Achievement doesn’t happen overnight. Like a tree, it has roots. And it’s the strength and depth of the roots that determines how high the tree will grow. In education and workforce development, the same concept holds true: the young people who succeed are most often those who have a strong foundation—a root system, if you… Read more »
Category: Career Tree
The Roots of Achievement, Part 1: Academics
A successful education and career path is like a tree. We see and admire the sturdy trunk, the spreading branches, the luxuriant canopy of leaves, and the delicious fruit. What we don’t see is everything that has taken place below the surface to grow the tree to its present size and strength. To enable the… Read more »
Soft Skills…Are You Kidding Me?
Are soft skills important in the age of the technical skills gap? Yes, they are—more than ever. In 2016, The Wall Street Journal surveyed over 900 executives to discover the relative importance they placed on technical and soft skills. Fully 92% reported that soft skills like communication, curiosity, and critical thinking were equally important as… Read more »
Building a Planning Culture with the Career Tree
Last year, we unveiled the new Root System Career Plan that helps your students create their personal, viable plans of study for life after graduation. Today, I want to look at the bigger picture surrounding the Root System Career Plan, and that is the concept of the planning culture. What’s a Planning Culture? A planning… Read more »
TFS Founder’s Perspective: The Competitive Advantage of a Planning Culture
“Failing to plan is planning to fail.” — Allan Lakein I’m convinced that the art of productive planning is largely unknown to many young people today…and many people my own age as well. If we don’t have a vision and corresponding plan for where we want to go, how will we ever get there? This… Read more »
Top Career Exploration Resource Websites
When it comes to educational choices and career direction, young people today don’t know what they don’t know. It’s not their fault; many times, they just haven’t encountered the full range of possibilities available to them. As educators and workforce development professionals, we have the opportunity to open their eyes to the many diverse and… Read more »
Recruiting More Right Students with the Career Tree
The Career Tree ignites the motivation of your current students, but it’s also an amazing recruitment tool. Yes, it’s the students already in your classroom who are interacting with the Tree daily and envisioning their future careers and lifestyles, but when they do this, it attracts more of the right students to your program. This… Read more »
