Parents of young adults (age 13 - 19) who hope that their children fulfill their potential, lead lives of meaning and purpose and develop the requisite capabilities and character qualities to survive and thrive in the uncertain future.

1. How to equip their children to be Future-proof. 2. How to enable their children to tell their unique stories of achievement and growth to college admissions officers.

By mentoring their children to develop the capabilities and character qualities that they will need to become Future-proof through solving real-world problems in their communities.

Ready, Willing, Able to meet the challenges of the unknown future.See more

First of all, Future-proofing young adults is more important than college admissions, because college is merely a stepping stone to a career. The most common mistake parents and their children make is fixating narrowly on college admission rather than to focusing holistically on Future-proofing. Fixating, even obsessing, on college admission without first planning for the career of the young adult is like fixating on taking a bus (i.e. getting into a college) without a destination (i.e. a career) into the nebulous future. The bus may bring you to a destination undesirable and unfortunate. Fortunately, Future-proofing young adults also make them highly attractive to college admissions officers. This is because Future-proofing develops character qualities and capabilities in young adults that colleges admire and seek in incoming students. These character qualities and capabilities include: Application of knowledge in real-world settings Critical thinking & complex problem-solving Collaboration in teams Risk taking Navigating ambiguity Persisting through failure and uncertainty Accountable for delivering tangible results under deadline Ethical responsibility These character qualities and capabilities make young adults Future-proof, yet they are under-emphasized or even discouraged in the typical classroom. Solving real-world problems is the best way to develop character qualities and capabilities, because no other pursuit offers the real-world relevance, the intensity, the challenge and the meaningful consequences. So fortunately, focusing on Future-proofing young adults also makes them highly attractive to college admissions officers. See the Future-proof mentoring support I provide for college admissions.

Because colleges have a mission to develop young adults into productive citizens who can solve complex real-world problems to serve society and to bring fame and fortune to their alma maters. A young adult's GPA, class rank and test scores merely hint at their future potential as citizens, because the capabilities and character qualities required of the young adult to excel in these academic areas only somewhat overlap with those required to thrive in the complex, chaotic, uncertain real-world. In contrast, the Future-proof character qualities and capabilities: Application of knowledge in real-world settings Critical thinking & complex problem-solving Collaboration in teams Risk taking Navigating ambiguity Persisting through failure and uncertainty Accountable for delivering tangible results under deadline Ethical responsibility are highly relevant and thus predictive of a young adult's achievements beyond college, decades into their careers.

I am not an educational consultant. I am a mentor of young adults. Future-proofing young adults to enable them to lead lives of meaning and purpose is my focus. While the overwhelming majority of high school counselors and educational consultants pursued education and work experiences related to the non-profit sectors of education, youth psychology, counseling and higher education, I followed a very different path. For over 25 years I worked to identify, hire, develop, deploy and reward talent for huge for-profit conglomerates that operate globally. So I sat "on the other side of the table" representing demanding employers in acquiring the best talent in the world. My 25 years of experience in the Human Capital function opened my eyes to the startling ineffectiveness of secondary and higher education in the USA in nurturing young adults with the character qualities and capabilities that employers demand and reward. These character qualities and capabilities are the same ones that I mentor my mentees to develop to Future-proof themselves. My first two mentees were my two sons. I changed careers to devote my full measure to Future-proofing them. The same mentoring activities, namely solving real-world problems, that Future-proof young adults also make them distinctive to college admission officers. My ideas come from my 25 years of professional experience in Human Capital, but also from my upbringing as a first generation immigrant and from home-schooling my sons K - 12th grade. My values, convictions and methods are revealed in part in my blog articles.

No. My mentoring is suitable for those parents who agree with my convictions about parenting. My mentoring is suitable for those young adults who are not scared off by my convictions about hardwork, following one's passion, comparison with peers, and doing one's best. My mentoring is suitable for those parents who will refrain from doing the work for their children and from buying privilege and achievements for their children. My mentoring is suitable for those young adults who manage their time effectively, who keep their commitments, who are willing to work their tails off, who yearn to make meaningful impact in the real-world, who wish to challenge themselves to solve complex problems, who won't give up at the first failure or frustration, who are humble, who feel the urgency to Future-proof themselves. My mentoring is NOT suitable for parents and young adults whose motivation is primarily to impress college admissions officers by padding their resumes with superficial activities. There are dozens of educational consultants who offer that kind of service, some even offer to give your child an "unfair advantage" through "passion projects". My mentoring is NOT suitable for those young adults who are immature, irresponsible and undependable. My mentees will earn their achievements through hardwork, conviction, and determination and in doing so, become Future-proof regardless of where they attend college. See the Future-proof mentoring I provide for college admissions.

My mentee's real-world problem-solving projects have naturally made them attractive to top colleges such as (in no particular order): University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) UC Berkeley Brown University UCLA Stanford University USC (Iovine and Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation) University of Chicago Columbia University Northwestern University Duke University Rice University New York University (Stern, Gallatin) UC Santa Barbara Claremont McKenna University of Texas - Dallas (McDermott Scholar) College of William and Mary University of Texas - Austin (Honors CS, Honors Business) Pomona College Harvey Mudd College University of Notre Dame Haverford Whitman Harvey Mudd University of Michigan Babson College Johns Hopkins University University of British Columbia Dartmouth University of North Carolina (Morehead-Cain Scholar) Cornell University (Hunter Rawlings Scholar) Swarthmore College Georgia Tech Emory University University of Virginia (UVA) Northwestern University University of British Columbia Minerva UC San Diego University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne University of Notre Dame Emory University of St Andrews, Scotland with a global merit award of £20000 University of Dundee, Scotland with a global excellence scholarship of £24000 Durham University, England etc. Once again, mentees who develop character qualities and capabilities by solving real-world problems become Future-proof regardless of where they attend college.

See this blog post.

It is unlikely that I will be able to find team partners for your daughter/son, because at any given moment in time, all mentees at the Partner level have established teams, usually comprised of friends and relatives. However, do not be discouraged because ALL Partner teams started with just one young adult or her/his parents reaching out to me. That one young adult or her/his parents then reached out to friends and relatives in grades 8 - 11th over the course of a few weeks to assemble a team of 3 - 6 total members. While most team members live in the same city, many teams have members living in different states and even countries. There are many benefits for your daughter/son to take the initiative in finding friends/relatives to form a team: She/he will develop leadership skills, particularly in creating a vision for her/his project and engaging others to subscribe to her/his vision. She/he will have the prerogative to define the various leadership roles. The vast majority of my mentees who initiate the team building define themselves as "founder" or "president" of their projects, with remaining members serving as co-founders, vice-presidents, directors, managers, etc. She/he will have the greatest influence over the subject matter of her/his project because she/he will have initiated the project. She/he will be able to hand-pick the team members, shaping the team according to her/his preferences. Finally, finding at least one other team member is a test to determine if your daughter/son has the motivation, determination and conviction to found a project.

Until the team has at least 3 team members, EACH team member will be charged the $285 per hour rate under the Personalized level of mentoring. Thus, the sooner the team reaches at least 3 team members, the more economical the mentoring.

Youth should launch their Future-proof problem-solving no later than the start of their 11th grade (usually August/September) to give themselves a minimum of 12 months to achieve meaningful and tangible results by the time they complete their applications for college admissions (usually August - December of the following year). While some of my mentees launched their Future-proof problem-solving projects as early as 7th grade, most launched by the start of 10th grade. Starting early provides the youth extra time to explore multiple project ideas, to develop greater character and capability strengths, and to achieve more substantive results. All mentees need to demonstrate conscientiousness, maturity, and dependability regardless of their age during their Future-proof problem-solving projects.

Parents and their children should read the entirety of the contents of this website, including the FAQ, blog articles, About, Details of Service and Portfolio. If both the parents and their children are agreeable with my principles, convictions and methods, then contact me to arrange an initial free-of-charge conversation with me. If there is close alignment between the parents and their children and me, then we can discuss potential project ideas for the youth to explore. Any meetings beyond the initial free-of-charge discussion will be charged at either the Partner's or Personalized fee levels, depending if there are at least 3 total youth members (and their parents) committed to launching a Future-proof problem-solving project together with me serving as their mentor.

To develop character and capability to survive and thrive in an intensely competitive, chaotic and changing world. To develop such character and capability, they need a safe playground in which they are free to take bold action, make mistakes and learn from mistakes. The typical school classroom is much too rigid, regimented and risky to tolerate bold action and mistakes.