Meeting in the Middle

“We are not preparing young people for something, we are supporting them as they prepare themselves for anything.” A.J. Juliani

Dear School of Thought Readers,

I am trying something new in this post. Instead of offering ideas all wrapped up and ready to serve, I thought I’d share some that were still in progress. My hope is that you might contribute to the thinking if you are so inspired.

So, it all started when I was at the gym the other day, listening to the People I Mostly Admire Podcast. Stephen Leavitt was interviewing Dr, David Yeager.

Dr. Yeager’s work on adolescent development has inspired me for years. He’s one of the rare researchers who actually has classroom experience and does practical research that can be applied right away. His studies stem from an understanding of what we need in learning settings.1

His latest book, 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People, continues that pattern, adding depth and insight to the field. I talk more about it here:

This line sums up his latest work for me:

“Young people have an innate need to be respected and admired. But few leaders today, whether parents, educators, or managers, understand how to harness it.”

He centers the question: What kind of adult support actually helps young people thrive? The book introduces a framework that maps adult approaches to youth development along two axes: standards and support. That leads to four types of adult mindsets (and I think we can all imagine certain individuals fitting these):

The Enforcer (high standards, low support)
The Protector (low standards, high support)
The Disconnector (low standards, low support)
The Mentor (high standards, high support)

(Original Source: Mentor Mindset: The Science of Motivating Young People)

Here, the Mentor mindset is the sweet spot, firm expectations and genuine care.

But somewhere into the final sprint on the recline bike, I found myself rethinking Yeager’s model through a People-Based Learning (PeBL) lens.

If you are new here, PeBL is learning with and through People that I am co-creating with many of you, with a book out early next year.

And then it struck me—something that’s surfaced before: the word mentor still carries a subtle one-way weight. Too often, it defaults to a stance of, “Let me impart my wisdom onto you,” rather than an exchange.

That’s when a new thought sparked: Yeager’s model is powerful. But what if we tilted the lens just slightly?

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