Ned Kelly
(all these analogies have can from Bryan Kelly, my dad, and co-founder of the venture capital firm, Anthos)
“Cituis, Altius, Fortius, when I turned forty I had this tattooed on my ribcage because I want to be reminded of this every day. This is the Olympic creed, it means higher faster stronger, not higher faster stronger than other people but in an absolute sense. This reminds me daily to focus on beating my personal record rather than focus on beating other people's records.”
My dad’s mantra speaks to me because, in the past, when I have focused on my personal growth as opposed to the competition, I have been most happy and successful. I believe this is the most successful mindset, and it is not just applicable to adults. However, for some reason, I feel that this mindset is not taught in schools. In school, to be successful, you need to be competitive with your peers since grades and tests are how students perceive success. While competitiveness may help motivate individuals to work harder, personal growth and improvement should be the ultimate goal rather than outperforming others.
In the professional world, I have learned that the most successful people are contrarian thinkers. These people are innovators, crafting their own unique ideas, and carving their own path. If we were to think of the world as a pie, these individuals aren’t competing for parts of the pie. Instead of competing with others, they are creating a new pie. By focusing on innovation and solving a problem that people have in a new way, these businesses have a huge head start and have the ability to form a monopoly. In a monopoly, a business doesn’t have any substantial competition, so they can focus on their own growth and can continue to innovate.
Amazon is a great example of creating new markets because of Jeff Bezos’s contrarian mindset. Amazon pioneered a completely new industry. What started as a niche online book-selling business became the everything store. Amazon was not an overnight success because having a mindset of innovation is not the only ingredient to making a pie, hard work and persistence are the other core ingredients needed to bake the pie. Amazon had all of these qualities, making it the huge success it is today. So, how does this relate to school?
In school, like business, everyone is competing over the same thing: good grades. But teachers don’t give out unlimited A’s, so people compete over those A’s. Everyone wants a good grade: everyone wants a piece of the pie. This is a zero sum game (when the pie cannot get bigger or smaller). Thus, your success is limited to the size of the pie.
This mindset is very relevant to building successful companies, and to practice these pie making skills earlier in life, you can apply this mindset to school. A few ways to do this include: 1) learning the material to achieve mastery 2) focusing on competing against yourself rather than against your peers, , 3) brainstorm and collaborate with other students, 4) find creative solutions to problems, and 5) don't tie success to a grade outcome. These are all examples on how to apply a contrarian mindset to traditional school, but are there different types of schooling that may be better for training your pie making skills?
A schooling system that I think would help students carve out their own unique paths and create their own pies would be 1:1 learning. This model allows students to: 1) connect with a relatable role model they see themselves in, 2) dive deep into a student’s passion, and 3) make something tangible to showcase their knowledge.
First, to help students create their own pies and set their own goals, it is important to have inspiring role models that can serve as teachers. In a traditional school, a teacher can make or break a year. If you were to choose your teacher, you have agency on finding someone that you look up to, which can change your relationship with a topic.
Furthermore, in traditional school, topics are only studied for a finite amount of time and maybe one of those topics can be something you are passionate about but with 1:1 learning, when you find something you are passionate about, you can dive deeper into the topic. For example, for me, I was curious about philosophy. In a traditional classroom, say history, you go from one unit to the next, and if there’s a specific topic that piques your interest, you need to move on.
Finally, tests are a big part of a student's education, but tests feel like you are competing with the rest of your class for the A’s and there are only so many that can be handed out. It’s a zero sum game - everyone is competing for a piece of the pie. Students are focused more on the grade over the substance of what they are learning and it creates this game that students compete over. Something that would solve this would be project based learning. Instead, you are making something completely on your own. You are defining your own vision of success, making your own pie.
While a growth mindset and the ability to carve one’s own path rather than focusing on competition are crucial to becoming successful, the right environment and support system are equally important for students to achieve their full potential. Students need learning environments where risk-taking and failure are encouraged. They need mentors to guide them, not force them down a predetermined path. The freedom to explore one’s interests at one’s own pace is key. My next post will explore how expectations and pressures can negatively impact motivation and passion, making it impossible for students to create their own pie. I am excited to explore how we can create environments where students feel empowered to define and work toward their own vision of success by reflecting on my own experiences.
Imagine it’s Sunday morning at 5:00 am. You are sleeping, and suddenly, you hear a crash. You jump out of your bed and sprint into the living room where you see your nine year old child with a broken vase at their feet. You know they messed up. What do you do?
In my last blog post, I explored the factors that lead to a student’s success, and core to this is the environment parents foster for their child. In the scenario described above, as a parent, you want to make a decision that will ultimately benefit your child. Through my research, I have found that there is no right answer to how to respond to this scenario since it is so dependent on who your child is. For example, if the child who broke the vase was someone who had lots of empathy, you would treat them differently than if the child didn’t care.
After researching and interviewing a former early development psychologist for the University of Washington, my grandma, Jean Kelly, I have learned in depth about the three main parenting styles: authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive. Though most people immediately assume an authoritative parenting style is the most effective, each style can be beneficial in different scenarios. For example, a kid that is not resilient and who has done something wrong would benefit from a more strict, authoritarian parenting style. After doing research, I learned that different parenting styles shape distinct characteristics in children, as authoritarian parenting cultivates resilience and grit, authoritative parenting fosters curiosity and empathy, and permissive parenting instills confidence.
Authoritarian: a parenting style that has very strict rules and high expectations with little emotional connection between the child and parent.
Authoritative: a parenting style that hold the child to high standards with less strict rules while still being supportive and comforting.
Permissive: a parenting style with few rules while being very supportive and comforting.
Imagine this situation: Your child consistently neglects to complete their assigned chores, specifically cleaning up their room. They claim to have done it, but upon inspection, you discover that their room remains untidy, and this is not the first occurrence. How should you confront your child in this situation? Taking an authoritarian approach can be beneficial in this scenario. By being stern, you establish clear expectations and consequences for your child's actions. This response aims to teach them the values of hard work, responsibility, and resilience by applying punishments when necessary. For instance, you might respond with a firm tone, saying, "Why isn't your room clean? Clean it now," and impose an appropriate consequence as a deterrent. To illustrate the effects of authoritarian parenting, we can look at real-life examples. "The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" by Amy Chua offers insights into a strict authoritarian parenting style. Chua, a mother, adopted this approach with her daughters, Lulu and Sophia. She compelled them to learn musical instruments from a young age, insisting on several hours of practice daily. Chua believed that her children needed to face challenges and not be spoiled in comparison to the hardships previous generations in her family had endured. However, this parenting style had mixed results. While Sophia thrived under the pressure and found success in playing the instrument, Lulu rebelled against her mother's strict approach and eventually quit. This highlights the individual compatibility aspect of authoritarian parenting. Some children may respond positively to strict discipline, while others may struggle and rebel against it. This anecdote resonates with personal experiences as well. I can relate to this scenario because, during my childhood, my family placed immense pressure on me academically and in sports. However, being self-driven and disliking excessive pressure like Lulu, I began to resent these activities. Recognizing this, my parents eventually adopted a more relaxed approach, understanding that different children have different needs and responses to parenting styles.
Let's explore another scenario and discuss the benefits of another style of parenting. Imagine this situation: You're at a park with your seven-year-old child who is accustomed to getting their way by crying. While playing, your child trips and sustains a minor cut. Despite the injury being insignificant, they start crying loudly. How should you respond? In this case, adopting an authoritative parenting style would be appropriate. Being authoritative involves showing empathy while maintaining firmness. A suitable response could be, "Hey buddy, I understand that it hurts, but it doesn't seem to be that bad. Let's clean you up, and it's time to stop crying." Numerous studies have highlighted the positive effects of authoritative parenting. The New York Times summarizes this by stating, "Research shows that children of authoritative parents perform better in school than their peers, are more honest with their parents, and are also kind and compassionate." These conclusions are supported by studies conducted by the National Library of Medicine, which demonstrate that children raised by authoritative parents tend to experience greater success academically, professionally, and socially.
Let's explore another scenario and delve into the research on permissive parenting. Consider this situation: Your child is at school, but when it's time for them to come home, they fail to return promptly. After a thirty-minute delay, they finally arrive, visibly dirty, and attempt to sneak into their room unnoticed. However, you catch sight of them. Given that this child is shy and reluctant to open up, how should you respond? In this case, responding with anger and accusations may not work. Instead, you could say something like, "Are you okay? What happened?" and reassure them by saying, "It will all be okay. Let's figure out what happened first." These permissive answers may seem lenient, but they can foster an environment where the child feels comfortable opening up to you without fear of judgment. This approach can promote their confidence and willingness to share their experiences. While permissive parenting is often viewed negatively, it can be beneficial in specific scenarios, such as with a shy child who struggles to express themselves openly. Now, let's examine some research that supports this response in the given scenario. One informative source discussing the pros and cons of permissive parenting is verywellmind. According to their post, the pros of permissive parenting include having affectionate parents, a lower likelihood of developing addiction issues, and higher self-esteem. On the other hand, the cons outlined in the post include lower levels of achievement due to the absence of expectations, poorer decision-making skills resulting from excessive freedom, increased aggression, and limited emotional understanding due to a lack of emotional regulation guidance and poor time management. Although the cons generally outweigh the pros, there have been instances where children raised in a permissive manner have achieved success. The key lies in understanding that different parenting styles suit different situations and individuals.
To all parents who have invested their time in reading this blog, I hope you now have a comprehensive understanding on the pros, cons, and underlying principles and impact of the three main parenting styles. Furthermore, I hope you recognize that there is no universally applicable approach to parenting, necessitating adaptability to both your child's unique needs and the circumstances at hand. While the school environment undeniably plays a significant role in a child's development, it is important to acknowledge that parents may have an even greater influence. In my next post, get ready to delve into the emergence of AI and its impact on a student's education.
The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) brings us into what I’ll call the cyborg era of man, in which humans and machines are inextricably blended together. Like a tidal wave, AI is sweeping in and changing the world, especially the working world as we know it, dramatically increasing efficiency while also eliminating jobs and causing serious ethical concerns. Obviously, schools will have to adapt. The question is, how to do so? As a student who has been playing around with AI and started researching this tool, I believe that AI will forever alter the educational landscape, with positive or harmful repercussions depending on how schools embrace this new technology. In this blog post, I offer my opinion to school administrators on how best to implement AI in schools.
Why is it an existential risk to our education system if we don’t begin discussing AI immediately in the classroom? What are the repercussions? Without question, AI will have a huge impact on all walks of life, including our education system, jobs, and society as a whole. AI will eliminate many repetitive and routine jobs while also making the remaining jobs more efficient. According to the Brookings Institute, all major lines of work will be impacted by AI, but some more severely than others. The most affected groups are those in science, agriculture, and the engineering fields. We need to prepare students for this changing world, or they will be the ones most impacted.
To best prepare students for the coming AI-centric world, schools should focus on developing skills that AI lacks and also teach students early how best to utilize AI as a powerful tool. Teaching students skills such as critical thinking, creativity, and social intelligence will ensure that students have skills that are complementary to AI rather than skills that are easily replaceable by AI. It is also critical that students develop an understanding and mastery of how to utilize AI to make them more productive. I recommend that as early as grade 3 or 4, schools start dedicating 1 hour per week to teaching students how to use AI responsibly and what to be cautious of. In this weekly hour, teachers can implement AI in different ways and facilitate AI related discussions. With agreed guidelines, students can utilize AI to complete homework assignments, compare its answers to other reliable sources to learn when it works best, research and read academic studies about AI, and listen to experts from different fields explain its impact. If we stay ahead of the curve and teach students how to use AI properly, they will have more job opportunities and won’t be left behind in this new world. And, of course, to facilitate effective teaching of our students, we should begin immediately educating our teachers on how best to integrate AI into their teaching.
Even though AI can be an extraordinarily useful tool when used properly, it can also be a powerful tool for cheating, both in schools and in the workplace, if appropriate restrictions and safeguards are not in place. So now the question becomes, how do we adapt AI into schools and avoid the potential negative repercussions? To answer this question, let’s look at history to explore the impact of other technological disruptions in education. For example, the calculator. When the calculator was first developed, people were skeptical about its use in schools. Educators worried that students would not learn the proper mental math skills and would become dependent on calculators. As soon as mathematicians and the broader population began using calculators, however, teachers realized that calculators were an essential tool students needed to learn to become successful, efficient, and productive members of society, leading to the adoption of the calculator in school and on select assignments.
We are facing a similar but greater dilemma as AI is introduced in the classroom. As with calculators, there are certain assignments where students need to be tested on how well they leverage and utilize this technology, while there are other situations where students must learn certain foundational skills without relying on AI. Thus, teachers must ensure that the proper guardrails are in place to prevent cheating when evaluating students for necessary foundational skills. Teachers can effectively evaluate these skills by changing relevant assignments and tests to be mostly performed in school rather than at home, so teachers can actively monitor students’ work. I also suggest that teachers assign more in-person collaborative projects that focus on social aspects and consider changing grading to focus more on things AI can’t do, such as leadership, collaboration, empathy, presentation skills, and nuanced ideas. An example of an assignment that would be less relevant in a world of AI would include grading for grammar, punctuation, memorization, etc. Instead, I would assign an improv storytelling exercise that requires collaboration skills with other classmates and culminates in a presentation to the class.
A school system that fully embraces AI will completely alter the education field as we know it. Imagine it's the year 2033. Technology has advanced to the point where AI is seamlessly integrated into schools. Let's imagine a typical day for a student and teacher. John, a math teacher, wakes up and eats breakfast while his AI assistant briefs him on the day's schedule, pulling up lesson plans and student data automatically. When John arrives at school, his first class has a quiz scheduled. The students take the quiz on their tablets, which are instantly graded by AI. John can immediately see a detailed analysis of each student's strengths and weaknesses on the quiz, as well as recommendations for personalized follow-up instruction. After class, John asks his AI teaching assistant to generate a customized study plan for each student aimed at filling each student's individual knowledge gaps. The AI assistant churns out detailed reports, including generated practice problems tailored to each learner's needs. It only takes John a few minutes to review and approve the plans before moving on. Later, when John needs to email parents about an upcoming field trip, his AI writing assistant helps compose the message, checking for typos, tone, and even suggesting personalized details to include for each family.
Meanwhile, students are also benefiting from AI. Sarah wakes up and checks her AI-generated daily schedule, which includes suggested study sessions based on her past performance and learning goals. On the bus to school, she uses an AI tutoring app to get personalized explanations of concepts she's struggling with. In math class, Sarah follows along in her AI-powered textbook, which adapts the material to her level and learning style. She can ask questions by voice and see mini-lessons generated on the spot to reinforce challenging topics. After class, the AI tutor identifies a few areas in which Sarah needs more practice and creates customized problems just for her to solve. With AI handling busy work and routine teaching tasks, John the teacher can focus on building personal connections with students and addressing their individual needs, while students like Sarah can learn at their own pace with guidance tailored to their needs.
To all educators who are reading this, the rise of AI is upon us, and the time to act is now. At this crossroads of education and AI, we face two stark alternatives. One is a dystopian world where AI consumes jobs, divides people, and harms society if adopted without care. Students may be outpaced by algorithms they don't understand. But there is also an optimistic path. With care taken today, schools can unlock students' potential exponentially through personalized learning facilitated by AI. Imagine classrooms where human teachers provide the emotional support, inspiration, and individual student focus needed for students to flourish while AI removes busywork and supercharges creativity. Picture students guided on self-directed paths of mastery and purpose. This uplifting future is possible if we act decisively in the present to integrate emerging technology ethically and for good.
I wanted to start a massive business.
4 months ago, I sat by my computer, staring at an empty ogle doc, racking my brain for ideas, for big ideas, for the ideas that would shape a new industry. The longer I sat there, the more doubt filled my mind. How would I, a 7th grader, create an industry-making idea?
How did Steve Jobs create a company that became a world leader in telecommunication? How did Phil Knight create the biggest shoe brand of all time? How did Warren Buffet make 122 billion dollars from Berkshire Hathaway?
How did these entrepreneurs single-handedly create million, billion, or even trillion dollar businesses?
The longer I sat there, staring at my blank Google doc, the more doubt filled my mind.
When was the last time I found myself feeling so lost? I thought back to when I wanted to start a blog to share my ideas with the world and become a better communicator. Back then, I faced similar challenges: what topic was I uniquely suited to write about?
Why was I qualified to start a business? As these questions circled my mind, I thought back to the lessons I had learned writing multiple blog posts. I needed perseverance and confidence to get things off the ground.
Now the questions I started asking myself were: why not me? Why not anyone? If you never try, you’ll never know what you would have accomplished.
So now having launched my business, I want to share the lessons I’ve learned from this experience. For any aspiring entrepreneurs who do not know where to get started, the most important advice I can give you is: find a problem that you can relate to, take the time to really define and empathize with who you are building for, and embody a resilient, iterative, learning mentality.
With my newfound courage, I started to brainstorm opportunities to tackle big industries that need a solution (ie, climate change, human rights, etc)… the huge issues our world faces. Excited to tackle these trillion dollar market opportunities, I reached out to a fellow entrepreneur to hear his advice. His first question was: why was I uniquely suited to build a company in these spaces? Feeling defeated and lost, I went back to the drawing board but with a new mindset. Instead of thinking about big world issues, I started to break down 3 simple things: my interests, what I am good at, and what the world needs. This all led me back to my family. So now with a clearly defined audience, I started to think about challenges my family faces in our everyday life. I love my little sister Claire to death. So, my first instinct was to think of a company that would help her become the best version of herself. What I felt was the biggest issue in my sister’s life was her screen time usage. She seemed to be on it all the time and I was worried that it’d impact her future. But after talking to my parents and sister, I realized that there wasn’t much of an opportunity to create a differentiated product that would limit adolescent screen time usage. Even with this roadblock, I still felt empowered because I had made progress on defining the audience I wanted to serve. I needed a better solution, though. I turned to the Y Combinator directory to find inspiration from other companies in a similar space. I stumbled upon an app that was trying to gamify incentive models. Then, it hit me… in today's digital age, children are constantly glued to their screens, leaving parents struggling to find effective ways to motivate them, leading to constant battles over household chores. But what if there was a gamified app that empowered parents to assign chores to their kids, with incentives that were only unlocked once the children provided proof of completing their tasks?
Overflowing with excitement to build this product, my mind was rushing with ideas. I wanted to immediately build it. I thought back to some of the greatest entrepreneurs and how they did it. Phil Knight spent years really understanding his customer base, connecting with them, understanding their problems and aspirations, and it took so many iterations to really build something revolutionary. No great company was built in a day, so holding back the urge to go straight into defining a solution, I took the necessary but grueling steps to understand and research the problem space and the users I wanted to build for.
When thinking about who we were building for, two users came to mind: parents and kids. Our app needed to address and understand each of their problems intimately. I went through many steps, which included researching online, conducting interviews to hear different people’s direct experiences with the problem, and creating a survey to get quantitative data on how people feel about this problem today. After weeks of work, we were finally able to answer the important questions that would define the business we wanted to build.
To define this problem, we needed to understand all the problems each of our users faced, so we categorized the issues based on who faced the problem. To validate these assumptions, we did online research to get sources to understand this problem space more clearly. We then wanted to hear from people directly so we did live calls and sent surveys. With this added information, we redefined the problem and started hypothesizing what a solution might look like. With all this, we started simplifying the app to the triggers, inputs, and actions to make a simple minimum viable product. We then determined what nice to haves versus must haves and dream features for the future. This helped us create a roadmap with product features. We then started sketching a simplistic design. Finally, we researched what technology tools we could use to actually build this.
Finally, after thoroughly defining, connecting, and researching the solution and users, I could finally start on the next design thinking process, prototype. Steve Jobs took two and a half years to create the iphone, so that is the standard I must hold myself if I want to create a company that will last throughout generations. Steve Jobs had years and years of experience with technology and engineers working for him to build the iPhone. I had zero experience creating an app. Again, I was feeling lost - where would I start? I spent so much time and effort planning and now how was I going to create an actual product? Instead of giving up and throwing away my idea, I powered through and found a scrappy solution using existing tools that I could learn and integrate easily. My goal for this first prototype was to make a functioning product that didn’t necessarily look pretty but had the features needed to get feedback from users. My strategy was to build my app around users feedback so I could quickly iterate and find a solution for problems that my current users already had, starting with my family.
The final tools I ended up using were zapier (an online automation tool that can connect different tools together), notion (a clean dashboard where we can display all the features the app needs to display), and typeform (a form we can use to gather data for the dashboard). For this first iteration, I wanted to add the essential features for a chore app, and then eventually add the nice-to-have additional features that would further hook my users. At its core, the app would need to be able to assign chores, mark proof and completion of chores, and a display for users to know when and what was needed to be completed.
I thought these tools would be self explanatory and easy to use, but I ended up running into many roadblocks and issues along the way. I constantly was hitting bugs and it wasn’t working. My mind went spiraling down. All this work just to be flushed down the drain because I didn’t know how to build it. I went back to my entrepreneur friend and asked him for advice. He told me to just do it. Yes, it’s going to be messy, yes it will take a long time, and yes it might not even work in the end, but you still have to give it a shot.
Finally, after working on it for weeks, I had a usable prototype, so I rushed to my family eager to see them try it out. I was ecstatic. Weeks and weeks of work had finally paid off into something that could be used. As I was planning my celebration party for the launch, I watched my family begin using the product. At that moment, I saw myself in Steve Jobs shoes, it felt like I was unveiling the iPhone for the first time. But instead of unveiling the next revolutionary product, I realized my product wasn’t even usable. The app worked but I failed to see that the app needed a way to notify users when their chores were assigned or completed. Back to the drawing board I went. I kept at this process of testing, presenting the changes to my family, and then iterating until I had a product that would solve their problems. With this small group, I was able to fail quickly, learn from my mistakes, and iterate until I had something that I was proud enough to scale up.
And yes, I haven’t yet reached my lofty aspirations, but I still hope that I can share lessons from my experience building. So far, my most important learnings have been to find a problem you are passionate about, connect with the audience that your problem addresses, and continue through all the roadblocks. While my only users so far have been my family, I will not stop until my idea helps all families across the world struggling with household chores. If you have any more questions about my journey or have any thoughts on how I can improve my business, please contact me at ned.kelly4040@gmail.com.
The journey has just started. There is a lot more ahead of us, so let’s keep pushing!