Change Makers

Attribution: by David Brooks; New York Times; Opinion; Feb 8, 2018

But, these days machines can do pretty much anything that's repetitive. The new world reqires a different sort of person. Drayton calls this new sort of person a changemaker.

Changemakers are people who can see the patterns around them, identify the problems in any situation, figure out ways to solve the problem, organize fluid teams, lead collective action and then continually adapt as situations change.

Cognitive empathy is the ability to perceive how people are feeling in evolving circumstances. "For the good of all: is the capacity to build teams.

Millions of people already live with this mind-set. But a lot of people still inhabit the world of following rules and repetitive skills. The hear society telling them "We don't need you. We don't need your kids, either". Of course, those people go into reationary mode and strike back.

Very few kids take action to solve the first problem they see, but eventually they come back having conceived and owning an idea. They organize their friends and do something. The adult's job now, is to get out of the way. Put the kids in charge. Once a kid has had an ideat, built a team and changed her world, she's a changemaker. She has the power. She'll go on to organize more teams. She will always be needed.

Drayton asks parents: "Does your daughter know that she is a changemaker? Is she practicing changemaking?" He tells them: "If you can't answer "yes" to these questions, you have urgent work to do."

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