
Resources
Upcoming Books
Nat and Erik will be releasing a series of books called Practical Performance - each is a guide to understanding what it takes at a fundamental level to be a top performer, written for the student and the young professional to accelerate their growth and careers. These will become available throughout 2025 and 2026, starting with the book Practical Performance and the book Practical Teamwork.
Practical Teamwork - May 2025
Many high-potential individuals struggle to become great teammates. Some become demotivated, avoid teamwork altogether, and become lone wolves, believing they can achieve more on their own. Others become autocratic leaders, dictating to their teammates instead of collaborating with them. Both approaches limit how successful your career can be.
Practical Teamwork was forged in the hard paced world of business. There are many books written for leaders. This book is for those who want to begin or grow their career solving the hardest challenges on high-performing teams. It is a practical guide on the fundamentals of teamwork, built from failure, self reflection, and just enough success. Erik and Nat want you to avoid some of the struggles they have faced on their own personal journeys, preferring you to learn from new ones!
In Practical Teamwork, you will learn what it takes to master the core competencies of great teamwork, turbo charging your learning and advancement. This will help you to:
Develop the confidence to tackle complex challenges on high-performing teams
Build stronger relationships with your colleagues
Get more enjoyment out of your work
Teamwork is a huge lever on talent, and helps build great careers. Top performers, working on the most important challenges, need to be great teammates. Do you have what it takes?
Other Upcoming Books
Practical Performance
Practical Self-Awareness
Practical Critical Thinking
Practical Communication
Practical Resilience
Practical Digital Literacy
Thoughts from Our Founders
Nat’s podcast appearances
In his podcast appearances, Nat highlights flaws in the traditional college system for its high costs and lack of real-world relevance. He advocates for alternative education paths that focus on developing practical skills like critical thinking, adaptability, and problem-solving. These episodes offer a straightforward look at how education can better prepare students for today’s challenges.
Stop Guessing: The 9 Behaviors of Great Problem-Solvers
Bad problem solving costs individuals and society incalculable amounts of time, money, and sanity. In this book Nat—who’s been solving hard problems professionally for over twenty years—shares nine behaviors anyone can adopt to find solutions to even the most seemingly intractable problems.
These same behaviours are now applied in the Futures Forge pedagogy, students truly become great problem solvers.
Erik’s appearances
With experience founding and growing tech startups, Erik often shares insights on navigating burnout, sustaining motivation, and the value of humility in learning. His written work spans diverse topics, from politics and problem-solving strategies on Medium to academic publications that examine complex societal issues. Through his books and publications, Erik advocates for practical, actionable approaches to complex challenges and personal growth.

Futures Forge Curriculum &
Scientific Resources
In this section, you'll find our recommended tools and resources to develop the skills and attributes taught at Futures Forge. These include practical guides, self-assessment tools, and curriculum materials designed to strengthen critical thinking, adaptability, and other core competencies for real-world success.
Skills
Critical Thinking
Futures Forge Blog on “How To Stand Out To College Admissions”
Execution
Innovation
Problem Solving
Self-Management
Team Activation
Strengthsfinder one-pagers on different sub-skills:
Attributes
Grit
Futures Forge Blog on “How To Develop Grit”
Angela Duckworth: “What is Grit?”
Personal Integrity
Simon Sinek - Trust vs. Performance
Conscious Leadership Group - Integrity
Autonomous Motivation
Conscientiousness
Adaptability
Futures Forge Blog on “Adaptability Is Your Key To Win”
Emotional Intelligence
Self-Assessment Tools
To support tracking students progress over time, a core part of our pedagogy involves “learning about ourselves”. It encourages students to understand where they rank in terms of some skills & attributes. Facilitators are then able to coach students at a deeper level, and students understand better where to improve and can track this over time. Here are some of the tools we like and use at Skills for Success:
Emotional Intelligence: TEIQue Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire
Integrity: Schlenker integrity scale
Grit: Duckworth Grit Scale
Autonomous Motivation: Work-Related Flow Inventory & Situational Motivational scale
Conscientiousness & Adaptability: The IPIP-NEO Big Five/OCEAN Personality Inventory