My first job out of school was at Procter and Gamble. Shortly after launching my career, I sat down at a restaurant with my parents, Sri Lankan immigrants who came to the country poor, nothing in their pockets, but became immensely successful through careers in public service, my mom is a teacher, my dad with the US government. And it gave me this opportunity to be able to lean across the table and tell them that my vision for my career was to become the CEO of Procter and Gamble.
(Laughter)
And just like y'all, we all took it in.
(Laughter)
Took a deep breath. But I knew I could do it. I had the skills. I had the ambition. I'd even taken the Myers-Briggs personality test.
(Laughter)
Right? I was assessed as an ENTJ, which meant that I was extroverted, intuitive, thinking, judging, or some might call it, “The Commander.”
(Laughter)
Studies have shown that ENTJs are the most common personality types among CEOs. So I had it in me. And I researched what is it that CEOs do, and I found a certain blueprint. I found that they're assertive, directive, there's a real command and control to how they show up. So I tried to apply that blueprint to my first job at Procter and Gamble, and I was surprised by the results.
(Laughter)
Because I was magnificently, spectacularly ... failing.
(Laughter)
The response to my, quote unquote, leadership was so toxic that I was placed on a performance improvement plan.
(Laughter)
You can't make this stuff up. So for y'all who don't know, you're on a performance improvement plan, you are closer to being fired than being CEO.
(Laughter)
Alright? First job out of school. Clearly, I had to make some changes. I'm still going to be the commander, don't get me wrong, but I had to make some adjustments along the way. Had to make some tweaks. And ultimately, I became CEO. Not of Procter and Gamble, granted, because I would have flown in here on a private jet today instead of taking the subway like y'all.
(Laughter)
But CEO of an organization called Our Turn. A movement that uplifts the voices and change-making ability of young people to be able to create a thriving education system.
There are two things I discovered upon becoming a CEO. First, one does not simply walk into Mordor.
(Laughter)
Everything you've heard, in other words, about the less than glamorous side of being a CEO, it's true. You lose your cover. So whenever something goes well, it's everybody else. It's because of them. Whenever something goes wrong, it's on you.
The second thing I learned was that in order to be an effective CEO, I needed to follow the lead of young people. You think about the past few years, how much our minds, our culture, schools, politics have been absorbed by the idea of critical race theory. And what's ironic is, it's not just that adults have dominated the argument, but that adults have basically been throwing the same argument back and forth at each other. One side says, “You’re bringing politics and indoctrination into the classroom.”
And then the other side says, “You’re bringing politics and indoctrination into the classroom.”
(Laughter)
"I'm a parent. I know what's right in education."
"No, I'm a parent. I know what's right in education."
“You’re making my kid hate themself, and my culture is under attack.”
“No, you’re making my kid hate themself, and my culture is under attack.”
You basically had the equivalent of the Spider-Man pointing meme. Everybody pointing back and forth at each other. Right?
But young people are having a very different conversation. They are talking about the need for accurate history in their education. The need to be seen as full, well-rounded individuals, to be able to build community with one another. There was a conference that took place, with 300-plus education leaders, and the person who stole the show was a student named Jaylen Adams. On a panel discussion, she shared an experience from the fifth grade, where her teacher made everybody in the class go on the carpet in the middle, line up in rows and pretend to be on a slave ship. Some of the kids were appointed to be overseers. Which meant that if anybody said something or did something that was out of line, they could be thrown off the ship. Jaylen told us about how she came back home that night crying profusely. Feeling traumatized. Wondering why did she have to go through that dehumanizing experience.
There was another gathering, 2,500 people participating in a virtual press conference, talking about the need for culturally inclusive curriculum in schools. Once again, the person who stole the show was a student named Sydney Griffin. She illustrated why it's so critical for young children of color to learn about their own history, and how when you expose children to new cultures and new experiences, ultimately they all feel more seen, more accepted. It forges a new generation of pioneers towards equity.
That vision of a new generation of pioneers towards equity is what inspired young leaders to create a campaign at Our Turn called Truth(Ed). They created toolkits so that young people from coast to coast could elevate their stories, organize, speak out at school board meetings. They fostered spaces for young folks to be able to collaborate, not divide and antagonize, adult leaders like superintendents, school board members, philanthropists, where they could forge that new future together. So while you had adults who were out there arguing with one another, trying to suppress access to knowledge and history through book bans, young people were able to successfully stop book bans in places like Texas and Pennsylvania and beyond. By organizing petitions, making sure their school boards heard what they had to say. They even went on offense, creating banned book clubs and libraries, spaces where community members could be able to come together, learn from one another, engage in constructive conversation, and build bridges.
We're in this time where there is rampant negativity around public education. But young people are leading a transcendent movement. It's a movement that people want to be a part of.
I've been on the front row to examples of youth leadership time and time again, and I've been able to discover four critical lessons to up my game as a CEO. First, sure, we've all seen CEOs, people like myself, who step on stages like this and say, "I have a grand vision for how we're going to change the world, and it's going to happen through a strategic plan." You know, this might be a first in TED history because I intentionally gave you the opposite of an applause line.
(Laughter)
You can replace strategic plan with logic model or anything else you learned in your MBAs, and that stuff is valuable, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't inspire.
I recall something I learned from Tati Martinez, a high school senior, when I asked them to describe the leadership of young people. They said, "We as young people have been through so much, seeing the world burn in front of our eyes, being locked in our homes from the outside in. And all of that has made us emotionally intelligent. It has made us want to foster empathy and community building." The breakthrough power of youth leadership leans heavily on emotional intelligence.
Number two, I've been forced to confront just how trapped I've been by frameworks, assessments, personality tests that tell me the right way to lead. But young people have boundless ingenuity. I've seen young people drive positive change and results through everything from policy resolutions to poetry competitions. And that has motivated me to expand my own toolbox.
To understand number three, I want you to picture yourself at a campfire. It's been a long journey to get to this point. You're tired, your clothes are maybe caked with dirt, with sweat, surrounded by loved ones. And now can you picture someone leaning forward across that campfire? It glows in their face. They say, "Hey. Can you tell me about your Google Sheets metrics dashboard?"
(Laughter)
Anyone? I got shade for days, y'all. Equal opportunity shade distributor. That's me. Now that doesn't happen. People want stories. Strategies come and go. But stories are forever, and young people are storytellers. They are true tellers. Even a few months ago, I never could have imagined publicly sharing that I was on a performance improvement plan. But you needed to know my story. You needed to know my truth to go on this journey with me.
And number four, just think about how often we've been boxed in by false choices. You could be financially successful, or you can pursue purpose. You can have well-being, or you can have academic achievement. You’re team Taylor or you’re team Beyoncé.
(Laughter)
But young people reject false choices. They lean into the power of "and." That breeds inclusivity, which unlocks possibility.
I've been fortunate to be able to apply these lessons in multiple contexts over the past few years, during a time of massive environmental change, like the Great Resignation. And what I'm most proud of is that in our recent staff survey at Our Turn, 100 percent of people said they would strongly recommend Our Turn as a place to work. I believe that happens when you have a work environment where people feel seen. Where they’re in true community with one another. Where they can pursue bold ideas without fear.
So what can you do? Well, I have three tips. One, get proximate. Hire young people to your team. Attend their events. Learn about their insights. Learn about their experiences and their recommendations for the future.
Number two, change your language. And to be clear, I'm not telling you to pick up Gen Z slang. I don't want you going around saying you watched this talk by Mohan, and he said, like, start saying "lit," "no cap" and "drip."
(Laughter)
Do not put that on me. Change the way you describe leadership.
And number three, hold yourself accountable. Train yourself up on these skills. Rethink your hiring criteria. Rethink your admissions criteria.
I was at a convening with other social justice leaders recently, and at the end, someone pulled me to the side. They said, "Hey, you know, looks like everybody else here, they're doing jobs, but you look like you're having fun."
I said, “You’re absolutely right.” Like, I am having fun. And it's because I have proximity to the leadership of young people. And it fills me with hope.
And young people also remind me, day-in and day-out, that leadership, it's not a title. Just being a CEO doesn't make me a leader. Leadership is a verb, and it requires action. So if we want to stand on the right side of history and fulfill our responsibilities as leaders, then we need to stand with and follow the model of leadership demonstrated by young people right now. And that's no cap.
Thank you.
(Applause)
