Talia Milgrom-Elcott, founder of 100Kin10 and Beyond100K, is dedicated to overcoming the STEM teacher shortage. She shares how she transformed President Obama's vision into reality in record time. The conversation highlights her innovative network approach to solving complex problems by bringing together key stakeholders. Talia emphasizes the importance of collaboration, building genuine relationships, and identifying keystone challenges to maximize impact. With insights from her journey, she advocates for collective action in addressing systemic educational issues.
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insights INSIGHT
Power of Collaborative "And"
Many people already work on complex problems; what is often missing is the 'connective tissue' to collaborate.
Understanding the "and" in collaboration is key to unlocking collective impact.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Play the Infinite Game
Approach relationships with a long-term perspective to encourage trust and cooperation.
Avoid finite games where incentives cause cheating; embrace infinite games of ongoing collaboration.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Relocation Shapes Identity
Talia's family moved from Los Angeles to New York when her mother decided to become a rabbi.
This change gave her a sense of liberation and shaped her ability to navigate being an outsider.
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In 'A Mathematician's Apology,' G.H. Hardy presents a justification for the study of mathematics as an end in itself, rather than for its practical applications. Written in 1940, the book is part autobiography and part philosophical treatise, where Hardy argues that the beauty and elegance of pure mathematics, particularly in number theory, justify its pursuit. He contrasts pure mathematics with applied mathematics, which he sees as less elegant and often trivial. Hardy also reflects on his own career, acknowledging that his creative mathematical abilities were waning at the time of writing. The book is a passionate defense of the value of mathematics as a creative and intellectual endeavor[2][4][5].
Mapping Innovation and Cascades
Mapping Innovation and Cascades
Greg Satell
In Barack Obama’s 2011 State of the Union speech, he called out the need to train 100,000 STEM teachers in 10 years. Hearing that call, Talia Milgrom-Elcott started 100Kin10 and made it her mission to transform President Obama’s vision into reality. Using the insights she shares in this episode, she hit that goal in eight and a half years.
Understanding that complex problems have interconnected roots she took a network approach, bringing together people already working on the key problems to collaborate and apply their collective knowledge to bear to break new ground. Along the way she created a methodology of identifying high leverage “keystone challenges” where efforts will have the most impact.
Today, Talia has expanded the vision to Beyond100k, where she is working to end the STEM teacher shortage by 2043. She also opened up the Starfish Institute where she advises other nonprofits such as the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Bloomberg Philanthropies and many others to solve tough systemic problems.
Changemaker Mindset 