Welcome to The Ember Walk, a daily reflection where curiosity meets motion. Each short episode invites you to walk, think, and craft with intention. Join David Dysart as he explores the lessons of The Forge, including heat, patience, rhythm, and care. All through stories and insights from the world of enrollment and beyond. Step into the quiet work of building something that lasts.
We still talk about “the funnel” like it’s real. As if student journeys line up neatly from top to bottom. I get it. It’s comforting because it feels predictable. The concept scales nicely while fitting in the box we want to put our work into. But The Forge doesn’t run on gravity; it runs on heat. And heat doesn’t flow down, it spreads.
The funnel is a relic of mass production thinking. Students don’t move in one direction anymore; they orbit, pause, reverse, jump ahead. The work isn’t to push them through faster. It’s to understand how they’re moving and why.
Funnel talk makes us feel safe because it sounds like control. But the craft of enrollment is not control. It’s… conductivity. Can your system adapt to heat that moves sideways?
So here’s today’s reflection: stop calling it a funnel. Start calling it what it is. A forge. A place where different metals meet the same flame but never melt the same way.
You’re walking The Ember Walk. The forge is yours now. Go make something worth the heat.
#TheEmberWalk #TheInnovationForge #AdaptiveEnrollmentManagement #EverydayArtisan #WhereCuriosityMeetsMotion
