Why “Rent” Implementation, When You Can “Own” It?

If you've sat through a PD session that didn't stick, led an initiative that lost momentum, or invested in a solution that never scaled—this one's for you.

I recently read a piece by Bill Johnston, the founder of Structure3C, called "Stop Renting Attention" about why businesses keep spending more to reach the same customers. Acquisition costs up 60% over five years. Organic reach declining. Companies running faster to stay in place.

His core argument is to stop renting attention from platforms that reset to zero every day, and start investing in relationship ecosystems that compound over time.

Because of my current role and background as an educator, I kept reading Bill’s piece as if it were about schools and districts. So I put together the parallels I drew and thoughts I think will resonate with us education folk. I can’t wait to hear what you think.

Firstly, here's the pattern most of us know too well:

Every August, teachers file into a gym, auditorium, library, basically the largest space the school has. An “expert” presents. Everyone gets materials. The school year starts. By October, whatever was covered has faded into the background noise of daily survival.

Next PD day, repeat.

But it's not just PD days. The same pattern plays out every time a district makes a major investment.

➡️ A district spends five or six figures on a new literacy curriculum. Teachers get a training day. Maybe two. Then they're on their own to figure out implementation while managing everything else on their plate. Two years later, results are mixed and everyone's debating whether the curriculum was the problem.

➡️ A superintendent prioritizes AI readiness. Teachers sit through a workshop on digital literacy, maybe get a list of approved tools. But there's no ongoing support, no space to troubleshoot, no way to learn from colleagues who are figuring it out in similar contexts. The initiative stalls somewhere between mandate and classroom.

➡️ A district invests in Career and Technical Education pathways. New equipment, new course sequences, real budget behind it. But the CTE teachers are often isolated—one per building, no peers teaching the same content, left to build something from scratch without a network to lean on.

The investment happens. The relationships don't. And without relationship infrastructure, even the best initiatives reset to zero.

Johnston's research from a business context shows that customers acquired through relationships have higher lifetime value and greater loyalty over time. The education research says something similar: teachers in sustained, collaborative professional learning show significantly greater improvement than those in traditional workshops.

The difference is compounding.

The longer teachers collaborate, the more context they share. Every conversation builds on previous ones. A literacy coach's advice gets calibrated to a teacher's specific students over time. An AI implementation conversation evolves from "what tools exist" to "here's what actually worked with my eighth graders."

Trusted relationships also generate new relationships. When a CTE teacher figures out an industry partnership model that works, they share it with a colleague in another district who adapts it for their context. Practices spread through trust, not mandates.

And when the next initiative rolls out—and there's always a next one—teachers with strong peer networks have people to process with, adapt with, figure it out with. Teachers without those networks are on their own, again.

Teachers are already seeking connection. They're on Instagram, Facebook groups, Pinterest, TikTok- looking for ideas, advice, community.

But they don't own those relationships. The platform does. The algorithm decides what they see. Content arrives without context. And districts have zero visibility into any of it.

That new literacy curriculum? Teachers are Googling for implementation tips and ending up on a Reddit thread. The AI initiative? They're asking for tool recommendations in a Facebook group with 50,000 strangers. The CTE investment? That teacher is piecing together advice from YouTube videos and hoping for the best.

Teachers still feel isolated because social media doesn't provide real professional community. Districts still lack insight because the activity happens in spaces they can't see. The investment leaks out into platforms that don't serve anyone's long-term goals.

I really like how Johnston distinguishes between audiences and ecosystems.

Audiences are passive, one-way, rented. Ecosystems are interconnected, multi-directional, owned.

Most district initiatives follow the audience model: experts present, teachers receive, everyone hopes for the best.

The ecosystem model looks different. Teachers implementing the same curriculum connect across buildings to troubleshoot together. Educators piloting AI tools share what's working in a space where the conversation continues. CTE teachers across a region build relationships that outlast any single grant cycle.

The question for school leaders isn't just "what are we investing in?" It's "what relationship infrastructure exists to make that investment stick?"

Johnston ends his piece with this: "Every customer interaction is either a transaction or an investment in a more connected relationship. One resets to zero. The other compounds."

Every initiative works the same way.

Districts can keep renting implementation- training days that evaporate, consultants who present and leave, resources that sit unused because there's no community to activate them.

Or they can build relationship infrastructure that makes every investment compound. Where the literacy PD connects to an ongoing network of teachers figuring it out together. Where the AI initiative lives in a community that keeps learning long after the workshop ends. Where CTE teachers aren't isolated pioneers but part of a professional network that multiplies their impact exponentially.

That's what we're building at CoLab. Relationship infrastructure- where teachers build professional networks that compound, where collaboration becomes an institutional asset, where connection turns one-time investments into lasting change.

Not rented. Owned.
Not transactions. Investments.

I’d love to hear your thoughts or chat more about how we can support you in building your own relationship infrastructure - fast!