Trending In Ed with Mike Palmer

What if the safest career path in an era of rapid AI disruption is actually doing something entrepreneurial or mission-driven?

In this episode of Trending in Education, Mike Palmer is joined by Arun Gupta, CEO of NobleReach Foundation and author of The Mission Generation: Reclaim Your Purpose, Rewrite Success, Rebuild Our Future. Drawing from his background as a venture capitalist, Georgetown and Stanford instructor, and public service advocate, Arun breaks down why traditional stability is becoming the new risk and how emerging generations—and professionals at all career stages—can align personal ambition with civic purpose.

They discuss why fewer than 7% of government tech workers are under the age of 30, how to modernize public service pathways beyond outdated hiring portals, and why AI will elevate human-centric strengths like curiosity, judgment, and cross-domain experience. Arun also introduces a framework for rethinking individual net worth around five "hidden capitals"—trust, learning, experiential, mission, and health capital—that compound over a 60-year career horizon.

KEY INSIGHTS:

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 – Introduction: Arun Gupta and The Mission Generation

01:00 – From VC Bets to Public Service: Teaching "Valley Meets Mission" at Stanford & Georgetown

03:30 – The Tech Talent Gap: Why Under 7% of Government Tech Workers Are Under 30

06:00 – An Intergenerational Quest: Finding Purpose Across Every Stage of Life

07:00 – Purpose Markers vs. Prestige Markers: Why Stability is the New Risk

10:00 – Advice for Graduates: Service Stints, Entrepreneurial Mindsets, and Action-First Clarity

14:40 – The 4 Barriers to Mission Work & How AI Crosswalks Sector Silos

18:00 – Redefining Net Worth: Investing in the 5 Hidden Capitals

21:00 – Rebuilding Civic Pathways: Framing Public Service as a Career Enhancer

25:40 – Mid-Career Civic Sabbaticals & Purpose as a Longevity Driver

28:30 – From Independence to Interdependence: Designing Systems for Complex Problems

31:20 – The VC Risk Model: Reframing Decisions around "What If It Goes Right?"

38:00 – Silo Busting & Final Takeaways

Host Mike Palmer connects with Monica Marquez, founder of ⁠FlipWork⁠ and founding director of the ⁠TIDE Center at UNT Dallas⁠, to explore how humans can navigate the rapid disruption of AI in the workplace. Drawing from her deep background in human capital, diversity, and leadership development at industry giants like Goldman Sachs, Google, and Bank of America, Monica brings a deeply human-centered approach to the AI revolution. 

Mike and Monica skip the standard AI hype to discuss why simply rolling out AI tools isn't enough to drive real adoption. They dive into the psychology of AI integration, unpacking what Monica calls the "identity bottleneck" - the challenge workers face when shifting from a traditional mindset where "effort equals success" to a modern reality where "impact equals success." Monica also introduces her "long division" analogy for AI, explaining why we shouldn't ban the tool in classrooms or boardrooms, but instead require users to show their work and actively interrogate the AI's logic. 

Key Discussion Topics: 

* The Identity Bottleneck: Why our traditional conditioning to reward "grit and elbow grease" is causing resistance to AI's effortless outputs, and how to overcome the feeling of "cheating." 

* Measuring AI Fluency: A look at FlipWork's psychometric diagnostic, which assesses "agentic velocity" (individual adoption) and "enterprise symbiosis" (organizational support). 

* The Calculator Analogy: How educators and leaders can demand the "long division" of AI prompting to combat passive consumption ("work slop") and prevent cognitive atrophy. 

* Agentic Teams: Why AI isn't a one-size-fits-all solution and how to orchestrate specialized models (like Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini) just like human team members. 

* Democratizing Expertise: How everyday users can use AI as an accessible thinking partner to overcome biases, expand diversity of thought, and level the playing field. 

Whether you're an educator, an enterprise leader, or an individual trying to disrupt yourself before you get disrupted, this episode offers a practical blueprint for multiplying human genius in the AI age. Subscribe to Trending in Education on your preferred podcast platform, leave a review, and share this episode with your network. Visit ⁠TrendinginEd.com⁠ for more episodes and conversations on the future of learning and work.

Timestamps:

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

01:05 Monica’s Career Journey

03:57 Why FlipWork and AI

07:41 Enterprise Adoption Reality

13:45 Measuring AI Fluency

17:13 Identity Bottleneck Shift

21:56 Teaching Critical Thinking

26:08 Bias Trust and Agency

30:31 Guardrails and AI Teams

33:41 Final Takeaways

Host Mike Palmer connects with behavioral neuroscience expert and executive coach Dr. D. Ivan Young to discuss his book, Leading from the Heart. They analyze the balance between artificial intelligence and human emotion, detailing how self-empathy, compassion, and psychological safety impact leadership. Dr. Young also shares practical insights on managing emotional signals, navigating media-driven dopamine loops, and using metacognition to reset negative thought patterns.

Key Discussion Topics:

Self-Empathy First: Leaders cannot effectively provide empathy or compassion to others if they do not first possess it within themselves.

Thermostats vs. Thermometers: Effective leaders actively regulate the energy and psychological safety of an environment rather than merely reflecting the existing temperature.

Weaponized Empathy: Modern social media algorithms and political messaging exploit emotional triggers to divide populations, requiring individuals to consciously choose harmony instead.

The Thought Map: A tactile, metacognitive exercise using physical writing shifts activity across brain regions to halt an amygdala hijack.

Ethical AI & "Uriel": A clinical, patient-centered AI designed to eliminate programming bias and promote user self-efficacy and resilience.

Authentic Human Connection: Addressing the loneliness epidemic requires disconnecting from curated online personas and grounding oneself in nature.

Subscribe to Trending in Education on your preferred podcast platform, leave a review, and share this episode with your network.

Visit TrendinginEd.com for more episodes. Learn more about Dr. D. Ivan Young and pick up Leading from the Heart: The Essential Guide to Self-Empathy and Self-Compassion in Coaching and Clinical Practice

How do we shift the role of teachers from passive curriculum implementers to active classroom architects?

This week on Trending in Ed, host Mike Palmer is joined by K-12 math teacher and author Jim Gaona Ellis on the day his new book drops: Educators as Designers: The Hidden Architecture of Learning. Drawing from his unique background transitioning from an architecture student to a global educator across Phoenix, Madrid, and Vienna, Jim brings a fresh, human-centered lens to Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

We dive deep into the real-world application of design thinking in the classroom, moving past rigid checklists to focus heavily on the actual problems students face.

Key Insights:

Deconstructing "Hostile Design" in Schools: Jim explains how hostile urban architecture (like park benches built to deter the unhoused) mirrors common school punishments—such as stripping away a student's lunch period for missing homework. We discuss how these reactions merely mask symptoms rather than addressing root causes like student confusion or forgetfulness.

High-Tech vs. No-Tech Classroom Tools: We look at how Jim pairs digital platforms like Desmos to illustrate the immense scale of scientific notation with his absolute favorite tool: a massive, double-page whiteboard that fosters democratic, collaborative learning.

AI and the "Illusion of Learning": Recording in 2026, we tackle the double-edged sword of the AI revolution. Jim envisions a massive upside where backend AI instantly identifies learning differences like dyslexia and dynamically adjusts workloads on a slider scale. However, we weigh this against the front-end risk of cognitive offloading, which can rob students of critical thinking and create a false sense of academic progress.

Rejecting "Solution Salesmanship": Rather than treating educators as a passive market for pre-packaged tech tools, we advocate for an industry-wide return to respecting teachers as creative thought partners who co-design learning experiences directly with their students.

Embracing the Constraints: From navigating shifting cultural norms to managing the industrial "cells and bells" physical structure of school buildings, Jim shares how treating systemic limitations as design puzzles is the ultimate key to teacher longevity and instructional growth.

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Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction and welcoming Jim Gaona Ellis

01:30 - Jim's global journey: Transitioning from architecture to teaching in Phoenix, Madrid, and Vienna

03:30 - What inspired the book and expanding on traditional UDL frameworks

06:30 - Understanding "hostile design" in urban spaces and its parallels in modern classrooms

11:00 - The state of AI in 2026: Automatic backend accommodations vs. the front-end "illusion of learning"

16:30 - Moving past educational "solution salesmanship" to truly respect and empower teachers

20:00 - Classrooms in action: Visualizing data with Desmos vs. the democratic power of whiteboards

22:30 - Overcoming the industrial "cells and bells" model through thoughtful classroom experimentation

30:30 - Final takeaways: How to embrace systemic constraints as a learning designer

This week on Trending in Ed, host Mike Palmer is joined by Trending in Ed all-star Beth Rudden, CEO of Bast AI. From her roots digging in the dirt as an archaeologist to managing a $34 billion division as the Chief Data Officer of IBM Managed Services, Beth brings a deeply grounded, technical perspective to the artificial intelligence conversation.

In this wide-ranging and insightful conversation, Mike and Beth skip the typical AI hype to explore what it actually takes to build explainable, trustworthy technology. Beth shares how Bast AI acts as an LLM-agnostic explainability layer—using a unique drinking chocolate analogy to demonstrate how they verify AI data rather than letting models hallucinate plausible narratives. They explore the practical application of using small language models (SLMs) for data enrichment, highlighted by Bast AI's meaningful work with Craig Hospital to translate complex neuro-spine outpatient procedures into accessible languages and analogies.

KEY INSIGHTS:

• Inverting the Chatbot Approach: Why defining what an AI can talk about is far more effective than building restrictive guardrails.

They also cross paths with the Cynefin framework, explain how the human brain conserves energy by only holding two paradoxes at once, and unpack the cultural shifts reshaping modern engineering ethics.

Stay ahead of the curve in education and technology! Please like and share this episode with your network, and follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite player so you never miss an episode like this one.

LINKS:

Learn more about Bast AI: https://www.bast.ai

Subscribe to Beth's Substack: https://substack.com/@bethrudden

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 - Introduction and welcoming Beth Rudden back to the show

In this milestone 750th episode of Trending in Education, host Mike Palmer takes the podcast on the road to the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) for the Next Level Lab Spring Learning Summit. Centered on the future of work, workforce learning, and instructional design, this episode features a dynamic series of conversations with emerging researchers and educational innovators who are reimagining how humans learn, lead, and thrive alongside advancing technology. Mike kicks off the celebration by reflecting on the podcast’s 750-episode journey, giving a nod to the community, and sharing updates on his latest media projects before diving into a packed poster session at the summit. The episode features five insightful interviews that bridge the gap between human capability and technological innovation.

Ruiz Clark from Digital Promise shares his research on the Digital Leadership Convergence Model. He outlines a strategic project working with a large California school district to establish a vision for AI literacy, explaining why educational systems must look past basic technical literacy to completely rethink the purpose of education in an automated world.

Palak Chandak and Archana Chaudhary discuss their framework for Humanics Integrated Business Studies (HIBS). They detail an innovative curriculum designed to cultivate durable skills, like communication and critical thinking, highlighting a real-world pilot project that embedded business students within coastal surf schools in India to solve community-driven challenges.

Chilean entrepreneur Felipe Vergara Iduya introduces Hestia, an AI-supported framework designed to capture unstructured community evidence—such as peer relationships, behavior patterns, and school climate data—to foster system-level wellbeing within school ecosystems.

Beth Sapire examines the intersection of learning and healing. Drawing on adult development theories and constructive developmental psychology, she outlines the systemic conditions necessary for expansive, collective learning within complex organizations.

Finally, Sean Snyder and Bill Wisser from the HGSE Teaching and Learning Lab (TLL) break down their design and development process. They discuss the creation of a university-wide data fluency initiative for Harvard staff and explain how they utilized AI voice generation and animation tools to optimize course assets for the Data-Wise Learning Institute.

Show References:

Running It Back Podcast: Mike's Lessons Learned From Sports podcast with Tarlin Ray.

⁠Palm Court Pod:⁠ Mike's New College of Florida podcast with Grant Balfour and Megan Citron. Here's the John Oliver piece chronicling the challenges faced by Mike's alma mater.

New College Film Project: Learn more about the documentary First They Came For My College directed by Harry Hanbury at newcollegefilm.com.

The Convergence Model: Download the paper and view the poster framework developed by Ruiz Clark at theconvergencemodel.com.

HGSE Teaching and Learning Lab: Explore the resources, course design support, and institutional projects mentioned by Sean and Bill at tll.gse.harvard.edu.

Innovation-ish: Read up on the book by summit host Tessa Forshaw and co-author Rich Braden, a frequent touchstone on the podcast regarding creative confidence.

ElevenLabs: Explore the AI voice generation platform utilized by the TLL team to streamline production logistics for simulated learning environments.

Adobe Character Animator: Discover the performance-based animation software used to bring the TLL team's simulated teaching avatars to life.

Timestamps:

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Big changes are coming to Trending in Ed. Next Tuesday, June 9th, we are hitting a historic milestone: Episode 750. To celebrate our upcoming 10th-anniversary season, we are completely reinventing the show's structure for a massive Summer 2026 Sprint.

We are officially launching four dedicated summer tracks to follow the changing talent and learning landscape:

K-12 Classroom Design

AI & EdTech

The Future of Work

The Future of Higher Ed

We have a powerhouse lineage of global experts, McKinsey-level operators, and national bestselling authors dropping all summer long—including folks like Arun Gupta, Beth Rudden, Jim Gaona Ellis, and Dr. Özgür Bolat.

The sprint officially starts next Tuesday, June 9th, with an immersive, roving-report field documentary straight from the floor of the Harvard Next Level Lab Learning Summit in Cambridge.

Core interviews drop every single Tuesday morning. Make sure you are subscribed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen so you don't miss a single drop.

Trending in Ed dropping like its HOT all Summer long!

Commencement season is here, and while we all love the tradition, let’s be honest: a lot of graduation ceremonies are still operationally stuck in the 18th century. This week, Chase Rigby, CEO of Tassel, joins Mike Palmer to talk about what it actually takes to modernize the final milestone of the student lifecycle. Chase shares his path from teaching seventh-grade math and science with Teach For America to working as a product manager at Google, before ultimately using a search fund model to acquire Marching Order and evolve it into Tassel.

We dig into why forward-thinking colleges are moving away from treating graduation as just a logistical headache and starting to view it as a strategic marketing and recruitment engine. Chase explains how Tassel is trying to upend the traditional business model by moving away from nickel-and-diming students with steep fees for their own achievement, and instead leveraging community gifting platforms that put money back in their pockets for rent or student debt. We also get into the tech side of things, discussing how they train AI models on a 20-year phonetic database to get broadcast-quality name pronunciations on stage, all while navigating the strict landscape of biometric privacy and user consent. It turns out getting that final touchpoint right pays massive dividends for lifelong alumni relations.

Episode Timestamps:

00:00 - Chase's journey from Teach For America to product management at Google.

03:00 - Running a search fund and finding the graduation space with Marching Order.

05:30 - Shifting mindsets: Treating commencement as a strategic marketing and alumni recruitment tool.

09:00 - Turning graduation into a net-positive financial event for students via gifting.

12:30 - Blending digital software with real life to provide free graduation photos.

18:30 - How Tassel uses a 20-year phonetic database and AI to nail name pronunciation on stage.

21:30 - Tackling biometric privacy, user consent, and BIPA compliance.

28:30 - Scaling campus software point solutions and trends in the lower middle market.

32:30 - Final takeaways, looking out for Tassel at upcoming ceremonies, and closing shots.

Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you listen to podcasts to stay ahead of the curve on what's emerging across the changing landscape of education!

In this episode of Trending in Education, host Mike Palmer welcomes Erika Kitzmiller, a research associate professor at the University of Chicago and author of the new book, Unchartered: How One Public High School Transformed First Generation College Success. Drawing on her own background as a former middle school teacher and a proud first-generation college graduate, Kitzmiller shares the insights gained from an intensive, multi-year case study of a public high school pseudonymously named Clayton.

While the school boasted a near-100 percent college acceptance rate, only half of its alumni were successfully graduating from college. To address this gap, Kitzmiller and Clayton’s principal designed a unique practice-to-research partnership that centered student voices, incorporated alumni interviews, and directly empowered youth agency. The conversation explores pragmatic, on-the-ground structural changes implemented at Clayton that did not require massive budgets or flashy technology.

Kitzmiller discusses how the school expanded elective choices, created a dedicated senior college seminar embedded directly into the school day, and shifted student supports from an opt-in model to an opt-out expectation. The duo also notes the tangible benefits of Advanced Placement classes, which allowed students from low-income backgrounds to gain academic confidence and bypass large university introductory courses that frequently act as academic hurdles.

Beyond policy shifts, Kitzmiller highlights the vital role of building trust over long horizons and honoring the human stories of public school educators through detailed teacher portraits. This episode offers a grounded perspective on how K-12 institutions can actively prepare first-generation students for post-secondary endurance.

Timestamps:

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Cheryl Strauss Einhorn joins Mike Palmer to discuss her latest book, The Human Edge: Smarter Decisions in the Age of AI. As the founder of Decisive and a former investigative journalist for Barron's, Cheryl brings a unique perspective to the world of problem solving. Her career shift from reporting on corporate scandals to teaching at Columbia University stems from a desire to move beyond simple awareness of cognitive biases and toward a system that actively counters them.

The conversation centers on the AREA method, a decision making framework designed to manage the mental shortcuts that often lead us astray. Cheryl explains how her method separates research into distinct phases: Absolute, Relative, Exploration, Exploitation, and Analysis. By slowing down to evaluate information from multiple perspectives, decision makers can gain the conviction needed to act in high stakes environments.

The Human Edge focuses specifically on how humans can remain the chief deciders while using AI as a cognitive sidecar. Cheryl notes that while AI provides speed and vast amounts of data, it lacks personal context and an understanding of human consequences. She warns against AI sycophancy, where tools mirror our own preferences back to us and narrow our worldview. To combat this, she introduces the concept of the cheetah pause, a deliberate deceleration that allows for the agility and maneuverability required to navigate complex problems.

Mike and Cheryl also explore the role of AI in education and the workplace. They discuss using AI for perspective taking through role play, conducting pre-mortems to identify potential failures, and the importance of teaching decision science as a core competency in schools. The episode concludes with a reminder that our decisions define our future, and maintaining human agency is essential as we integrate powerful new technologies into our lives.

Time Stamps:

00:00 - Introduction and professional origin story

Links:

The Human Edge: Smarter Decisions in the Age of AI: https://www.amazon.com/Human-Edge-Smarter-Decisions-Age/dp/1119931313

Decisive: https://www.areamethod.com/

Problem-Solver Type Quiz: https://www.areamethod.com/quiz/

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