Building a World-Class Workforce by Making Learning Exciting
Both of the founders of Must-Innov8, Inc. lived through the devastation of the Piedmont Triad Region of North Carolina economy wrought by the globalization of manufacturing. They watched with interest as the region began to leverage strengths in medical research and the high concentration of universities to develop a knowledge based economy.
Sam McCormick and Joe Kronner were involved in one early such effort. It involved the development of a marketing campaign to promote the region as a hub for Biotechnology and the Life Sciences. The project required interviewing the CEOs of the Life Science and Biotech companies. That was when they first learned of the CEO’s concerns about the lack of graduates pursuing STEM careers. They also learned that the shortage was a national problem.
Both of the founders of Must-Inov8 became heavily involved in volunteering in K-12 schools. They promoted the development of schools focused on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. They quickly discovered that implementing programs at a high school level was much too late. Kids lost interest in science and math in middle school in huge numbers.
Sam had spent over 30 years in marketing with some of the best known consumer products companies and devoted much of his time to developing new products and new ventures. Joe had spent over 30 years in IT and Management Consulting with leading national firms and small start-up companies. They both understood the need to inspire students at an early age to focus on science and math if the region’s young technology economy was to thrive. They began to brainstorm solutions as if it were an assignment from one of their clients.
The two business men posed a critical question to the regional economic developers and leaders of the university research parks. “How valuable would it be to have world-class K-12 education across the 12 county Piedmont Triad Region from a business recruiting perspective?”
The leadership of the regional economic development organization and university research parks thought it would be a huge advantage, but were not sure if other leaders across the region would agree. They commissioned a quantitative research study among 100+ CEOs and senior leaders from industry and education. The study revealed great passion for the idea (Key Learning).
Recognizing that the region did not have the time, money or patience to create a model of world-class K-12 education, they asked Kronner and McCormick to identify best practices in K-12 STEM education nationally. They were then retained to study the best practices to see if any of the innovative educational programs were generating exceptional student outcomes. In hindsight, one of the most fortunate decisions was to have two business men go in search of exceptional programs. The two were forced to focus on the educational outcomes of the innovative approaches. That is a very different approach than an educator would typically use. Educators tend to focus more on internal processes.
What McCormick and Kronner discovered was that while most of the heralded educational innovations were having little impact on student outcomes, there were two programs that generated exceptional outcomes. They also found afterschool programs that have a long history of engaging students in STEM while developing critical skills. And the common thread across all these programs that were generating exceptional outcomes was that they all employed Student Led Discovery.
The findings confirmed their long held belief that successful and effective educational programs excite and engage students. As long as learning is boring and painful, students will do their best to avoid it. In 30 years of marketing new products, Sam had never seen a product that sounded, or was in fact unpleasant, succeed. When kids are having fun learning, they become deeply engaged. Their learning accelerates dramatically. Must-Innov8 is focused on creating exceptional workforces by making learning exciting and engaging.
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