Work From The Inside Out 118: Turning Points and Mentorship with Keith McCormick
In high school, Keith McCormick drove his math teachers crazy because he never got his homework done on time yet he did very well on standardized tests. As he put it, he was the classic ‘over underachiever’. Keith’s teachers accused him of being lazy, yet unlike most teens who might have absorbed it as a strike to their confidence, he got more curious and started reading education theory books to better understand himself. He was annoyed by their mean-spiritedness. In his junior year, Keith had a religion teacher who did not judge his reading choices and even made suggestions to add to his stack. He finally felt seen.
Interestingly, Keith was considering college at 17, Keith decided to enlist in the Army Reserve so that he could get a scholarship to pay for his education and he felt that it was going to give me the discipline that I had lacked as a high school student. His parents were actually against it, but they accepted his choice. While his interests included philosophy, history, and education theory, he attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) to study computer and data science.
While at WPI, Keith did a social science project on learning styles and how to build more effective computer-based instruction. This led to his assisting a professor with a research conference during which he introduced Keith to Mary McCauley, a less famous yet key researcher who brought the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to the mainstream. Meeting Mary changed the next ten years of Keith’s life. He worked with Mary doing research and analysis on the MBTI assessment. Keith also ran his own SAT test prep service.
Today, Keith is an independent consultant, thought leader, and LinkedIn learning contributor. He also serves as Cloud Factory's Chief Data Science Advisor.
In this week’s Work From The Inside Out podcast, learn more about Keith’s journey:
- In the 90s, Keith worked as an SPSS and analytic software trainer.
- He has written several books, including AI for Dummies, and SPSS for Dummies.
- Keith has been working with analytics management, to more efficiently run their teams, and to nurture new hires as they expand their teams.
Learn more and connect with Keith here:
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