We were lucky to catch up with Dr. Leigh Anne Taylor Knight recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dr. Leigh Anne, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?

Our workforce is constantly evolving, and as such, the way we prepare people for careers must change too. For example, many of us grew up surrounded by adults, in our lives or on TV, who worked in one job, for one company, for their entire career. We might have even pictured that for ourselves when we chose “what I want to be when I grow up.” However, the concept of one, long-term career is increasingly becoming a 20th-century relic.

In today’s workforce, you will likely change jobs multiple times. Throughout your career journey, you will gain skills, discover new interests, and land new opportunities as you grow. You must be agile to succeed in an ever-changing world of work, and this is the journey for which we need to prepare our youth.

At The DeBruce Foundation, we provide resources and tools to help people make informed choices about their careers. You won’t find us telling someone what they should be or what one job they should do, but instead affirming the value of their skills and interests and helping them understand ALL the opportunities in front of them in today’s workforce.

Our team recently released a comprehensive national research report, “How to Talk with Youth About Careers.” It delves into the experiences, aspirations, and challenges of young people aged 16 to 24 in America today. I encourage parents, educators, employers, and policymakers to download the report – you’ll find research insights as well as practical tips so we can empower young people for their brightest future careers.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was in college when I first wrote my mission statement: “Improve the quality of life for others in their near and far environments.” Since then, it has guided and inspired the work I get to do: from serving as a teacher in the classroom to becoming a school administrator, then leading research to improve education, to now serving as Executive Director and COO of The DeBruce Foundation.

At The DeBruce Foundation, our mission is to expand pathways to economic growth and opportunity. Our team conducts and commissions career-related research and develops initiatives to help individuals along their career journey – from preparing for a career to retirement.

Through our research, we have identified two key components of building an empowered career: Career Literacy and Network Strength. The sobering news is that 2 out of 3 Americans are low in Career Literacy and/or Network Strength. The hopeful news is that Career Literacy and Network Strength can be developed! And, it’s worth it: our research shows that individuals who are Employment Empowered with high Career Literacy and Network Strength are 18% more likely to be currently employed, consider 35% more jobs outside their current career path, and earn $30,000 more in average annual earnings.

I encourage you to take steps today to build your Career Literacy and your Network Strength.

Build your Career Literacy with the below resources at Agilities.org, available for free as part of our charitable mission:

Agile Work Profiler–a career assessment that provides you with a list of your current skills and interests – what we call your Agilities – as they relate to the workforce.

Career Explorer Tools– a suite of interactive online tools with which you can learn about the income, preparation, work activities, and demand for each career.

Draw Your Future with Agilities–a fun activity that helps you think critically about your Agilities related to your current reality, desired future, and steps to achieve your goals.

Increase your Network Strength by building a network around you that is vast, reliable, and diverse. This quarter, I encourage you to meet one person who has a different education level than you, one person who has a different social experience than you, and one person who works in a different industry than you.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

We have AMAZING organizational partners joining us every day in our mission to expand career pathways. Thanks to key organizations embedding our Career Literacy resources into their programming and curriculum, we can better reach the people who most need support in their careers.

When considering a partnership, we use a framework we call the 5 A’s of DeBruce intentional investment for impact:

• Alignment: Can this partnership help meet mutual missions?
• Access: Can this partnership provide access to key audiences The Foundation intends to serve?
• Acceleration: Can this partnership increase effectiveness to meet goals?
• Accountability: Can this partnership measure for impact?
• Allocation of resources: Can this partnership accomplish these things efficiently?

Recent examples of these powerful partnerships include the Indiana Department of Workforce Development embedding the Agile Work Profiler in their Indiana Career Explorer, a free education and career planning tool designed to empower the Indiana economy; Harris-Stowe State University’s Center of Innovation & Entrepreneurship uses Agilities resources to help Black and Brown entrepreneurs identify work skills to leverage in their businesses; and American Student Assistance (ASA) includes several of our Career Literacy activities in EvolveMe, a digital platform to help teens make informed, confident decisions about their career paths. If you’re looking for free career-building resources for your organization, head to DeBruce.org and register for an Agilities Tour. We would love to chat with you!

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

A team is at its best when each person gets to use their unique strengths and interests to contribute to meaningful work – and has the support they need to do so. This looks different for each team, but here are a few tips I consistently share with our team and when volunteering for organizations like the Greater Missouri Leadership Foundation:

Know yourself: Take the Agile Work Profiler to identify the work skills you’re good at and enjoy using. Explore your Strengths with the CliftonStrengths assessment. Use the resources available online or through your company to get to know yourself, how you best operate, and the value you bring to the table. This self-awareness can help you be a better version of yourself and a better team member.

Connect to the mission: Take time for “mission moments.” This could look like sharing a recent success story at your next team meeting, reading a note from someone your organization helped, or going on-site for an event that serves your audiences. Always connect your work back to your “why”.

Be a reflective practitioner: As important as it is to do your work, it’s equally important to stop and reflect on it. My team recently went through a process of reflecting on their individual wins and learnings from the past year. They reflected on their own and then shared with our senior team. This is vital information about each team member’s experience that will also be woven into our team-wide strategic planning for the year ahead.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://DeBruce.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debrucefound/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeBruceFound
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/debrucefound
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/DeBruceFound
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DeBruceFound/
• Other: https://Agilities.org/