The skills and personal qualities that will assist today’s children meet the demands and challenges of the workplace of the future, and how schools and parents can help, were the discussion topics at a speakers panel held recently at Marymount of Santa Barbara’s Riviera campus.

Michael Ninness, senior director of product at Adobe; Chris Hillyer, director of Innovation at Deckers; and Jannine Tuttle, director of creative design and engineering at Marymount, met with Andrew Wooden, Marymount Head of School, and community members.

The event was one of a series on raising successful children. Featured speakers have included Paul Tough, The New York Times best-selling author of How Children Succeed; and education- and child-development experts such as Robert Evans, Michael G. Thompson and Wendy Mogel.

Wooden expressed what he called Marymount’s “mantra” of innovation and commitment to helping students develop both the academic and social emotional skills they will need to lead successful and meaningful lives.

Asked by Wooden what employers will be looking for in the future, Ninness said:

“When hiring, the hard skills are necessary, but the job will quickly change. It’s the candidate with the ability to collaborate and innovate that we invest in.

“Collaborating and the ability to think of the next big thing and develop it even if it will compete with something that exits is something that today’s young people need to learn,” Ninness said.

A parent of two past Marymount students, Ninness explained how several Marymount programs develop these skills in practical ways.

Tuttle elaborated on Marymount’s Design Thinking program as one of these. “The Design Thinking process gives students the opportunity to solve problems without a clear path to a specific answer. It is important for children to fail (and to learn to fail fast) and try new things,” she said.

“The iterative process of Design Thinking and how students can revisit things, rather than perfecting them in a vacuum, and then receiving a grade, helps them become better problem solvers, more empathetic, and allows them more freedom to be creative,” she said.

Tuttle also talked about the importance of a growth mindset in students, and gave parents practical advice on such things as changing the way they give praise to help children develop a growth mindset by praising effort as opposed to outcome.

Hillyer expressed excitement for what is available to today’s students, “Anyone can make anything these days. With free software and a 3D printer, kids anywhere can print whatever they are thinking.”

He compared what students can do today to his own experience: “I had to spend $5000 when I was at Art Center to produce a prototype of a head lamp.”

Dave Powers, CEO and president at Deckers, who could not attend due to a conflict, spoke to Wooden before the panel. Wooden shared some of Powers’ thoughts:

“When I (Dave) think back on the successes of my life, they all came from areas where I pushed myself, or the business, or took a risk. Not from doing what was expected or delivering on the expectations …

“In relating this to the classroom, I believe it is critical that we go beyond the textbook and inspire critical thinking skills and curiosity in our children.

“By challenging our children to problem solve, to work in a cross functional group, to have free time to think creatively and to constantly iterate on projects, we are allowing them to build the skills that will be most important as they enter into adulthood and the workforce.

“You cannot learn 21st century skills in a textbook, they come from the right kind of learning environment that allows each person to understand their strengths and test their capabilities beyond the normal classroom.”

Wooden summed up the day’s insights: “We can’t really know what students will need for the future. There is no one answer and what we think today is likely to change tomorrow.

“Today’s talk helped us understand the skills and strengths today’s students will need to land on their feet no matter what the future holds,” he said.

Next year’s Marymount Speakers Series will feature Devorah Heitner, founder of Raising Digital Natives and author of Helping Kids Thrive (and Survive) in Their Digital World.

Heitner’s talk at Marymount or parents and teachers will focus on how we can best support young people as they navigate their co-existence with technology.

— Molly Seguel for Marymount of Santa Barbara.