How Trust Is The Future | Esther Wojcicki

The future is how. Have you asked yourself today, what's next for me? You're not alone. We've all felt that way at some point. My name is Frederik Pferdt, and for years I've helped the brightest minds at Google and Stanford and people around the world shape their futures. Now I want to help you to do the same. Because the future isn't just something that happens. It's something you can create. Starting right now. From within. Instead of waiting to see what happens next, let's explore how you can make it happen. Each episode dives into one key area. Like sleep, nutrition, relationships, creativity, storytelling, mindfulness, beauty, movement, or purpose, and brings you real stories and practical tools you can use to shape a better future for yourself. So what's one step you can take today to create what's next? Let's dive in and explore how to build a better tomorrow, starting right now. Welcome back to The Future Is How, the podcast where we don't just ask what's next, we explore how to create it. I'm your host, Frederick, and today's guest I have admired for decades. She has helped nurture some of the most influential thinkers of our time. Not only in her own family, but in classrooms around the world. Ista Wurczycki is an educator, journalist, and author of How to Raise Successful People. Her TRICK philosophy, which she hopefully shares more about in today's show, has inspired parents and teachers and leaders across generations and across the world. She raised 3 daughters, a CEO, a doctor, and a professor, and has taught thousands of high school students how to find their voice and shape the future. Today we'll talk about the role of trust in shaping tomorrow, how education needs to change, and how all of us can nurture the next generation of future makers. Esther, it's such an honor, I have to say, and a treat to have you on the show. And before we dive into today's conversation, I'd love to begin where we often end by inviting you to imagine the future. So if you were to write your own future resume or bio set 5 years from now, who are you in that future and what are you doing and what kind of future have you helped shape?

Well, thank you so much for this opportunity to talk about my future and the future. Really gives me a lot of pleasure. So what would I envision in 5 years? If it would be the future that I would be planning. It would be a future in which children, starting at birth, birth through age 5, were treated with respect and trust. I know that sounds a little crazy. But little kids, even though they're small and they can't speak very well yet, they remember everything. And what we do to those children in the first 5 years determines the kind of human being that they will become in their life. And I would give them more of an opportunity to play, to make mistakes and not be criticized for those mistakes, and to have an opportunity to explore the real world and get acquainted with other people in the real world, other children, and learn how to get along with nature, learn how to get along with each other, and learn that trust and respect for each other is probably the most important thing that we learn as small children. And then, of course, I would continue this in a schooling system where at least 20% of the time was devoted to students having an opportunity to work on something of their own choosing together with their peers. And that would change the world because we would all learn to respect each other. We all have different goals, but our goals actually align in many ways. If we could just take care of each other, we're all human beings, and though our languages are different, our skin color might be different, our culture might be different, we all have the same goal, and that is to really live a productive life, take care of our children, take care of our families, take care of our communities. That would be my wish.

That's a wonderful wish. Thank you so much, Esther, for sharing that beautiful vision of the future that you also help create by the work you're doing. And you've worked with young people for decades. So my question would be, when did you realize that your approach, what you now call TRIC, and you have to explain us what that stands for, was different and needed to be shared?

So first, let me explain what TRIC is. TRIC is trust, respect, independence, collaboration, and kindness. And my theory is that you need to, as a parent, trust your child. Because when you trust them to do something, like even when they're small, get dressed by themselves, or pick up their room and clean it up by themselves, they begin to trust themselves. They realize that someone big and important in their life thinks that they're capable of doing this. And by thinking that they're capable, they become capable. So trusting, respecting their ideas means listening to them, not necessarily doing what they say, but giving them the opportunity to explain what's important to them. And independence— everybody wants to have as much independence as possible. We're all human beings, and I would say one of the first things that we all want is independence. As small children, you know, as teenagers— teenagers are— that's a time in life when independence is probably the strongest drive. You want to do things independently. And then collaboration. You know, no one likes to be told what to do. No one, whether they're 3 years old, 10 years old, or 30 years old. They all want to be participating or collaborating with whoever is coming up with the idea that is going to be happening. People want to be— they want their opinion to be respected, so they want to collaborate. And if you just look at the world today of adults, it's all collaboration in corporations, and it's not like one person does it all by themselves. We all work together. And by teaching small children and school-aged children how to collaborate, you're preparing them for the future, for the world the way it should be. And so that is one of the things that I focus on importantly. And then after collaboration, I can just talk a little bit about the K K stands for kindness. And honestly, kindness— if the world would be governed by kindness, we would not be having all these terrible wars that we have. If people understood that we all want the same thing, we all want to have a home, food, family, love, they would actually work together, hopefully. But with kindness, people will forget what you said, and they may forget what you did, but honestly, they will never forget how you made them feel. Whether they're 2 years old, 5 years old, 10 years old, or 30 or 80, everyone wants to be treated with kindness. And I can tell you, it makes the world so much better. That's what I did in my class. I treated my students with kindness. And you know, because I treated them with kindness, they were kind to me. And so that was one of the operating principles in the class. If you don't understand something, if you need something, if you made a mistake, we were always there to help. Not just me, but the culture of the classroom was one of support. And if you talk to most students, the school seems to be a highly competitive rat race, and they don't support each other, they don't help each other, they don't talk to each other. What are we preparing them for? What kind of a future do we prepare these kids for where they don't work together with collaboration and kindness and trusting each other? I don't know. That's why I'm hoping that we can change the school system. And I said at least 20%. So I'm realistic. I realize that changing the whole school system and the way we think is probably never going to happen. But if we can just change part of it, just 20% of it, that already will make a big difference. Will be significant. And there are two institutions in the world that are almost impossible to change. The first one is the church. Church never going to change. And the second, but by close second, is the schools. Very hard to change, which is why I just want to modify 20% of the schools. If we could change the whole school, that would be wonderful. Some private schools change the whole culture, but unfortunately most public schools are not doing it, and that's where the majority of the population is.

Yes, I would love to hear your ideas later on, on how you reimagine the education system from the ground up. But before we dive into these bigger questions, I'd love to also explore a very personal question. I'm raising 3 children as a dad, and I love how you talk about raising independent thinkers, right? And I think we are very aligned here. How do you balance structure with freedom, right? Especially in a world of uncertainty. So how do you find that balance? That I think a lot of parents are looking for when it comes to structure and guidance and the freedom and independence?

Well, for sure there is structure and you have to have structure and children have to understand structure. And in fact, children are more comfortable when they can predict what's coming. So They like to know what is going to happen. So every morning they want to know the routine, afternoon the routine. So within structure, they should be given some control, but the structure is what you, the parent, has to give to the child. And when you have a very disorganized life and a very disorganized structure, It results in kids that feel less confident about themselves because they can't predict. But if you just think about the world as adults, one of the problems is if we can't predict, we get very upset. I mean, just look at what happened to the stock market. When Trump took over. I mean, it dropped like crazy because no one could predict what was coming. And prediction gives people a sense of security. And without being able to predict, you have a problem. So within, for example, the school system, it's very predictable. First period, second period, third period. That's great, but within those standardized structures, there should be an opportunity to be an independent thinker. So you should not have to— just because it's predictable does not mean that every class has to be a situation where everything is planned for every minute of the class, because then creativity is lost completely. And then your ability to think independently is missing. So you as a parent, you provide the structure, the time, but within that time frame, kids can do whatever they think— well, if you give them the opportunity, they can play at the kind of games they want to play, do things that they want to do, that children do to explore. I don't know if— does that make sense to you?

Absolutely. For me, it comes down to that outside world, which is all about predictions, as you just shared, the structures that we see on the outside world. But the inside world for me is about preparedness. One of the stories I remember you shared was when you sent one of your daughters go grocery shopping, getting some milk, and Showing them that you trust them, that they find their way to the supermarket, that they can, you know, manage to find the milk or whatever they wanted to buy and get back safely as well. Can you share that story again? Because I think it's a really powerful way of signaling to your children that you trust them in whatever they're going to do.

That's right. So I gave my children an opportunity to explore and to do independent things quite a bit. And that story you're referring to was, I think the children were 8 years old at the time, and they went to the store. Well, I dropped them off, to be honest, at the store and left them there by themselves to shop. They were getting school supplies, they were getting some food, they had a list. Most people don't do that. They were— as a matter of fact, I remember my daughter was upset and shocked. She's like, but they're only 8. And I was like, but I bet they can do it better than I can do it because they need certain supplies for school and I don't know those supplies, but they know them. So I came back to pick them up. I don't know, about 40 minutes later. They had done everything perfectly, and they were so self-confident. They loved this experience. You know, we overprotect because we don't trust that kids have that innate ability to do a lot of things that they can do. We protect for too long and we don't give them the opportunity to think independently.

Absolutely.

So that's one, just one small thing that parents can do. If you want to be in the store with your child, you can still let them take a shopping basket and go and buy some of the food on their own. You know, pick the apples, get the bananas, 'Pick the fruit,' you know. I don't see how that's so complicated. And it gives this child an incredible sense of self-confidence.

Absolutely. I think that's a great example that sometimes we not just do the things for our kids, but we also do the thinking for our kids, right?

That's right.

And we don't allow them to explore and kind of like think for themselves and so forth because we think we can do it better or like they're not ready for it.

That's right.

So what do you think most parents still get wrong about preparing kids for the future? We just heard one, which is that we don't trust them enough or not early enough, right, to do things on their own. What are other things that you think parents still get wrong about preparing kids for the future?

Well, I would say number one is trust. And number two is respect. So we don't listen to the kids. You know, let's say you're planning to go away for the weekend. Do you ever ask your kids what they want to do? I would say most people don't. Well, but maybe you should. You know, we're going to be going, I don't know, to the mountains or to the beach or whatever. What do you think is the ideal thing for you to do? And kids might come up with surprising answers. You know, you don't necessarily have to do what they say, But just listening to them and giving them the credibility that they've come up with some interesting ideas or places to eat or, you know, whatever it is that they want to do. Most people just, they take kids like a piece of luggage, you know, and that's just, okay, we're bringing the kids with us. And then they don't ever ask the kids or tell them what they're doing or, I think that's not a good idea.

I love that.

Kids are not luggage. They're human beings.

Absolutely. Yes. I love that. And it reminds me of two things. The first one is that we should really carefully listen to the questions kids are asking, right? And not always kind of like coming up with an answer for that question, but like really sit with that question that the kid is asking because there's usually some deeper meaning in that question when they ask these questions. And I think kids do a wonderful job in really question everything, right, that they see in the world, that they experience in the world. And the second thing that you remind me of is I usually take one of my kids for my travels when I have to, or I can speak somewhere around the world. I usually take one of the kids, right? And I let them do the planning. I let them choose where we're gonna stay, what we're gonna do, and all of those things. And it's really, as you said, something beautifully surprising that they come up with, right? That makes that travel so different.

Yes.

It gets you into a childlike state as well as an adult, right? Where you can explore, where you can see new things and do different things, right? And you get off this autopilot where you usually go to the same restaurants or have the same conversations or whatever it is. And I think that's a beautiful reminder. So one of the things that I noticed when I was on my book tour recently, people ask me for a signature in the book afterwards. One thing I noticed is that some people didn't say their own name that they wanted to have in the book. They ask for a different name. And I ask the people like, who is that in your life? And most people responded, it's my child. So they wanted to dedicate the book to their children. And it's a book about the future and their future and how to create a better one. And that was interesting and surprising. Did you notice that too, that a lot of parents really care about their children and their futures? And while they care, they also worry a lot about what future the kids might experience.

I think that's more prevalent now than ever before. People are worried about the future. The climate issues are on top of people's minds, and they're worried about what's going to happen for our children. And I think they should be worried. I think we're all worried, but I think it's even more now than it was before. And I think that climate and then the political situation that we're in has made everybody very apprehensive. We're all worried about not only next year, but almost like next month. The war in Ukraine, the war in Gaza, you know, the way that the hate crimes that are happening everywhere, it makes us worry about what's the future for our children. I mean, I'm worried. I think everybody is probably worried. I think it's reflected in the fact that many young people don't want to have children. I think that's also a response to what kind of a world are we going to leave for our children. The situation is not happy, and I think we need to work on this. And I think climate is one of the number one things that we need to work on, because without predictable climate. I don't know what we have here. I do not want to go to Mars and I do not want to go to outer space. And I actually don't know anybody that wants to go except Elon, and maybe he should go with Trump.

So what can we do as parents or adults to help our children to worry less about the future? Or is it that it's only us adults that we worry about the future and the kids actually don't worry that much and we show up in a way that we probably put our focus on the things that we can't really influence, right? And we should probably pay more attention to the things we actually can control and influence.

First of all, I think adults should pay more attention to exactly what you said, things that they can control and influence. And there should be more cooperation, more programs that we can do that we can actually worry about effectively doing something that's going to make the future better. I mean, I worry about all the homeless people. The homeless problem is getting worse. The climate situation is getting worse. And there's homeless people all over the world. Actually, the only place I noticed that I've traveled to where I have never seen a homeless person is China. I don't know how China is doing it. That everybody's got a place to live.

And it's such important problems you're raising. I also would like to maybe discuss what are the things that are going better? Where can we see that actually we as humankind improved? And before we do that, you know, things we can control is, I think, a very important question we can ask ourselves, right? Especially when it comes to the homeless situation, I think that's where we can show up for our children in ways that show us how we can be respectful, kind, collaborative, and so forth. And I remember one situation where one of my kids observed also a lot of homelessness here in the area, right, in the Bay Area and so forth. And we were wondering what we could do. And she came up with a beautiful idea because she said, Dad, did you notice that the homeless people on the streets, they are holding up signs where they ask for, you know, donations or money or food food usually, they also have another hand usually on their pants, right? Because they usually have pants on that they don't really fit, right? Because they were probably donated or whatever it is. So they don't invest a lot of money in belts. And my daughter raised an interesting question. She said like, Dad, how can we help these homeless people to have one hand free so that can not only hold the sign and hold their pants, but they can actually take the money or the food with another hand? So we went and we a couple of just belts for homeless, and whenever we stop at a traffic sign or wherever we see homeless people, we give out these belts, right? It's a small gesture that really frees up another hand of these homeless people because now they have an opportunity to not hold their pants anymore, but they can use the other hand to wave at you or kind of like take the donation that you give them and so forth while still holding the sign with the other hand. And that's a small thing that we can control, right? Which probably doesn't make the homelessness problem go away, but it's one of the ways that we can show kindness, right? That we can show up for these people, that we see them, that we empathize with them and provide a solution that might help some of these individuals. And that's something I learned from my daughter. And so my question to you is, how can we as adults show up for our kids with TRICK, right? With trust, respect, also kindness, with independence, with collaboration, so that we are role models for our children in these areas so that they understand how they can follow that.

So we should model the behavior that we hope our children will follow. Your daughter came up with a very good idea. And but you personally must have also showed a lot of empathy for these homeless people. You, by you modeling that, that helps your daughter come up with ideas that are going to make a difference. My goal is to work where— what's the cause of all this homelessness? I don't know if you know that California, the state of California plans its prison population by third-grade reading scores. So the number of kids who are not reading at grade level in third grade are probably going to be that same percentage that are going to end up in prison. And why do they end up in prison? Because if you can't earn a living by traditional means You have to earn a living somehow. You want to be alive, you want to get some food, you want to have shelter, and so you end up doing things that are illegal. So that's why I'm so focused on the education system, because if we can help all those kids— I would like all third graders to read at the grade level. I would like them all to feel good about themselves. All to understand that they can make a difference in the world, we would cut down our prison population by probably 30%, even more. That's one of the problems I think that we face. And these young people that are homeless, because they're also young people, middle-aged, there's all sorts of ages in there, and they've all had some sort of bad luck with society. You know, frequently people that are older are people that got addicted to drugs through doctors. You know, they had an injury and they got OxyContin or some kind of a drug that caused them to become addicted. There's all sorts of issues, reasons why this is happening, but one of the number one ones, number one reason, is really lack of ability to think, understand, to read, to be, you know, to be able to get a job. I don't know if you know the statistics, but more than 50% of the American population reads at about the 6th grade level.

Wow. So you've been a pioneer in rethinking education. So if you could redesign the school system from scratch, and you gave us a couple of ideas today as well with, you know, the 20% rule that you want to apply for more independent thinking, but also for collaboration and parts of the the trick that you introduced, what would it look like if you rethink education from scratch?

First of all, in kindergarten, I would give kids an opportunity to play. They would play and have a good time. And nobody would flunk kindergarten. Second, first grade, kids would learn to read, but if they're not ready to learn to read, No problem. They still get to play and still have a good time. And so by second grade, if they don't learn to read at that point, they would be given special instruction care. It's okay if you don't learn to read at that time. We will help you. I don't know if you know that in the number one country that tests the best on the reading tests, and all tests. It's Finland. And Finland school starts at the age of 7. So at age 7, our kids are already in second grade. And by third grade, you know, we're asking too much too soon. What's the rush? Give them an opportunity to explore and play and have a good time. So considering the system, and like I said earlier, changing the system is probably not gonna happen. Maybe within the system we can give kids more of an opportunity to learn and without being criticized as being stupid or being slow, having a label, ADD, ADHD. They're just normal. Kids that have ADD and ADHD, They're just very excited kids that have a lot of energy, and the system is trying to make them sit down and listen. So they give them a drug, Adderall, which basically forces— they're exhausted, so of course they're going to sit down. I would like to see the system respond more to the needs of the student and not to the constraints that we put on it. Asking kids to fit into that box. If they don't fit into the box, then something's the matter with them. That's what I would like to do, and I'm working on it. You know, there's a lot of schools out there, primarily the private schools, that are doing that. They respect the student. So when you respect that child, they feel respected and they feel good about themselves. How about all kids? Every single kid out there needs to have that kind of experience, not just the ones that can pay for it.

Absolutely, yes.

Everyone.

Yes. So let's bring that home, actually. Like, what can parents do to really make that TRICK model work in their everyday with their kids?

They have a huge impact at home. So they can give kids a lot of opportunity to contribute to the family. Research shows that kids that have chores around the house do better. They feel like they're part of the family, and it's important for them to feel that way. They can help make dinner, they can clean the room, you know, they can take care of the pets. A lot of people get pets for their children, and then they end up taking care of the pet. Let the child take care of the pet. Everything doesn't have to be perfect. It's okay if it's not perfect. And if they don't get dressed, look like they're getting ready for a magazine shoot, you know, they're not. Let's stop posting pictures of our children online.

Yes, speaking about perfect. Yes, I like that. And it reminds me of somebody shared with me once. His name is Jens. Jens Lehmann, he shared with me that when he spoke with his kids recently, and they're already teenagers and the other one is going to college, that he shared like, you know, kids, it's not just the first time for you being a child. It's also the first time for me being a parent, right? And I think kids sometimes forget that, that we don't have a perfect plan in how to raise successful and happy children. It's the first time for us as well. And I think that's a good reminder that we also as parents can share with our kids that we are all in it together for the first time, right?

So that's right.

Let's figure that out together. And I think kids need to have patience with us adults, but at the same time, we need to have patience with our kids too. I think it's a two-way street.

That's right. They have to see you as human beings. You know, unfortunately, it's very hard. Mom and dad are like super people. That's how kids think of you is like, oh my God, they can do anything.

And they know everything. Exactly. But that's not true.

It's not true at all. They don't know everything and they can't do everything. So that comes in with the collaboration. Talk to them, you know, explain what's going on. Kids who feel like they're part of the family, who feel like their parents understand them and they understand their parents, they do better. And they are emotionally happier. You know, we have a crisis today. It's called the helicopter parenting crisis. I'm sure you have heard of that.

So yes, tell us more about that.

So what that is, it was based on this book by Amy Chua, The Tiger Mom. She writes everything in the book that she did to her children, and actually a lot of it borders on abuse. But she was doing this because she was trying to get them to be the best. She was forcing them to take lessons, forcing them to go to bed at a certain time, not allowing them ever to have friends over for sleepovers. She was on a control path. But then there's many people that are doing this because they're worried that their child will not get into college, the college of their choice. And so they're like, piano on Monday, you know, gymnastics on Tuesday, soccer on Wednesday. Every day of the week is something, and the child is just forced to do these things whether they like them or not, so that maybe they can say that they can get into the college of their choice. And they have these extracurriculars, their grades are like high scores and everything. I don't know if you know, but 54% of American college freshmen are clinically depressed. They blame a lot of this on the helicopter parenting syndrome because kids are just, they're lost. They're so used to being told what to do that by the time they get to college, they don't even know what they want to do anymore and they don't believe in themselves. They don't know how to make their own bed. They don't know how to even make any food for themselves. UC Berkeley has a course offered to freshmen called Adulting, how to be an adult. This is response to the helicopter parenting problem. But a lot of these kids are then on drugs and they do things to mitigate their pain. It's a major problem everywhere in the world, but particularly in the United States. In the state of California, you know, you can avoid this whole university crisis that happens in the 12th grade. Your child can go to a community college for 2 years, and then after 2 years of getting a B average, they are then automatically admitted to one of the University of California campuses— Berkeley, UCLA, Irvine, any of those campuses. It's such a great way to do it and saves you 2 years of college tuition and expenses, living expenses. I just know I have 2 students that I'm working with that have done that. I'm telling you, they're so happy. One of them is going to go to Berkeley. Getting into Berkeley, you know, it's like 5% admission rate as freshman. And the other one is still in community college, and he's working on it. But I think it's a great secret that people are not taking advantage of.

Thanks for sharing that secret. Yes, and thanks for sharing that Berkeley is offering class on how to be an adult. I would love if they offer in the future also a class for adults, how to be a child again. That would be probably a helpful thing, right? Because I'm just tremendously inspired by like how kids show up with trust, respect, independence, but also collaboration and, and kindness in most of the things they do. And I think over time, we as adults, we show them differently, right? And as you said, like, sometimes helicoptering is showing them exactly the wrong way of how to grow up and not taking responsibility and how not to be trusted and how not to be independent and so forth.

And how not to believe in yourself.

Absolutely.

That's the number one side effect of helicopter parenting.

Yes. So I think it's time for a quick mind state moment, Esther. I usually introduce those 2 minutes of reflection and mindfulness to help people to just slow down for a moment and do some imagination exercise. Next, let's take a moment to pause and reconnect. This is your mindstate moment, a chance to reset and come back to yourself, wherever you are right now. These moments of presence are powerful. They remind us that the future starts from within by shifting how we show up in this very moment. Welcome to this Mindstate moment. Let's take a moment to slow down together. And maybe you want to close your eyes and just take a deep breath in. And I want you to imagine yourself as a child. Maybe you're 8, 10, or maybe 12 years old. So go back in time and think about where are you, what are you doing, and what makes time disappear for you. Maybe you're lost in a book, building something with your hands, or making music. Inventing games, or just exploring nature. So just feel that moment. You as a child. The joy, the flow, the freedom. And now ask yourself, what made you feel so alive? What gave you that trust to explore? And who believed in you? Now take one deep breath in. Just bring that awareness back to today and ask yourself who around you, maybe a child, a colleague, a friend, might need that same kind of trust, space, or encouragement? And how can you offer it to them? That's how we shape better futures, by creating the conditions for others to thrive. So thank you. I'd like to talk a little bit more about that TRICK model maybe in an organizational context, right, in companies and for leaders? Because I think it's such a powerful model that really can help not just parents or can be helpful in classrooms, but in culture building in organizations. So how can leaders use TRICK in their teams, in the work they're doing with teams and their employees?

It's very similar to being a parent. But it's actually really important if you want your company to have a culture where they all feel included and empowered to make everything work well. So leaders— I know that my daughters that have been leaders, the number one thing that they did is to trust and respect people that were working for them. And that was one of the things that they thought was the most important. When you empower the people that work with you, perhaps not at the same level, you are giving them the opportunity to grow, to have self-confidence, to make the company a better place, and to build community. Because you modeled— you as a leader modeled that. And they also model that for people that are working below them. It's really important for the culture of the company to have the TRICK model, and especially kindness in that model, because no one makes a mistake on purpose. If they make a mistake, they should have the opportunity to do it again. That's what happened in my classes. I always think of mistakes as an opportunity to learn. In companies, we're all doing things that are new, innovative, so it's not going to be perfect. And it's— as a matter of fact, most of the time it needs to be revised. And we just need to congratulate people on giving them an— on their— whatever they're doing that involved creativity. And mistakes, but then moving forward because then they can revise it and make it even better. That's what it's all about. And I just think about the culture of Google where I worked for a couple of years, 2005, and I just remember that everybody worked in a team. It was teams all over, and that if you made a mistake, people would help you. And work together to make it better. Mistakes were not considered mistakes. They were considered an opportunity to improve the situation. As a matter of fact, Google has a 20% time, which is, you know, if you find something that you want to do to make the world better, the company better, you can do a 20% project. It gives people an opportunity to be creative, and also they're not worried about making mistakes because the culture is mistakes are something that we learn from. And if you just look at the culture of Google, it's become one of the top companies in the world. And I think that many of the companies that are really productive and have a lot of foresight are also using the TRIC model, though they may not even call it that. Maybe they don't know, you know, what the name is, but they're always treating their employees with kindness and collaborating with them and giving them as much independence as they possibly can. So I was going to write a book on TRIC in the corporate world. So I haven't given up.

Yes, please. I think we all need that, right? I think we all need to understand how we can use trust and respect and independence, collaboration and kindness more in our lives. Right. And especially, I think, in the corporate world, you shared such an important observation that the 20% time really led to some of the breakthrough innovations, right? Like Gmail, like Maps and other things that we now see in billions of people's daily usage, right? And so bringing that to schools might be also interesting, right? Like, and you mentioned that the 20% time in schools where we focus on the TRIG philosophy might be the best way to actually change the school system and how we raise our children.

That's right.

So yeah, I'm looking forward to reading that book, Esther, and hopefully more people can benefit from that as well. So the last thing I want to explore is, you know, we've all been children, right? So we all grew up being children, like, and what can we offer our parents if they're still around, right? In terms of the trick model, is there a way that we also can use it maybe upside down so that we as children offer something to our parents?

It's a good question. I think that we can offer the same TRIC model to our parents. I mean, the number one thing that we should always do is listen. You know, give people an opportunity to be heard, whether you agree with them or not. Just giving them that opportunity to be heard makes a big difference. And then collaborating with them. I was just reading an article about all the people who are not in close contact with their parents. It seems to be a lot. You know, those people that are your parents, they cared about you a lot. They loved you. And maybe you grew up with different ideas or different ways to do things, and that's fine. But staying in touch with your parents and treating them with kindness. I think that's really important, especially as people get old. The main thing they're thinking about is their children, their families, and, you know, what they have done in their lives. So I think it's important to treat parents with TRIC, you know, give them the trust and respect that you wish you might have had. That maybe they did give it to you. But if they didn't give it to you, they did it— it wasn't out of being malign or something on purpose. It might have been the culture of the times. So you just need to remember that. I just remember my father. My father was born in the Ukraine. The way that they parented in the Ukraine was the philosophy was spare the rod, spoil the child. And so, you know, it was not a wonderful way to have a father. For me personally, I understand where he came from. I forgave him for some of the things that he didn't even know he was doing. And I think that made a difference to him, and it certainly made a difference to me, because no one is perfect, even though we try to aim to be the best we can be. So yes, I think we all need to be very kind to our parents. Be in touch, call them, talk to them, give them an opportunity to hear about what you're doing.

Yes, I think that's such a deeply personal but also a wonderful way to end this conversation that I truly loved and found valuable because, you know, we can all, if we are raising children, if we are children and still have our parents around, right? If we are teachers, if we are leaders, I think we all can make better use of trust and respect and independence and collaboration and kindness and find ways to use that in our lives. So Esther, thank you so much for reminding us that trust isn't just a parenting tool. It's a future building strategy, right? And it's so important in many different ways. And if this episode sparked something in you, share it with someone who is raising a future maker, whether it's a parent, a teacher, or a leader. And if you'd like more tools or questions or imagination prompts like today's Mindstate Moment, please sign up for my next letter. I send it out every other Friday to help you shape what's next from the inside out. Thank you so much for joining, Esther. Thank you for joining us on The Future Is How. Until next time, be kind, be curious, and trust what's possible. Thank you so much.

Well, thank you so much for including me. I'm very happy to be here.

Thank you, Esther. That's a wrap for today's episode of The Future Is How. Remember, the future isn't something we wait for. It's something we create with every choice, every breath, in every step we take. If this episode sparked something in you, share it with someone who's ready to shape what's next. And don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. Your next chapter begins now. So what will you create today? I'll see you in your future.