How to Prepare Students for a Changing World | Barry Garapedian on Value Creation, Mindset, and Success

Are we preparing young people to follow instructions or to solve real problems? We explore a better path with Barry Garapedian—financial advisor, mentor, and author of Winning the Game of Life—who makes a compelling case for teaching value creation as the antidote to uncertainty, inflation, and the AI upheaval. Together, we unpack the hidden curriculum, why compliance still shadows classrooms, and how to build graduates who contribute, not just compete.

Barry maps out his Seven Fs—family, faith, friends, fitness, financial, fun, philanthropy—as a practical life blueprint. We dig into the systems that turn big ideas into daily progress: mentors over guesswork, a color-coded calendar, KPIs for sleep and routines, and 90-day goals across work, personal growth, and wellness. He shares the “impossible goal” that raises your baseline, plus a decision-board approach that keeps your aspirations visible and actionable.

We go tactical with micro-leadership: “practice going first,” replace weasel words, and learn to hold “third vault” conversations that create trust and impact. Barry reframes ADHD as a superpower when paired with structure, and offers an anxiety playbook—never worry alone, get the facts, make a plan. For parents and educators, we lay out how to allow healthy struggle while opening doors to mentors and networks. For students, we emphasize AQ—adaptability—as the new edge in an AI-powered economy, backed by four reliability habits anyone can master.

By the end, you’ll have a toolkit to help young adults measure ROI as return on impact, choose better books and better rooms, and codify shared values with a family constitution. Ready to shift from achievement to contribution and help the next generation become confident problem solvers? Follow the show, share with someone who needs a nudge, and leave a review to help more listeners find us.

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Sponsored by Dr. Gregg Hassler Jr., DMD
Trusted dental care for healthy smiles and stronger communities—building brighter futures daily.

Chapters

• 0:38 Setting The Stakes For Graduates
• 1:45 The Hidden Curriculum Explained
• 2:32 Value Creation vs Compliance
• 3:35 Introducing Barry And His Framework
• 3:56 The Seven Fs Of A Life Blueprint
• 4:50 Mentors, Process, And KPIs
• 6:44 Vision Boards And Impossible Goals
• 8:04 Practice Going First And Lead
• 9:31 Fail Forward And Ditch Weasel Words
• 10:57 Three Vault Conversations And Giving
• 12:41 Building Extraordinary Through Coaching
• 13:34 Healthy Struggle And Access
• 14:54 AQ Adaptability And AI
• 15:43 Hire Problem Solvers, Not Robots
• 17:07 Books, People, And Your Circle
• 18:22 Mentors And Real-World Learning
• 19:02 ADHD As Structure And Superpower
• 20:20 Anxiety Playbook: Facts And Plans
• 21:25 Networking For Introverts
• 22:29 Family Constitutions And Legacy

Transcript

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 0:19

As a new school year begins, many recent graduates and young adults are navigating their first steps into the real world, a world filled with uncertainty. Educators have been working hard to prepare them for what comes next, but how do you prepare someone for a future where most of the jobs they'll encounter don't even exist yet? And how do you equip them for an adulthood in the face of rising inflation, unaffordable housing, and a looming recession? These are daunting challenges, but perhaps the real question is: what are we really teaching our students about success and security? Welcome to the brighter side of education, research, innovation, and resources. I'm your host, Dr. Lisa Hassler, here to enlighten and brighten the classrooms in America through focused conversation on important topics in education. In each episode, I discuss problems we as teachers and parents are facing and what people are doing in their communities to fix it. What are the variables? And how can we duplicate it to maximize student outcomes? In 1968, Philip Jackson introduced the idea of the hidden curriculum, those unspoken lessons students absorb through school culture, modeling, and expectations. Jean Anion expanded on this concept in her study, Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work. She uncovered social class divides in the methods and philosophies students were instructed in, which prepared them to occupy specific careers on the social ladder. Working class schools prepared students for routine compliant roles, where they were trained to follow directions with little to no autonomy. Elite schools developed students' intellectual powers to produce products with the goal of solving problems, skills aligned with leadership, entrepreneurship, and innovation. Barry Garapedian, author of Winning the Game of Life, The Seven Lessons You Never Learn in School, speaks directly to this. Drawing from four decades as a financial advisor and mentor, Barry argues that students who learn to create value rather than simply follow instructions won't fear economic instability. They'll meet it with confidence, knowing that they can generate solutions. He invites us to think differently, to ask students not just what they want to be, but what problems they want to solve. This mindset shift from passive instruction followers to active solution creators has the power to transform both education and the trajectory of our students' lives. Today we'll dive into how educators and parents can foster that shift, preparing students not just to survive, but to lead and thrive in a world full of unknowns. Barry is with us today to help us explore how we can move from theory to practice. As the founder of Mag 7 Consulting, he spent nearly four decades mentoring young people to do just that, think beyond traditional definitions of success. He brings both real-world experience and a deep understanding of what today's students need to thrive. Barry, welcome to the brighter side of education.

Barry Garapedian: 3:30

I'm so happy to be here, Lisa. Heard some incredible things about you and your history. Awesome.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 3:36

Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. Well, I've got your book here, The Winning the Game of Life: The Seven Lessons You Never Learn in School. And you outlined in this book a blueprint for success in life beyond the classroom. So, what are those seven lessons and how can they help young graduates navigate the real world with confidence and clarity?

Barry Garapedian: 3:58

So the seven lessons are real simple. It's family, faith, friends, fitness, financial, fun, philanthropy. Those seven are my definition of what is winning the game of life. So when we say family, there's guidelines. When we say faith, there's guidelines. So how do you collaborate those seven is winning? So that is the pillars of how I define winning the game of life. Those are the seven.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 4:31

One of the lessons focuses on financial readiness. You write about investing in education, stepping outside your comfort zone, honoring your calendar, focusing on process over results, and being a visionary. Can you expand on those ideas?

Barry Garapedian: 4:47

As far as mentoring, ever since I was a little boy, my parents invested in us to have lessons in things. So whether it was martial arts, running, tennis lessons, um, you name it, we learned the proper techniques early in the game. And that translated into when I got into the business world, I then hired mentors for me in the business world. The very first thing I did on Wall Street in 1982 is I made a list of the top 10 producers in the firm. And my mindset was find out what everybody else is doing and don't do it. Find out what the one percenters are doing. I made a list, I called them, they didn't know me. I'm a rookie. I went out and visited every one of them and asked them, give me two hours, I just want to shadow you. I shadowed them, I took best ideas from each of those people. I created my own brand, my own culture. It started with when I was a kid, having mentors. And the best way to learn is from people who are actually doing it.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 5:49

You're continuing that by becoming the model that you see as a necessity.

Barry Garapedian: 5:55

You are in my office right now. Every 15 minutes is color-coded with things I need to do. And what I've done over the years with young minds is create a digital dashboard for them of what are the key KPIs or activities they should be doing to get the result. So it might be what time are you in bed by Sunday through Thursday night? Uh, what's your eating protocol? Um, what time are you waking up in the morning? What's your morning routine? We have a process called win the morning, win the day. So there's structure in process.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 6:32

Being a visionary, what's a tactic that you share for that?

Barry Garapedian: 6:35

The visionary piece is all about having goals. So, not just written goals, which we have 90-day goals on business, personal, and wellness goals. We also have something that I did years ago of having an impossible goal. Having something so big, how am I gonna get that? Why would you do that? Because it raises the floor. You have this big goal, it raises the bar. In addition to those goals, we create an image board or a vision board. I call a decision board. So 20 images on a vision board. It's on my screensaver on my phone. So these images remind me subliminally what I should be doing. So if I want to be this person or whatever, I'm putting empowering visions on my screensaver. That's a that's an example of being a visionary. And every 90 days we rewrite the goals, not the images, and we have structure of what we should be doing.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 7:38

Do you have a specific strategy that has made a big difference in your own life or in a student's that's helped you in these areas?

Barry Garapedian: 7:45

Absolutely. I'd start with the most basic strategy I learned when I was probably in elementary school. Practice going first. Be the first to initiate. Be the first to introduce yourself and shake hands with someone. Be the first person to smile at someone, be the first person to say good morning or good afternoon. Be the first person in an elevator where everybody's on the elevator and you're near the buttons and you're asking everybody on the elevator what floor, please? Three, four, you're pressing the buttons. Why? This is a micro linear mindset of demonstrating leadership in a very micro way. Leadership, this builds into building self-confidence, building self-esteem, which by the way, is the biggest issue I deal with with young minds is building their self-esteem up. How do you get to build self-esteem? You need accomplishments. You need a lot of accomplishments to feel good. So I would say practice going first is the first step to building that mindset. And that's something I learned very early from mentors of mine. Many young minds are frightened to fail. And it and it they they sabotage themselves. They're in this scarcity mindset, and they're not going to grow that way. You have to release yourself. So the mindset is fail forward. No one wants to fail, but it's the only way you're going to get ahead is by learning. And it's either winning or you're learning.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 9:08

You talked about self-sabotaging language and mindset. One of your posts discussed four weasel words, try, can't, need, and bad.

Barry Garapedian: 9:18

Yeah, those words are disempowering. The mindset should be be relentlessly useful. In other words, you walk into a room, how can you add value to anyone? So value creation is the game of there's material value, which most kids don't have money. There's emotional value and there's spiritual value. You can give emotional value and spiritual value. The key is to find out where people are suffering or where their pain is and find a way to help them with their pain or suffering. That is a third vault conversation. A first vault conversation is in the bank, the first vault, did the Dodgers win? It's a beautiful day. Second vault conversation is more storytelling, a little bit more in-depth about who you are. We want to get into third vault conversations. That is where the vulnerability and the action is to peel the onion and get into helping someone. It's all about being a giver and a value creator. That is the secret to success, besides being, you know, good in many other areas. Schools just don't teach I don't think they teach extraordinary. I don't think they really teach you how to be great. You need coaches, mentors, parents to help with that. You need the fundamentals. By far, you need that education. But to make you extraordinary, there's other things. So what's that other thing? Be a giver, not a taker.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 10:44

You wrote on your book, true success isn't about you. It's about the value you create for others.

Barry Garapedian: 10:50

Exactly.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 10:50

And you put a strong emphasis on value creation. Why do you believe it's so important?

Barry Garapedian: 10:55

It's all about the positive energy that you have. By doing positive things, it brings good energy to me. So for every one negative episode, you need three positive episodes to offset a negative. You need a five to one ratio to thrive. So doing nice things for people, what I call that are lightning strikes. A lightning strike is exceeding someone's expectation on purpose. But it doesn't take money to exceed someone's expectation. It could be a handwritten note. We teach kids how to write personal notes. It might be two hand notes they need to write a week. They meet someone. What do you do? How do you stay connected with that person? A hand note. There might be a text, there might be a video message. The game really is about connecting with people. And connecting with people is about them, helping them, creating value for them.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 11:47

So, how can educators and parents help students create value and then align it with their passions?

Barry Garapedian: 11:53

Okay, so it is all about access. So I start with the parents. Don't do too much for them. So let them have healthy struggles. Quote, healthy struggles. And that means let them fail, let them go out and see how tough it is. Um, besides that, access to people in introductions would be helpful. So if mom or dad knows someone in the part of the networking thing, let the young mind get exposed to these other people. That would be something, or get the kids involved in mentoring or coaching or programs that have structure. At the end of the day, I see parents doing too much for their kids, and it's making their kids like they don't know what to do when they get outside of college. They're just sort of deering aheadlights. What do I do?

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 12:39

Right. Too dependent. So it's really disempowering. Disempowering when you when you take away so much of their potential independence.

Barry Garapedian: 12:49

You are 100% right on the button with that. And what I've noticed now, the superpower 40 years ago used to be IQ. How smart you were. Then it transitioned into EQ, emotional intelligence. That was a superpower, and that still is to a certain extent. Now, the new superpower today is AQ, adaptability. Can you adapt into this new world of AI? AI is not going away. AI is going to get bigger, bigger, faster than over the next decade. It's going to take a lot of jobs away. The kids coming out of school now are so blessed with technology. They can do things quicker, faster than any 50-year-old can. And so there's jobs available for them. 70, 80, 90, $100,000 opportunities getting in the door because they know technology. It's the best time for kids, in my opinion.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 13:44

I had seen that you had posted instead of asking kids what they want to be when they grow up, ask them what problems they want to solve. So why is that mindset shift so powerful? And then how does that reshape how young people approach their futures?

Barry Garapedian: 13:59

I want someone who can think outside the box. I want someone who's creative. I want I don't want a robot. I want someone who can add value and help me with thinking differently. I don't know everything. Things are changing so quickly. Every 90 days there's new technology out. So I want free thinkers. I want folks that aren't afraid to share their ideas. I want kids that are confident. I like hiring athletes. Why? They've had coaching their whole life. They know the process, they're organized, they're disciplined. So show up on time, do what you say, finish what you start, say please and thank you. Four reliability habits. Easy. Most adults can't do those four things. ROI, in the true sense, means return on investment. To me, ROI is return on impact. What is the impact you have going into a room? That's the kind of kids I'm working with. And I'm developing leaders.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 14:56

So that's the idea of value creation and then aligning it with their passions to feel their fullest potential. Your approach is to shift the mindset into we're here to solve problems. And how can you create that solution, which does create entrepreneurs and innovators?

Barry Garapedian: 15:15

With that, there is attributes of high performers. It's courage, getting outside your comfort zone. It's obviously confidence, self-esteem. There's so many attributes to make someone amazing, but they're hard. A big part of what I do with young minds is books you read, the people you meet. It's the books you read and the people you meet. My kids will read 25 books a year, two a month. If you haven't read Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, as an entrepreneur, you got to read it. So I'm a big advocate of books because if you want to get smart and be worldly, it's the books you read and the people you meet. Collaboratively, you have a winning formula.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 15:53

So you've got the introduction of ideas, you've got the language that that plays into it. And then you become the expectations of the people you surround yourself with. So if you are surrounding yourself around uh people that do not reflect your goals and what you want for your life, then are they holding you back then for the future that you want for yourself, your potential.

Barry Garapedian: 16:20

You are 100% right. And I call that you are the aggregate of the five people you most associate with. And that's true. You are the aggregate of the five people you most associate with. So who are you hanging around with? We know in sports, if you hang around better golfers, better tennis players, your game's gonna go up. Same thing with academics, same thing with winners in business. So think about who are these young minds hanging with? And it's a very and it's also there's studies on if you're even around a high performer in a 25-foot area, your game still will go up by almost 20-30%. Just being around a high performer. So there's all kinds of studies on that, and it's true.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 17:01

And then the weight of mentors, if you have that access to mentors who are able to then guide you on high performing expectations, your skill level, etc.

Barry Garapedian: 17:13

I can think of all the mentors I had in my young life, and it was vital to me. I mean, you can learn things out of a book, but when you learn from someone who's actually doing it, it's a completely different ballgame.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 17:22

Yeah. And you've openly stated that you have ADHD. So can you share some personal tips for managing it so successfully?

Barry Garapedian: 17:30

Sure. Um, well, first of all, I view it as a superpower. I view it as an asset, not a liability. And the way I manage it is by having structure and process in my day. So I'm very organized in my calendar. But I also look at it from the standpoint of anxiety, which is real. There's three things that I do. Number one, if I go into anxiety or the little bully in my head, um, I train my silent voice to talk positively to me over years. So my silent voice is talking to me in a very positive way. But every now and then I get into a gap. And so, one, if the anxiety comes in, I will articulate number one, never to worry alone. So never worry alone, worry with someone. Number two is get the facts, Jack. Usually the information or the it's in high definition and it's faulty data. So get the facts, and then three, make a plan. So that's my strategy with anxiety. And we all have it. I have it. I allow that negative energy to talk to me for maybe two or three minutes, and I say, okay, you're done. Now I'm gonna have a plan to offset it. I've come up with 16 attributes of a high achiever, what they should be doing, and there's strategies on every one of these 16 that are things you've never heard of. And you say, Well, gosh, networking. How do you network? Um, how if you take an introverted young mind who is truly introverted, that won't raise the say anything, how do you get them to meet people?

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 18:59

Right.

Barry Garapedian: 19:00

I have a strategy. Very difficult. I have a strategy for that.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 19:03

So it's the power of uh connectivity. You know, how are we connecting with others?

Barry Garapedian: 19:08

You have to do different. So again, my opening comment: find out what everybody else is doing and don't do it.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 19:17

Yeah, and a lot of these things that you do, like family constitutions, which reminds me of a school's mission statement or a classroom's motto, where you have that collective thought of inclusivity. We're all together in this, we have a common goal.

Barry Garapedian: 19:33

And you know, when it's in writing, Lisa, it's another world. When you write out goals or write out a family charter or family constitution, our family constitution, there's seven pillars, which are the seven F's: family, faith, friends, fitness, financial, fund, philanthropy. I taught my kids that decades ago. They do it and they're teaching their kids. Legacy. It's not inheritance, it's it's all about the values, the principles. It starts with parents, but also having them written. And they're and they're not laws, they're guidelines.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 20:04

Right. So a lot of these things you have in your book, where online can they access some of these other things like the mentoring and things, the services that you offer family?

Barry Garapedian: 20:13

Sure. So um berry at magsevenconsultants.com. So Barry at magsevenconsultants.com. And you can get the book on Amazon. And excellent. So it's really simple.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 20:27

Okay. And so before we go, what is one lesson you hope every young person carries with them as they step into adulthood?

Barry Garapedian: 20:35

Absolutely one thing is be a value creator. Create value no matter where you go. So be in the mindset you're helping other people, and it's about being a giver. So create value wherever you go.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 20:46

That's wonderful. Well, thank you so much for sharing your insights and your experiences with us today. Your perspective on value creation, mindset, and preparing students for the real world offers a powerful reminder of what's possible when we shift our focus from achievement to contribution. It's really been a very enlightening conversation. Thank you so much for your time.

Barry Garapedian: 21:07

I'm so happy to be here, Lisa. Look forward to talking again.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 21:10

For our listeners, today's conversation reminds us that preparing students for the future goes beyond academics. It's about helping them think critically, act with purpose, and see themselves as contributors, not just consumers. If you have a story about what's working in your schools that you'd like to share, you can email me at Lisa at drlisaarhassler.com or visit my website at www.drlisaarhassler.com and send me a message. If you like this podcast, subscribe and tell a friend. The more people that know, the bigger impact it will have. And if you find value to the content in this podcast, consider becoming a supporter by clicking on the supporter link in the show notes. It is the mission of this podcast to shine light on the good in education so that it spreads, affecting positive change. So let's keep working together to find solutions that focus on our children's success.