In this episode of Build Momentum, we are joined by Marcus Soutra. Marcus is an educator and is also the president of Eye to Eye, a national mentoring nonprofit organization that empowers young people with learning differences.

Marcus is a champion for those who learn differently.

Some Questions I Ask:

• What led you to this life's work and mission? (1:33)
• How did you decide to put together Eye to Eye? How did that come about? (3:06)
• How are you promoting your mission and your organization to gain support around learning differences? (4:35)
• When you give students a platform, are you giving them any key messages? How do you coach them? How do you train them? (05:46)
• You said you pursued conferences and other avenues to amplify their voice. Was it ever media outreach? (06:46)
• How do you foster compassionate leadership throughout your organization? With your team? Do you have any examples of how you've been able to cultivate that spirit of empathy for others? (10:50)
• Do you get vulnerable with your team on a regular basis? How does that look in practice? (12:29)
• I'm curious if it is required to have a learning difference to work for your organization so that you can really connect with people? (13:48)
• Do you have suggestions for how our listeners can do the same thing—because who doesn't want to live and work toward their passion? (15:37)
• Do you think we're going to see more investments in programs like Eye to Eye after this year? Or how are you seeing business going with the pandemic? (17:43)

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• What Eye to Eye is  (3:13)
• What Eye to Eye does to help students (4:54)
• How Eye to Eye reaches the unreachable thru media outreach (6:52)
• The identities of celebrities with learning disabilities (8:20)
• About compassionate leadership in Eye to Eye (11:13)
• Having inter-able relationships at Eye to Eye (13:59)
• Adapting in the midst of the pandemic (19:41)

Quotes:

“I think if you say yes to enough things and you’re confident, and you work really, really hard, it does make that cocktail of opportunity.”

“When you're a leader, you're automatically vulnerable about your own strengths and weaknesses, which I think any good entrepreneur really is.”

“If we're not able to have that conversation as leaders, how can we expect our students and educators that we're working with to be able to do it?”

“To start a business or to do something like this, I think you have to be passionate about it, or it's just never going to work. Because with the amount of work that you need to put in, you have to have something to fuel your tank on an everyday basis.”

“I think the best advice I ever got in college was these two phrases, which I say all the time to myself: “Steal, steal, steal” and “Stay out of the teacher’s lounge.” You know, steal from other people’s good ideas. And the teacher’s lounge is a metaphor for something that exists in every industry, like the old ways of doing things, the old type of thinking. Stay out of that room, do your research, focus on students or whatever it is.”

Connect with Marcus Soutra:
Eye to Eye National
Marcus Soutra's LinkedIn

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