Today's kindergartners will retire in 2082, but are we preparing them for that world or ours? In this episode, Dr. Michael Conner sits down with Stewart Brown, Director of Partnerships at Code4Kids, to challenge the "21st century" trap that's already widening the gap for Generation Alpha and Beta.

Stewart and Michael dig into why coding is becoming as essential as cursive, a fundamental literacy every student needs, not just a technical skill for future developers. They explore how cross-curricular computer science can bridge math, science, arts, and social studies, and why the education system urgently needs to move beyond outdated frameworks and embrace what Stewart calls 22nd-century thinking.

The conversation unpacks why understanding technology matters far more than becoming a software engineer, and how Code for Kids is already reshaping what digital literacy looks like in practice, through connective, curriculum-integrated education that gives students real agency in a technology-saturated world.

Stewart Brown is a multiple founder of international EdTech companies and a trusted voice in AI literacy in education. Code for Kids, launched in 2018, integrates coding, robotics, digital literacy, and STEAM across the curriculum.

This is essential listening for educators, administrators, and parents asking the question that matters most: how do we truly prepare students for their future? Subscribe to Voices for Excellence for conversations that challenge education's status quo.

Stop managing behavior. Start changing it.

Dr. Mike Conner sits down with Dr. Donna Housman, CEO and founder of Housman Learning, to explore the paradigm shift reshaping early childhood education: why emotional intelligence isn't a soft skill, it's the durable, sustainable driver of academic achievement and lasting behavioral change.

Key Topics:

• The evolution of emotional intelligence from "soft skill" to critical educational driver
• ECSEL (Emotional, Cognitive, and Social Early Learning): The evidence-based program closing the preparation gap
• Why self-regulation, not funding, is the real differentiator in high-risk populations
• The achievement gap is a symptom; the preparation gap (birth to kindergarten) is the disease
• How early childhood emotional competence prevents the "troubled teen" crisis before it starts
• Teacher satisfaction, retention, and the post-COVID educational landscape

Dr. Housman brings 30 years of clinical psychology expertise and longitudinal research proving that developing emotional intelligence starting as early as 3 months old transforms children's trajectories, and challenges the entire education sector to rethink what "preparation" really means.

Subscribe for deep conversations on education, human development, and the research-backed practices that create lasting change.

Organizations love to say they’ve “given people the tools to succeed”, so why do the same individuals and teams keep being labeled as the problem?

In this episode, host Dr. Michael Conner talks with Dr. Shokry Eldaly (Teachers College, Columbia University) about what’s really missing: structures that make efficacy possible. Shokry breaks down why motivation isn’t the primary barrier, how rigid systems discount lived experience, and what it looks like to build collective impact without blaming individuals.

In this conversation:

• Why “lack of motivation” is often a convenient story
• How structures shape outcomes more than individual effort
• Lived experience as essential data for change
• Hope as a practical strategy for collective impact

Subscribe to Voices for Excellence for conversations that challenge how we lead, learn, and grow together.