely on talent. It’s built on structure.

You start by giving students Clarity. A clear destination and a clear path. They know what success looks like, and what steps to take to get there.

Then you build Connection. Between teacher and student. Between student and their goal. And student to student. That’s what makes people stick.

Finally, you layer in Accountability. The gentle but firm kind. The kind that keeps people moving even when motivation fades. Because it always does.

This framework works with teens. It works with CEOs. And it works because it honors how humans actually learn, not just how we think they should.

So maybe the next time someone frustrates you by being inconsistent or distracted or late, don’t write it off as laziness. Don’t assume they’re too old or too stuck to change.

Maybe they just need a better system.

And maybe, if we treated more adults like students, in the best sense of the word, they’d start learning again.