What do you do if your kid doesn’t follow through when it comes to keeping his or her grades up? If you were my mom, you would bring “Mr. Spoon” to the conversation (a large, thick wooden spoon that could be very convincing). I am more likely to recommend that parents have an understanding with their kids, a study clause, …
Grade Expectations
Well, school is now in full swing and soon the first progress report will be making its way to emails near you. For some, this means being faced with setting (or revising) some expectations about grades and studying. Hopefully, you have one of those conscientious kids who love schoolwork and see grades as a challenge to be mastered. In that …
Parenting Teens for the 21st Century Work Place: Achoring Skills
Twenty first century workers will have to contend with the reality that there are smart, accomplished people all over the world that can transmit their knowledge instantly anywhere in the world. While your kid will need to have a solid intellectual foundation, they will also need skill sets that can’t be outsourced to workers other countries; skills that can only …
Parenting Teens for the 21st Century Work Place: Continuous Learning
By some accounts, digital information doubles every 18 months. That would make the amount of digital information currently available be at around 3 x 1021 (that is 3 with 21 zeroes after it). And growing. That’s a lot of information. It is no longer sufficient to establish a basic knowledge set that will carry you through the end of your …
Preparing Teens for the 21st Century Work Place: Project Management
Jobs in which workers are responsible for discrete, repetitive and isolated (assembly line) tasks are disappearing in the 21st century work environment. In all levels of employment, workers have to accomplish multi-step tasks toward the completion of complex projects. In this environment, your kid’s ability to plan, coordinate and bring to completion complex projects will give them a decided advantage. …
Preparing Teens for the 21st Century Work Place: Leading by Influence
Traditional top down leadership (sometimes called bossing people around) works best in (and perpetuates) a static economy. The rapidly changing economic forces of the 21st century along with the increasingly collaborative nature of 21st century work environments are not well suited for this kind of leadership style. Instead, your kid will need to be familiar with and (ideally) practiced in …
Preparing Teens for the 21st Century Work Place: Saving Grace
Timeless universal values represented by an employee’s integrity will serve to distinguish them in an increasingly personal work environment. Curiously (and, maybe tellingly) discussions of important 21st Century work skills do not reference employees integrity (or the morals, ethics, values and character that compose it) as one of those important skills. And yet, without integrity (and a culture of integrity), …
Preparing Teens for the 21st Century Work Place: Critical Analysis
Your kids will be growing to adulthood in a century where the complexity of technology and the pace of change is unlike anything humans have ever experienced. This is one in a series of columns devoted to identifying core competencies that will help teens be successful in this 21st century workplace. Critical analysis is one of the abilities separating us …
Preparing Teens For The 21st Century Work Place: Decision Making
Your kids will be growing to adulthood in a century where the complexity of technology and the pace of change is unlike anything humans have ever experienced. This is one in a series of columns devoted to identifying core competencies that will help teens be successful in this 21st century workplace. With increasing responsibility and independence placed on individual workers, …
Preparing Teens for the 21st Century Work Place: Dissenting Opinions
Your kids will be growing to adulthood in a century where the complexity of technology and the pace of change is unlike anything humans have ever experienced. This is one in a series of columns devoted to identifying core competencies that will help teens be successful in this 21st century workplace. Group decision making dynamics are becoming more prominent as …