The Do Good Podcast - Ep. 4 - Dr. Shlomy Kattan: Adult Literacy

Ep. 4 - Dr. Shlomy Kattan: Adult Literacy

06/14/17 • 48 min

In this episode of The Do Good Podcast, Marc speaks to Shlomy about his area of expertise: adult low literacy.

Shlomy Kattan is Senior Director at The XPRIZE Foundation, where he leads the Adult Literacy XPRIZE and the Foundation’s Education & Learning vertical. In this capacity, he works closely with business leaders, policymakers, and industry experts to address grand challenges to maximizing human potential. Prior to joining XPRIZE, Shlomy was CEO of Kudo!, an award-winning EdTech startup. He was previously a Consultant at The Boston Consulting Group after a 10-year career in e-learning, traditional education, and academia. Shlomy earned his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was a Wenner-Gren Foundation fellow.

Shlomy reveals how big of an issue adult low literacy. He discusses both the profound societal effects of adult literacy and the devastating toll it takes on those who have to cope with it. He discusses what is happening in the public and private sectors to alleviate it and the associated challenges.

This is a fascinating conversation about an issue that does not get a lot of press yet affects millions of adults in this country and across the world. You can access the show notes here.

In this episode of The Do Good Podcast, Marc speaks to Shlomy about his area of expertise: adult low literacy.

This is a fascinating conversation about an issue that does not get a lot of press yet affects millions of adults in this country and across the world. You can access the show notes here.

Previous Episode

Ep. 3 - Six Ways To Improve Your Political Conversations

Tired of political conversations with your friends and loved ones that end in screams and tears? In this special in-betweenisode, Marc gives his recommendations for improving our political conversations and making them productive. Why do our political conversations devolve into shouting fests? Why do they become contests in one-upmanship? And, when was the last time you ever heard someone say, “you know what you are right. I concede.” You don’t hear that. But, you should ... if the goal of these exchanges is trying to find the truth. But, unfortunately, our conversations tend not to be about finding answers. They are about defending your team. They are about defending your party. They are about defending your ego. The problem is that because of the way we conduct our political conversations: we are not learning anything and we are definitely not having fun, but we are creating a dynamic that I believe gets echoed in our national politics and our governance. We have a situation where in our private conversations and in our public conversations we have divorced policy almost entirely from politics; policy arguments from political arguments. And that's a problem for the proper governing of our country. Why? Because it is the policy that matters. It is the policy that makes the difference. It is the policy that does the good ... or the bad. So, why is this happening? And what can we do about it? Get the full show notes here.

Next Episode

Ep. 5 - Leila Toplic: Refugees

In this episode of The Do Good Podcast, Shlomy and Marc speak with Leila Toplic.

Leila is Global Program Leader at NetHope, a tech consortium of 50 global NGOs, where she heads the No Lost Generation Tech Task Force, an initiative aimed at using technology to support the needs of refugee children and youth. A refugee herself, Leila’s passion for social causes has manifested itself in a number of ways since Leila and her family fled Bosnia in the mid-90s. This included teaching English and art at the Bosnian Refugee School in the Nagyatad Refugee Camp. Prior to NetHope Leila served as the Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer at LRNG, a social enterprise that works collaboratively with schools, businesses, cities, and community institutions to redesign learning for the 21st century so all youth have the opportunity to succeed. Leila has also worked at Sama Group as the VP of Marketing and Partnerships, and before that spent over 13 years helping lead global marketing at Microsoft and Adobe.

Leila speaks to us about the work being undertaken to assist refugees. We talk about how the private sector, non-profits, and non-governmental organizations are working together to find innovative solutions to the refugee issue. And, we talk about Leila's own experience as a refugee.

If you would like to learn about the refugee crisis and what is being done to fight it, Leila gives a fantastic overview and includes many fascinating personal insights. Check out our full show notes here.