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Summit School Inspiring Learning Series Academic Rigor in the 21 st Century: Seven Skills for Learning and Achievement March 8, 2011

Tony Wagners Seven Survival Skills or !ollege, !areer an" !iti#enship $ %&cerpte"rom The Global Achievement Ga

The Schooling Students Need'ne o my irst conversations (as (ith !lay )arker, presi"ent o the !hemicalManagement *ivision o +'! %"(ar"s a company that, among other things, makesmachines an" supplies chemicals or the manu acture o microelectronics "evices- .e/san engineer y training an" the hea" o a technical usiness, so (hen I aske" him a outthe skills he looks or (hen he hires young people, I (as taken a ack y his ans(er-

irst an" oremost, I look or someone (ho asks goo" 3uestions,4 )arker respon"e"-

We can teach them the technical stu , ut (e can/t teach them ho( to ask goo"3uestions ho( to think-4

What other skills are you looking or54 I aske", e&pecting that he/" 6ump 3uickly tocontent e&pertise-

I (ant people (ho can engage in goo" "iscussion (ho can look me in the eye an"have a give an" take- 7ll o our (ork is "one in teams- ou have to kno( ho( to (ork (ell (ith others- +ut you also have to kno( ho( to engage customers to in" out (hattheir nee"s are- I you can/t engage others, then you (on/t learn (hat you nee" to kno(-4

I initially "ou te" (hether )arker/s vie(s (ere representative o usiness lea"ers ingeneral- +ut a ter intervie(ing lea"ers in settings rom 7pple to 9nilever to the 9-S-7rmy an" revie(ing the research on (orkplace skills, I came to un"erstan" that the(orl" o (ork has change" pro oun"ly-

To"ay/s stu"ents nee" to master seven survival skills to thrive in the ne( (orl" o (ork-7n" these skills are the same ones that (ill ena le stu"ents to ecome pro"uctive citi#ens(ho contri ute to solving some o the most pressing issues (e ace in the 21st century-

1. Critical Thinking and Problem SolvingTo compete in the ne( glo al economy, companies nee" their (orkers to think a outho( to continuously improve their pro"ucts, processes, or services- 'ver an" over,e&ecutives tol" me that the heart o critical thinking an" pro lem solving is the a ility to

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ask the right 3uestions- 7s one senior e&ecutive rom *ell sai", ester"ay/s ans(ers(on/t solve to"ay/s pro lems-4

%llen ;umata, managing partner at !am ria 7ssociates, e&plaine" the e&traor"inary pressures on lea"ers to"ay- The challenge is this< .o( "o you "o things that haven/t

een "one e ore, (here you have to rethink or think ane(5 It/s not incrementalimprovement any more- The markets are changing too ast-4

2. Collaboration Across Networks and Leadership b !n"luenceTeam(ork is no longer 6ust a out (orking (ith others in your uil"ing- !hristie )e"ra,!%' o Siemens, e&plaine", Technology has allo(e" or virtual teams- We have teams(orking on ma6or in rastructure pro6ects that are all over the 9-S- 'n other pro6ects,you/re (orking (ith people all aroun" the (orl" on solving a so t(are pro lem- %very(eek they/re on a variety o con erence calls= they/re "oing We casts= they/re "oing netmeetings-4Mike Summers, vice presi"ent or >lo al Talent Management at *ell, sai" that his

greatest concern (as young people/s lack o lea"ership skills- ;i"s 6ust out o schoolhave an ama#ing lack o prepare"ness in general lea"ership skills an" colla orativeskills,4 he e&plaine"- They lack the a ility to in luence-4

#. Agilit and Adaptabilit!lay )arker e&plaine" that anyone (ho (orks at +'! %"(ar"s to"ay has to think, ele&i le, change, an" use a variety o tools to solve ne( pro lems- We change (hat (e"o all the time- I can guarantee the 6o I hire someone to "o (ill change or may not e&istin the uture, so this is (hy a"apta ility an" learning skills are more important thantechnical skills-4

$. !nitiative and %ntrepreneurialismMark !han"ler, senior vice presi"ent an" general counsel at !isco, (as one o thestrongest proponents o initiative< I say to my employees, i you try ive things an" getall ive o them right, you may e ailing- I you try 10 things, an" get eight o them right,you/re a hero- ou/ll never e lame" or ailing to reach a stretch goal, ut you (ill e

lame" or not trying- 'ne o the pro lems o a large company is risk aversion- 'ur challenge is ho( to create an entrepreneurial culture in a larger organi#ation-4

&. %""ective 'ral and (ritten CommunicationMike Summers o *ell sai", We are routinely surprise" at the "i iculty some young

people have in communicating< ver al skills, (ritten skills, presentation skills- They have"i iculty eing clear an" concise= it/s har" or them to create ocus, energy, an" passionaroun" the points they (ant to make- I you/re talking to an e&ec, the irst thing you/ll getaske" i you haven/t ma"e it per ectly clear in the irst ?0 secon"s o your presentation is,@What "o you (ant me to take a(ay rom this meeting5 They "on/t kno( ho( to ans(er that 3uestion-4

Summers an" other lea"ers rom various companies (ere not necessarily complaininga out young people/s poor grammar, punctuation, or spelling the things (e spen" so

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