Ep 66: Seven Survival Skills for 21st Century Learners with Tony Wagner

This week’s episode is one that I have been looking forward to sharing with you. When I first started this podcast over a year ago, I drafted a “wish list” of guests I’d like to interview. Tony Wagner was one of the names at the top of that list. When I reached out to him to invite him on the show, he accepted my invitation without hesitation. I first learned of Tony Wagner years ago when I read several of his best-selling books: Most Likely to Succeed: Preparing Our Kids For The Innovation Era; Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change The World; and The Global Achievement Gap. And recently, I had the pleasure of reading Tony’s newest book, Learning By Heart: An Unconventional Education, a memoir about his journey through life and education. During our conversation, Tony shares the list of the Seven Survival Skills that he cultivated through interviews with executives over a two year period. We talk about why test scores don’t matter and why mastery does. Throughout our conversation, Tony offers lots of valuable insight and actionable tips for parents of teens. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

About Tony Wagner

A globally recognized expert in education, Tony Wagner is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Learning Policy Institute, founded by Linda Darling-Hammond in 2015. Prior to this appointment, Tony held a variety of positions at Harvard University for more than twenty years, including four years as an Expert in Residence at the Harvard Innovation Lab and the founder and co-director for more than a decade of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His previous work experience includes twelve years as a high school teacher, K-8 principal, universtiy professor in teacher education, and founding executive director of Educators for Social Responsibility. In 2021, Tony joined the board of Better World Ed, an education nonprofit on a mission to help you(th) love learning.

Tony is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and a widely published author. His work includes numerous articles and seven books, including three best sellers. Most Likely To Success: Preparing Our Kids for The Innovation Era, co-authored by Ted Dintersmith, was published in 2015. Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World was published in 2012 to rave reviews and has been translated into 18 languages. His 2008 book, The Global Achievement Gap, continues to be an international best seller, with more than 140,000 copies in print. Tony’s memoir, Learning By Heart: An Unconventional Education, was just published in April 2020.

Tony served as the Strategic Education Advisor for a major new education documentary, “Most Likely to Succeed“, which had its world premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. He also collaborated with noted filmmaker Robert Compton to create a 60-minute documentary, “The Finland Phenomenon: Inside The World’s Most Surprising School System” in 2010.

Tony earned an M.A.T. and an Ed.D. at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.