In Chapter 7 of 14 of his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview, motivation teacher Jullien Gordon shares why he chose to earn both a masters in education and a masters in business administration (MBA) from Stanford University. Coming out of college at UCLA, Gordon works for Students Heightening Academic Performance Through Education (SHAPE). There he learns his passion is education, but not of the classroom type. Gordon chooses to attend Stanford to craft a career as a motivation teacher, using education classes to provide the tools, systems, and processes to help people self motivate and learn. He pairs this with business school knowledge - marketing, finance, etc. - to create value and make a living doing what he loves.
Transcript:
Erik Michielsen: What motivated you to purse dual master degrees in education and business administration when going back to Stanford University?
Jullien Gordon: Coming out of UCLA, I was committed to – I was working at an education outreach program called The Shape Program – and so my passions were both in education and business but I never saw myself necessarily in the educational system but I really wanted to understand – the education degree was to understand how people learn and the business degree was to how to create value, and that’s what I do. I’m a motivation teacher now. So, I teach people – not a motivational speaker. A motivational speaker comes and get you excited, “Rah, Rah” and as soon as they leave all the energy dies. As a motivation teacher, I leave people with tools, systems and processes that allow them to motivate themselves and self motivate. So, I’m a teacher and I understand how people learn and how they consume information and what sticks and on the business side, that just gives me the skill set to make a living doing what I love.