In the News

The premise behind INCubatoredu classes is putting students into real-life business scenarios, and one way to accomplish that is by having real-world business leaders in front of the classroom.

...Perhaps most importantly, the new Innovation Hub will provide significant opportunities for local industry and community members to engage meaningfully with students both as mentors and partners. These authentic relationships between students and industry won’t be peripheral to the student’s experience in the Innovation Hub, they’ll be central to its design, which expands on the success of the district’s partnerships with the business community. We already have entrepreneurship education programs that are central to our career and technical education programs and its Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center. These, in many ways, are the predecessor to the Innovation Hub.  Read more in SmartBrief.

Several years ago, when I was president of McDonald’s West Coast operations, I needed to meet with a Los Angeles area franchisee before heading back east to Chicago. My driver pulled into the parking lot, where a young African-American security guard was on duty. We nodded at each other — I’m certain I was wearing a suit — as I walked inside.

A few minutes later, the security guard approached the owner and me, prompting us to ask whether there was an issue outside. “No,” he said. “I just want to have a moment to speak to the gentleman here.” We chatted for a few minutes. He was probably in his mid-20s and had just recently returned from two tours of duty in Iraq.

“Thank you for talking to me,” he said. “It’s just that I haven’t seen anybody like you before” — meaning a Black man with a high-level position in corporate America and important enough to have someone drive him around while he worked.