99: Bill Hughes on creating education-to-workforce models and removing barriers to jobs for those qualified but lacking degrees

People are the Answer

Show notes:

In this episode, Bill and Jeffrey discuss his unique path from Harlem through prestigious educational institutions, ultimately leading him to degrees at Harvard and MIT and working in software. After spending 9 years helping an education business with their digital transformation, he created JobReady, developing career-aligned course collections, enabling job seekers to follow pathways that lead to jobs and promotions. We discuss the company’s exit, how he found Education Design Lab, the lives changed along the way, and much more!

Learn more:

Watch this episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/W2fW6ZpF_2o

Host: Jeffrey M. Zucker

Producer: Kait Grey

Editor: Nick Case

Recording date: 10/10/24

Bill Hughes

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhughes316/

Education Design Lab:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/education-design-lab/

https://eddesignlab.org/

https://www.instagram.com/educationdesignlab/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6vgVHYOkJk6RIY6HJnyQBA

Other resources:

https://www.open4learning.com/

https://innovationlabs.harvard.edu/

https://www.edc.org/careers-edc?utm_source=edc&utm_medium=LN&utm_content=job&utm_campaign=smedcorg

Bio:

Software executive focused on new ventures, strategy, innovation, and product management.

As CEO and Founder of JobReady, his goal is to deliver high-quality, affordable, relevant career pathways and credentials for the 21st century to a million job seekers and career shifters. JobReady is developing career-aligned course collections from the thousands of courses available, enabling job seekers to follow pathways that lead to jobs and promotions. Initial pathways will include cybersecurity, data science, project management, leadership, IT skills, business skills, and certification prep. Message Bill directly for more information about JobReady and how you can learn more.

Expertise: Corporate strategy, business development, new ventures, win-win deals, software product management, new product development, venture capital, entrepreneurship, strategic consulting, project management, software development, financial analysis, analytical modeling, software patents.

Chapters:

0:00 - Intro

2:37 - New Majority Learner

4:51 - What Motivates You?

11:37 - Education

12:55 - Pearson

17:29 - Job Ready

21:59 - Education Design Lab

37:08 - Generative AI

49:54 - Why Can't We Get Re-Routed?

57:53 - EDL's Future

1:07:14 - When Work Affected Change

1:09:48 - Most Grateful for

1:12:53 - Snap Your Fingers

1:16:28 - How to Support