IAM2217 – CEO Helps Students Connect their Talents to Careers for Academic Success

Title: Transcript - Tue, 27 Aug 2024 08:33:58 GMT

Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2024 08:33:58 GMT, Duration: [00:16:59.82]

[00:00:00.16] - Edson Barton

And so if we can help people find where they better fit, everything else improves and that's legitimately it. Everything in an individual's lives, when you connect their inner who they are, their natural talents to their career future, everything improves. In school, grades go up, graduation rates improve. First, our college rates improve. Enrollment rates, college completion rates improve.

[00:00:30.67] - Intro

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEO's, entrepreneurs and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I am CEO podcast.

[00:00:58.40] - Gresham Harkless

Hello, hello, hello. This is GresH from the ImCeo podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Edson Barton Edson, excited to have you on the show.

[00:01:06.64] - Edson Barton

Thanks Gresh. Appreciate being here.

[00:01:08.73] - Gresham Harkless

Yes, I'm super excited to have you on and hear about all the awesome things that you're doing. And of course, before I do that, I have to read a little bit more about Edson so you can hear about some of those awesome things. And Edson has been a leading voice in education and career connected learning for more than 25 years. Today, Edson is the CEO of you Science, a leading technology solution that uses decades of research and artificial intelligence to help students find success in school and in life. And since its inception, youth science has helped more than 5.5 million students around the country see themselves in potential careers differently, while helping them explore new pathways as they transition to their next educational pathway. U science is headquartered in American Fork, Utah, and has contracts with more than 7000 schools and organizations nationwide. And I was reading, preparing for this and I read a little bit that Edson was recently inducted in the 2024 CEO of the year by the Utah Business. So definitely want to give him a congratulations. And I know we're going to dive into it, but one of the things I love reading and hearing a little bit more about his story is that his mom said he was the kind of the student that was either going to give you a's or give you D's. And I think that probably planted a c with a lot of the things that he's doing because I believe, and I'm sure he does too, one of the best things you can learn about yourself, learn about the world, is really about yourself. So the more you learn about yourself, the more you're armed for the world. So, Edson, excited to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the Imco community?

[00:02:33.53] - Edson Barton

I would love to. Thanks, gresh.

[00:02:35.53] - Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. Well, let's get it started, then. So, to kind of kick it off, I wanted to rewind the clock. I know I touched on a little bit, hear a little bit more about your CEO story. We'll let you get started with all the awesome work you're doing.

[00:02:44.93] - Edson Barton

Well, you kind of led into it with that little introduction there. I grew up, just like so many people, thinking that I was a little bit unique in the world in the fact that I wasn't a good student in a lot of ways. And it wasn't that I didn't like to learn. It wasn't that I didn't really enjoy a lot of aspects of school. I maybe struggled with the structure, but mostly I fell behind. There was a moment in my family's history where I had an older sister that's five years older than me pass away when I was eight years old. And, you know, that kind of effect has a big impact on young people. And in our family, we weren't very well to do at the time time. And so, you know, I struggled, and I did fall behind. And so instead of recognizing it as a big life event that put me behind in school, I just thought I was dumb, right? Or I didn't belong in school. I didn't belong in academics, right. Because the whole system is built to kind of help people at a certain level, and then you just push everybody else through, whether or not they're prepared or not. And so the perpetual nature of just falling behind and behind. Well, fast forward, you. I get to the point where I'm a senior in high school, and I'm actually managing two restaurants at that time and doing pretty well for a teenage kid. And I start to realize, wait a second, I'm managing the books. I'm managing inventory. I'm managing people. I'm increasing sales. I'm having fun while I'm doing it. I must not be as stupid as I thought I was. Right? And as that thought kind of deepened inside of me, I started looking out at the world around me and said, am I alone in feeling the way that I did or other people there? And what I came to find out was the vast majority of people actually feel exactly like I did growing up. Right? It wasn't. The majority of people felt great about their academic careers. They felt really disappointed by them. And even some of those top academic producers, you asked them in high school, you know, the ones that are getting a's straight through they may be inclined to do those things, but they don't know why they're doing those things. And that became kind of the linchpin idea about myself, my background, and so everything almost since that time was a focus on understanding how do we help people really get into their education, engage with it, and get the very most from it. Because on the flip side, what I realized is I love to learn, I love to grow, I love to build things. And come to find out, statistically speaking, most of us do. Right? So something else happens that takes us away from that feeling and makes us disenfranchised with education, which is a real tragedy, because I do believe that it's the key to success. Whatever you're in, it's not. School is the key to success. Education is the key to success. And so how do we help more and more people engage with their education at a deeper level has become really the life work that I've done since.

[00:05:56.87] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I appreciate you so much in sharing that. So I want to drill down a little bit more and hear how you all are doing that. How are you helping people to find that happiness and helping them to be able to fulfill themselves in the world around them?

[00:06:09.10] - Edson Barton

Yeah. We've created a product called Brightpath. It's a longitudinal platform, software platform that starts as early as middle school and helps, but it applies to any area of the workforce. So this could be applied in businesses, this can be applied at college, it can be applied again in the k twelve school system. So we're really the first integrated education to workforce development. So as early as middle school, we start working with individuals and we give them something very specific. It's called an aptitude test. So it's, we term it the aptitude and career discovery. And what that is, is a set of brain games that are performance based surveys are a tool that have been around for a long time. The problem is that they've been proven very ineffective for use in guidance towards careers. Now, based on that understanding of who a person is, now we can better guide them into the education process that's best suited for them. And then based on that, now we can start connecting that individual to businesses who are actually in those fields. And instead of just randomly going and getting any type of job, now we can be more directional with our process. And if I have the aptitude to be a really good ten key person with packages going by me now, I can help direct you into work that's going to fulfill you if I can. One of the things that came out of the great resignation, right? Which happened around Covid is people started quitting their jobs. And the number one reason that they were telling us that they were quitting is because I don't feel fulfilled at work. But then the craziest thing happened. All of those people went to back into different company, but in the same types of jobs, they didn't change careers, which was the heart of the problem. Right. And so if we can help people find where they better fit, everything else improves and that's legitimately it. Everything in individuals lives, when you connect their inner who they are, their natural talents to their career future, everything improves. In school, grades go up, graduation rates improve. First, our college rates improve, enrollment rates, college completion rates improve, which is a huge problem right now. They earn more money out of, out of high school and out of college. Right. I mean, just. And they're happier, which is the most important part. They're happier.

[00:08:46.62] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah. That ends up being so powerful. Do you think that holistic perspective is what's kind of set you apart?

[00:08:52.25] - Edson Barton

Yeah, I think so. Definitely. You know, both as an individual, so as CEO and personally, this is very important to me and, but nicely, it ties right into a business problem that we're trying to solve. And when you really look at the world and if you change the dynamic of what success is, success is not going to college. Success is not getting a job. Success is happiness. Right. All of a sudden that frees you up to think of things differently and say, what is going to help you as an individual? Be happy and let's help paint that picture and get you into their career. That's going to help with that. That all of a sudden changes the nature of how we approach things. And so now we're looking for tools instead of just forcing and shoving somebody into a job or just randomly sending, you know, go to college. Right. Which has been the mantra for so long, just go to college and then figure it out. It's no, let's pick the program that's going to help you best, whether that's a four year program, a two year program, an apprenticeship. Right. Or going straight into the workforce. It's different for everyone. But now let's do it intentionally rather than randomly. And that key there is doing it because it makes somebody happy. Right. And it drives us as a company.

[00:10:13.33] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. This could be like an Apple book or even a habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

[00:10:25.08] - Edson Barton

Yeah. You know, I think one of the things that I do, which is not anything special, you probably hear some of the same answers, but I really look at people and try to find out what's the best in other people and then leverage that. I know that that might sound a little bit trite, but both as an individual and as a CEO, you just come to learn that you don't know everything. So while that's not, you know, sometimes you may have been asking more on a personal, like, what do I do for time blocking and things like that? Which I have some of those things, but I found by far the most effective thing is to leverage other people for what they're good at. And you don't have to be a CEO to do that. Right. Everybody can do that. Even if you're running the show yourself, finding people who can help you bounce ideas off of you all of a sudden, that one thing that they've been doing for their entire life. But you do only part time. You get a little nugget of information there, and it can save you thousands of hours in a year. Right. I remember the first time I learned pivot tables, for example, and spreadsheets. I mean, it was mind blowing to me. I was like, I did all that stuff by hand for years, and I could have done it in seconds. I mean, just literally, that type of stuff is just empowering.

[00:11:41.60] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. So what would you consider to be a little bit more of what I would call a co nugget? So this could be a word of wisdom or piece of advice, I like to say it might be something you would tell your favorite client or if you happen to a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

[00:11:54.86] - Edson Barton

Yeah, I think as a CEO, I kind of going back to something I already said. I spent a lot of wasted time trying to do it myself. And I think as soon as I broke that mindset, I started to see a way more success personally and as a company. So I would go back to that as one of the linchpins for me, that was holding me back, but really pushed me forward as well. I think a second thing would really be, you know, the value of education. Now that's well known. Right. I mean, it's no secret that some of the best CEO's in the world or some of the best readers, right. And really just love learning things, but on a micro level, that sometimes can be difficult. And so what I tell people and what I try to practice myself is if you can't find time, if that's not your natural habit. So as an example, I'm slightly dyslexic, and reading is really hard for me. So it's just I'm slow at it. I'm not a Bill Gates who can burn through books, right. And going through. So I had to find hacks of like reading through audiobooks, right. And plowing through those. And then the books that I really love, then I go back to the hard copies and I study them and I get into them. But that was something. So I could get through more information, get more ideas, and really start learning the world around me so that I could start connecting the pieces in different ways. I think that was really helpful as well.

[00:13:27.21] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, that makes so much sense. And so I want to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And our goal is to have different, quote unquote, CEO's on the show. So, Edson, what does being a CEO mean to you?

[00:13:38.71] - Edson Barton

Yeah, I think it's both the creation of something. So for some of us who are CEO founders, it's the creation of the business. For those who are CEO's that weren't founders, it's still the creation of a mechanism that can drive success. And so I love the creativity part of that. And whether that's the creation of a team that's more effective, whether that's the help of a creation of more process in a very loose company, whether that's the creation of a product set right, something about that is creative in nature. And so because that's part of my background, that's kind of where I go. And for me, that's what a CEO is, pulling the pieces together, kind of bringing order to chaos and then making it a creative process. One of my favorite books is by Ed Catmull, Creativity Inc. He was the CEO of Pixar during their heyday. And just a very thoughtful individual from that perspective, I think it's something that everybody should really read and understand where he understands this marrying of creativity into a management skill. Right. Which is unique. A lot of times we think of management as something separate from that. I tend to marry those two things together.

[00:15:07.08] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. Well, Edson, truly appreciate that definition. Of course, I appreciate your time even more. So what I want to do now was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know and of course, how best people can get over you. But about all the awesome things you and team are working on.

[00:15:23.13] - Edson Barton

Yeah, reach out on youscience.com so youscience, youthscience.com and then we're on LinkedIn, we're on Facebook and other places. So just look for the youth science moniker and you'll find us there. And we're always publishing stuff. One of the things I'm very proud of, we just released a great report with Ford next generation learning, which is a great education think tank, but it was regarding females and STEM careers and why we're not still moving the needle as much as we should be. That report, everybody needs to read that report and it's out there, published. Now. Make sure you find that on our website or in other places and get a hold of it. It's critically important for the success of our country.

[00:16:09.48] - Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. Well, I definitely appreciate that s and of course, to make it even easier, we'll have the links and information in the show notes as well too, so that everybody can follow up with you, find about all the awesome things that you and your team have been working on, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

[00:16:21.83] - Edson Barton

Thank you. Appreciate it.

[00:16:24.27] - Intro

Thank you for listening to the Imceo podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at Imceo Co. Imceo is not just a phrase, it's a community. Want to level up your business even more? Read blogs, listen to podcasts and watch videos@cbnation.com. cEO also check out our imceo Facebook group. This has been the I am CEO podcast with Gresham Harkness Junior. Thank you for listening.