On the surface, Max comes off an energetic, charismatic, fun-loving goofy guy who can probably convince you to fly to China on a whim (he’s that good).
Yet, in a little over two decades, Max has accomplished some very extraordinary things to say the least:
He’s been a full-time Data Scientist for 2 years, worked on electronic trading and regulatory compliance for Fortune 10 bank.
He’s been a Teaching Fellow at Singularity University.
He’s been involved with Genetic Engineering at NASA Ames Research Center.
He’s Founded Brown Venture Labs, the University’s first startup accelerator.
He’s published an awesome book on Data Science.
He’s the Founder of One Salon, which is now present in 16 cities around the world.
And he’s a 2016 Schwarzian Scholar.
What drives him to do all of this?
A unique educational experience that he had in sophomore year of high school.
Max grew up in Chicago living the normal school kid life until suddenly at the end of freshman year, his entire family relocated back to Beijing.
He was suddenly dropped in a Chinese world where he did not speak, read or write Chinese.
After a lifetime of being a straight A student, he found his name ranked on the bottom of a giant billboard every week: #546 out of 546.
But dropping to the bottom taught Max something useful.
He developed an identity of stamina, resourcefulness, empathy, and human connection, which successfully led him to experiences we think are exclusively reserved for child prodigies.
Along the way, he started to think deeply about how to distill the lessons and experiences he faced into an education system that could inspire others to do what he did.
In this powerfully insightful episode of The Soulfully Optimized Life, you’ll learn just how he’s done that with Prometheus Education.
Some questions I ask…
- What inspired you to reimagine education with Prometheus Education?
- What are the benefits and challenges of pursuing self-education?
- What inspired you to create One Salon?
- How’d you become a Teaching Fellow for Singularity University?
- What are some education hacks you’d recommend to everyone?
- Why should everyone take their education in their own hands now?
What you’ll learn…
- How Max discovered that not being the best in school made it easier to connect with others and learn more.
- How Max Founded One Salon and how they expanded to over a dozen cities and seven countries.
- Why school is not the same as education.
- How Max used resourcefulness and creativity to become a Teaching Fellow for Singularity University.
- Why resourcefulness is your greatest resource.
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Links to references made by Max…
Now, I want to hear from you…
How will you take control of furthering your education now?
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