John Dalton was our 70th Secretary of the Navy, serving from July 1993 until November 1998. John is my US Naval Academy classmate – the great class of 1964 and a fellow nuclear submariner. John H. Dalton John attended Louisiana State University before going to the Naval Academy, graduated with distinction and entered the US Naval nuclear power program. He served in the nuclear submarine force until 1969, earn his MBA degree from the Wharton School, and embarked on...

Christine Davies is the Founder and CEO of Poligage - the world’s first online marketplace for public policy insights and government affairs and services. Poligage helps companies and organizations find the expertise they need, right when they need it. Christine has built her 20-year career around the intersections of the public and private sectors, with leadership roles in the government, business, technology, and not-for-profit sectors both in the United States and...

From humble beginnings, Jeffrey Shaw became one of the most preeminent portrait photographers in the United States. His on-location style and fine craftsmanship made him the go-to photographer for families of C-suite executives of Anheuser-Busch, Twitter, and many others, Supermodel Stephanie Seymour, news anchors Jim Nantz and David Bloom, sports icons Tom Seaver, Pat Riley, and Wall Street executives too many to mention. His portraits appeared on The Oprah Show, CBS News, in People and O...

Jim Ginsburg is the founder and president of Cedille Records, a classical label he launched in 1989 while an entering law student at the University of Chicago. Cedille is focused on recording classical music produced by artists and composers in Chicago. He has produced 21 Grammy Award nominations and 7 Grammy Award winners and was nominated for “Producer of the Year, Classical” in 2019. In 2009, the Chicago Tribune named Jim a “Chicagoan of the Year in the Arts,” writing,...

Miguel Cervantes starred in the lead role of Alexander Hamilton in the four-year run of the musical “Hamilton” in Chicago. Now he returns to Broadway where he will again be the lead in that popular musical. Hamilton will reopen in early September at the Richard Rogers theater. Miguel and Charlie talk about the importance of the critical skills in the performing arts and what it takes to become successful on the stage.

Debbi McCullough is from New Zealand and now lives in Wisconsin. She is an Internationally Certified coach under the name, Hanging Rock Coaching. She offers a hybrid of communications coaching, positive intelligence coaching, and customized training to help replace her clients’ fears  - - - with courage—and joy. Debbi is a prime example of someone who knows the power of the number one critical skills – Communications. Debbi has interviewed countless executives for global...

Ina Pinckney is the Breakfast Queen! INA was the Chef/Owner of INA’S, an American Food restaurant and a pioneer in the West Loop Market District, that closed at the end of 2013.   She is a frequent and welcomed guest on radio, local news and cable TV, has done interviews on shows in the U.S., Canada and Germany and appeared in a national Quaker Oats commercial as herself – the Breakfast Queen. Articles about her have appeared in local, national and international...

Dr. Clark ‘Corky’ Graham, is the Founder and CEO of the nonprofit LET’S GO Boys and Girls Inc. Dr. Graham received a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT in 1969 and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the US Naval Academy. He retired as a Captain following a 30-year career with the U.S. Navy as a Naval Architect and Marine Engineer. Following his Naval career, Dr. Graham joined Northrop Grumman as Senior Vice President in the shipbuilding sector. His positions at Northrop...

Dorie Clark has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, and was recognized as the #1 Communication Coach in the world by the Marshall Goldsmith Leading Global Coaches Awards. Clark, a consultant and keynote speaker, teaches executive education at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Columbia Business School. Dorie Clark - #1 Communications Coach in the World Recognized as a “branding expert” by the Associated Press, Fortune,...

Christie Hefner is no stranger to leadership. She graduated Summa cum laude from Brandeis University and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. After free-lancing for the Boston Phoenix for a year, she joined Playboy Enterprises in Chicago where she became President in 1982 and Chairman of the board and Chief Executive Officer in 1988. Christie is the longest serving female chief executive officer of a publicly traded company – serving in that capacity for 20 years. She...

Amy M. Gardner, JD, CPC, ELI-MP Amy brings to Apochromatik a unique track record of working with law students as dean of students at a top 5 law school and a successful career practicing law, first as a Skadden litigation associate and later as an associate and then partner at a mid-size Chicago firm.  In addition to countless hours completing stand-alone coaching trainings, she is a graduate of the Institute of Professional Excellence in Coaching. Until March, 2016, Amy was the...

Captain Charlie Plumb graduated from the Naval Academy at Annapolis and went on to be a fighter pilot flying the F-4 Phantom jet on 74 successful combat missions over Vietnam. On his 75th mission, with only five days before he was to return home, Plumb was shot down, captured, tortured, and imprisoned in an 8-by-8 foot cell. He spent the next 2,103 days as a Prisoner Of War in communist war prisons. During his nearly six years of captivity, Captain Plumb distinguished himself among his...

Ted Dysart is Vice Chairman of the premier executive search firm, Heidrick & Struggles. He discusses the Critical Skills, the Executive Search profession, and the application of Critical Skills to Executive Search. You can access the Heidrick & Struggles website by clicking HERE.

Mark Herschberg is the author of The Career Toolkit: Essential Skills for Success That No One Taught You.  From tracking criminals and terrorists on the dark web to creating marketplaces and new authentication systems, Mark has spent his career launching and developing new ventures at startups and Fortune 500s and in academia. He helped to start the Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program, dubbed MIT’s “career success accelerator,” where he teaches annually. At...

Natalie Cordone and Kevin Kelly are professional performers having performed for over 20 years off Broadway, with major symphonies, and in television and film. In 2018 they were tired of witnessing universities churn out students – many of whom had incurred six-figure college debts for their four-year performance-based degrees. Seeing these young people with immense talent but struggling with the business of the performing arts motivated Natalie and Kevin to found “The...

We have a wonderful guest today. And she’s a coach! An energetic and dynamic success coach. Heather Vickery shares her strategies to help her clients move their personal lives and businesses so that they can create and support lives that they absolutely love. In just a few minutes after meeting her, you know that she cares about improving your quality of life – both business and personal. She has her own podcast – “The Brave Files” – that is all about stories from people...

We have a wonderful guest today. And he’s a hall of fame coach! Coach Pat Sullivan has dedicated his career to inspiring people, helping them to discover and capitalize on their personal strengths. In more than four decades of collegiate and high school coaching, he touched thousands of lives and impacted a new generation of leaders who today succeed in a wide range of business and civic capacities. Coach Sullivan retired after 34 years as a teacher and men’s...

Today, we are very fortunate to host the founder of a highly successful networking group that specializes in connecting you to your next career opportunity - Mr. Marty Gilbert! Specifically, Marty is an EXPERT in the job search process! In 2010, Marty founded the NorthShore Executive Networking Group, and today over 8,000 single contributors, managers, directors, Vice Presidents and C-Level executives are members, and Marty has helped over 2,000 of them obtain their next...

In this episode, Charlie Jett discusses Field Studies in depth. Field Studies were highlighted by the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) report, “Teaching the SCANS Competencies” as an effective means of teaching the Critical skills. Field Studies are conducted by a team of students and focus on issues identified by local area businesses or community service organizations. The students write a confirmation letter, develop a work plan, develop an...

In this episode, Charlie Jett discusses the importance of work-based learning for disadvantaged youth as well for the health and well-being of the US economy. He discusses different kinds of work-based learning programs such as tours, job shadowing, mentorships, internships, registered apprenticeships, cooperative education, service learning and field studies. He stresses the importance of work-based learning forcollege-bound students as well as those students who are...

In this episode, Charlie Jett focuses on Authentic Assessment - what it is and how it is accomplished. Of particular interest is Professor Jon Mueller's (North Central College) contribution of his outstanding descriptions of authentic assessment vs traditional assessment (used with permission). He has an excellent website that can be reached at the following address:  http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/

In this episode, Charlie Jett discusses how parents can help their children learn and practice the Critical Skills.

The world around us is changing at a pace that the word "dizzy" doesn't describe. It poses challenges for young people to find for themselves a productive role in society and to engage in and lead a happy life. To do this, one must understand what has happened over the past half century and where our world seems to be heading. In this episode, Charlie Jett discusses these challenges and the growing importance of the Critical Skills in the lives of those facing the future.

This is the text of a high school graduation address given by Charlie Jett in California. It stresses the importance of the Critical Skills, advice about choosing a college, advice about choosing a major, and advice about taking that "first job."

In this episode, Charlie Jett discusses the Critical Skills from the perspective of the business. He discusses how a company can identify their own unique set of critical skills and core competencies. Additionally, he discusses the well-known and usable "Lominger Competencies."