30. Breaking into Biotech: Linnea Fletcher's Inclusive Education and Workforce Upskilling at InnovATEBIO

[00:00:00] Ned: What is up? My friends? Welcome to Rebel and CREATE's Craft of Fatherhood podcast. This is your guide, Ned Shout. I believe our role as fathers has the power to change the world simply by knowing who we are and embracing the adventure. This episode is brought to you by the adventure of fatherhood, helping men discover their powerful fatherhood role and build their fatherhood skills.

[00:00:21] Ned: On these episodes, I'll share stories from my own fatherhood journey. So today's a pretty unique day. it's a Thursday, but my eldest child, Brooklyn, 17 years old, went to her first day of her senior year. Now I woke her up at six 15. got to make her breakfast. and then it went to kind of the morning of the kids getting ready for school, running around, seeing how we could help.

[00:00:47] Ned: And then my wife and I went outside. We took some pictures of our daughter and then we. Stood there, watched her walk to her car, watched her get in her car and drive away, and there was just this moment of. Like, wow, this is happening. This is real. I put my arm around my wife as Brooklyn's getting in the car.

[00:01:07] Ned: And, and we just stood there in that moment experiencing something that you almost never think is gonna arrive. And then here it is. I. But our goal has been to be really intentional with Brooklyn into the senior year. So that there are no, like, looking back thinking, I wish we would have done X, Y, or Z.

[00:01:25] Ned: You know, we even sat around the couch last night, actually, just, the three of us and talked about. College and, what does graduation look like and what are the expectations and how can we be here, and be there for you over, this last school year while not crowding her and giving her the independence, that she desires.

[00:01:43] Ned: So, heavy, real, and, that day comes for all of us. I didn't really have a fail I wanted to share with you other than, I think that the last couple years, our minds as a family has opened up quite a bit, especially moving to Hawaii in what is possible. but many of our kids kind of have this mindset of, I'm gonna go to, elementary school, middle school, high school, college.

[00:02:08] Ned: Get married, get a job, whatever. They have this track in their mind, and so if I could share anything, it's starting these conversations earlier and you setting the tone for Does your child want to do when they leave high school? What is important to you as a family? what is best for that child and finding the balance, right?So I'm gonna tell you what we, did yesterday, and, over the last couple days, and, having a conversation with my 10 year old, I don't want to push her to go, what is it you want to do? And she says, well, I don't wanna be a veterinarian. and then her getting stuck on that for the next, few years to where then.

[00:02:43] Ned: That's all she thinks is possible because she said it one time. So what we try to do is have some open conversations with our kids of what is important to you right now. What are things you're looking towards? And always sort of having this idea of like, what am I thinking about into the future that I'm possibly working towards?

[00:03:01] Ned: But I'm open to other ideas. So here's what I had them do. So last week I gave each of the kids, I sent them a Google Doc. And then for my 10 year old, I just sat down with her and I had a few questions. I said, Hey, set aside maybe half hour to hour answer these questions and we're gonna talk about 'em.

[00:03:16] Ned: We talked about 'em last night. We sat around the couch for literally 15 minutes. That's all it took, but it started some conversations and ultimately critical thinking is what I want my kids to be able to do. It's like, think for yourself. Don't tell me. I don't know. Come up with, with some sort of response.

[00:03:31] Ned: So here's the questions I gave 'em. what's important to you during this school year, both academically and with friends? What is important to you? So it was great last night, the kids answered the question. so here's the real meat of it, okay? As I'm trying to open my kids' minds to what's possible, So I said, I want you to come up with five ideas for the year after you graduate high school.

[00:03:51] Ned: Okay? Come up with five ideas. How would you respond in these five situations? Okay, so situation one, you went straight to college, where would you go and what would your major be? Right? And again, I laid into the idea like, don't get hung up on this, but if you did go to college, What would your major be and where would you want to go start to have those conversations.

[00:04:11] Ned: The second one was if you were to take a year and travel, where would you go and what would you want to explore? Number three was if you were to go and serve somewhere like some sort of missionary type of work, where would you want to go and what would that look like? Or if you wanted to serve in the military or you wanted to serve at some capacity, What would it look like for you to go serve? number four, if you were to go and learn a trade, what trade would you learn and why? And then number five was, if you were given $25,000 to start a business, what business would you start and why would you start that business? So then the next thing I had them do, which is order these questions in highest to lowest ranking.

[00:04:58] Ned: So which ones really sticking out to you today as most important? and then give a reason why. Your lowest one was your lowest one. So then last night we're sitting around the couch I just, again, right, it's like, guys, this is not like my kids are sitting around waiting for me to ask them to do this stuff.

[00:05:14] Ned: They are not, frankly, I don't even think, like my wife was kind of at end of her rope last night. just a fold day. Didn't get a good night's sleep the night before. So this is like, fit this in when and how you can, if this kind of stuff is important to you. So it's like, Hey, kids. All right, dinner's over, just, hey.

[00:05:30] Ned: You got half an hour, go do whatever you gotta do. We're gonna jump on the couch from eight 30 to 8 45 and then I literally am watching my clock because I wanna honor that and not turn it into, you know, an hour and then them not trust me. Now if they want to keep talking, I'll say, Hey, our time's up.

[00:05:45] Ned: If you want to keep talking about this, you can stick around, but there's zero pressure. So anyways, just wanna share this with you. So we went around and what are some of the answers I got? I got my notes right here. 'cause I kind of journal this down while they're telling me, One of my kids is like, my first choice right now is start a business.

[00:05:59] Ned: my second choice is to go do mission work. another kid said, you know, my first choice is to do college. My second choice is to travel the world. And again, I reiterated again, I. The point isn't for you to get stuck on this. I mean, COVID is a great example. My family moving to Hawaii is a great example.

[00:06:15] Ned: You do not know what may happen the next two to four to six years, but that doesn't mean you sit around and don't have a plan. So have some sort of direction you're going, but be open to that. Thing isn't the thing that defines your life. It is just a part of your life. And if you can start to work towards something, take steps to work towards that thing, which I mean really opened up.

[00:06:37] Ned: You know, these conversations we've been having with our twins, the last, Two weeks, it totally shifted what we were doing for their homeschool experience. This year, they're actually gonna go to two different schools because we uncovered some needs, my daughter she wants to look at being a doctor.

[00:06:51] Ned: so we looked at some online schools that would help give her associate's degree in high school as well. And that's what she wants to do. So I said, let's go for it. You're a freshman, let's go for it. This isn't what Brody needs. He wants a different path. So being open, To your kids to do so you have to be in tune with what matters to them and start conversations like this with them.

[00:07:12] Ned: alright. I think that was it on that do not stop listening right now. You have to hear. This Tuesday's podcast was with my friend Michael Davis. I've done over like a 300 episodes or something. This blew my mind. I highly encourage you, if you've been listening to me at all, go listen to this with Michael Davis.

[00:07:29] Ned: It starts off pretty slow and then all of a sudden there's just these wild nuggets that he drops that literally shifted some of my, worldview and then it's challenging some of my worldview around. how to have a multi-generational, view of my role as a father. How to show up for my son, how to show up for my daughters, how to show up for my future family when I'll have the greatest impact.

[00:07:52] Ned: I, I can't tell you enough. I'm gonna listen to it by myself. I. I'm gonna listen to it with my wife and I'm probably gonna listen to it with my kids because there are some things in there that start to challenge, why we believe what we believe. And some of it's due to how our world has operated the last a hundred years and sort of forgetting how our world operated for a couple thousand years.

[00:08:09] Ned: so anyways, if that doesn't spark your interest, I don't know what else will. It was solid. make sure to take advantage of the adventure of fatherhood. Guys, I can't tell you how excited I am, about what we're rolling out with this, but you know, as you know, our world is in desperate need of leaders worthy to be followed.

[00:08:24] Ned: Now, this starts in the home. It starts with a father knowing who he is. And leading his family with love, grace, and consistency. Now, most men are not invited into their role, nor do they understand how to lead in their God-given identity. So a couple things. You can go to adventure fatherhood.com, you can order a children's book.

[00:08:41] Ned: It, it's just a great way to see who you are to connect with your kid. if you know a guy who's a relatively new dad, you could order him a new dad box and just put a little note in there that says, bro, welcome to fatherhood. You have what it takes. I mean, we don't live in the village anymore, where the, tent next door is, showing you how to be a dad and welcoming you into fatherhood.

[00:09:00] Ned: You have an opportunity to do so. and then we're rolling out courses over the next six months, to help fathers, better gain the skills to show up, as a confident father. now dads, you know, I love coffee. as soon as I smell it in the morning, I just get pumped sometimes when I'm falling asleep at night.

[00:09:15] Ned: That's what I'm thinking about is my coffee. In the morning, actually, I think I'm gonna go get some right now. Now, I had Eric, Werner from Valiant Coffee on my podcast a couple years ago. I love his coffee. It's high quality and it doesn't break the bank and it ships right to your door. And I'm always shocked when I get it to my house and I look at when it was roasted.

[00:09:35] Ned: I mean, I can't go to the store. And buy coffee that has been roasted that recently. So definitely go hook him up. Help him out. join, his movement of creating great quality coffee. You could have it shipped to your door, but rebel and create.com/coffee if you want to get in on some of that.

[00:09:50] Ned: All right, my dudes. Remember who you are. You are a father in that matters. You matter. Together. Let's rebel against the view. That fatherhood has little impact and create lives engaged in mastering the craft of fatherhood. Much love to you, my brothers. Together we're changing the world by showing up as fathers.

[00:10:06] Ned: I look forward to hanging out with you next week.