Yesterday on Meet the Press there was a very relevant discussion about education.  I wish we could introduce Grady Talks to this panel. 

On the show Bill Bennett, Former Sec. of Education,  says, “We need to get adults involved in the child’s world”.   Tim Shiver, Chairman of The Special Olympics, says, “We can teach children to be optimistic and persistent.  He asks, “What would it take for kids to leave the school inspired?”.   Tavis Smiley, NPR Host, says “Kids need to know how to think critically for themselves” and Donna Shalala, former Sec. of Health and Human Services,  says “Students need to know how to absorb new knowledge”. 

Grady Talks is a volunteer effort which endeavors to link urban public high school students with business professionals, in order to ignite the passion needed to develop a healthy life. This includes providing opportunities for these students to succeed through connections with business professionals, creating a plan to help students define success while encouraging them to follow their dreams and passions. The goal of Grady Talks is to provide every student in urban Atlanta Schools the chance to engage professionals in any business field and hear important stories of lessons learned by the great minds in the business world. For more information visit www.gradytalks.org

Recently, Genie Sockel spoke about her career path to kick off a series of 18 talks scheduled at Grady High this year. She talked about how she went to Yale Law school and made a transition to creating a sensitivity training company.

The students seemed to really respond to her inspirational message and many chose to send her thank you notes to express their feelings.  Here are some excerpts from the notes that Genie received from the students:

1. “You convinced me that you have to follow your dream.  I was absolutely inspired by your presentation.”
    
2. “As you presented, every word you said was meaningful.”
    
3. “You helped me put my future into perspective. You showed us when you said just because you went to college for law,  you still changed your career path.”
    
4. “Your presentation has motivated me to take more control of my life and career path.  I admire your hard work and it makes me want to work even harder.”
    
5. “I did learn something…thank you for coming on short notice.”
    
6. “You made me realize that through work and perseverance, you can achieve anything.” 
    
7. “I love you, you are awesome.”
    
8. “I really took what you said into consideration.”
    
9. “Thank you for being an inspiration and teaching us something new….thank you for bringing out important information about networking, discrimination, and tools that can get us through life.” 
    
10. “You taught me “Akamai” which I think is cool.”
     
11. “You have inspired me and releaved stress.  Now, I’m not worried about zig-zagging and changing my major or career path.”
     
12. “I have learned a few key tips to find my goal in life.” 
     
13. “You are good people!”

The entire talk can be viewed here:

Genie Sockel: Being Your Akamai Self from Grady Talks on Vimeo.

Experienced Lawyer, Genie Sockel, owner of Akamai Sensitivity Training (akamaisensitivitytraining.com) talks to a class at Atlanta’s Grady High School about her career and the student’s future. Genie shares her experiences with the students and asks them to think of the benefits make a good impression on people and avoiding unintended offenses due to a lack of cultural sensitivity. She explains what it means to understand your own personal “Smarts” and to use your “Smartness” to leverage improvements in other parts of your life.

http://bit.ly/nmnYdu

Today we post a new video of yesterday’s talk by Genie Sockel which she titles, Being Your Akamai Self. Genie explains that Akamai means Smart in the sense that your smarts are your strengths. The short version of the talks is posted below. To find the full length talk, follow this link to our Vimeo Page here.

In this short clip, Genie teaches an important life lesson using dating as an example. Do you have a similar story you might share that happened in your life?

As a last minute change, workplace sensitivity expert Genie Sockel,  has agreed to present her career perspective to students at Grady High School.  We are lucky to have get Genie jump in on short notice.

Genie has worked as a employment litigator at one of the nation’s top employment law firms.  She now runs Akamai Sensitivity Training.   She helps managers who may not be aware of the impact of their communication and behavior on their colleagues and subordinates.

For students, misplaced humor, sometimes heard in their own homes, can easily blow a job interview and make the difference between success and failure.   Look for Genie’s talk to be posted in the coming days.

Also, we’ve been fortunate to receive support from Atlanta-based Prommis Solutions.   Prommis recently provided marketing support, logistics and technical support for the launch of our website,  GradyTalks.org.  Prommis Solutions is a leading  provider of technology-enabled knowledge processing services for the management and resolution of defaulting residential mortgages, including home retention, REO closing and other mortgage-related services.  We are grateful for their support.

This week Joy Goodman kicks off the twice monthly speakers series for Grady Talks. Joy spoke to a class at Grady High School last year and told some inspiring stories of her years as an educator. In this quick excerpt from her talk, she shows her skill at “turning lemons into lemonade” in handling a child with stage fright.