The critical leadership (and other) skills we needed to learn but weren’t taught, with Mark Herschberg, author of “The Career Toolkit”

Season 2 Episode 6: The critical leadership (and other) skills we needed to learn but weren’t taught, with Mark Herschberg, author of “The Career Toolkit”

Leadership. Communication. Networking. Team building. These are all skills needed in the 21st century workforce. It’s 2021, so why aren’t these skills being taught and meaningfully assessed in our nation’s high schools and colleges? Dr. Mark Herschberg, author of The Career Toolkit, discusses the need for these skills and explains why we must start teaching them and what it will take for high schools and colleges to take this need seriously. He says, “We need to ask ourselves what do we really need even if we can’t measure it as well? I would take a so so measure for the right thing than a great measure for the wrong thing.”

I asked Mark for recommendations for effective procedures for large school districts that need to hire consulting firms to provide services and ensure they are hiring effective consultants. He provides practical recommendations. I also asked him how organizations and school districts can build the leadership, collaboration and communication capacity of their own leaders and managers. If you find yourself needing to hire outside consultants or wanting to build the capacity of your own employees, this episode is a must-listen.

Mark is the author of The Career Toolkit, Essential Skills for Success That No One Taught You. From tracking criminals and terrorists on the dark web to creating marketplaces and new authentication systems, Mark has spent his career launching and developing new ventures at startups and Fortune 500s and in academia. He helped to start the Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program, dubbed MIT’s “career success accelerator,” where he teaches annually. At MIT, he received a B.S. in physics, a B.S. in electrical engineering & computer science, and a M.Eng. in electrical engineering & computer science, focusing on cryptography. At Harvard Business School, Mark helped create a platform used to teach finance at prominent business schools. He also works with many non-profits, including Techie Youth and Plant A Million Corals. He was one of the top-ranked ballroom dancers in the country and now lives in New York City, where he is known for his social gatherings, including his annual Halloween party, as well as his diverse cufflink collection.

Visit https://www.thecareertoolkitbook.com/ to find more of Mark’s work and to purchase his book, “The Career Toolkit: Essential Skills for Success That No One Taught You.”