Joe Mikaele Ah-Kuoi
Founder, Strive Lane
In Empowering Educators, inspiring Aussie educators share how they build and nurture entrepreneurial mindsets in schools and classrooms. Here we ask Joe Mikaele Ah-Kuoi, qualified high school teacher and Founder of Strive Lane, about his inspiration and how he creates creating authentic and connected learning experiences.
Q1: Could you give us three words that describe your life as an educator?
Adaptable, relevant and unconventional.
Q2. What is the most important skill for young people to learn at school? What’s one way that educators (and/or caregivers) can explicitly build this skill?
Understand what self-leadership is so they know how to provide value to the world through their specific talent/skillset.
Teach young people how the influencers they are influenced by have worked hard to develop their influence (leadership skills) and how leadership can be a concept that anyone can employ on their life journey (self-leadership) to lead themselves well as the fundamental step towards developing their influence.
Q3: What’s one of the best learning experiences you’ve ever delivered (or seen being delivered)?
Guiding a student through opening their first e-commerce store and relevant business social media pages during lunchtime hours.
I was able to guide this student having experience running my own e-commerce store as a side hustle when I was teaching. We watched specific YouTube clips and the student learnt the power of self-education setting him free from the conventional lifestyle most of his friends employed.
This is by far the best learning experience for both the student and myself, not only telling the student what he could do in this information age but also being part of his journey of opening doors to endless opportunities.
Q4. One thing all teachers and school leaders wish for is more time. Can you suggest one ‘productivity hack’ to save teachers time?
DO NOT BE AFRAID TO SAY NO!
If whatever it is that you are being roped into doing does not fuel you or help advance your career, kindly decline and don’t feel bad.
At the end of the day, you are your greatest asset in this line of work and our young people cannot get the best out of a burned-out YESeducator.
Q5: What’s one book, website or podcast you’d recommend to educators keen to build the entrepreneurial mindsets of their students?
Educators should follow and discuss the work and podcast of Tom Bilyeu from Impact Theory. Tom is personally driven to expand people’s vision of wellness to a 360-degree view that encompasses body and mind, he created Impact Theory to help people develop the skills they will need to improve themselves and the world.
Through his content and public speaking, he inspires people around the world to unlock their potential and pursue greatness. Tom was named one of Success Magazine’s Top 25 Influential People in 2018 and Entrepreneur of the Year by Secret Entourage in 2016.
Meet this week’s Empowering Educator, Joe Mikaele Ah-Kuoi.
As a high school teacher who’s held multiple positions in Senior Leadership Teams with over a decade of experience, Joe is passionate about moulding today’s youth to be tomorrow’s leaders and knows what it takes to help them reach their full potential.
Some of Joe’s professional highlights include coordinating student leadership groups, curriculum leader and head of student well-being, school sports coach, Indigenous leaders program facilitator, and coordinator. He is driven to leave a lasting impact and mark on our young adults through guidance and mentorship.
Strive Lane develops the Leadership skills of adolescents using an emotional and social intelligence (ESI) & wellbeing framework. Their vision is to be present in every school as a major part of a young person’s personal and leadership development journey.
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