STARTING MY NEXT CHAPTER ... IN THE WORLD OF SOCIAL GOOD

Happy New Year to you all!

This is a long overdue announcement. My apologies for the delay in sharing this news, but I have been completely consumed by my new mission, an initiative I launched last year—modestly called Teach the World :) !

For those who have not heard already, I have left the business world, my great company Marriott and my fantastic team … to dedicate the next chapter of my life to social good. To a very great degree, my decision to do so was driven by my 16+ years at Marriott, living and breathing its all-pervasive “Spirit-to-Serve” philosophy. I am now playing it out at a new level.

This is also a long announcement, so if you are my connection solely because of my position at Marriott, you may want to stop here. On the other hand, if you are a “digital revolutionary” and/or interested in changing the world by addressing one of its greatest challenges, this is not only an announcement but an invitation to join me, as you will find out below. I therefore encourage you to spend a few minutes on this.   

In launching Teach the World, I have challenged myself to draw upon my experience as a digital transformation leader in travel, to try to solve one of the greatest problems in the world—illiteracy. This is our mission. About a billion people in the world are illiterate, and another billion barely so. Illiteracy is believed to be the root cause of many of the world’s problems— poverty, disease, crime, intolerance, security. Thus it has a devastating impact on individuals, families, communities and nations.

Very fortunately though, today we are in the best position ever to solve this problem … using digital technology. The single biggest obstacle to addressing illiteracy in the world is the shortage of teachers, especially in developing countries. It is very hard to overcome in the short-term with traditional solutions. But digital solutions exist, and if mobilized effectively, can make education attainable to hundreds of millions more. As beneficiaries of education, we know this can be life-changing for an individual; however, at a national and global level, the positive implications on world GDP, economic and political stability, crime, can be even more dramatic. Not surprisingly, with very few exceptions, the most troubled and trouble-making nations in the world have low literacy.

At Teach the World we plan to launch a global program to deliver curriculum online, on tablets, in an engaging interactive/“gamified” format. We believe our solution will ameliorate the world’s massive teacher shortage and bring the “self-serve” revolution to education--as digital has done before with online shopping, banking, booking, etc.

We fully realize that that our challenge is daunting, but all big things start small. We plan to bring to bear all our knowledge and experience with large scale digital transformation in travel (remember paper tickets and booking trips thru’ travel agents?). Thus, we will approach this great challenge ambitiously yet pragmatically, with a phased plan, starting in regions that have the greatest illiteracy--Africa and Asia--with a K – 5 curriculum aimed at children. The phases are

1.    Phase 1 (2016):                Prove our concept

2.    Phase 2 (2017 -18):         Develop a replicable, scalable  “working model”

3.    Phase 3 (2018+):              Expand this  model globally

 The Phase 1 proof-of-concept has been completed, with outstanding results. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, the attached brief video will best bring to life what we are doing, and perhaps tell you why we are so optimistic.

https://vimeo.com/184956452

We are beginning work on Phase 2 with two large scale pilots of 1000 children each already arranged. We are now looking for a third large scale pilot in Africa.  

One key note: in the last few months of total immersion in this, I am gratified to find many working on variations of our concept. Our key differences are: our emphasis on games to motivate “self-learning”; our phased plan for global expansion, (which may exist but I have not seen from others yet). Nevertheless, we think of others playing in this space as fellow travelers and will look for opportunities to partner wherever feasible.

Since many of you are digital revolutionaries (and those who are not, are nevertheless, citizens of this world) I ask you join me on this exciting world-changing journey and become a “friend” of Teach the World in any manner you choose. We offer many options on our website including sharing your expertise, volunteering your time and energy, sponsoring tablets or donating funds. You can manifest your “friendship” even by “liking” us on Facebook! Here’s a link to our website:

www.teachtheworldfoundation.org

I am fortunate to be joined in Teach the World by a small but very strong and highly motivated team, as the bios on the website will show.

A final note: While Teach-the-World will be my primary focus and all else will be secondary, I will stay somewhat engaged with my former passions--digital transformation, travel distribution--through a company I have formed (Mark International). If you want to connect with me on those, Linked-In will be the best way to reach me.

Once again, I wish you a all very satisfying 2017.