Drive the Real-World Dialogue That Parents, Kids, Educators & Coaches Want to Have!
Free videos and resources to help every learner build a personal competitive advantage
Gen Z wants to talk to us about their future.
We—their parents, educators, coaches, counselors, and influencers—want to talk to them about the exact same thing.
The Competitive Advantage Track gets these conversations started! This free, easy-to-use tool will drive the dialogue to help young people think constructively about their future, develop crucial career and life skills, and ultimately thrive in a fast-changing world.
In each module (or “Slice”), generational expert and Career Tree creator Mark C. Perna delivers a short, heartfelt talk about a particular skill, why it matters, and how it connects to their personal competitive advantage for whatever they want to achieve in life.
Facilitators, parents, and learners themselves can then implement any or all of the resources provided below to maximize learning and reflection. The Competitive Advantage Track will help you coach learners on vital career and life skills—and motivate them to confidently move forward!
Plus, our Career Tree community has exclusive access to additional curriculum to supersize your Career Tree connections and dialogues—keeping learners’ goals at the heart of everything you do! Log in to your portal at TFSCareerTree.com to access early releases, additional curricular elements, and implementation training to take your learners to the next level.
Building a competitive advantage will help me move forward because it will allow me to grow in my personal and academic career.
Student
Slices: Videos & Activities
SLICE 1 :
“Why We All Need a Personal Competitive Advantage (Part 1)”
Discover what a personal competitive advantage is, why it matters, and how to adapt and thrive in a fast-changing world.
SLICE 2:
“Why We All Need a Personal Competitive Advantage (Part 2)”
Discover how to focus, plan, and take action to overcome challenges and build your personal competitive advantage.
SLICE 3 :
“Leveraging The Human Connection”
Discover how a human connection helps you build relationships, advocate for yourself, ask for help, collaborate effectively, and lead/convince others.
SLICE 4:
“Building Your Dream”
Discover why we either build our dreams or build someone else’s, and why, instead of trying to find our career passion, we should put ourselves in a position where that passion can find us.
SLICE 5 :
“The Power of Failure”
Discover how the fear of failure can be an obstacle to their personal competitive advantage and why there’s power in failure, but no power in not trying.
SLICE 6:
“Be Comfortable Being Uncomfortable”
Discover why being uncomfortable can actually be positive, and why focusing on a personal competitive advantage now prepares us for when our personal “want-to” arrives.
Multilingual Learning Environment? No Problem!
On YouTube, you can set auto-generated subtitles in the language of your choice. Here’s how:
1. Click icon at the bottom of the video.
2. Then click the icon immediately next to the CC button.
3. Select this option:
4. Select Auto-translate:
This brings up a list of languages, from which you can select your desired language. Now the subtitles will appear on screen as Mark is speaking, in the language you selected.
It made me think on how I can build my future and be successful.
Student
FAQs
A: In the next twenty years, it’s estimated that some 47% of today’s jobs will become obsolete in the face of advancing artificial intelligence and automation. Many of the technical abilities that employees possess now will become outdated, creating a constant need for reskilling and lifelong learning. In this shifting landscape, it’s vital for young people (and all of us) to develop the types of skills that don’t expire or become irrelevant with the latest technology.
The Competitive Advantage Track coaches learners on these types of abilities—known as soft skills, power skills, human skills, or (our term) professional skills—so they can adapt, thrive, and stay competitive throughout their career. Gaining these skills early on gives learners a head start on pursuing the kind of lifestyle and career they want to experience.
A: The Competitive Advantage Track adapts to a wide range of learner ages, abilities, and environments. After viewing the video together, you can implement any of the resources in the downloadable action guide. These include:
- Facilitator Reflection: A thought-provoking question or concept for you to consider prior to sharing the video with your learners.
- Group Discussion Starters: Questions to launch a productive conversation about the video and what learners took from it.
- Supersize Suggestions: Activities to dive deeper, including assignments, further discussion topics, projects, and more.
- Reflective journaling: Coming soon
You choose whatever elements will make the greatest impact in your unique learning environment.
A: Teachers, parents, and facilitators in any learning environment can use the Competitive Advantage Track Slices with learners in middle school through college, and even beyond. It requires very little prep and can be used as a bellringer exercise, a full lesson, or an ongoing topic with the assignments and reflective journaling components (coming soon).
A: Absolutely! You can watch the videos and talk through the discussion questions as a family. We also encourage you to subscribe to our free Paradigm Shift newsletter to stay posted on some exciting new tools currently in the works, designed especially for parents!
A: The Competitive Advantage Track video Slices and activities are free for public use because we believe in making a positive difference for today’s younger generations. Led by generational visionary Mark C. Perna, our team designed these Slices to give parents, educators, employers, stakeholders, and entire communities a dynamic narrative to inspire the greatness in learners at all levels of education and employment.
In our fast-changing world, everyone needs a personal competitive advantage, but it’s not always clear how to develop one. Our goal is that more learners will discover what they want out of their life and career—and take the practical steps to develop their skills so they can make it happen. This aligns with our mission of Education with Purpose & Employment with Passion to shift paradigms, build pipelines, and empower the workforce of the future.
A: Created by education leader Mark C. Perna, the Career Tree is the first career exploration tool informed by a generational perspective. Through meaningful self-discovery, ongoing dialogue, and real-world goal-setting, this groundbreaking approach is helping organizations across North America to enroll, engage, and complete students in higher numbers. Find out more about the Career Tree here.
Within the Career Tree, the Competitive Advantage Track helps young people build a strong foundation to reach their desired career and lifestyle goals. You can use the free elements of the Competitive Advantage Track without being part of our Career Tree community, but we encourage you to schedule a demo to explore how the Career Tree can supersize your efforts. Please note the Career Tree is a classroom tool and is not designed for home use. New resources created especially for parents are in the works, so subscribe to our free Paradigm Shift newsletter to stay posted as those are released.
A: Mark C. Perna founded the Education with Purpose & Employment with Passion (EWP) movement to shift the paradigm in education, employment, and economic development. The critical areas of student success, education outcomes, workforce development, and the expanding skills gap are deeply interrelated, but often operate in isolation. This must change if the next generation is to explore all postsecondary pathways that lead to viable, living-wage careers. At its heart, this is the mission of Education with Purpose & Employment with Passion.
To prepare young people for a fast-changing future, everyone—educators, employers, economic developers, community leaders, and parents—must break down the siloes and start walking in lockstep toward the goal. EWP’s big-picture outcome is robust, fully developed pipelines between education with purpose that lead to employment with passion. Find out more about the EWP movement here.
A: Contact us any time here or call 330.840.2680. We look forward to connecting with you!
Building a competitive advantage can help you move forward by getting you the skills needed to do well in life, and whatever you’re passionate about. It gives you purpose and you can get far.
Student
Competitive Advantage Track + Career Tree = Success!
On the TFSCareerTree.com portal, our Career Tree community has access to early releases, curricular elements, and training materials not available to the general public.
We’ve designed the Competitive Advantage Track to complement the Career Tree by expanding on the skills necessary to create a strong and vibrant Root System. The Career Tree’s trunk and branches are outcomes; the roots are what enable an individual to reach their lifestyle and career goals and accomplish those outcomes.
Here’s how building a competitive advantage makes all this effective:
- Bite-sized. The idea of developing strong roots may be intimidating to some learners, so each concept is presented as a “Slice,” just one small piece of the bigger whole.
- Universal. Whether learners have set grand, modest, or laid-back lifestyle and career goals on your Career Tree, the Competitive Advantage Track provides the springboard for each person to succeed.
- Reinforcing. The Competitive Advantage Track helps keep your Career Tree dialogue alive and well, because it all goes back to what they want out of life and how to get it.
- Relevant. Sometimes learners can’t see how their education will positively affect their future goals. The Competitive Advantage Track helps bridge that gap and builds relevance into everyday learning.
Access all your exclusive Career Tree and Competitive Advantage Track curriculum, videos, and tools any time on your Career Tree portal at https://tfscareertree.com.
To learn more about the Career Tree and how it can deliver relevance and motivation in your learning environment, contact us today!
Meet Mark C. Perna, Creator of the Career Tree & Competitive Advantage Track
Mark C. Perna is a generational thought leader on a mission to effect a national paradigm shift in education, employment, and economic development. He delivers 80+ keynotes annually across North America, including a special address at Harvard University. At Forbes.com, his weekly column on generational issues in careers, education, and the workforce reaches an audience of more than 4 million. His Perna Syndicate micropodcast is heard in more than 70 countries.
Mark, who serves on the Advisory Council for the Coalition for Career Development in Washington, DC, founded the Education with Purpose & Employment with Passion movement to help communities connect education, business, and economic pipelines. He is a frequent guest on television and podcasts, including the #1 economic development podcast, Develop This!.
Mark created the Career Tree and Competitive Advantage Track to empower parents, educators, employers, and community stakeholders to unleash the tremendous potential of today’s younger generations. This is also the topic of his bestselling book, Answering Why, which won eight national awards, including the Nautilus Award which is given to books that make a positive difference in the world.
You can contact Mark here and follow his mission on these platforms: Be in the Know
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