#3 – Waging War on Mediocrity: Tales From the Trenches

The co-hosted podcast explores the concept of "willing things into existence," which involves using sheer force of will to overcome obstacles and achieve goals. Jason shares his experience creating the Math Academy program, emphasizing the importance of building alliances, problem-solving, and persistent effort. He recounts how he convinced a tech entrepreneur to fund the program and navigated bureaucratic resistance within the school district. Justin adds that systems resist new things, and integrating changes requires making acceptance easier than resistance. They discuss how maintaining standards requires constant effort to prevent degradation, using the analogy of the human body resisting change. Jason describes the need to build relationships and rapport with people, and Justin shares his experience teaching Math Academy and the need to get parents on board.