Podcasts about model un

At a national-level high school Model UN, something strange is afoot. High-profile members are dropping like flies, suddenly sick or socially destroyed, videos of their humiliation posted by a mysterious online account called The Seagull. As the weekend event unravels, a serious student known as “Luxembourg” (all the students go by their country names, it's more fun) sets out with the rest of the members of the Model UN security council to solve the mystery of who The Seagull is and what they want. How deep does this conspiracy go? Scripts start at 57:49StarringCassie MiddlemistMike MazzellaLaura PetroHobert ThompsonDaryn Robinson

At the 32nd Annual Southwest Florida Model United Nations conference at Florida Gulf Coast University in March, high school teams were challenged to imagine solutions for the problem of land-based plastics and the micro and nano plastics that we now know are in the world all around us. Cypress Lake High School's Model UN team took top honors and a $1,000 prize for their presentation proposing a creative and actionable — and ambitious — plan to address plastic pollution along Southwest Florida's Gulf Coast. We learn about their plan from one of the team's members.

Deep into the school year, our teen council is immersed in school competitions for Model UN and their a capella group among other things. There is loads of homework as well. Listen to our crew discuss what they've been working on and how they do their best studying.  Do they listen to music?  Does it matter where they sit? And what to do about the distraction that is the phone.  Listen to the discussion about these topics and more.  Our teen council recorded the latest edition of Chowder Chat on April 14, 2025.

I det här avsnittet av Montessoripodden får du följa med till Montessori Model United Nations i Rom, där elever från hela världen samlas för att lära sig om diplomati, samarbete och globala frågor – på riktigt. Maria samtalar med deltagare och pedagoger från skolor i Pittsburgh, USA, och Hyderabad, Indien. De berättar om förberedelserna, engagemanget och vad de tar med sig hem från upplevelsen.

In this episode, I am joined by Congressman Eric Swalwell. We discuss his background, faith, and political journey to Congress. Swalwell shares how he first came to Campbell University (a small Christian school in North Carolina) on a soccer scholarship, where he was the goalkeeper on the soccer team. Though politics wasn't initially on his radar, an injury led him to explore student government, mock trial, and Model UN activities. After interning for a member of Congress, he transferred to the University of Maryland to pursue public service. Throughout the discussion, Swalwell reflects on being a Democrat of faith, noting that many Democrats tend to keep their faith private because they see how religion can be "weaponized" in politics. He expresses a desire for more collaborative cooperation across faith lines rather than using religion as "a means to power." The conversation also touches on polarizing issues like gun control, with Swalwell advocating for an assault weapons ban while preserving Americans' rights to own firearms for protection, sport, and hunting. The interview wrapped up when he had to head off to vote. You can WATCH the conversation on YouTube Theology Beer Camp | St. Paul, MN | October 16-18, 2025 3 Days of Craft Nerdiness with 50+ Theologians & God-Pods and 600 new friends. ONLINE CLASS ANNOUNCEMENT: The Many Faces of Christ Today The question Jesus asked his disciples still resonates today: "Who do you say that I am?" Join our transformative 5-week online learning community as we explore a rich tapestry of contemporary Christologies. Experience how diverse theological voices create a compelling vision of Jesus Christ for today's world. Expand your spiritual horizons. Challenge your assumptions. Enrich your faith. As always, the class is donation-based (including 0), so head over to ManyFacesOfChrist.com for more details and to sign up! _____________________ Hang with 40+ Scholars & Podcasts and 600 people at Theology Beer Camp 2025 (Oct. 16-18) in St. Paul, MN. This podcast is a Homebrewed Christianity production. Follow the Homebrewed Christianity, Theology Nerd Throwdown, & The Rise of Bonhoeffer podcasts for more theological goodness for your earbuds. Join over 80,000 other people by joining our Substack - Process This! Get instant access to over 45 classes at www.TheologyClass.com Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For today's show: News; an installation of a new pipe organ at St. Vitus Cathedral begins; Arnošt of Pardubice cruise ship is launched once more; and, for our feature, we bring you to Brno, where students from 22 countries attended Czechia's largest Model UN, held at Masaryk University. 

For today's show: News; an installation of a new pipe organ at St. Vitus Cathedral begins; Arnošt of Pardubice cruise ship is launched once more; and, for our feature, we bring you to Brno, where students from 22 countries attended Czechia's largest Model UN, held at Masaryk University. 

Dzīvojam skaļā gadsimtā, kad apkārtējās vides trokšņi teju diennakts garumā skan fonā mūsu ikdienas darbībām. Īpaši to novērojam pilsētā, kur transports, būvniecība un sadzīves skaņas bieži laužas ēkās pat caur aizvērtiem logiem. Kā mēra, modelē un plāno trokšņu piesārņojumu pilsētvidē un ar ko atšķiras trokšņi ūdenī no trokšņiem uz sauszemes? Raidījumā Zināmais nezināmajā skaidro ģeogrāfijas zinātņu doktore, Latvijas Universitātes Eksakto zinātņu un tehnoloģiju fakultātes profesore Iveta Šteinberga un Latvijas Hidroekoloģijas institūta Jūras monitoringa nodaļas pētnieks Māris Skudra un Veselības inspekcijas  Vides veselības nodaļas vadītājs Normunds Kadiķis.

Recapping Season 7 Epsiodes 9 & 10 They debate the best kind of cereal but they agree that cereal guestimation is the only way to go. Amanda is having a hard time with general words in this epiosde but she is not shy about singing. Maggie gets to talk about the impact she made at Model UN as a teenager while Amanda just did dance and theater as a kid. Amanda is absolutely shook when Maggie sheds light on what might have been a halucination that Louis had and she never even thought about it until now and Amanda is still thinking about it this very minute.  For all things OSF, visit onlysuitsfans.com  Make sure to tune in on Sunday nights at 9:30p CSt to YouTue to watch the girls go live and recap SUITS LA, just minutes after it airs!

On November 20, 2006, 19-year-old Jesse Warren Ross called his mother and told her about the incredible time he was having in Chicago at the Model UN Conference. He and several classmates from the University of Missouri–Kansas City had made the trip just days earlier. But Jesse never made it home. At around 2:00 a.m. on November 21, a select group of students, including Jesse, were called in for a late-night crisis simulation at the Sheraton on East North Water Street, where the conference was being held. The simulation was expected to last for hours. But at around 2:30 a.m., Jesse stood up, said he needed a break, and walked out of the hotel. He was never seen again. It has now been more than eighteen years since Jesse disappeared, leaving his friends and family still searching, and still wondering—what happened to Jesse Ross that night? 19-year-old Jesse Warren Ross was attending a Model UN conference in November 2006 in Chicago. On the night of the 20th, he returned to his hotel, the Four Points Sheraton on North Rush Street, with his classmates. After drinking for a few hours, they decided to attend the conference dance at the Sheraton on East North Water Street. Surveillance footage captured Jesse walking from his hotel to the conference hotel at around 12:45 a.m. on what was now November 21st. He was wearing a white t-shirt, a green hoodie, blue jeans, and black sneakers. The last confirmed sighting of him was at 2:30 a.m., when cameras recorded him leaving the conference hotel. He has not been seen since. At the time of his disappearance, Jesse was 5'10” and weighed 140 pounds. He had short red hair, blue eyes, and freckles, and often went by the nickname "Opie." He also wore glasses. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Chicago Police Department at 312-745-5206 or the Missouri State Highway Patrol Missing Persons Unit at 1-800-877-3452. Editor: Shannon Keirce Research/Writing: Polly SUBMIT A CASE HERE: Cases@DetectivePerspectivePod.com SOCIAL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/detperspective/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/detperspective FIND DERRICK HERE Twitter: https://twitter.com/DerrickL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DerrickLevasseur Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DerrickVLevasseur CRIME WEEKLY AND COFFEE Criminal Coffee Company: https://www.CriminalCoffeeCo.com Crime Weekly:  https://crimeweeklypodcast.com/shop ADS: 1. https://www.JoinDeleteMe.com - Text DETECTIVE to 64000 for 20% off! 2. https://www.Acorns.com/Detective - Download the Acorns app today!

In this episode, we sit down with the two presidents of the Boston University International Affairs Association (BUIAA), Andrew Severance and Senthil Meyyappan, to discuss their journeys within the organization, from eager members to leading one of BU's most dynamic student groups. They share insights into BUIAA's role in fostering global awareness, hosting Model UN conferences, and connecting with other students. Listen in to hear their experiences, leadership lessons, and how BUIAA prepares students to engage with the world beyond BU!

CALL IN: 508-637-5596GUEST: Science blogger Michael D. ShawMICHAEL SHAW SUBSTACK: https://mdspov.substack.comCharles Moscowitz LIVEWebsite: https://charlesmoscowitz.comMoscowitz Author Page:https://www.amazon.com/stores/Charles-Moscowitz/author/B00BFLX7S0Buy Me a Coffee, Join me for Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/moscowitz

Brittany sounds like a pretty typical teen. She's in Model UN, loves her phone, and can't help but be real (thanks in part to a particular application on said phone). But with a Sigmund Fraud like Ian Herrin as her therapist, Brittany is given almost no time at all to discuss whatever her struggles might be! Like, therapy shouldn't be sex education for the THERAPIST, AGAIN! Get out of there, Brittany! Scared emoji shocked emoji sweating emoji!!Ah, you must be super fire emoji, because you've found the best part of the episode description! The part where I get to tell you all about the wonderful actor, improviser, and dungeon master David Armstrong! You can follow David on Instagram @samuraipanda201 and you can also check out David's D & D Youtube channel @bonusactionrpg

In this episode, we interview Ms. Tibollo, she talks about her experiences at Nichols as a student and how they compare to her experiences now as a teacher. She also talks about her past career and what led her back to teaching history at Nichols. Ms. Tibollo then shares a little bit about her passion for Model UN and her excitement to get it back at Nichols. To hear more about Ms. Tibollo, you can listen to the full podcast on Podbean, Apple Music, or Spotify.

"Remember, remember, the 5th of November," or whatever that guy in the mask said. On account of today being a relatively important day in world history, we decided to record an episode relatively based on world history! That little poem at the beginning of the paragraph was made famous by Alan Moore's V for Vendetta, a graphic novel based on a historical event. With that in mind, we're on a mission to write our own graphic novels! Specifically, we're looking for the best historical event to put to illustrated print. Matt is getting surprisingly heady with his answer. Andrew is getting surprisingly culty with his answer. And we decided to bring in a guest who actually knows history, so Eric Silver is getting surprisingly heisty with his answer. Recommended reading: Special thanks to Eric for joining us on Debate This! today! You should check out Eric's Stuff! Check out Join The Party HERE https://www.jointhepartypod.com/ Check out Attach Your Resume HERE https://multitude.productions/ayr Check out Eric's Model UN-like TTRPG HERE  https://x.com/El_Silvero/status/1851645907088896320 The title of this week's episode was NOT selected by our Patrons in our Discord Community because we didn't want to spoil the bit! If you want to help us choose the next one, join our discord, and/or get some bonus content, become part of #ButtThwompNation at patreon.com/debatethiscast! Have you seen our Twitter? twitter.com/debatethiscast Have you seen our Instagram? instagram.com/debatethiscast Want to send us an email? debatethiscast@gmail.com Do you like it when we talk about comics? Do you like it when we say comic words into your lil ears? Would you like more content that includes us saying comic words into your lil ears? If you begrudgingly answered yes to any of those questions, check out our sister show, Avenge This! where ever you get your podcasts! Properties we talked about this week: V for Vendetta, War of the Worlds, Heaven's Gate, The 2019 Iceland Bitcoin Heist, Secret Invasion, Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, The Big Short Music for Debate This! is provided by composer Ozzed under a creative commons license. Check out more of their 8-bit bops at www.ozzed.net!

Välkommen till ett nytt avsnitt av Montessoripodden där vi utforskar hur globala frågor kan integreras i utbildning genom FN-rollspel. Möt Judith Cunningham, grundaren av Montessori Model UN, som delar sin inspirerande berättelse om hur hon förvandlade en enkel fråga vid en middagsbjudning till en internationell utbildningsrörelse. Judith berättar om hur programmet ger unga elever möjligheten att agera som FN-delegater och utveckla viktiga färdigheter inom förhandling, samarbete och att skapa fredliga lösningar. Genom att sätta sig i ambassadörernas skor lär sig eleverna att se världen ur ett globalt perspektiv och bli förändringsagenter för framtiden. Detta avsnitt är ett måste för lärare, elever och alla som är nyfikna på hur utbildning kan bidra till en fredligare värld. Följ med oss när vi dyker djupt in i Judiths resa och upptäck hur Montessori Model UN engagerar tusentals elever världen över. Missa inte chansen att bli inspirerad och kanske till och med delta i en framtida konferens!

In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Zach Palmer, a high school history and civics teacher at Thales Academy Apex. In this conversation, they discuss the unique challenges of teaching civics in 2024 and their love for rooting civics in first principles, the Western tradition, and America's founding documents. Zachary Palmer grew up in Barneveld, Wisconsin, on a horse farm where he learned the importance of education, hard work, and self-discipline. He taught history and civics for three years at Mystic Valley Regional Charter School in Boston, Massachusetts. During that time, Mr. Palmer advised the Model UN club, worked as the community service coordinator, and wrote several essays for publication. An avid believer in self-betterment, Mr. Palmer's professional aspirations include becoming a master teacher while helping his students grow in virtue.Outside of school, Mr. Palmer enjoys personal fitness and watching films with his wife. Mr. Palmer received a B.A. in History from Hillsdale College and a M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction: History from Liberty University. Mr. Palmer teaches American History, Western Civilization, and Civics.

Send us a Text Message.6:15 - Camp One Clap 2024: Day 15For notes and details about the episode, check out the website here:https://www.oneclapspeechanddebate.com/post/camp-one-clap-2-episode-15-alexis-worthen-on-horror-films-debate-and-model-unJoin us at Camp One Clap as we welcome back Alexis Worthen, a quad ruby and Academic All-American Speech and Debater, who humorously admits her limited survival skills. This episode takes you on Alexis's journey from dominating high school debate to studying Political Science at Simmons University. Alexis reminisces about her time in high school Speech and Debate and discusses her current adventures in Model UN. Prepare to be captivated by Alexis's love for the horror genre as she discusses "The Last of Us" and its deep reflections on humanity. We dive into the emotional intricacies of Ari Aster's "Hereditary" and "Midsommar," touching on themes of denial, grief, and mental health. We also highlight the unique style of A24 films and Nicolas Cage's greatness.  Don't miss it!If you'd like to join the discussion here at One Clap Speech and Debate, shoot me an email at lylewiley@gmail.com or reach out here on the website.You could also contact me on social media:Facebook: @oneclappodcastInstagram: @one_clap_podcastTikTok: @oneclapspeechanddebateYouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCyvpV56859lLA-X-EvHVYUgYour voice matters!Get your cool One Clap Speech and Debate merchandise here (now featuring hats!): https://www.bonfire.com/store/one-clap-speech-and-debate/

Nick and Hannah both love board games. There I said it. So what are they doing in a Civics 101 episode? Well, from Student Council and Model UN to CIA intelligence acquisition scenarios, there is a fine line between games and simulation. We learn more about things when we pretend to do them. Today we talk to three designers about their civic-centric games; Tory Brown of Fort Circle Games discusses Votes for Women, Cole Wehrle of Wehrlegig Games breaks down John Company, and Non Breaking Space explains Cross Bronx Expressway, an upcoming game from GMT. CLICK HERE: Visit our website to donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!

Sedinam Botwe is a talented young lawyer whose expertise lies in both the traditional and non-traditional aspects of transactional, corporate and commercial law. She works as a Junior Associate with Legal 500 recognized top law firm, Kimathi & Partners, Corporate Attorneys in Accra Ghana, where she practices on the Transactions, Tax and Strategic Advisory Team and the Telecommunications, Media and Technology Team.   As a lawyer, Sedinam advises on a number of big-time lending transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and recently, carbon financing transactions. Sedinam has worked with a number of multinational clients, providing them with bespoke advice on matters of legal compliance, deal structuring, contract drafting and review. Sedinam actively volunteers with Reformation Community, an NGO focused on transforming society, starting with children. Reformation Community's Booksville project is dear to Sedinam's heart, as the project focuses on equipping children with reading and writing skills which Sedinam finds to be a fundamental tool of change, being an avid reader and writer herself. Sedinam also has a blog, Everyday Legalese, where she discusses the legal implications of everyday transactions and situations, with the aim of demystifying legal concepts for the public. Sedinam is also a huge enthusiast of diplomacy and international affairs, evidenced by her volunteer work with Lifelink Ghana, an organisation that trains students from basic, secondary and tertiary schools in matters of diplomacy through Model UN sessions. In her free time, Sedinam enjoys reading, exercising and playing with her pets, Tyrone and Scorsese. Let's keep the conversation going, connect with us on Instagram @sister_in_law_ @sedinambotwe_ If you have a trailblazing woman of colour in the legal profession who you would like to see being featured on the podcast please send your suggestions to advice@sisterinlaw.co.za Visit our website for cool merchandise and to grab your ticket to our next I am Lady Justice workshop (29 June): www.sisterinlaw.co.za --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tebello-motshwane/message

Subscribe to Receive Venkat's Weekly Newsletter In the 9th Grade while in High School in India, Nia decided that she wanted to pursue college abroad. She was interested in Biology, Math. She was part of Model UN. When it was time to apply for college, Nia approached Education USA for guidance. Nia joins us on our podcast to share her freshman experience at Creighton, Transition to Creighton, Research, Campus Activities, and Advice for International Applicants. Check Out: The College Application Workbooks for Juniors and Seniors In particular, we discuss the following with her:  Freshman Experience at Creighton University Transition to a US College Majoring in Biochemistry Advice to International Applicants Topics discussed in this episode: Introduction to Nia Sequeira, Creighton U [] Hi Fives - Podcast Highlights [] Overall Creighton Experience [] Why Creighton? [] Major Switch! [] High School Interests [] Why US College? [] Transition to US College [] Profs [] Research [] Clubs, Organizations [] Advice for Int'l Applicants[] Memory [] Our Guests: Nia Sequeira, an International Student, is a rising sophomore at Creighton University. Memorable Quote: “… I was super interested in research ever since I landed in the US. My advisors back at Education USA kept telling me to engage in research and they were like getting involved in research in your freshman year would be really good.” Nia Sequeira. Episode Transcript: Please visit Episode's Transcript. Similar Episodes: College Experiences Calls-to-action: Follow us on Instagram To Ask the Guest a question, or to comment on this episode, email podcast@almamatters.io. Subscribe or Follow our podcasts at any of these locations: Apple Podcasts, Spotify.

In this episode of the WAB podcast, we have four special guests: Grade 7 student Mary, Grade 8 student Lachlan, Grade 10 student Ben, and Irina Karimova, the supervisor of WAB's Model United Nations (Model UN / MUN) Club. Together, they shared their inspiration for joining the Model UN club, how they prepare, their experiences, and personal growth along the way. Irina introduced how the Model UN is a platform for students interested in current affairs to learn and discuss global issues together. During Model UN conferences, students are assigned a country and role-play its delegation. Irina emphasized that the club aims to foster dialogue, broaden horizons, and highlight the importance of collaboration.    Ben, who joined the Model UN Club in seventh grade, described how it helped him learn about different countries. As a Grade 10 student, he now has been twice selected as the conference chair. Ben shared the extensive preparation required for this role, such as writing detailed reports to guide delegates' research and providing an overview of the topics. He encouraged other students to participate, assuring them that everyone starts with similar nerves and mistakes, emphasizing the importance of taking the first step.   Lachlan, a Grade 8 student, spoke about the significance of considering a country's stance when preparing position papers and opening speeches, particularly for important conferences like UNISMUN, the Model UN Conference held at the United Nations International School in Vietnam.   Grade 7 student Mary joined the Model UN Club due to her interest in Geography. And having participated for one year, she has won herself "Most Improved Delegate" at a recent Model UN conference in Beijing. Mary highlighted how her research skills, collaboration, and public speaking abilities have improved through her Model UN experiences.   If you're interested in the exciting story behind WAB's Model United Nations club, be sure to tune in to this episode!    

In this episode, host Clark Vandeventer interviews Siena Florence about Kyrgyzstan. Siena Florence is a remarkable young woman. She's 17-years-old and has taken maybe every single class Clark teaches on Outschool. When she's not taking Outschool classes, she's busy doing a whole plethora of remarkable things, like participating in Model UN, being an ambassador for Cultiva International in Guatemala, or traveling the world in various study abroad programs, like the one that took her to the nation of Kyrgyzstan, which is the country we talk about in this episode. What you'll love about this episode: Siena explaining Kyrgyzstan communication, and the harshness and honesty of communication. What daily life and daily routines look like in Kyrgyzstan Daily transportation. How many people can you pack in a bus? Epic hiking in Kyrgyzstan Siena lived with a family in Kyrgyzstan -- she wasn't traveling as a tourist. So you get to hear her perspective having lived with a family and living a "normal life" Info on Clark's online classes: Free classes available on Coral Academy! ● Parents can visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.coralacademydemo.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and select their preferred classes ● While filling in the learner details, they should click on 'Referred by teacher' and enter CLARK VANDEVENTER For more travel perspectives, follow Clark on social media! Clark on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/clarkvand/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Clark on TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@clarkvand?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ You can also email Clark at clarkvand@gmail.com and check out all of his course offerings for tweens and teens on Outschool at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/clarkonoutschool⁠⁠⁠⁠

Eddie and Jenn talk about hding their comic selfs from their parents. Eddie went to a model UN conference with a bunch of nerds. Jenn took edibles before going to Universal Horror Nights one time. Who gets hard nips and erections on stage? Plus Florida Man Friday!

@AnnieBergflamez and @CWCRadio connect from opposite sides of the globe to talk about the tweet of the week and explore what really happens in Model UN. Listen to every Episode of Tweet Victory at: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6mO4Bd0gh0sZUakz03A9gG?si=e4fc39c813e846d1

Model UNs are academically rigorous simulations that teach students diplomacy, international relations, and how the United Nations works. At Model UN conferences student delegates study a United Nations member country, research topics of global interest, and work to get resolutions passed on that country's behalf. Our guest today is a past-participant who is now in her first year of medical school at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Daniela Barata Herrera was born in Cuba, and lived in Chile as a young child before her family came to the United States. She first discovered Model UN at Cape Coral High School where she graduated in 2017. She's in town to give the Keynote address at this year's competition so we brought her into the studio to talk.

What are the top five characteristics great leaders share? Academy graduates, Alison '15 and Paul '16 Yang, discuss that answer — and more! ----more----SUMMARY Alison '15 and Paul '15 Yang discuss their backgrounds, experiences at the Air Force Academy, transition to the corporate world, and key qualities of successful leaders. Their leadership lessons and takeaways?  The importance of caring about people, having humility, being resilient, managing stakeholders, and leading through change.   LEARN.  ENGAGE.  LEAD! Read Veterans in Leadership: How Military Careers Can Shape Corporate Success including the contributions of Alison and Paul Yang.    DOWNLOAD THE VETERANS IN LEADERSHIP PDF HERE  |  SPENCERSTUART.COM   OUR FAVORITE QUOTES - "Care about people, whether that's, you know, asking about how their day was to participate in the flightline and solving everyday problems." - Paul Yang - "You have the humility to set yourself aside. You have a leg up, which enables you to have teams that perform under pressure and operate well through change." - Alison Yang - "I truly did [enjoy the YC advice]. I think sometimes Alison is very good at telling you what you need to hear." - Paul Yang - "Folks that come out of the military have no quit. If when we asked him to expand that out, he talked about how, when someone is asked whether or not they're willing to potentially make the ultimate sacrifice for this country, any other ask following that, in and out of the military becomes, I don't want to say easy, but it's going to fall short of it, right." - Paul Yang - "Care about people. And if you care about people, your interpersonal skills are likely decent, you have the humility to set yourself aside, you have a leg up on stakeholder management, which enables you to have teams that perform under pressure and operate well through change." - Alison Yang   SHARE THIS EPISODE FACEBOOK  |  LINKEDIN  |  TWITTER  |  EMAIL   CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction and Background 03:47 Childhood and Influences 07:04 High School and Leadership 10:51 Air Force Academy Experience 14:47 Career Choices: Maintenance Officer and Intelligence 20:30 Leadership Skills from the Military 24:03 Transitioning to the Corporate World 29:40 Transitioning as a Couple 35:13 Mistakes and Lessons Learned 46:23 Key Qualities of Successful Leaders 53:20 Advice for Future Leaders 58:02 Closing Remarks and Contact Information 59:05 How They Met 01:00:09 First Impressions 01:01:52 Working Together 01:02:52 Thoughts on Wise Advice   OUR FAVORITE TAKEAWAYS - Caring about people is a key quality of successful leaders. - Humility and resilience are important traits for leaders. - Effective stakeholder management and leading through change are crucial skills. - Transitioning from the military to the corporate world requires support and networking. - Continuous learning and self-improvement are essential for leadership development.   BIOS Alison Yang '16 I lead the delivery of global executive searches for US industrial companies and specialize in engineered products, distribution, and aerospace & defense. Spencer Stuart is the world's leading leadership advisory firm. Founded in 1956 and privately owned, we are the adviser of choice among organizations seeking guidance and counsel on senior leadership needs. We work with clients across a range of industries, from the world's largest companies to medium-sized businesses, entrepreneurial startups and nonprofit organizations. Spencer Stuart today has 56 offices in 30 countries. Our global reach, leadership in CEO and senior executive searches, and status as the premier firm for board counsel give us unparalleled access to the world's top executive talent. CONNECT WITH ALISON - Copy and image credit:  www.linkedin.com   Paul Yang '15 Spencer Stuart is one of the world's leading executive search consulting firms. Founded in 1956 and privately owned, we are the advisor of choice among organizations seeking guidance and counsel on senior leadership needs. We work with clients across a range of industries, from the world's largest companies to medium-sized businesses, entrepreneurial startups and nonprofit organizations. Through 56 offices in 30 countries and a broad range of practice groups, our global reach, leadership in CEO and senior executive searches, and status as the premier firm for board counsel give us unparalleled access to the world's top executive talent. CONNECT WITH PAUL - Copy and image credit:  www.linkedin.com LEARN MORE ABOUT SPENCER STUART     ABOUT LONG BLUE LEADERSHIP Long Blue Leadership drops every two weeks on Tuesdays and is available on Apple Podcasts, TuneIn + Alexa, Spotify and all your favorite podcast platforms. Search @AirForceGrads on your favorite social channels for Long Blue Leadership news and updates!        FULL TRANSCRIPT SPEAKERS Our Host is Dr. Doug Lindsay '92 | Our Guests are Alison '15 and Paul '16 Yang   Paul Yang  00:08 It's real lives and young airmen and enlisted folks that you're put in charge of, and really making a true impact in people's lives on a day to day basis.   Alison Yang  00:16 The one theme, if we could say, captures all of this, is care about people.   Paul Yang  00:24 Whether that's, you know, asking about how their day was to supporting flightline and solving everyday problems.   Alison Yang  00:31 You have the humility to set yourself aside. You have a leg up, which enables you to have teams that perform under pressure and operate well through change. And it's also the difference between having people who just get the job done because they have to versus the people who get the job done because they want to. They believe in you.   Doug Lindsay  01:19 My guests today are Allison and Paul Yang, USAFA class of 2015 and 2016, respectively. Allison and Paul are a married couple based in the Washington, DC area and both work at Spencer Stewart, a global executive search and leadership advisory firm as associates in executive search. Both served in the Air Force with distinction winding up their careers in 2022 as officers in intelligence and maintenance leading large teams.  They are accomplished students of leadership and writers, which is how we met Allison and Paul. The pair recently contributed to an article on veterans and leadership in a Spencer Stewart publication. The article featured profiles of 10 prominent CEOs, three of whom are USAFA graduates and currently lead United Airlines, McAfee and Johnstone Supply.  We'll spend the next few minutes getting to know Allison and Paul, and we'll talk about their work with Spencer Stewart. Then we'll focus on the top five qualities they believe make the best leaders. And finally, we'll ask them to share one or two bits of advice they would give to those who want to be leaders and leaders who want to become even better. Joining us from the DC area, Allison and Paul, welcome to the Long Blue Leadership podcast.   Alison Yang  02:31 Thanks, Doug. We're happy to be here.   Paul Yang  02:32 Hey, Doug, happy to be here as well.   Doug Lindsay  02:34 Glad to have you. As we get started, if you don't mind, would you give us a little bit of a backstory on your lives as children before you got to the Academy? What was that like? And what was your growing up experience like?   Paul Yang  02:46 Sure, I could start. So I come from an immigrant family. My parents moved to the United States in 1993. When I was about two and a half years old, they moved to Queens, New York. My mom was a pharmacist and my dad was a truck driver. And so it was an interesting sort of startup story is what I'd like to call it. In the sense that I spent my weekends teaching my parents the English that I had learned during school and spent the weekend doing that for my parents. It was also a little bit of a challenging household as well. Maybe it's a little too much. But my dad was a bit of an alcoholic. A lot of stress growing up in this country and not knowing the language and trying to navigate it being in a completely different environment. So that led to sometimes an unsafe environment, but heavily influenced how I operate and how I think, being a problem solver paying, attention to detail, facing adversity, etc.   Alison Yang  03:44 I had a bit of a different childhood. I had what you would describe as an all-American childhood. My mom was a first grade teacher, my dad was an Air Force officer and had two younger brothers close in age. We were all best friends, all loved sports and we had to be best friends because we moved every few years or so but that really taught me how to be resilient, how to adapt to a lot of change in life. And I ended up growing this love for people. I loved meeting new people everywhere I went. I know sometimes it can go the other way where you hate moving. But for some reason I really clung on to that.   Doug Lindsay  04:20 So very different kind of origin stories there. But with those kinds of influences, and Paul, you mentioned that some of the challenges you had with that home dynamic and but also, Alison moving around a little bit. How did that translate into wanting to go to the Academy and doing that kind of opportunity? Was that something that's always kind of part of who you were? Alison, you said you like people and was that just part of that idea of service? Or how did that all come to be?    Alison Yang  04:47 Yeah, sure. I think I'd always been a very outgoing kid always driven to be an achiever. So, this passion for people, I would say it especially started in high school and I prided myself on knowing everyone in the in the class so I was class president. And you know, I was friends with the dorks and was friends with the popular kids. And my proudest moment in high school was actually, I was a benchwarmer on the varsity basketball team. And I was voted captain of my varsity basketball team. So, I would go up against, you know, the star player on the opposing team. I'd come off the bench, flip the coin and go sit back down on the bench, you know, it's sort of like a Rudy story. They throw me in the last few minutes of the game. But anyway, really proud of that. And then also saw the service aspect from my dad, and then saw a lot of women in leadership and knew that that's something I could totally do that I would love to do that I'd love a challenge. And so yeah, I would definitely say that all stemmed from my childhood.   Paul Yang  05:51 And then for me, I'd say my parents really encouraged me to kind of go out there and learn what's out there and get involved as much as I can. We kind of had this rule where in the house, we would speak Korean. But then when you're outside of the house, you're speaking English all the time. Which is interesting, you know, because my parents wanted to learn the learn the language and get familiar with it. But that made that basically kind of ingrained in me this idea that there's this whole world of knowledge out there, and there's all these things to do, especially being in a brand new country. So, throughout my childhood and growing up, I spent a lot of time getting involved in different clubs, in different sports, just because I wasn't familiar with it and be because I wanted to learn it and figure it out. So, I did a varying range of things. I did Model UN, I tried out the robotics club. I wasn't very good at it, but I tried it, I can say that, and a couple of different sports. That influenced me when I got to the Academy because I tried out for a sport that I never played before. And I ended up playing the whole, season, which is, you know, pretty interesting. And it was a great, great time to do that. But I, didn't really know that the Air Force Academy existed. I just kind of knew, hey, I want to give back to this country. I want to give, I want to be able to serve, I want to be able to give back. And so I always knew I wanted to give, join the military. And I guess that's what kind of led me down the path of going to the academy and listed first out of high school. And I was really, really fortunate and lucky to be surrounded by some key mentors of mine that told me that this place called this the Air Force Academy existed in Colorado Springs. You should apply. So much so that they were like, “Hey, don't have to work until you finish your application”, you know. So, I was very fortunate to have those folks that champion me, again, kind of further shaped my view of leadership later on in life.   Doug Lindsay  07:52 And then Allison for you in terms of the Academy itself, was it something you were familiar with? Because of your dad? How did you come to know about the Academy?   Alison Yang  08:02 And so yeah, he was not an Academy grad. So, for me, I, you know, my junior year of high school was considering the options. And I heard about the Air Force Academy, knew about it from my dad, who had friends who had gone to the Academy, and I've stepped into the Junior ROTC in my high school and said, “Hey, I'd love like a pamphlet on the Air Force Academy”. And they're like, “Sit down”, you know, “what sports are you in?” I was like, “What? “Whoa, I just want a pamphlet”. But, but anyway, that sort of started the process. And once I started the application process, which is, as a lot of listeners know, it's just an intensive application process, and you feel like you've achieved something when you submit it. So, I was really excited, you know, to have that opportunity. And yeah, I just, I knew it was right for me, especially as someone who was an achiever.   Doug Lindsay  08:54 So, what was that like when you got here then? So, you kind of very accomplished in high school, a lot of activity really busy. And then you kind of… that meets reality, when you actually kind of get here on in-processing and do that. What was that? Like, once you kind of got here in terms of that? Was it confirming or affirming of what you were doing? Or, were there some questions about, “What did I get myself into?”   Alison Yang  09:16 I loved it. And I had watched a lot of videos about basic training. But I have a really funny story. In my in-processing day, I was ready to conquer it, you know, got through all the screaming on the footprints. And I was like, I just got to make it to my room and I'll have some roommates and I can commiserate. We can do this together. And I get to my dorm room. And my two roommates one of them wouldn't speak to me. She was too nervous to talk. The other one had started hyperventilating. And she couldn't calm down. And so I will say both of them are incredible officers still in the Air Force today. Both made it through but in that moment, I said to myself, I'm gonna have to do this. This is gonna be me. We're gonna, you know and so it was a little bit of a reality check once I got to that moment.    Paul Yang  10:03 Yeah, for me, I would say I-day in-processing and basic training at the Academy felt in an odd way familiar, right, because I had gone through enlisted basic training. And then I went to the prep school and went through basic training there. So by the time it came around, I kind of knew, Okay, I'm gonna get yelled at, they're gonna break us down and go through this whole process. But I felt this need or this kind of calling to help my other classmates, because many of which were coming, many of whom were coming straight out of high school. And so even as simple as rolling socks, and cleaning your room, and hospital corners, those are things that I would say I've been doing every day, right, once you get out of basic training, but something I was familiar with at the very least. And so that desire to kind of share what I had known, even if it's something as simple as rolling socks, and folding your t-shirts in the right way to meet the measurements, I figured, you know, this is something that I know this is something that could be helpful in some way, shape or form. Let me go ahead and share that. And so my whole like early stages, or the early days at the Academy, that's what I felt called to do. Sharing that knowledge.   Doug Lindsay  11:14 Both of you (had) different kind of unique experiences as you work through the 47 months of the Academy, right? You're exposed to these new things. What would you say are kind of the couple of maybe crucible moments or the important moments or impacts that the Academy had on you during that time in terms of your development, not just as a person, but as a leader?    Paul Yang  11:37 I had never played a game of soccer in my in my entire life. Maybe it's because I grew up in New York, and there's not many fields. Maybe that's the reason why but I never played it. And so when I got this was during the prep school, when I got to the prep school, one of my buddies and my unit, or my squadron said, “Hey, you should try out for this team. You seem athletic, you'd like to run, why don't you come out to the field and try it out.” I did. And I enjoyed it. I didn't know how to kick a soccer ball the right way. But I knew how to run. And I knew that I was competitive and sort of headstrong in that way. So, I would say that was a highlight. And I got lucky because the person that would be starting in the position that I was in as left back ended up getting injured. And so I found myself in this situation of okay, I basically know how to play this sport. I can listen, I can listen to my coach's advice. But I have now I found myself in a starting position. I wasn't again, one repeat, like I wasn't very good. But I felt like what an opportunity to be able to play this sport at this level, having never played it before. And the Academy, certainly, you know, only a place like that, where you're given an opportunity like that, right? So that was like a pretty big moment, for me. A very proud moment. Maybe like a low-light for me, it was about halfway through the Academy, I was going through some personal things that I maybe lost sight of and I let it affect my academics, particularly one class, and I ended up failing a course. And at the end of the semester is you know, when you fail the course you go through the board process and you kind of go through, hey, you're gonna make it through. And I almost got disenrolled and I had my act advisor, someone you may know, Doug, but he really championed me. And he said, “Hey, it's okay, this these things happen”. Kind of brought me back down to earth and went through the board process ended up obviously not getting disenrolled. But it was a big, it was a big, tough pill for me to swallow of, hey, there are things in life that you need to focus on and make sure they're squared away and good to go. And ensure that it doesn't leak into other areas of your life is particularly if if there are high stakes involved, right, like enrollment at the Air Force Academy. Yeah.   Doug Lindsay  13:57 And I think that's an important part, right? Because that we tend to focus on maybe the positives, right? And we don't realize that without those kind of crucible moments, those kind of lower points that, you know, that helps frame out who we are, our perspective and who knows that opportunity. It sounds like it kind of change your trajectory a little bit about kind of reassessing. What am I doing here? What do I really want to get out of it? Right?   Paul Yang  14:19 Yeah, certainly a while I certainly cared more about academics after the fact. But it was it was a good lesson of, hey, this is real, you know, and I think to your point of, sometimes you could be flying high and in a really good place and you don't realize these little areas of your life that may be taking a toll and maybe require your attention and I think it's a good leadership theme as well. Of their different areas. It takes a lot of bandwidth. And so, making sure you take the time to take a step back and a lot your effort and your capacity in the areas that require it so that you are healthy and you're good to go. So that you can be present.   Doug Lindsay  15:01 Had a similar experience one of my semesters, my first semester sophomore year, I came in at a 2.0. And it was really close enough to the sun, so to speak, that that was my crucible moment. I'm like, that was a real evaluation moment for me to go. Okay, I need to, I need to do some things differently if I want to keep making this happen. Allison, how about you maybe some high and low point for you as well?   Alison Yang  15:25 Yeah, one of my favorite things about the Air Force Academy is just the incredible opportunities that it affords cadets so, I did the jump program, I did an immersion trip to Poland, I did a language trip to Morocco, a DC trip for a history class, I was on the lacrosse team and got to travel all over the place, marched in an Inauguration Day parade. So, all of those were just incredible moments. I would say the biggest thing that had an impact on my leadership is I was able to be the cadet squadron commander, my senior year. I'll say that peer leadership is the hardest thing. And I think that being a cadet, anything, you know, as a leader of cadets is harder than any officer leadership position I had, probably because there's, you know, formal structure within the military, there's, there's a natural chain of command, but when you're leading your peers, you know, you have to live with them every day too. So, it's a total exercise in dealing with people interpersonal skills. You know, in your, it was the greatest leadership gift I think the Academy afforded me. And then the low-light for me. So, I was the wing Command Chief, which was, you know, the top junior position, my junior year, and I did something called Weiss Advice. My last name was Weiss at the time, and I would go up on the staff tower, and I would give everyone morning advice at 6:00 a.m. before their breakfast, you know, something like, “Be a good friend today”. You know, you never know what your team your teammate is going through. This was at a time where there was social media that was allowed, and people could, you know, talk chat about whatever going on at the Academy. And I would say about half the wing was indifferent, a quarter loved the Weiss advice, and a quarter hated the Weiss Advice. And so, I got that direct feedback. And so, it was a great lesson to me that not everyone's going to love everything that you do. And especially as a person who really, who loves people who wants to be friends with everyone, learning that sometimes as a leader, you have to make tough decisions, or you have to do things that maybe not everyone will be on board with. But that was a, you know, it was a great lesson for me at that time that I carried on throughout my officer career.   Doug Lindsay  17:54 Taking those experiences you had at the Academy, how did that translate into saying, “Hey, I want to be a maintenance officer. I want to be an Intel officer?”.    Alison Yang  18:02 Yeah, and for me, I loved my political science and international relations classes. And that drew me into an interest in the intelligence field and just really synthesizing data about the world, understanding what drives our adversaries what motivates people again, and then ultimately, you know, proposing solutions actionable solutions to leaders to make decisions. So really enabling operations, which I loved, it would get me as close to operations as possible without actually flying in a plane. I tried power flight. Threw up every time so I knew that being a pilot was not for me. But yeah, just that foundation in my classes actually at the Academy drew me into intelligence.    Paul Yang  18:49 Well, I chose to be a maintenance officer. I put that as my top choice. Early in my first year, when we were putting in our preferences, I was thinking through okay, what's the career field where that'll provide me sort of the best opportunity to do exactly what I enjoy doing, which is championing others in solving problems. And obviously, by me gravitating towards leadership opportunities and learning about the world kind of pointed me towards the direction of maintenance because I knew that maintenance is a tough leadership environment, especially as a brand new lieutenant, you're kind of thrown in there, leading dozens plus people and there's a lot of problems to solve from the operational side and so okay, this is I think this is where I belong. I spoke to a number of different maintenance officers at the time there were AOCs some academic instructors as well. And so I knew okay, this is this is where I want to go and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I love the environment of being a thrown into somewhere where there's high stakes, it's on, it's on you and your team to figure something out. And it's real lives and real young airmen and enlisted folks that you're put in charge of and being able to be there relying on senior NCOs. And really making a true impact in people's lives on a day-to-day basis for the better, whether that's, you know, asking about how their day was to champion them because they need time off and managing their schedule to make sure that they have what they need to be best supported to, to support in the flightline and solving everyday problems. We don't have to go too much into the details there. But it's a tough group all dapper operationally. And I gravitated towards that.   Doug Lindsay  20:45 And I do want to ask a question about how you all got together. So, class of 2015 class of 2016, both at the academy at the at the same time, and now and you're married. So, can you tell us a little bit about how that started or how you met?   Alison Yang  21:00 I first remember meeting Paul, when he walked into an interview that I was holding, for my second in command as I was a cadet squadron commander, so I was looking for my superintendent and Paul interviewed for that role was the first time I had met him. I was dating someone else at the time. So, I had no romantic interest in him. But that was the first time I remember meeting him and I hired him. So, he worked with me for a semester. And then we became great friends after that.   Paul Yang  21:31 I think we had talked about earlier when Allison at six at six o'clock in the morning was sharing Weiss Advice up on the staff tower, before breakfast, when everyone's just trying to make it through the day. I learned obviously from a distance, and I had a lot of respect for her. I obviously still have a ton of respect for her now. And then when I found out that I was moving into 30, and I was applying to be her superintendent, I was like, “Wow, I would love to get to know this individual. And I'd love even more so to work for her”. So, there's kind of his running joke where our relationship started with Alison being my boss, and she still is today. Very much so and so that's sort of like our, our founding story, if you will.   Doug Lindsay  22:19 And then Paul, a question for you. So, the Weiss Advice that Alison talked about, what was your reaction sitting in, in Mitchell Hall hearing that that information?   Paul Yang  22:29 I personally enjoyed it. I think “Al” (short for Alison) had mentioned that maybe like, maybe a quarter of the people really, really enjoyed it. But I truly did. I think sometimes Al is very good at telling you what you need to hear. And certainly in our, in our marriage. And so, I really appreciated that even at the early waking morning hours of the day, that Allison was getting up there and saying some true hard things, like, “Be a friend. Support somebody. Be there for one another. If you have a tough test, at the end of the day, you'll be done with it”. I mean, just like simple things like that might not sound like a lot at the surface level. But it really hits home because it's just real. And it's true. And it's and it's honest. And so, to answer your question bluntly, I loved it.   Doug Lindsay  23:20 The Academy and the experiences that you've kind of talked a little about really spring-boarded you in those careers, because you obviously had success early on in maintenance and intel. What was it that you think you got out of the Academy that really kind of helped set the stage for you there?   Alison Yang  23:35 I think I would go back to the whole peer leadership thing, the fact that I had already been leading, you know, leading people honestly, as a senior and then went straight into, you know, my job as an Intel officer, I was leading a floor of 75 airmen at DGS Ops Center, and it was just awesome. I just had all these people around me, I knew how to interact with people I knew, you know. And then you even have an operational mission then so then it just becomes even more important. And I think that really set the stage. I mean, all of the character and leadership development that were taught at the Air Force Academy, all of that becomes second nature. You know, that's nothing that we have to learn at that point and, and being that kind of leader for people I think really helped me spring-board as just a second lieutenant into a successful intel career.   Paul Yang  24:34 The wealth of resources that the Air Force Academy has, even if it's just walking down the hallway, and talking to your AOC, who had spent probably 10 plus years in a specific career field and knows people in other career fields. And so, the networking aspect that the Air Force Academy provides is huge and being able to literally just walk down the hallway or maybe it's your instructor for one of your classes that came out of a curriculum to teach at the Air Force Academy. So, utilizing that network, and just knowing the wealth of knowledge and resources there has been huge.   Doug Lindsay  25:11 It's just always interesting to me to see the path that people choose. Because I certainly had my path and I found my way through. But it's just very interesting how personal that is, even though we all kind of go through a similar process, how we personalize that it's just really, I think, interesting as part of our journeys. And so, you're on active duty, you're having a lot of success, and then both decide to transition to something different. So can you talk to me a little bit about what that transition was like in terms of kind of getting into the space that you're in now kind of more the leader development space with, with where you're at right now.   Paul Yang  25:46 So, we decided to transition out at the same time, which, by the way, many of our colleagues and close friends thought we were crazy to be separating at the same time, due to the sheer amount of risk there. But you know, we took a leap of faith, we attended a career conference through a junior military officer, hiring and transitioning company. And when we attended this conference, Allison and I, we really kind of focused on the company culture, and the mission of the company. That's because we're coming out of the military, you know, we naturally gravitate towards companies that had a clear and defined mission orientation or goal, something that is founded on a clear values that aligned with the things that we felt we aligned with. And so, we both came across specially actually, we were, when we attended a career conference, they told us, you know, don't really lead with, hey, you guys are married. Because we were actually interviewed with very similar companies. And there was a decent amount of overlap, they told us to attend as individuals, rack and stack them in your in your brain individually and see where the alignment is with location with career fields and in different areas. And we came across an executive search firm, Spencer Stewart, and we just absolutely head over heels fell in love with the company culture and the type of work that it is, and it's certainly aligned, I guess I'll just speak for myself in this area, but it'll align with how I think and, and how I approach my day to day, which is championing the people, giving people a chance and solving problems. And so being in executive search, that's essentially what you get to do. You're helping your clients solve problems. And in this case, it would be leadership gaps, whether it's succession planning, maybe someone's retiring, etc. And you're talking to people about potential candidates for a role that maybe otherwise wouldn't have landed on their, on their radar in the past. And so being able to learn their story, figure out what their career goals are. And if there's an alignment with where they are trying to go with an opportunity to that a company can offer a great, let's talk about it.   Alison Yang  28:04 I agree, everything that Paul says is accurate. And maybe just to answer just the beginning of your question, why we made the decision. So we were both hard charging on active duty and really loved the service. For us, we just had decided, okay, we're going to be in a position where one of us will have to deploy the other will have to go back to teach. If we had this, we could see our career paths taking a divergent, you know, path, I guess you'd say. And so, we decided, let's just see what else is out there. And let's see what we can do. Paul had some experience that you know, from his dad and the business experience he's had in this country. For me, brand new, had no, you know, didn't even know what corporate life was like. And I said, “If not now, then when?”, and we made the leap and, and everything Paul said about Spencer Stuart so we joined. The culture is incredible. And we've really enjoyed our time so far in the year and a half we've been here.   Doug Lindsay  29:02 What was it that really kind of helped you kind of land successfully on the other side, because we know sometimes people struggle a little bit there sometimes in terms of what do I want to do?   Paul Yang  29:12 We were doing it together. And so, we naturally just had someone across the dinner table championing each other and going through the same experience together. And so being able to talk through ideas, talk through all the different scenarios and just having an ear that would listen was really, really helpful for us. And I wouldn't say that's, that's the only way but just having a partner through that, I think kind of tells a broader story of making sure that you surround yourself with folks around you that that have been through something like this before, or, or is going through it and being able to talk through things and act as a sounding board was really helpful for us.   Alison Yang  30:00 We are also huge proponents of transition companies, especially for junior military officers, we would have had no idea and we partnered with Cameron Brooks, spent a whole year in their program. They helped us translate our military skills into corporate speak, helped us with resumes. And then we had about 20 different companies that were aligned to our experiences that we would have never thought we would be qualified for. And if it were not for a program like that, I'm not sure we would have known and not only that, we had all these different industries we can compare. So, Paul and I got to say, “Alright, do we want to do manufacturing? Do we want to do banking? You know, do we want to be in professional services?” And we ultimately chose that incredible experience overall.   Doug Lindsay  30:47 Any regrets? No, that's great.   Alison Yang  None.   Paul Yang  30:50 No, no regrets.   Doug Lindsay  30:52 You talked about executive search and doing some of that. Can you walk us through a little bit what that looks like?   Paul Yang  30:57 At our firm where we're in executive search. And so that's actually a world we didn't know existed prior to going into the career conference and starting in this firm, but, but basically, we help large, mid to large sized companies on the public side and, and then on the private side, as well, we help leaders sort of make career moves, or we help clients solve their internal succession and leadership planning. What that looks like on a day to day basis, just to kind of maybe break it down, is a lot of calls a lot of internal and external conversations where you're running projects or searches internally, and just making sure we're following the process. And we're making sure we're managing things internally hitting all the dates for the deliverables. And then externally, lots of meetings with clients providing updates on market feedback, it also is probably the bulk of the amount of time that we spend is having conversations with potential candidates to make sure that we go through the full assessment process and doing our full due diligence to ensure that the folks that we would be potentially putting forth on a search on an opportunity are aligned well, yeah.   Alison Yang  32:16 And then Paul and I are both in different practices within the firm. So, I'm in the industrial practice, which means that I help recruit, assess and place executives in any domain within industrial so that could be oil and gas. That could be you know, manufactured products, engineered products, aerospace and defense distribution at large. It could be anything within the industrial sector, anywhere from a vice president level up to CEO.   Paul Yang  32:50 And I'm in, I'm in more of a functional practice, we call it financial officer practice, or basically CFOs. So, most of my work is basically, all of my work is with finance executives. So, CFOs and key deputies, and that's since it's functional. I basically spent a lot of my time across many different industries, because I think CFO-speak is pretty transferable from, from one company to another, from one industry to another, with the exception of a few that are just, they're different. But so, I guess that's like the difference between a focused industry versus a functional practice.   Doug Lindsay  33:32 What you talked about, that idea of being able to connect with people with influence championing others, solving problems. It sounds like you've kind of found your space on the other side in terms of what it is that you really enjoy kind of what your purpose is, is that fair to say?   Alison Yang  33:48 Absolutely, yes, yes. And it's one of the reasons why we, why we love it so much is we really feel that we've landed in a place where we can utilize all these skills. And also, when we're assessing talent, one reason that it's just great at being you know, having been a leader in the military is that when these executives are talking to us about change, management, change leadership within the organization, we don't know it conceptually, we know it practically from our time in service. So, we know if they're just blowing smoke, or, you know, so we found that very valuable and, and it's really cool. I mean, I think, and this is part of you alluded to our veterans article, we're just having access to folks like Scott Kirby, Greg Johnson, who know of these search firms, because that's how, you know, that's how they hire people, basically. So, it's been really neat, not only just being able to practice something that we love, but then also be able to talk to really incredible people.   Doug Lindsay  34:53 Yeah, and you hit on that piece of being able to not just talk about it, but kind of share your experiences. They're being able to kind of really understand, you know, at different levels in terms of what it is that they're looking for, what that means, what change management actually looks like in a large organization. Because even though you may not have been at the, at the geo level instituting those challenges you were at the implementation level of much of that change, and, and what that looks like. And I think that gives a different credibility of being able to say, hey, yeah, kind of been there, done that and talk about it that way, whether it's a CFO or industrial or whatever that is, right?   Paul Yang  Absolutely.   Doug Lindsay  34:53 With that in mind, what are some of the challenges or mistakes that you see leaders making today, just kind of curious in what you're seeing, and what you can talk about, and then we'll kind of talk about maybe some more of the effective things on the other side?   Paul Yang  35:45 Maybe it'll be trends, or sometimes things that kind of speak out to us as being on the search side. So, one of the things that I know that if an individual jumps from one company to another company too frequently, and I think that that could be that could mean a lot of things, right? It could mean that an individual was, you know, kind of in an ecosystem of a private equity firm, and they're buying and selling companies and moving from one company to another, which is fine, and you can speak to that. But if it's not in that situation, then it sort of signals that someone maybe hasn't done their full due diligence on an opportunity before, before taking on that role. And so that's something that I would say doesn't usually reflect too positively. And my advice, I think like springing from that would be, it has been, we've talked to plenty of folks that were where this happens, where maybe they land, they find themselves in a situation, or in a company that they might not like or a specific role that they might not like, it doesn't mean that they'd have to leave the company, right? It's not like it doesn't mean that there aren't other things that they can try. And so, my advice from that particular mistake would be see what else is out there within that company. Because the consistency of moving from one, one scope of responsibilities to another within the same company, I think reflects a lot more positively than, hey, I was there for eight months, and I didn't like and I left. A better story would be, I was there for about a year, I wasn't enjoying my job. I tried, I moved here within this part of the company and that's where I really found my passion for x. And then expanding from there…   Alison Yang  37:35 Maybe some other ones that we see, people getting experience outside of their respective functions. So, as they move up within organizations, you know, Paul's got a better example of this with finance, maybe you can go into that.   Paul Yang  37:53 Yeah, so being I think this is just the product of being in the in a functional practice where one is basically talking to a lot of different CFOs and varying in varying different industries, but finding, I think, has this history of maybe being a little bit siloed so, not the case anymore, right? Where you have folks that maybe start out as an accountant, right, or maybe started in a big professional services firm, and they work their way through accounting and audit, etc. I think the best ones are the ones that maybe expand beyond just their specific functions. So, with that, what I mean by that is, maybe this is someone that is that has an accounting background but takes the time to learn other aspects and areas of the business beyond what they see behind the numbers on finance. So in like a manufacturing organization, that would mean getting close to the business, getting close to the manufacturing floor, getting close to the product, and getting close to the product and really understanding, touching, feeling and seeing the product that their business is manufacturing. Because then it really helps that particular individual really translate what the what the numbers they are working through and managing and what that really means to their client or customer base. And those that are being that are better able to speak to that I have found that are the ones that tend to be more operationally oriented, the ones that can speak more about the business and not just finance.   Alison Yang  39:30 Another big mistake that we see maybe the biggest mistake is burning bridges. And you hear that at the Academy, “Never burn a bridge”. With an executive search, we extensively vet people for our clients. So even people that look phenomenal on paper or people who show up to an interview and they have an incredible interview. Great results on paper. If you've if you've got colleagues or peers or bosses that you have, have, you know, have a bad reputation with that, we will find it, we will hear it. And, and so it all comes back to being a person of character, you know, and we see that does burn people sometimes. And you also see things that the mistakes that leaders make when it comes to interviewing for jobs, which is not being prepared, you know, not presenting in a professional manner. We've had people show up late to board meetings and been completely taken off the list as a possible candidate. So, you see all of those things.   Doug Lindsay  40:30 Alison, you had mentioned something about character and being a person of character with that, are you seeing a more interest in that area as you're going through your executive search in terms of not just about what it is that you do, but it's kind of how you're showing up? Because you both mentioned the idea of not being siloed, being broader about that understanding, jumping around kind of the footprints that you're leaving behind? Or are burning bridges, that kind of speaks to that idea of character? So, sounds like that that's resonating more with folks. Is that fair to say?   Alison Yang  41:02 Yes. Absolutely. And I wondered that when I went into corporate America, if we would see these companies that we work with these client companies, you know, would they focus on? Are they looking for people who can just drive results within a company, and I'm telling you, more often than not, we have calls where most of it is, we're looking for someone who knows how to lead people, they're gonna have to come in here and in, you know, do a lot of change management, in some cases, and to revamp the entire team. You hear that quite a lot. And it's also something we really value at Spencer Stuart. At this firm, we screen for character, that's one of our four, the four things we screen for when we assess people. So yes, there's quite an emphasis on it.   Paul Yang  41:50 And it's often, and I would add that when it comes to just pure, I'll just speak about the practice that I'm in, but like pure finance capability, especially in like a public company, right? Like that is it's all public. So, you can see like the public filings, you could look at their 10-K and look at their proxy and see their company performance and ensure that that performance is there. And it's measurable. But more often than not, what we'll find is someone that could be that maybe potentially be a high performer based off of just pure numbers and pure historical performance, will maybe meet members of the board or meet, maybe meet other members of the team in which they'd be working with on a day to day basis. And the feedback would be, “Hey, not someone that we can see ourselves getting along with and working with on a day to day basis. Or not someone I just can feel a connection or something like that”. And that usually just means that they're good, they're good finance professional, or they're good at what they do. But not really sure that this is someone that they would, you know, that would inspire others of the company. And so, to Allison's point, I think at the end of the day, there will always be like an underlying, like baseline of capabilities. But what brings someone to the next level is, is one's character.   Doug Lindsay  43:07 I kind of transitioned this a little bit to the article that you all worked on, where you look at the top CEOs. And you're, that idea of what kind of sets him apart. I know that the article focuses a lot on the kind of the veterans and leadership, but what is it that you're seeing that you're starting to go, “Here are kind of maybe the top three, four, or five things that we're seeing that really make those effective leaders different than everybody else.”?   Alison Yang  43:31 I can talk to the first two, and then Paul can talk to the last three. So, kind of tying into that article, you'll see that I'll just say broad brush. The one thing, and it's what we've talked about most of this podcast, is just interpersonal skills, how much of an importance that that is. And it's not groundbreaking, but it's very real. And it underpins most, if not all other qualities that, you know, that these top performing CEOs all have. And so, the first one that that was also highlighted in the article is a team first mentality. So, it's about as simple as it gets. It's, you know, having a team with you, like, can you bring the team along? Like is the team a part of, the part of your mission and your story? And sometimes when we talk to people, if they're all about themselves, or if they can't describe how their team, you know, how they've impacted their team, or how they brought the team along? You know, it's very obvious and very clear, and it's not. There's a lot of culture change that happens in these organizations. And if you can't have a team first mentality, that won't necessarily happen. So that would be the first one. The second is humility. Being able to understand that you're not the smartest person in the room, but having the strength to make a decision when you need to, but also making sure you're valuing all opinions and doing that so humilities the second one.   Paul Yang  45:01 Another one, this is actually something that Scott Kirby, the CEO of United Airlines, that he had mentioned when we spoke to him as we're working towards our article, but he basically, he talked about how folks that come out of the military have “no quit”. You know, if when we asked him to expand that out, he talked about how, when someone is asked whether or not they're willing to potentially make the ultimate sacrifice for this country, any other ask following that, in and out of the military becomes, I don't want to say easy, but it's going to fall short of it, right? And so, there's this idea of being resilient and understanding how to perform under pressure when there are high stakes. And so I think that would be the key third thing. There are qualities being resilient in tough times, and knowing how to perform under pressure, when the stakes are high, then the next one is maybe stakeholder management. I think it's a very common thing that we would hear both in the military and out of the military, understanding and having the ability to work with a variety of different people. And I think it kind of goes to that point of being broader than just what your function is, understanding what one decision does to the rest of the organization in the organization and how it affects others around others around you. In the military, there's so much like, connectivity between maybe like the squadron or flight or group or wing level that it naturally just happens, but out in the corporate world I think sometimes you can get siloed, when you might not see like the direct translation of how decisions are affected other people. So being able to understand who are the, in both internal and external stakeholders is, is important. I think the fifth one, Allison already talked about the change management. That's, I don't even want to say it's like a, like a common phrase, because it's almost accepted, or it's almost like, what's the phrase I'm looking for here, it's almost like you have to have it. You know, in today's day and age where there is so much change, things are moving faster than ever before, especially with AI and just incredible technologies that are out there. It's a very fast moving world. And so being able to understand that that's happening, and being able to understand how that will how that translates internal to internally to one's organization is important.   Alison Yang  47:39 When it comes to change management as well, one of the key questions we ask are the people we assess is, “Where was the business when you came in?” And, “What have you achieved since then?” So, it's since that where was it? Where is it now? And how did you do it? And so that's one of the ways that we assess for change management.   Doug Lindsay  47:59 What I'm encouraged about is that those are all things that I can get actually better on understanding humility. It may be difficult to kind of step back and do that. But each one of those five are things that I think you can actually get better on, right, you can sit or invest some time in and go, I'm not where I want to be. But I can do that. Is that fair to say?   Paul Yang  48:19 Yes, no one is perfect in any of these areas. It takes practice and it takes time. And often-times, we'd be speaking with folks, or we're on the phone or in a meeting, where we realized someone will maybe have that introspection to look back and say, “Okay, this is an area that I'm not good at, maybe it's team building”. And they maybe they're 15-20 years in their career, and they're like, “You know what, I need more experience building a team. What's an opportunity at this company, in my respective company, where I have the opportunity to do that?”, and then seeking that out and putting it into practice is a key thing of just understanding, maybe it just kind of stems from the humility piece of, I'm not the best at everything. And there's all these areas that I need to improve on. But to your point, Doug, these are all things that that can be practiced in real time.   Doug Lindsay  49:10 As you are assessing them, and as you're looking at it, whether it be from the industrial side, or the CFO, are you finding that these leaders are receptive to the feedback that you're giving them in terms of maybe some of those areas where they're, where they're not where they need to be? Are you seeing an openness and a willingness to lean in and learn about that?   Alison Yang  49:30 It's interesting, you say that, because if when they are open to hearing it, they're showing humility, you know, you assess that just in the way that they interact with you as a person, you know, are they too busy for you? Are they you know, we do often get people ask us questions, you know, “How can I be better?” I mean, you talk to executives all day, you know, what, you know, how can I be better how, you know, what, how do I present myself better, et cetera? I think, you know, if you meet a real stinker then they, it's probably they're probably not going to be as receptive to things like that. But that's just my experience.   Paul Yang  50:08 There are candidates for particular roles. You know, on any given day, there's a there's a high volume, right? So, what that means is not everybody's going to be able to get the job that they that they want. And that's just the fact of life. And so, the ones that come back and say, “Hey, I know I was a finalist, or maybe I wasn't a finalist, what feedback do you have for me? How could I have done better?” Speaking to Allison's point about being having that level are having that ounce of humility to say, “Okay, I didn't get this, but there's got to be a reason why. What are those areas? Is it the team building? Is it, did I not share enough about change management? Did I not, you know, talk about certain results, or maybe it was how I presented myself and showed up to the meeting”. They asked for that feedback. And I think that also has to do with our firm and being in our company, because we have the agency and both our clients and our candidates put that trust in us. And they look to us for that advice. And we'll be transparent a because we have to be because they need it. And it's all about uplifting others and providing the feedback to others so that they can get to where they're trying to go.   Doug Lindsay  51:15 That whole idea of humility, just kind of really resonating. I do a lot of executive coaching and there's a really fundamental difference when someone shows up wanting to learn and you know, “Hey, this is wrong. That, you know, that's not, that's not how I really am”. And so that kind of that humility to be able to sit back and go, “What is this information telling me that's going to help me as a as a leader?”   Paul Yang  51:35 Maybe I'll start by saying if you're currently a cadet working towards graduation, or you're an alumni and already graduated, you, you're likely already a leader, and probably a good one. And so maybe that's like a good baseline to start. But Al and I, we kind of went back and forth thinking about this one and trying to figure out how do we distill both our personal individual personal lives, our combined military experience and our combined experience in the corporate world and executive search. And we thought about a little bit further, and I'll let Al share here.   Alison Yang  52:15 We're a little bit like a broken record here. But the one theme, if we could say, captures all of this is care about people. And if you care about people, your interpersonal skills are likely decent, you have the humility to set yourself aside, you have a leg up on stakeholder management, which enables you to have teams that perform under pressure and operate well through change. And it's also the difference between having people who just get the job done because they have to versus the people who get the job done because they want to. They believe in you. And they believe in the mission. And so, if you are good at caring about people, if you just care about people in general, you'll get there. And that's, that would be our advice.   Doug Lindsay  53:04 If folks want to find out more about what you're doing, or about the article that we referred to in the podcast, where can they go to find out that information?   Paul Yang  53:13 Simply just go to spencerstuart.com. That's our firm's website. It'll clearly outline different intellectual capital pieces that we've written as a firm in the past, and it's historical as well. So, we'll provide insights on certain industries and certain functional areas in terms of trends or things that we see. And then also tell you how our firm is broken down as well. So, if there's a particular industry that you're interested in learning about, it'll point you in the right direction in terms of folks that work in that specific practice, or if you want to reach Alison and I individually to talk to us about the work that we do, feel free to find us on on LinkedIn.   Doug Lindsay  53:55 Thank you all for your insights and the work that you're doing in terms of helping to continue to mold and develop leaders and getting them into the right locations. And we appreciate you being on the long leadership podcast today.   Alison and Paul Yang Thanks so much.   KEYWORDS Academy, leadership, company, Air Force Academy, people, leaders, Alison, speak, championing, talk, work, Paul, executive, day, started, understanding, search, meet, good, knew     The Long Blue Line Podcast Network is presented by the U.S. Air Force Academy Association and Foundation     

Aparna Parthasarathy is a high school senior passionate about remedying structural inequalities, closing educational gaps and representing Generation Z's values to shape legislation with elected officials. Aparna is a literary advocate and author of Tales of the Invisible, a book that addresses the intersectionality of feminism and the importance of representation. Aparna served as a board member of She's the First and was nominated as a liaison to the local women's commission and is a youth advisor for the town's center for domestic violence and educates peers on dating violence and women's empowerment. Aparna is on the executive board of Model UN, educating younger students on foreign affairs and international relations and is a state advocacy lead for Students Taking Action Now: Darfur (STAND) and contributes to increasing awareness on human rights crises and ending genocide. She is also the founder of PoliText, an organization that focuses on civil education among young adults and the importance of political knowledge and has been awarded the Presidential Volunteer Service Gold Award.

Sting did tantric workshops with his wife and that's how Kris knew what it was. Holly had to Google it.  Also did you know Leslie banging her shoe is based off a real UN incident with Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union?! Thank you so much to Ashton Bingham and Jenny Soo (UN students) for sending incredible voice memos and Madi for sending in her wonderful summary! Follow Ashton below!In summary - Ben and Leslie (and Andy and April with their moon territory and lions) are off to help run the Model UN where Leslie proves she is fooling herself into thinking they can be just friends....  Meanwhile, Ron is trying to hire Tom's replacement and Holly did a deep dive on Enron, which Kris has some cool insight into! Ann gets some Chris closure also. Ashton's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/trilogymediahttps://www.trilogymedia.com/https://www.instagram.com/ashton.bingham/Jenny Soo:https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3179953/https://www.instagram.com/jenny.soo/Support the showRate and review us on Apple Podcasts!Follow us @parkpalspodcast on Instagram! Or email us at parkpalspodcast@gmail.com

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: "Model UN Solutions", published by Arjun Panickssery on December 9, 2023 on LessWrong. When I was in high school, because I was on the history bowl team the teacher who advised the model UN club recruited me to play as their delegate in various "historical committees" like the Roman Senate or 1789 French Assembly. I never engaged in any normal committees since you couldn't undertake false flag attacks or convince the Pope to excommunicate other delegates. In most committees, as far as I can tell, players represent countries trying to pass a resolution addressing some topic like climate change that's decided beforehand. An award is given to the player the facilitator decides is the "best delegate" - an unwritten combination of speaking ability, social dominance, and accurately representing (or at least not fatally misunderstanding) your assigned country's positions and interests. I often make a mental metaphor about "model UN discussions" and "model UN solutions." Model UN discussions revolve around people expecting to be rewarded for making many remarks, even though their actual positions could be expressed simply or don't permit much elaboration. This leads to the "model UN solutions," which have a few types, e.g. Applause lights: You could just say buzzwords or unobjectionable trivialities ("When addressing the climate change question we should consider the interests of all the relevant stakeholders. We should apply neither an {extreme viewpoint} nor {the opposite extreme}") Unspecified solutions: You could give very little information that uniquely identifies a specific change from the status quo in the listener's mind. At the extreme you get a lot of remarks of the form "To address the problem we should {devote resources} to {solving the problem}" where the bracketed parts are replaced with phrases that aren't much more specific ("To address climate change we should set up task forces to identify the best technological and policy approaches") Tradeoff-ignorant solutions: You could even give a directional suggestion but avoid any consideration of the relevant costs or tradeoffs ("We should fund a new educational outreach program related to climate change"). You could imagine responses that try to identify empty remarks: Ask whether anyone holds the opposite of the remark. Ask how a proposed solution is specifically different from the status quo. Ask who loses out in a proposal (or how resources will be reallocated). Sometimes no one loses out but more often this is just an unstated tradeoff. Thanks for listening. To help us out with The Nonlinear Library or to learn more, please visit nonlinear.org

Today on the best synthwave chat show there is, Andy catches up with Color Theory about his latest album Underneath These Dying Stars. Brian talks about Model UN, being a medical experiment as a kid, music production, anime music videos, and his excitement for his new toy the Elektron Syntakt! Also today, Andy has a quick chat with Power Rob to play his new collab with Miami NIghts 1984! If you like what you're hearing, you can support Beyond Synth on Patreon: www.patreon.com/beyondsynth or PayPal: www.paypal.com/paypalme/beyondsynth You can check out COLOR THEORY here: https://soundcloud.com/colortheory https://www.instagram.com/colortheory/ https://www.youtube.com/user/colortheory https://www.facebook.com/colortheory https://twitter.com/colortheory And you can check out Power Rob Here: https://soundcloud.com/powerrob https://powerrob.bandcamp.com/ https://open.spotify.com/artist/3SpH3FhBvwzfiCQNk8B10Q https://www.instagram.com/powerrobmusic/ And MIAMI NIGHTS 1984 here: https://soundcloud.com/miami-nights-1984 http://www.twitter.com/MiamiNights1984 https://soundcloud.com/actrazer https://open.spotify.com/artist/18iQQOuyGlHunPVzmoLY20 Tracklist: Power Rob and Miami Nights 1984 - “Restless Summer” Color Theory - “The Next Thing” Color Theory - “Crystal” Color Theory - “If You Want Me To” Color Theory - “Death Machine” Color Theory - “The Darkness” Beyond Synth Podcasts are Produced by Andy Last. Voice Talent: Official Savage D: https://twitter.com/S_a_v_a_g_e_D https://www.twitch.tv/officialsavaged https://www.fiverr.com/officialsavaged Beyond Synth theme song: "Shore Thing" by OGRE https://soundcloud.com/ogresound https://ogresound.bandcamp.com/ http://www.ogresound.co.uk/ https://twitter.com/ogresounds https://www.instagram.com/ogresounds/

Bhavya Yaddanapudi '25 is here to answer some of your most burning questions about life at Princeton High School: how should us students deal with climate anxiety? Can you do karate and run track at the same time? What's the geographical makeup of Michigan?PHS Talks is a podcast produced by the Multimedia section of the Tower, PHS's student-run newspaper. To see more from the Tower, visit https://www.towerphs.com/home.

The Model UN, led by Ms. Kuropatkin and Ms VanDeraa, is back again! In this episode, we learn about the Model UN, the topics they will go over, the countries they will fight for, and explain the idea of "power-dressing". Hosted by: Nathan and Imar

One of the hottest topics discussed in the U.S. today is “artificial intelligence”. Our guest this time, Shayne Halls, has founded a company that helps corporations and companies learn to embrace AI. Shayne teaches his clients that they need not fear AI and rather he shows them how to use it to improve processes and procedures throughout their organizations. After college Shayne ended up going into “talent acquisition” where he carved out a successful career. Being a black man fully supporting difference in all forms, he has helped companies find people not only of different races, sexual orientations, and genders but also he understands and helps companies find qualified persons with disabilities. For the past four years he has explored incorporating AI into his work and, earlier this year, he formed his own company, Manifested Dreams. We spent quite a bit of time during our conversation discussing many aspects of AI and how this revolutionary technology can benefit people throughout the workforce. Shayne is by any definition a visionary and I hope you will find what he has to say to be relevant, timely, and pertinent to you. About the Guest: As the President & CEO of Manifested Dreams, I am deeply committed to empowering corporate professionals and organizations to unlock the full potential of AI technology in their careers and business operations. With over 15 years of experience as a Sr. DEI Specialist, I have honed my expertise in the intersection of diversity, equity, inclusion, and now artificial intelligence, creating a unique vision that drives innovation and fosters an inclusive environment. Throughout my career, I have worked closely with professionals and organizations, providing personalized guidance and strategic insights that enable them to successfully integrate AI into their work processes. My passion for helping others navigate the complex world of AI has led to the founding of Manifested Dreams, where we offer exclusive one-on-one consultations and group sessions, ensuring our clients are equipped with the knowledge and tools to stay ahead of the curve. By joining hands with Manifested Dreams, clients embark on a transformative journey towards growth and success. Our mission is to create a future where AI not only enhances the professional landscape but also contributes to a more equitable and inclusive society. Together, we can shape a brighter tomorrow by leveraging AI responsibly and driving positive change across industries. Ways to connect with Kevin: Twitter - @MnifstdDreams Website - www.manifesteddreams.org About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i  capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well, welcome once again to unstoppable mindset. Here we are doing another episode. And that is always a lot of fun. You know, I've been doing this now since August of 2021. And I get to enjoy meeting a lot of people and talking about a lot of different subjects. And today our guests, Shayne Halls and I are going to talk about manifested dreams, which is a company that he started dealing with corporations helping organizations grow and using AI which is of course not only a hot topic today, but a very relevant topic to talk about. I've been using AI ever since I actually got my first job working with the National Federation of blind and Ray Kurzweil, Dr. Kurzweil, who developed Omni font optical character recognition software, which included the ability for the machine that he put that on, to learn as it read and grow in confidence. And so this is not a new subject to me, and certainly one I support a lot and looking forward to chatting about it. So Shayne, definitely welcome to unstoppable mindset and glad you're here. And when we really do have you and not just an AI construct, right?   Shayne Halls ** 02:33 Well, you know, you wouldn't know if it was was because AI is that advanced now where you really don't know. No, it is me. For the most part,   Michael Hingson ** 02:44 I remember back in I think it was the 80s Maybe it goes back to the 70s. Even with cassettes. There were commercials that said, Is it live? Or is it Memorex because the audio they said was so good.   Shayne Halls ** 02:58 You listen back on here like yeah, I can hear the recording done. Yeah, that's funny.   Michael Hingson ** 03:03 Yeah. So anyway, well, I'm really glad that you're here and we really appreciate your time. Tell us a little bit about the early Shane growing up in some of that stuff to start the process.   Shayne Halls ** 03:15 Man early Shayne so early. Shayne grew up in the US Virgin Islands in St. Croix. My mother's crucian person born in St. Clair, my dad is Trini personally born in Trinidad. So I'm half crucian, half Trinidad in grew up, Sinclair moved to Charleston, South Carolina, when my mother remarried. And that was quite an experience coming in. So well, it was my first real experience with race in the sense of the constructs of what it is here in state. Because of course growing up in islands, the island is 80% 90% Black. And so everyone from your judges, politicians, police chiefs, store owners, homeless, homeless people, right? Like it doesn't matter, like everyone you see, looks like you and then being moved into Charleston. I was like, oh, it's not like this everywhere.   Michael Hingson ** 04:10 Right. So how old were you when you moved?   Shayne Halls ** 04:14 15 just, yeah, so entering high school or back into my sophomore year in high school. So it was, um, interesting, right, coming into my first bout with racism and, you know, being followed in stores being looked at, looked down upon being spoken to in a condescending manner, a manner in which you can feel what's being said without something being said, right. These are things I'd never experienced before. And I was just I was jarred, I think George's good word jarred by was just like, oh, okay, so this is life outside the island, whatnot. No. So that was that I I left Charleston when I went to college can with North Carolina go to college at St. Augustine University. It's an HBCU here in North Carolina wanted to first find the 1867 was once regarded as the Harvard of South is was a great four years. It's like just loved my experience, they're going to HBCU being able to partake in that life and that culture, you know, see, HBCU is a historically black college and university.   Michael Hingson ** 05:31 Oh, okay. HBCU. Okay, great.   Shayne Halls ** 05:33 And, you know, that was a good transition point for coming out to the real world, you got the chance to I got a chance to be surrounded by intellectuals and leaders of my same demographic background, and then have them prepare me to come into the world, the corporate world and be the best version of myself out here in the world.   Michael Hingson ** 05:53 How did they help you prepare, given the fact that so you're in a historically black college, but at the same time, you needed to prepare to be in a world that wasn't necessarily totally historically black? By any standard? How did they help? Well, they do.   Shayne Halls ** 06:11 The good and bad thing about HBCUs is that we don't get a lot of funding, because a lot of schools are private. But that means that everyone there, the professor's the leaders in school, are usually persons who are successful in their life, and have decided to come back and devote time to the next generation. So a lot of leaders and professionals on HBCU campuses are persons who've already had success in the corporate world had success in the career field, and they come back and they impute those lessons learned on to us. And they put us in situations to be, you know, to hone in on our leadership skills, I can't just count leadership camps I went to, I was a member of the Model UN. My modern school Model UN is a program that's designed for selective college students to participate in United Nations type delegations, and deliberations. And any sort of acts or constructs or contracts or anything that we actually proposed and passed and ratify in the Model UN actually get sent off to the real United Nations. And so participate in Monterey un, which is great, great experience, again, so many leadership, trainings and activities, you just, you get a chance to go out into different conferences across the world and learn and then come back home to your safe place and apply those lessons learned and hone in on what you should have learned, then you can come on to the corporate world and be successful,   Michael Hingson ** 07:48 what kinds of things did you learn doing the Model UN program and so on? I mean, I appreciate what you're saying. And I absolutely believe it. I did not ever participate in that. And maybe it was too early. I don't know. But I appreciate what you're saying. But what what kind of lessons did you learn whether you recognize them right then or after you went back home? Right,   Shayne Halls ** 08:09 exactly right, or when later on in the corporate world, right? When you get something adult, you look back, you're like, oh, okay, so that's what that taught me. I think you learn how to get your idea across without being forceful about it, right? Because in situations where you have to be able to, you got to believe in what you're saying, especially United Nation, right? So you represent a country, no matter you want to work where you are a country, no one knows you, no one knows your real name. No one knows what school you're from, we're soon as you enter the Model UN, you're given a country, that is country, you are for the entire week that you're there. So any thoughts, any ally ships, any sort of, you know, anything we bring to the table must be different perspective of what's best for that country. And so when doing that, you learn how to think about how your idea can benefit you, but then also can be beneficial to others, and then how to convey that to persons in a manner in which they feel like they're actually going to be the ones who are going to be benefiting most from the idea that you come up with, or whatnot. So it's really great in learning how to work in groups and group activities and learning what your strengths are. Because sometimes that people aren't who've that's not for them, like, you know, being group leaders or participating in group activities like that may not be something that is applicable to their future. And that's something they want to do that because it takes a lot of patience. It takes a lot of pacifying, anyone who's done any sort of project in any sort of aspect of corporate life, understands that there's going to be so many different attitudes and demeanors and agendas, that you really have to pacify some folks, you have to kind of pull some folks along. We have to, you know, hold some people's hand. It's just you learned a lot of lessons on just how to be a people person, how to enhance those interpersonal skills that people talk about so much.   Michael Hingson ** 10:05 So is it one person per country?   Shayne Halls ** 10:07 Yeah. Unless you are literally dependent on your delegates in the UN. So whatever your delegate number is that you haven't un, they'll get numbers that are available for that country in the Mario.   Michael Hingson ** 10:19 So like the United States might have more than one delegate, or China or whatever. Exactly. So what year did this take place?   Shayne Halls ** 10:27 Man when my model you when I was in school? So I think I didn't borrow you in? Oh, 203.   Michael Hingson ** 10:38 Okay. So a lot of events had happened. And so on what country were you   Shayne Halls ** 10:45 Venezuela, and one, one year number MacArthur   Michael Hingson ** 10:52 strike any good oil deals.   Shayne Halls ** 10:55 As actually came up with a great, this was one of the lessons I learned Matt came up with a great treaty. And I was working with the US, of course, as one of the allies, we work together came up with it, basically spearheaded by, you know, and kind of brought everybody along. And it was one of the best ones that that week. And as you're going through your delegations and your debates and such judges are moving about the room listening to conversations. And the judges were they're listening to us, and they can really like, Hey, was that you? Did you come up with that? And me stealing this? Like, you know, Dougie, man, I was like, No, it was a group effort between me and the United States or whatever. And then the United States got the award in the week more sustained audit. And that was one of the reasons why that bothered me to stay. Yeah, should have been my lessons learned.   Michael Hingson ** 11:52 Well, so. Yeah, things things happen. What did you learn from that? When that occurred,   Shayne Halls ** 11:58 it's okay to speak up for yourself, okay, it's okay to speak up for yourself. You know, you can't expect someone else to toot your horn, you can't expect someone else to praise you that you have to be comfortable with praising yourself and praising the work when you deserve it. When you do good work, when you have done something that's worthy of recognition and get an opportunity to talk about yourself, and not in a braggadocious manner, but in a matter of fact, man, this is what happens, whatever do so don't wait for somebody else to do.   Michael Hingson ** 12:25 There is there's a lot to be said for teamwork and giving team credit and so on. But at the same time, you're right, it's important that what you do gets acknowledged to especially in the context of a team effort.   Shayne Halls ** 12:41 Yeah, definitely. I mean, it's great, you know, when you can talk about the team and give all credit to the team. But if you're gonna be hit the game winning shot, you're not gonna be like, well, you know, I didn't think it was Wilson Wilson designed a great basketball and basketball had a great bounce to it, you know, just fit so well, in my hand, no, you shot the ball, you start winning. So take your credit when you've earned it.   Michael Hingson ** 13:04 Right? Which makes perfect sense. So you graduated What was your degree in   Shayne Halls ** 13:10 political science with a double minor in English and religion? Yes, and so I love to write and my mother was a pastor. And so church in religion was always a part of my life. And I wanted to kind of be more intellectual about religion. So my religion, English happened English, I tell people this, these are my double minors when English turned out to be an accidental minor, where I just took so many English courses and APA in like advanced English classes that by the time I graduated, I had acquired enough credits for it to be a minor, or whatnot. So it wasn't it wasn't an unintentional minor.   Michael Hingson ** 13:52 Well, but it works. Yeah, it   Shayne Halls ** 13:54 worked, right? I really enjoyed everything, writing in workplace, something that is very, you know, soothing to me, and so, never got my studies done everything that I was like working. It was always fun for him. So I did that with the full intention of becoming an attorney. And then my wife and I decided to get married my senior year of college and got married and about a year later, we had our first kid. And so then it was like, okay, at four years law school, but I need to take care of my family. So started working and got into talent acquisition, I was recruited into recruiting and had no idea what recruitment was, what recruiting is what time acquisition was, and jumped into it and it was a world women it was a whirlwind experience. And I started focusing in on di and wanting to be an advocate for persons who are looking to come into companies and persons looking to grow in companies in just made D Ei, the kind of the heartbeat of my town acquisition work, no matter what I was doing want to make sure that there was always equity. And there was equal representation for everyone across the board. And when we talk about diversity, not just talking about skin color, we're talking about cultural backgrounds, educational backgrounds, we're talking about persons with disabilities, non disabilities, talking about gender background, just about everything, and just diversity as a whole, the more diverse the organization is, the more successful successful they can be. So you know that that was an interesting journey, because you meet leaders who are like, Oh, well, everyone looked at my team, my team is so different, they have different races and women and men. I'm like, what you only recruit from the same college, like there's everyone on your team went to the same exact school has the same major, like, that's not diversity, need to have different people on it, right. And so even some of the most well intentioned persons accidentally show their bias, right. And so as my work grew in di, I started taking on more consultation work on helping organizations understand microaggressions biases, how to build cultural teams, how to find out what your your unintentional or your unconscious biases are. And so that's kind of all led me to opening up my own consultation firm manifested dreams in which we speak with organizations regarding their cultural issues and how to address them and how to have di trainings. And then we also do one on one consultation training for persons who are looking to grow their careers and need a little help in trying to integrate AI into it right. And I think that AI is such a part of our lives now that trying to ignore it is gonna turn you into the blockbuster in a world of Netflix, and you want to make sure that you are staying abreast as to how AI is impacting your particular field, your particular career, your particular journey, so that you don't get left behind, you're able to capitalize it and use it to be successful.   Michael Hingson ** 17:10 Yeah. And there's a lot to be said for for those concepts. And it's interesting that you developed a deep interest in that, why do you think that you were so attracted to developing that kind of an interest in really wanting to focus on this whole concept around diversity. And even more important, I think inclusion because one of the things that I tell people all the time is the difficulty with diversity is that it is left disabilities behind when you ask people what this what diversity means. They'll talk about race, gender, and sexual orientation and so on, but they don't mention disabilities. And so that led us to inclusion. And that's why I'm this podcast, we talk about inclusion, diversity in the unexpected where it meets. And the idea is that inclusion can't leave out disabilities, either you are inclusive, or you're not.   Shayne Halls ** 18:04 That's what got me here, I think just marry out events just being in ta having conversations, having leaders talk being in the room and understanding that people aren't aware, right, people in the rooms tend to look around to see themselves in the room, so they feel comfortable. And it's never an awareness, this, it's never something that they are aware of that there's not others in the room, right, because they just feel comfortable with everyone that's there. And to me always being one tunnel position is a field that is probably 7060 70% female one. And so being a male and then a male color. In this field, I am very rare. In this field, I think in my lifetime, my 14 year career, I've maybe come across 10 other black men who are in talent acquisition. And so being here, I'm always aware of the who's not in the room. And then I'm making my point as to not just talking about it, to always try to bounce it and fix it somehow. Try to be a voice for those who aren't represented and use my voice to try to help others get in the room as well.   Michael Hingson ** 19:27 For me personally, it's it's a strange world because having never seen color. It it's always strange to me that people intellectually I understand this, but that people tend to be prejudice and bias based on the color of someone's skin. A lot of that skin feels the same no matter what color you are. So I don't quite see the problem, but I do understand it intellectually. But for me, having never experienced it. I think I've been very fortunate and in reality is I don't care. But unfortunately also too many people do. And that's something that we really need to figure out how we're going to address. And the problem is we've got too many people who refuse to some of whom are supposedly very high up and on, I use the term in quotes, leadership positions. Yeah, and they still continue to be very privatizing.   Shayne Halls ** 20:28 That's one of the biggest things I tell people all the time is that when I'm starting a training, I was like, Look, if you look around the room, there's a couple people in here who don't want to be here, there's gonna be one who don't want change their idea that everyone wants everything to be happy go lucky. Google, it is a false theory that you need to do away with, you have to understand that in every organization, there are leaders who like it exactly the way it is, right? They don't want to have to make accommodations person with disabilities, they don't want to have to put Braille on the walls, they don't want to have to put ramps on and want to put ramps all over the build, they think it's it's not aesthetically pleasing to their eyes or whatever. They don't want wider doorways. They don't want other diverse persons around the leadership table like these people actually exist. And, you know, if you want to be an ally, for persons who aren't included, then you have to speak up when you have an opportunity for it.   Michael Hingson ** 21:21 We visited in San Francisco, a building that Frank Lloyd Wright, designed and built, it was fascinating because a lot of the building was a spiral ramp that took you from the bottom to the to the top or up to some level. I've spent a long time since I've been there now but but the point is that, that he he deliberately made it a ramp as opposed to stairs. And it was a very steep ramp and would not be something that would be condoned by the Americans with Disabilities Act. But I was able to push my wife up the stairs up the ramp, and get her back down. She was in a chair her whole life. So it still was a building we were able to go into and actually be a part of, and that was really pretty cool. Yeah. And this idea of ramps not being pleasing to the eye. As I understand it again, I understand that people again, are locked into well, it's got to be stairs, well, no, it doesn't.   Shayne Halls ** 22:26 It does not I don't know who came up with that answer, I would love for slides to be a thing go there has a slide somewhere, like I'd like to just be able to come down the slide. That'd be great.   Michael Hingson ** 22:36 Yeah, works for me, you know, to keep in mind, though, you gotta get back up. So what you do is you tip the slide, and you go back the other way, that's all there is to it. But I mean, there have to be ways to do that. But it's just the whole concept that we don't like things different than what we want, we have learned not to go out of our comfort zone very well. And we really need to get over that. And that's what it really comes down to is getting out of our comfort zone. And it's something that that we really should do a whole lot more than than we do. Well, I'm curious, you've been in this business now 14 years talent acquisition, you've been dealing a lot with dei and such, what would you say to your younger self just starting out that maybe they didn't know or that you'd want them to know to maybe make their world and as a result the world of other people better?   Shayne Halls ** 23:34 Um, I would think I would tell myself to stand stand be you know, just stand 10 toes down and who you are, right? I think that early in my career, I felt a need to quiet my voice in time who I should have spoken up. And it's living with nothing but regret later on in life like yeah, what if I spoken up on those situations during those opportunities and whatnot. And so my younger self, I would help him get to the idea sooner of just being unapologetically you and not quieting your voice to keep the status quo afloat.   Michael Hingson ** 24:23 I think it's interesting being unapologetically you but not arrogantly unapologetically, you? Right, exactly. Which is really the issue. And there's a lot to be said for that. I'm sorry. Go ahead.   Shayne Halls ** 24:34 No, you're totally right. Yeah, just be yourself. But don't be you know, arrogant. But I think arrogance stems from this belief of you being able to do things that you have not done or tempted to do confidence comes from the knowledge of having done things similar in the past in Concord those things right. And so it is a way to be confident without being arrogant and so you should always be on Patil. Unapologetically confident in who You are the person, but humble enough to know that there are things that you don't know. And your lessons you still got to learn in life.   Michael Hingson ** 25:06 And there's nothing wrong with exploring and learning and growing because of that   Shayne Halls ** 25:12 knowledge. I think that is one most great things that we have the ability doing, like especially now more than ever, we have these phones. And I think we take them for granted because they're just been a phone to us. But they're literally a gateway to the world. And that is not any sort of exaggeration of the truth. There is nothing you cannot learn that you don't have access to in your hand every day. And that language and the culture and background, you can learn anything you want. And the idea of being ignorant in today's society is a willful choice. If you don't know about a culture or background, you don't know how somebody's functioning with a disability. You don't know what type of activities to plan for your company to include the persons with disabilities. And you don't take a few minutes just to look it up on your phone. That's that's just willful ignorance at that point time.   Michael Hingson ** 26:01 Yeah. And it is a choice. It's willful. It's a choice. And it is the kinds of things that lead to what we talked about before, which are the people who just decide that they don't want to have any change. They don't care about anyone else other than what is in their specific comfort zone rather than recognizing the world's a whole lot broader place than that.   Shayne Halls ** 26:23 Exactly. Now, let me ask you a question. Do you feel that the school system teaching other languages as electives helps to contribute to that, because you've seen other countries where like learning another language like English or Spanish webinar is a requirement. Right. And so a lot of people in other countries graduate high school, already fluent in other languages. While here in America, Spanish is always just an elective or French is an elective. Once you get into high school, you're gonna take a couple of courses of it, whatnot. I think that if we taught our kids more about other cultures and demanded they learned other languages along the way, it would help people in general, understand that the world is bigger than your little part. I haven't studied Spanish for three years, four years now. And the more I learn, you can't learn a language without learning the culture of the country at which it's run. And the more you learn about that language, the more you learn about those cultures, it broadens your interest nationally broadens your horizon.   Michael Hingson ** 27:33 But to answer your question, I absolutely believe that we could do more to give everyone in our society, more of a cultural understanding of other people. And we really should do that. When I was in high school, I studied German for three years. And one of the things that we learned along the way was that in Germany, students in high school did take English as a as a course. And it was a requirement and they had to study it and demonstrate their proficiency in it. I think that English was the choice, but there were other languages that they could take, but they absolutely had to learn a second language. And also, of course, there, they were encouraged to study more about the people than just the language, which a lot of people did, because they had to practice it. When I was in college, I took a Euro Japanese, which was a totally different concept. Yeah, I don't remember a lot of it. But if I hear somebody talking, I know they're speaking Japanese or not. And I've also been to Japan twice and had an opportunity, even before going to learn a lot about the culture. And then of course, learned a lot more about the culture being over there. And I think that we should do that. It gets back to the whole issue of banned books and everything else that we deal with today, people are so insistent on, we want to done just our way, and they don't even know what they're really asking for, which is so unfortunate. I continue to be amazed at some of the books that people want to ban in libraries. And then when you get to the point of saying, Have you read it? Well, no, but somebody said that we should do that because it's racist well, but you don't know do you? And I am a firm believer in knowing not just listening to somebody and taking their opinion and just locking yourself into something because of it. We have to be the the people who rule our own fate and we should understand not just listen to other people and then don't do anything about it other than what they said that should be banned. So that's what we should do.   Shayne Halls ** 29:53 I think that you hit the nail on the head. I think one cool things about Japan that was love is that as they make their school kids clean up, at the end of the school days, like they spent, like the last 15 or 20 minutes in school day, cleaning school, that is such like that is like a lesson that just sits in your soul like you, no one's going to come clean up behind the message you make, like you got to clean up your own thing. You got to be responsible for yourself. I think that in itself, I love that about Japanese culture. And then when talking about person banning books, I've seen so many videos of people where they ask them, What is CRT? What does it stand for? Like, what is the lettering stand for? That you're so passionately against? And no one even though I think can even tell you? Like how are you so angry about something that you don't even know what the acronym stands for us. We   Michael Hingson ** 30:39 all know the CRT stands for cathode ray tube. But that's another story. That's exactly what it is. But you know, the whole concept of of critical race and so on. I don't know that I totally understand the theory, although I believe I do. And certainly not opposed to it. But I'm amazed when I hear people talking about banning a book like To Kill a Mockingbird, which was recognized as such a powerful depiction of how black people were treated, even back in the in the 50s, and into the 60s and so on. And it wasn't racist at all, at all. But I've heard people talk about how that has to be taken on libraries because it's racist. And I actually heard a reporter ask someone who said that, have you ever read it? Well, no. Well, then how do you know, you know,   Shayne Halls ** 31:32 I think that, you know, I know who I blame Michael, I blame the participation, trophy generation, right? Because there was a generation where we decided that everyone needed to feel good. Everyone needed to be like, Okay, so we gave everyone participation trophies. And I think that is, if you've ever listened to people talk about their opposing CRT, it is always well, I don't want my kids to feel bad about what happened in the past.   Michael Hingson ** 31:59 And teach them what happened.   Shayne Halls ** 32:02 Like what like, where you want to get rid of books, because you don't want your kid to know that persons with similar cultural backgrounds are themselves performing the most heinous acts ever in history. But what not, but what was interesting is that when it was just about teaching slavery, and having little persons little kids of color, learn that their history was stemmed in being enslaved, that was fine for everyone. But when the history books started to talk more about the person's doing, the enslaving, and the heinousness of those acts, then it was like, well, we can't talk about this part. This person I, like we talked about anymore, let's   Michael Hingson ** 32:57 check the answer is Sure you can. You can teach kids what happened. And then you have the discussions about how do we make sure it never happens? Again,   Shayne Halls ** 33:08 come on, it seems it seems simple. I think we just saw it. But therefore, there's PTA meetings all across this country that obviously show that they that we're not thinking the way they do because they are staunchly against banning it left and right. I mean, states governors, they're just on a rolling, banning this stuff.   Michael Hingson ** 33:28 Yeah, that and all the other things that they're doing the the governors who decide to ship people who come in across the border, who legally are allowed in, and then they ship them somewhere. When is that going to stop? When are we going to recognize that intolerable treatment? And how can we ever elect someone who does that, and of course, there gonna be some people who will disagree with me. But the bottom line is, you don't treat human beings that way.   Shayne Halls ** 33:57 My mind is blown at the idea that we have persons in power positions, who are so arrogant to feel like someone doesn't belong in this country, because they came across an imaginary line that doesn't exist anywhere, except on your piece of paper, and that they don't have the right beer. And then once they get here, we're going to treat them like pawns, and move them about the country. As if they're like games that you're playing on this big political chessboard, whatnot, it is the way we treat immigrants, as if this country was not founded on immigrants is the most hypocritical thing I've seen. In many years of my life. It is it is staunchly mind blowing, how we stand 1010 toes down on the fact that we can't have anyone tonight. Well, how do you think this country was founded? None of us were born here. Like people came here. Like you landed on Plymouth Rock I like that is the story we tell the children like. So immigration is how this country started, let's not do let's not take away the opportunities that were given to our ancestors to somebody else's ancestors. Right. Right.   Michael Hingson ** 35:13 One of the things I think that you are doing in terms of now having found when did you found manifested dream, by the way,   Shayne Halls ** 35:22 this year, January of this year is when I made it special. I've been doing my own thing. I've been doing it doing the work for probably four years now. But I made it official. And we're kind of just operating under a 1099 guideline for last few years. And I was like, model incorporate? Actually, no, do it in to make it real. Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 35:43 Make it real. Yeah. Well, and I know that you when we talked about it earlier deal with using artificial intelligence is as a significant part of that. So tell me a little bit about what is AI in terms of what you do?   Shayne Halls ** 35:57 And so AI in terms of just what AI is, in general, is a great question. Because a lot of people don't even understand the idea of, I guess what artificial intelligence really is, you know. So artificial intelligence is basically the idea that it was a field of computer science that kind of focused on just creating systems that are capable of performing repetitive task, right? systems or tasks that don't require extreme amounts of human intelligence. And so we're talking about things from know But same thing on the administrative umbrella. But anyway, so AI has now been able, using machine learning in which these systems recognize speech patterns, they recognize, you know, patterns in the data that has been inputted into the systems, and they were able to perform, you know, human like tasks, these human like, repetitive tasks with large bit of autonomy, right can kind of like, let it go, and let it do its thing. And it's basically the driving force behind many of the digital tools and services that we use today, and we don't even know like, Siri, is a very basic AI, you know, you ask it to do something, and it does like it, that he asked me to make a notation yes can send to me like that AI. That is what artificial intelligence is on its most basic sense. Google itself is AI, right, being able to go into Google asked a question, and spits back a measure. That is a we've all been using a version of machine learning or version of artificial intelligence. But now it's basically like going through puberty, right. And it's become a lot more conscious and a lot more interactive. And it has a deeper understanding of sentiment and emotions and feelings and sarcasm. And so now machine learning and AI has led to another level. And with the growth of AI, it's now become so effective that you can have one person who is proficient within AI, that can do the job of three or four people, right, because if you know the right prompts, or questions or direction to give AI, you can have aI generate code for you. You can have AI, you know, generate reports, you can have aI put to PowerPoint, and AI can do so much if you know what you're doing. So companies are at this point where they are hiring what's called prompt engineers. And these prompt engineers, one company needs replacing three or four people. And so what's happening with that is that diversity numbers are going to be impacted in every aspect, because many administrative jobs are held by women. And so now we're gonna eliminate many admin jobs. We're talking about your most basic entry level jobs on line two manufacturing lines are going to be completely automated at some point in time, so companies are going to be less diverse. And so I want to make sure that as companies start to integrate AI, they do so in a very meaningful manner, that they understand that they still need to care about what diversity looks like in their organizations, even though they may be now upgrading or changing what that organization looks like.   Michael Hingson ** 39:40 Given what you just described, how do you deal with the people who say well AI is going to take away all of our jobs?   Shayne Halls ** 39:47 Well, I mean, is gonna take away a lot of jobs seeing this not would be crazy. I mean, that that I tell everyone, that's like when blockbuster said no Netflix is gonna go But it's just a personal thing. It's not, it's here. Now what you can do is learn AI and how to use AI in your job that you're doing. Right, you don't want to be the person who put your head in the sand, and you never took the time to understand what AI is, and how you can use AI to make your job more proficient, you have access to a system that you can use, that can basically eliminate any sort of repetitive tasks that you do in your day to day. And then you can spend the rest of your time doing and work on the more intellectual side of your job, the more creative side of your job, you can connect, you can use your, you can use your free time, quote, unquote, to better yourself in the company to grow in the company to be more impactful in your company, right. So yes, AI may replace jobs as we see it today. But that does not mean that you cannot use AI, to elevate yourself to another job or to another place within an organization.   Michael Hingson ** 40:56 And the more AI and all of that entails comes into our lives. While it may replace or take away jobs in some senses, the other aspect of it is that there will always be more jobs that are being created. So isn't like jobs are going to go away, it's gonna be different, they will be different. And that gets back to what we talked about before, which is there are a lot of people who don't like difference. But the reality is, that's what it is. And so there will be differences. And we're going to have to recognize that and ought to recognize that and then use that to grow in everything that we do, which makes perfect sense to do.   Shayne Halls ** 41:42 Most definitely, like 30 years ago, there was no IoT jobs, right. So Internet of Things is a job title in corporate America, that Job didn't exist, because the profession as it is now. But that is a very high paying job to just like it is very high thing. And so you just have to understand what's going on, you had a great place in this wave of AI, there was no college degree of AI, prompt engineering right now. Right, this is just like the beginning of the internet, like everything is just the wide open. So you can literally get a system and learn it. And perfect those skills and hone those skills. And yes, no one's going to be able to, you don't have to pay to learn right now it is free, get it use it in master, right? Eventually, schools are gonna start to regulate how you learn these things, and how you master AI. And corporate America is gonna get their hands on AI. And we're not going to have as easy access to it as we do. Now, in some fashion, it's going to be limited, how things tend to go into in, you know, capitalistic societies. So while it's wide open, while anyone has access to while everyone has access to it, embrace it, learn it, learn how to integrate it into your daily life, so you don't get passed over. So you don't, you know, lose your job. But you can transition to a different job with AI.   Michael Hingson ** 43:05 Well, and as AI exists today, it's not yet grossly intelligent at truly being able to learn on its own. And that's one of the things that people have to be able to do is to take the role of teaching. And that's why things improve as well as people enhance AI and so on. And the time will come when even learning oops, be somewhat simulated or stimulated by the actual software. But even so, it still doesn't mean that that's the end of the road in terms of us. What it means is that we need to recognize that there are different things in different applications that that we need to do. I think it's going to be a long time before the intelligence and the ability to have an intellect through a machine is going to grow to the point where it can do what the human brain does.   Shayne Halls ** 44:00 Right? Yeah. Ai learned from us, our input into systems. And it learns very quickly from what we put, it doesn't learn by itself, but it doesn't take long to learn. And once you start typing into your system and asking questions, talking to it, it's learning every second every input you put into it, it's learning. But again, it's only learning because you're putting information into it. And I think that's one of the things that as corporations are instituting AI into their workforces in their environments that they have to make sure they have a set team there whose job is to monitor the inputs going into their AI systems, right the algorithms that are being used, the searches that are being done, because the AI while can be a great unbiased tool to use and performance evaluations, promotions, hiring, recruiting, it can also be taught by it can be taught to, to exclude person because of someone else's Have no preconceived notions or whatnot. So you got to have teams monitoring the AI between you so that it's not being used for nefarious activities.   Michael Hingson ** 45:09 Right, then the other side of it is, is that because it has such rapid and full access to a lot of information, it by definition is going to teach us things as well. And, and that's as it should be. As you know, and as people here know, I work for excessive B, which is a company that makes products to help make the internet more inclusive for persons with disabilities and a accessories. main product that most people know about is an AI widget that sits up in the cloud, and it can look at anyone's website, and it can do a lot to remediate those websites. And people can learn about it by going to access a B ACCE ssip.com. But as enhancements are made to the widget, because somebody says, you know, I tried to use it on this website, but this didn't happen. And what's the problem? If the people had access to be discovered that you right, it's, it's an issue, it should work, they fix it. And then it rolls out to anyone who is using excessive be so that the new thing that the AI, which it has been taught, goes to everyone, and it will continue to grow. And it learns based on looking at all the websites that it deals with. And now they're well over 190,000 websites that use excessively, which is cool, but AI is going to continue to grow. And it will get better. There are things that on my website, excessive B still can't totally do by itself. And there are reasons why like it doesn't necessarily interpret pictures and describe them the way I want them describe. But But I am amazed at how well they can look at a picture like there's a picture of me holding or hugging a yellow Labrador Retriever on my website. And the way I want that branded is it's my kingsun hugging, Roselle excessively doesn't know my Kingston excessively doesn't know Roselle because they're the the restrictions under which you could go off and identify a picture are still in existence. So it can't, for example, just go to Facebook and realize that's my Kingston and then that's Roselle. So it can't do that. But what excessive B does do when it sees that picture is it says man and white dress shirt hugging yellow Labrador Retriever. I'm amazed that it can do that. But it can and and then I can deal with that and and put an alt tag or my web guy can put an alt tag in. And so that's fine. But by the same token, it's amazing how far it has already come and how far it will continue to go. And that's the way it ought to be if it makes our lives more efficient. And we take advantage of it. Why shouldn't we?   Shayne Halls ** 48:03 Why shouldn't die? I think it's fair that people don't like this. We fear what we don't know. You know, and I think a lot of people hear stories of AI. They see movies, you know, they see Terminator they see iRobot you know, they see all these movies and oh my gosh, AI this evil thing. Yeah, it's not. It's not it's here. We're in such infancy stages of AI, that, well, I'm not taking granted this doing yourself a disservice in some capacity. And yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 48:37 exactly right. Of course, you mentioned iRobot and being a little bit prejudiced. I don't think the movie does the original book and stories by Isaac Asimov justice talking about AI. But there, there's a lot that we can learn. And we really need to broaden our horizons and recognize that this is a world where there are so many adventures and you talked about the Internet of Things. You talked about the internet and so on. What a treasure trove. And you talked about the iPhone being a way that we can get to so many things. The internet in general is such a treasure trove of information. And yes, there's a dark side to it, which we don't need to deal with. And we ought to help not happen. But by the same token, there is so much more that the internet has available to us it is just fascinating to go look at sites on the Internet and learn things which I get to do every day and aim a lot of fun doing it.   Shayne Halls ** 49:36 What's crazy is that I remember being a kid and having the Encyclopedia Britannica and just having all these encyclopedias there to use my mom thought I was gonna go look it up. I was gonna go look at it. Got a second please go look it up. My children have encyclopedias in their phones on their tablets. Like there was no more Encyclopedia Britannica like it doesn't They will have like, I don't know, anyone who still has, like those kits that they used to sell on TV on the infomercials or whatnot, right? Yeah, it changes, it changes things, you have all this information that went to a stockpile. And so hundreds of books, it is at the tip of your fingers to find out anything you want to know, you literally can pop up any question in your mind? And you can find the answer for there and on some page somewhere.   Michael Hingson ** 50:27 And the the comment, go look it up, however, is still valid, very valid. And it absolutely makes sense to go look it up.   Shayne Halls ** 50:37 So which is submit really quickly, what used to take me, you know, 20 minutes to look up the answer, like it's fine to me. So I got that don't worry, I know.   Michael Hingson ** 50:46 I, when I'm visiting relatives and all that, and we're talking about anything from sports to whatever. And there's a question, within just seconds people have the answer. They haven't a lot faster than I do, because they're able to manipulate the phone a lot faster than than I can. And so they get the information. But the fact is, it's there, which is so cool.   Shayne Halls ** 51:09 Yeah, there's no more telling those stories off. There was that game two years ago, where NC State scored 90 points against like, no, let's look it up. And states never scored nine points in any game anytime. You can't find stories in what you can't you can't exaggerate things. Yeah, it's there to fact check everyone.   Michael Hingson ** 51:29 Yeah, which is, which is okay. Again, that's dealing with arrogance. And not you don't want to beat people over the head with it when they're wrong. By the same token, you can still say now, let's really go back and look at that. And you know, what really happened, which is so fun.   Shayne Halls ** 51:47 So finally, just sit back and let people tell their stories, you know, you know what, go ahead, but you're not hurt nobody tell your story. Tell your story.   Michael Hingson ** 51:55 Tell your story, your story. So I know that for me, using iPhones, and so on and doing so much. It's still slower than other people. But I believe the AI is going to enhance my experience at doing a lot of the things that I want to do on an iPhone or whatever. Well, what do you what do you see as ways that AI is going to help persons with disabilities   Shayne Halls ** 52:21 think that the AI levels the playing field, right AI, is now able to take away many of the advantages that persons may have had in the past and much easier now. AIS can be your ears, if you are deaf, they ask can be your eyes, if you are blind eye takes away the need to be in the office for those who may be you know, movement disabled, where they can't get to a location every day, you know, you now have remote jobs where you can log in remotely. So using AI in various aspects is allowing more inclusion into the workforce, right. So even when a person may not be able to go to an outing, because of a disability, movement disability, they can use AI, they can use, you know software like zoom or software in which they can log in and interact and still be a part of the team still can feel that level of belonging as if they're there. With AI, being as accessible as it is, it is now in a place to where no one has to feel like they are at a severe disadvantage in trying to participate or be a part of everyone else because of their disability.   Michael Hingson ** 54:00 I would like to see AI and technology in general progress, to allow me to be able to interact and look up information as fast as you can on your iPhone. And that doesn't exist yet. And that's a whole interface issue. The the ideal way to do it is if my brain could talk directly to the phone. Because you can type a whole lot faster by virtue of the fact that even with the gestures that Apple and the Android folks have put into the phone to allow me to interact with it, it's still going to be slower. And it's a little bit more. I don't want to say obtrusive, but it is a little bit more visible to the world. Because when I'm talking with people, they're looking stuff up on their phone while we're talking and that's a little bit harder for me to do it would be fun to be able to have that level of interface access. And I am sure it's coming.   Shayne Halls ** 54:57 I think that that level of interface that Since is not as big and as far as way as we think it, I think we're just like right around the corner. It's weird when you hear stories about people testing our brain implants. Yeah. And so while that sounds scary, until you know that in the past people had brain implants that helped them here now, right like, like, you know, these things are vastly open and very close, we're on the precipice of really having full AI interactions to where even when you've seen stuff, you've seen companies advertise or preview, persons with movement disabilities, getting AI limbs, and the limbs are reading the nerves from the brain and are able to reflect the movement that the brain is triggering, right? Like these things are happening like these, like this. We're like, we're like right there. And it's very cool. And so I think that it's not going to be very much longer, weird disabilities are more of a momentary discomfort rather than a lifetime. sentence, right? Because we've seen so many ocular transplants are happening now, where people who are blind into our lives are being given the ability to see, again, question somebody offered that to you, Mike, would you take it?   Michael Hingson ** 56:46 To actually gain eyesight? It'd be an adventure, I have to think about it, it isn't. It isn't the most crucial thing in my world. And people who can see, well, how could you not? Well, you know, how, and why should I? That's not the issue. The issue is, will it really enhance my life, if I could truly get that back? It's an adventure. And I would probably do it as an adventure, but not as a desperate need, that overwhelms everything. And I think that's the real issue. You know, with with the whole issue of AI, we will continue to see growth. Ray Kurzweil says it's going to be what 920 45, when computers and brains, basically are connected. And so we'll have direct access to all this computer stuff. And we'll see whether that happens in 22 years or not. He believes it will. That's the singularity, and I think time will tell. But we still have a ways to go to get to the point where we've developed that interface. One of the things about sighted people is, you all have spent a lot of time developing technology to help you. Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb, which really covers up your disability if not being able to see in the dark. And since 1879, people have spent a lot of time developing lighting technologies, and stable lighting technologies that make it possible for you to pretty much cover up the disability, of not being able to see in the dark until there's some major power failure, and then you nowadays can run off and try to find your phone and activate a flashlight or whatever. But it still doesn't mean that the disability isn't there. And we haven't progressed to the point of making that level of technological enhancement and advancement available to persons with disabilities, the priority is going to have to be to change that to truly create inclusion. And I think it will at some point, but it's it's still a ways off because it's still not really the priority. But the other side of it is a lot of the technology that would help us and enhance our lives, could also be something that would help other people as well. You know, I'm still amazed that while Apple built voice over the screen reader into the iPhone, that Apple isn't doing more to promote it in things like driving cars. If you get a Tesla, you still have to look at the screen to do so much stuff. Now. Of course, Elon Musk would say yeah, but with the with the ability of the Tesla to cruise down the road and yes, you have to be behind the wheel and so on but you can afford that time to look away. Why should you have to? Why not be able to just consistently stay off of her stay on looking at the road and looking what's going on around you and let a voice and vocal technologies help you more enhance your world. We haven't gotten to the point where we totally deal with that yet.   Shayne Halls ** 59:57 Yeah, I think that is a With a non disabled problem of being able to understand how to use technology, we have to enhance the lives of those who are disabled. Think Like, people tend to pay attention to words relevant to their life, and it takes special people to think about how other people's lives are being impacted. That has nothing to do with them at all. That's the more special people there are in the world, the better we all will be. I think that's definitely a thing where persons with disabilities are going to have to be the ones to make sure that they are not overlooked. And those of persons without disabilities have to be allies to go through our and use our voices to make sure that everyone's getting the equal amount of attention for the things that they need to enhance their lives.   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:07 Yeah. So what exactly does manifested dreams do?   Shayne Halls ** 1:01:13 What I was necessary to help you manifest your dreams, right. So if a company wants to be more inclusive, we can come in there and we perform cultural evaluations, we can help you put together various sort of cultural groups, employee resource groups, we can also sit down with persons who are on a on a one on one basis and help them understand their career and what they're doing and how to use AI to help their career growth.   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:41 How does AI factor into that?   Shayne Halls ** 1:01:45 AI can be used to make an admin assistant be super proficient her job. And then she can also then use the other time to volunteer for other program projects is going on at work, and be proficient at that too, by using integrating AI into the tasks that she's given. So he or she can grow and excel, and be better the organization, I can help a leader understand where the gaps are within the company who's not really promoting people properly, who has bias in their hiring. AI can be used for someone who is looking to grow as a writer, you can use AI to, to literally, you know, proofread your stuff. If you're a writing user, certainly I program live and proofread. Let it give you suggestions on how to change the tone. AIS AI can be used in many different capacities for whatever your aspect of work life is.   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:38 And so what I am assuming manifests and dreams does is it comes in and you teach people how to use these tools, and you get them hopefully comfortable using the tools but you teach them how to use the tools and incorporate them into their processes to make the whole company much more effective and efficient. I'm presuming that that's essentially what you do. Right?   Shayne Halls ** 1:03:02 On. Yeah, but that's exactly what I did. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:05 I'm with you. And I think it's it's cool that that you're doing that it's a great service. If people want to reach out to you and learn more about it and learn more about you and so on. How do they do that?   Shayne Halls ** 1:03:16 You can reach me on med so email address would be my name Shayne. So Shayne  D H S H A Y N E D H. At manifesting dreams that org. I'm on Twitter at MNIFSTD dream to manifest your dreams on Twitter. I G manifested dream manifested underscore dreams and see we're everywhere. So please reach out. Let us come in let us help you unless you know show you how to really take things to the next level.   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:52 Well, that is cool. And I think you can help a lot of people realize that this whole concept of artificial intelligence and all the things that we're seeing being developed today can really be an enhancement if we allow that to happen, which is what it's really should be about. Right?   Shayne Halls ** 1:04:13 Exactly. Don't be scared of it. Embrace it.   Michael Hingson ** 1:04:16 Yeah. Well, thanks again for being here. And I want to thank you for listening to us today. This has been a fun discussion. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Please give us a five star rating wherever you're listening to our podcast, unstoppable mindset. Love it if you would do that. If you'd like to reach out and comment, I would appreciate that you can reach me at Michaelhi m i c h a e l h i at accessibe A C C E S S I B E.com. And as I said, go off to www.accessibe.com and learn about the products and learn how to maybe make your internet website more usable and inclusive. If you want to We'll explore more podcast episodes. Do that wherever you're listening to us or go to www dot Michaelhingson m i  c h a e l h i n g s o n.com/podcast. And check out all the podcasts. Of course, again, as you're listening, we certainly would appreciate a five star rating wherever you're listening to us. And Shane, both for you and for all of you listening out there if you have any thoughts of anyone else who ought to be a guest on unstoppable mindset. Love to hear that. Please reach out to me, please make introductions. We're always looking for more people to come on and have some more stimulating conversations. So again, Shayne, for you. Thanks very much. We really appreciate you being here. This has been great, hasn't it?   Shayne Halls ** 1:05:44 It has. It's been wonderful. I appreciate the experience and I look forward to talking to you again my friend.   Michael Hingson ** 1:05:53 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much.

Stephanie Johnson and Chandra Gore talk about the close relationship between the Foundation and Stafford Schools.   Updates on ways you can get involved financially thru the Model UN in Stafford, the golf scramble on October 27th or just volunteering.  thestaffordeducationfoundation.org

This week, Victoria Tellez and Jesse Freeman join us for The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration. It's like the other sequels, but with daddy issues. How many drunken hotel ten-way kisses did your Model UN team have? Who made Yik Yak yakety wack and not come back? Have you ever almost killed yourself blowin'' blow pens? “I had like multiple years that were better than 7th grade since, just for the record.” - Victoria Tellez “I went through a huge Greek mythology stage.” - Jesse Freeman Our guests would like to recommend checking out Simon Rich's collection of short stories, The Last Girlfriend on Earth with a special shout out to Dog Missed Connections. Also if you have the means to do so, we join our guests in their encouragement of making a donation to plannedparenthood.org.  Go to linktr.ee/rottentreasure listen, like, follow, rate and review. It really helps the show! Captain's Log Shout-out: *link in bio* Help The Other Host's vet bills for their cat Oliver's surgery via Venmo @Kai-Bobbi.

Voices of SJS. Season 4: New Beginnings. Hosted by Isabel Franqui, Secondary History teacher and former Model UN Club advisor. Her guests are fellow History Teacher and Co-Advisor, Claudia Ojeda, Past Model UN Club President, Salomar Levis (‘23), former club member, Marcos Lambert (‘23) and founding club member, SJS alumna, and School Board Trustee, Mariana Ortiz-Blanes (‘85). They talk about the past and present of the Model UN Club at Saint John's School. Voices of SJS is an sjspr.radio podcast. This episode was produced by Pilar Álamo and edited by Sixto Ortiz. We use the song Tacco by Crowander under a NonCommercial Creative Commons 4.0 International License

Subscribe to Receive Venkat's Weekly Newsletter While growing up in India, Prateek participated in Model UN. He found that he enjoyed meeting students from other parts of the world, discussing and debating issues. With these experiences, his interest in Journalism grew. He already loved writing, reporting on world issues. He decided to apply to the US for college, to study journalism. As it turned out, the University of Cincinnati had something else in mind for him! Prateek  joins us on our podcast to share his UG Experience as an International Student, Transition to the US, UG Research in Feminist Issues, Majoring in Int'l Affairs, and Advice for high schoolers.   In particular, we discuss the following with him:  Overall Experience at U of Cincinnati Transition to the US and UCincinnati Majoring in International Affairs Advice to High Schoolers Topics discussed in this episode: Introduction to Prateek Raj, U Cincinnati [] Hi Fives - Podcast Highlights [] Overall UC Experience [] High School Interests [] Why the US? Why U Cincinnati? Transition to College[] The Peers [] Doing UG Research [] About Research Paper [] More Research on Feminist Causes [] Capstone [] Majoring in Int'l Affairs [] Women of Sri Lankan Civil War [] Collecting Field Data [] Advice for Int'l High Schoolers [] Memories [] Our Guests: Prateek Raj graduated with a Bachelor's degree in International Affairs from the University of Cincinnati. Prateek is currently pursuing a PhD in Political Science at the University of Cincinnati. Memorable Quote: “So I can definitely say that…being open to that, being having a little bit of open mind is really important. Because you meet a lot of new people, you get a new perspective about your own field, your own life, your own experiences as a student in the University. ” Prateek Raj. Episode Transcript: Please visit Episode's Transcript. Similar Episodes: College Experiences Calls-to-action: Follow us on Instagram To Ask the Guest a question, or to comment on this episode, email podcast@almamatters.io. Subscribe or Follow our podcasts at any of these locations: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify.

Bonus Summer Episode of The Evolved Caveman Podcast! Trigger alert! This episode discusses the topics of suicide, self-harm, depression, narcissistic parental abuse & anxiety. This is a deeply personal, difficult & revealing interview WITH MY DAUGHTER! In the hour long interview, Molly bravely shares her story beginning with her junior year in high school which she absolutely crushed with straight A's, placed 5th at State in Speech, doing Improv comedy, winning a place at Girls State this summer, Youth In Government, Model UN, Mock Trial & more. Then we go back a couple years to when she was splitting time 50-50 between my place and her mom's, her descent into depression, self-harm & suicidality. Both of us firmly believe in the importance of sharing stories of our struggles & mental illness to normalize them for others. We also want to show that people who may look good on the outside (at times) also struggle internally with pain & suffering. I am so proud of her ability to be able to put her experiences into words!  It's critical that we be able to talk about these issues. Tune in and take a listen! This is an incredibly mature, poised, vulnerable & courageous share by a 17 year old! If you like what you've heard at The Evolved Caveman podcast, support us by subscribing, leaving reviews on Apple podcasts. Every review helps to get the message out! Please share the podcast with friends and colleagues.Follow Dr. John Schinnerer on| Instagram | Instagram.com/@TheEvolvedCaveman| Facebook | Facebook.com/Anger.Management.Expert| Twitter | Twitter.com/@JohnSchin| LinkedIn | Linkedin.com/in/DrJohnSchinnererOr join the email list by visiting: GuideToSelf.comPlease visit our YouTube channel and remember to Like & Subscribe!https://www.youtube.com/user/jschinnererEditing/Mixing/Mastering by: Brian Donat of B/Line Studios www.BLineStudios.com Tune in to find out more in this episode of The Evolved Caveman Podcast with Dr. John Schinnerer.  Please be sure to like, rate, review and share! Thank you in advance for helping to spread the word! 

“We got the freaking Moon!” Jim O'Heir (Jerry Gergich himself) and writer Greg Levine are discussing Season 4, Episode 7 of Parks and Recreation - it's “The Treaty!” A meeting of the Pawnee Central High School's Model UN club leads to a historic face-off between Leslie and Ben, Ron and Tom interview some terrible job applicants (including Kyle Mooney and the show's actual accountant!), and Chris seeks dating advice from his co-workers (including, for some reason, his girlfriend's father). It's another great episode of Parks - give it a listen and treat yo' self!

Kurt and Scotty read listener confessions about not knowing the Pacific Ocean has salt in it, copying a friend's art project and winning an award, throwing a dead turtle out the car window, scamming neighbors into giving money for Model UN and being a below average taster!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A zooming good bedtime is delivered as a team of students tries to plan for the future while Rin models good behavior. Become a patron and get sweet bonus content from the show! https://www.patreon.com/sleepwithme Get your Sleep With Me SLEEPPHONES at https://sleepwithmepodcast.com/sleepphones use “sleepwithme” for $5 off!!! New art for the show by Emily Tat - https://emilytatdesigns.com/ Stay up to date with all of our FUN Fundraising and Awareness-raising live streams and other cool stuff by signing up for our free newsletter at www.sleepwithmepodcast.com/midnightmision Support our AAPI community- www.napawf.org/take-action Black Lives Matter. More resources here- w. Here is a list of Anti-racism resources- http://bit.ly/ANTIRACISMRESOURCES Help to support the people of Ukraine https://www.npr.org/2022/02/25/1082992947/ukraine-support-help Here is one place you can find support https://www.crisistextline.org/ There are more global helplines here https://linktr.ee/creatorselfcare AquaTru- AquaTru is a 4-stage countertop purifier that works with NO installation or plumbing. Its patented Ultra Reverse Osmosis technology is certified to remove 80 of the most harmful contaminants, including chlorine, fluoride, lead, arsenic, PFAS, nitrates, and many more. And it's the same technology used by all the major bottled water brands. Use promo code SLEEP for 20%!!! off at aquatru.com. Helix Sleep- Just go to helixsleep.com/sleep, take their two-minute sleep quiz, and they'll match you to a customized mattress that will give you the best sleep of your life. Progressive- Sleep with Me is brought to you by Progressive. Get your quote today at Progressive.com and see why 4 out of 5 new auto customers recommend Progressive. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Zoc Doc- Whether you need a primary care physician, dentist, dermatologist, psychiatrist, eye doctor, or other specialists, Zocdoc has you covered. Download the Zocdoc app to sign-up for FREE at zocdoc.com/sleep. Air Doctor- Just go to https://www.airdoctorpro.com/ and use promo code SLEEP and you'll receive a 35% discount. Become a patron and get sweet bonus content from the show! https://www.patreon.com/sleepwithme

Today our guests are Katrina Hill, Caleb Amstutz, & Melanie Fox from Community School in Roanoke, Virginia We talk to Katrina, Caleb, and Melanie about the advisory program at Community School which was recently recognized as an inaugural AMLE School of Distinction in 2022. They share about multiage groupings, multiyear relationships, the value of traditions, and the impact that these have had in the lives of the students at Community School. View the AMLE School of Distinction Page   Caleb Amstutz has taught middle school science at CS for three years. He graduated with a bachelor's in Biology and English from Guilford College in 2019. He is a CS alumni, graduating in 2011, and understands the lasting benefits a CS education can provide. His favorite classes to teach are biology, chemistry, and ornithology. In his free time, he likes to adventure anywhere outside or curl up with a good book. Katrina Hill is a veteran teacher and has worked with students from preschool to high school. She has taught humanities at Community School for 21 years and is the current Middle School Coordinator. Katrina is also the advisor for ComMUN, a middle and high school Model UN team. She loves that Community School gives her the opportunity to teach a variety of subjects through studio-style electives and helping students find their perfect book.  Melanie Fox has been a Humanities teacher at Community School for 2 years. She graduated from Shenandoah Conservatory with a BFA in Musical Theatre and attended VCU for Psychology. In her previous life, she worked as an actress, waitress, executive assistant, retail manager, and event organizer. Having such a varied resume has given her a unique perspective on being flexible and improvising on the fly. Her favorite part of teaching is allowing the students to take the lead when they need more than just content and need time to work through complex subjects that have more to do with their social and personal growth.

Featuring: Michael "Boston" Hannon, Paul “Moonpir” Carver-Smith, and Alexander “TheNimp” Jolly Running Time: 2:00:08 Music by MusiM: Homepage | Bandcamp Livestream Archive: YouTube This week we chat about Dead By Daylight, Fall Guys, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Saints Row, Dying Light, Dying Light 2, Star Ocean: The Divine Force, Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero, Horizon Forbidden West, Signalis, Marvel Snap. PSVR 2 Price and Release Date Announced Dwarf Fortress' New Version Detailed and Dated Become a patron of TVGP for just a few dollars a month at E1M1's Patreon Page! Get two month early access to Critical Misses, uncensored outtakes, and much more for just $5/month!

Mr. Zain Malik is a teacher at Gwinnett Online Campus. Mr. Malik sits down with Mr. Lollis to share his passion for anime and Gundam model building, gaming, Star Wars, and how his own experiences, travels, and passion for Model United Nations led him to start a program at GOC.If you have a question or want to be on the podcast, please email me at dan.lollis@gcpsk12.org.  If you're interested in Gwinnett Online Campus, you can head over to our website and find out all about the school and the great things we have going on.Special thanks to Dr. Ray and Dr. O'Neal for making this podcast possible.  Music for the podcast is "Blue Ska" by Kevin MacLeod incompetech.com and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License..

Scientists recently discovered a fascinating paradox: when they bred together superproductive, egg-laying hens, they found the chickens produced fewer eggs. We examine what went wrong with these so-called superchickens, and we look at human examples of this phenomenon—a high school Model UN team and a retail giant. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? David Sloan Wilson's theories on competition and cooperation go far beyond superchickens. Take a look at an article he wrote about rethinking economics on Evonomics.com, a website started by one of his former students. And for more on his work, visit davidsloanwilson.world. Plus, retail has been through a lot over the last 50 years. To learn more about that world from the inside, check out his book, Remarkable Retail: How to Win and Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption, and his podcast, the Remarkable Retail Podcast. And read a Bloomberg article that goes into detail about what happened at Sears. Also explore: Darwin transformed the world with his evolutionary theories. He also got a lot wrong. To learn how modern science is building on his work, see our article on the subject. For subscribers: Evolution hasn't stopped, but it is changing. Discover how humans are using technology to shape their own evolution in our article. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we sit down with the woman who taught an entire generation that the Model UN was a legitimate school activity. We talk to the person who wrote of one of Mary-Kate and Ashley's nerdiest, most beloved, most perfect rainy-day-comfort movies of all time. We talk to Karol Hoeffner, screenwriter of Winning London.And we learn that Karol is nothing short of a complete inspiration. When she was in her 40s, she started being ghosted by an ageist industry that had no interest in hiring a middle-aged female screenwriter. So she decided to write a raunchy screenplay under a male pseudonym, and the industry came banging down her door-- including our friend, Robert Thorne, who then asked her to pitch the next Mary-Kate and Ashley movie.Karol tells us about the insanely stressful week she spent writing the entire Winning London screenplay (the week before they left for London!), the particularities of writing a script for Mary-Kate and Ashley, and how she feels about the movie now, 21 years later. And of course, we ask how she came up with the iconic line, "I don't clean up after lost boys."We adored talking with Karol and left feeling absolutely inspired. We hope this conversation makes you feel the same way ❤️You can also watch the video version of this interview by subscribing to our Patreon hereFind us on Social Media!Instagram: @theythoughtiwasyouTikTok: @theythoughtiwasyouBecca: @beccarothLani: @laniharmsThoughts/questions? Email us at: theythoughtiwasyou@gmail.com

Welcome back to Season 2, Episode 166 of the Asian Hustle Network Podcast! We are very excited to have Jingzhou Zhang and Michelle Chen on this week's show. We interview Asian entrepreneurs around the world to amplify their voices and empower Asians to pursue their dreams and goals. We believe that each person has a message and a unique story from their entrepreneurial journey that they can share with all of us. Check us out on Anchor, iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, TuneIn, Spotify, and more. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a positive 5-star review. This is our opportunity to use the voices of the Asian community and share these incredible stories with the world. We release a new episode every Wednesday and Saturday, so stay tuned! Jing and Michelle serve as co-CEOs of Simply Co. and are only juniors at Clements High School. They were core officers of our #4 ranked startup at Nationals in 2021, before taking over reigns as co-CEOs. Under their leadership, Simply Co. has grown exponentially, placing highly in multiple local and regional competitions. Jing is also involved in the Model UN and Dear Asian Youth. She loved photography. Michelle is also involved in DECA and loves reading books. To stay connected within the AHN community, please join our AHN directory: bit.ly/AHNDirectory --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/asianhustlenetwork/support

This week, teenagers try their hand at foreign diplomacy. First, a story about a teenager who crushes it at the mock UN. Then, another teenager engages in foreign affairs while spending the semester in the Czech Republic. The Mortified Podcast is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Listen