TEDxSantaMonica - TEDxChange - John Kobara - Educating our children
Speaker is sharing frameworks on realizing one's potential and making meaningful contributions by focusing on three interconnected areas: self-discovery, community connection, and shared learning. He argues that while passion and opportunity are key, people must deliberately build these connections using a perspective shift—*playing out of bounds*—to move beyond superficial career goals.
## Speakers & Context
- Speaker was invited to speak after attending a President Clinton event, noting the context of connecting passion, talent, ideas, and need.
- Speaker has been invited to speak at numerous college campuses, having visited approximately **90** campuses.
- Delivery was given in Santa Monica.
## Theses & Positions
- Amazing things happen at the collision of passion, talent, ideas, and need.
- Making necessary connections is crucial for community progress, even when facing large goals like the MDG goals.
- Perspective—how one looks at things—is paramount to understanding opportunities and challenges.
- Career strategy is not found in following popular, ineffective models, or waiting for perfect timing.
- Moving forward requires developing a "philosophy of life" built upon three core connections: self, others, and mentoring.
- The goal is to "develop a philosophy of life" and move "out of the rut and into the groove."
## Concepts & Definitions
- **Connecting Passion, Talent, Ideas, and Need:** The foundational intersection where breakthroughs occur.
- **Philosophy of Life:** A guide for navigating life and understanding one's direction beyond superficial goals.
- **Ubuntu:** An African Bantu word meaning interconnectedness or common destiny; implies that one's betterment is tied to others.
- **Playing out of bounds:** Thinking or acting differently from one's established neural pathways or routines, which is critical for growth.
- **The "Power Ps":** Essential elements for effective career strategy, including positive perspective, goals/milestones, passion, and acknowledging weaknesses.
- **Primary connection (Self):** Finding oneself by actively "losing oneself" in the pursuit of passion to define one's core cause or issue.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Career Strategy Models:**
- "I'm very lucky, very lucky person good things happen to me." (Unreliable)
- "There's a predestiny for me I just haven't found it yet." (Unreliable)
- "We live in a meritocracy and if i just put my head down and work hard i will be rewarded." (Unreliable)
- Basing a career on what a publisher predicts ("the future is this"). (Unreliable)
- Saying "I love all opportunities I don't care really." (Lack of focus)
- Waiting for the "right time" (*wait and see*). (Ineffective)
- **The Three Connections (Essential for Strategy):**
1. **Connect with yourself:** Discover inherent passions to define your core cause.
2. **Connect with others:** Build diverse social networks because isolation is the enemy.
3. **Connect through mentoring:** Sharing knowledge and passion is how the community strengthens.
## Timeline & Sequence
- **1980:** Invited by Mark Nathanson, who predicted hundreds of channels before MTV and ESPN, marking the first relevant opportunity.
- **1990s:** Alan Arkatov predicted online education, leading to the creation of onlinelearning.net, which became part of Walden University.
- **Last Decade:** Invited by Nero Koe's Law to help with CK-12 Foundation, developing free, customizable K-12 textbooks.
- **Freshman Survey Data (UCLA):**
- **Age 18/19 (46 years ago):** Desired outcomes included: "be an expert in my field," "raise a family," "be financially well off."
- **Age 29/30 (10 years later):** Desired outcomes shifted to: "develop a philosophy of life," "help others in difficulty," and figuring out the direction.
## Named Entities
- **President Clinton:** Mentioned in context of being present at an event.
- **Mark Nathanson:** Individual who wrote a master's thesis predicting cable television growth.
- **Alan Arkatov:** Individual who predicted online education growth.
- **Walden University:** Institution associated with the onlinelearning.net company.
- **Nero Koe's Law:** Group in Northern California associated with the CK-12 Foundation.
- **CK-12 Foundation:** Organization providing free, virtual, flexible, customizable textbooks for the K-12 market globally.
- **UCLA:** University where the freshman survey was conducted.
## Numbers & Data
- **90:** Approximate number of college campuses the speaker has visited.
- **46 years:** Duration the UCLA Freshman Survey has been conducted.
- **300,000:** Number of freshmen interviewed by UCLA over 46 years.
- **18/19:** Age bracket surveyed initially.
- **29/30:** Age bracket surveyed 10 years later.
- **10,000:** Implicit target for the "power of learning" (related to the 10,000 atm in the other presentation, but used conceptually here).
## Examples & Cases
- **Cable TV Prediction:** Mark Nathanson's thesis predicted hundreds of channels before MTV and ESPN.
- **Online Education:** The initial development of onlinelearning.net, leading to Walden University.
- **Educational Texts:** CK-12 Foundation providing free virtual, flexible, customizable textbooks for K-12 globally.
- **Campus Observation (Chicago):** A young man stated, *"I want to work with people"* when asked for career aspirations, which the speaker notes is a common, unspecific answer.
- **American Medical Association Study:** Surveying **3,000** people in Northern California showed that those with more diverse social networks lived longer and experienced fewer respiratory illnesses/surgeries.
## Tools, Tech & Products
- **Onlinelearning.net:** Early company name in online education.
- **CK-12 Foundation:** Digital resource providing customizable educational materials.
- **PET scan:** Invented by Michael Phelps (correction: the speaker attributes the invention to Michael Phelps incorrectly, he said Michael Phelps invented PET scan, but the context indicates the speaker was referencing someone else). *Self-correction: The speaker says "Michael Phelps who invented positron emission tomography the pet scan," so the literal phrasing is preserved.*
## References Cited
- **MDG goals:** Mentioned as goals that need connection building.
- **Louise Thomas:** Person whose quote was paraphrased regarding the need for specificity in goals.
- **Michael Phelps:** Person credited with inventing positron emission tomography (PET) scan.
- **Papa Kasala:** Person credited with the quote about listening to one's goodness.
## Trade-offs & Alternatives
- **Poor Career Strategies:** Waiting for the right time, assuming meritocracy works flawlessly, being too general with goals.
- **Effective Strategies:** Developing a philosophy of life, intentionally building diverse networks, committing to continuous learning ("get fast failures").
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The speaker acknowledges that articulating the *why* behind passion can be difficult, noting it is a feeling that "didn't really need to be defined."
- The speaker notes that the concept of "passion" must be channeled into specific, actionable goals rather than remaining vague desires.
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- Must build connections across three areas: self, others, and through mentoring.
- The immediate action is to "find yourself by losing yourself" in a passion.
- Take advantage of the current moment to push outside comfort zones and routines.
- "I wish you a life of ubuntu."
## Implications & Consequences
- Lack of intentional connection (socially or personally) can lead to remaining trapped in old routines and superficial goals.
- Strong social networks (diverse connections) have measurable positive impacts on physical health and longevity.
## Verbatim Moments
- *"okagasama hokkaido which means because of you but i'm really here because of you"*
- *"amazing things can happen and really it's about ted i mean that's really the inspiration we get from other people"*
- *"what do you want to be an expert in my field i want to raise a family i want to be financially well off"*
- *"I don't know what the alternative is you know like we're gonna be a zookeeper"*
- *"I'm under an assumed identity because everybody's told me what i'm good at and what i'm not good at"*
- *"the negative just brings you down i don't mean to be pollyanna's"*
- *"get fast failures"*
- *"there is only a future now and a past now and it's right now that we're talking about"*
- *"playing out of bounds is absolutely critical"*
- *"you have to connect with yourself... you have to connect with others... we also have to connect through mentoring"*
- *"I wish you a life of ubuntu"*