I recently went one on one with Megan Elliott, the founding director of the University of Nebraska’s Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts, which welcomed its inaugural class this school year. Originally from Australia, Megan has deep ties to emerging media industries across Asia, Europe and the world. Before coming to the University of Nebraska, Megan was director and CEO of X Media Lab, a digital media think tank, and led an international leadership program for students at the University of Technology Sydney.  

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your best advice. First things first, though, how did you get here? ​What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?  

Megan: I became the founding director of the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln three years ago. Prior to that, I was the manager of leadership and community connections at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia, where I built an international leadership and entrepreneurship program. For 12 years I was a director and CEO of the digital media think-tank X Media Lab, which we took to 14 countries and 22 cities around the world, including Beijing, Shanghai, Mumbai, Singapore, Basel, and London.  Through all of these experiences, I learned that it’s critical to move fast, be nimble, be curious and embrace change as an opportunity, not as an obstacle. I learned to shut up and listen, because you never learn a thing while you are talking.  

Most instrumental to my growth, and one of my most valuable assets, is my 25-year international career. Since I was 18, I have lived and worked in 17 different countries – and I have developed a highly nuanced ability to be able to communicate cross culturally, and detect and understand complex adaptive systems. This enables me to hold open multiple possibilities and perspectives at the same time, and to be able to use multiple international and culturally divergent lenses.

I sometimes wonder how a girl from Australia has ended up at the helm of a $57 million investment and the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts, via a network of 17 countries, and I put it down to an insatiable curiosity, courage, resilience, tenacity, generosity and a conviction that I can be part of the team that changes the world and brings a better future into being. And that experience has also taught me that there are brilliant people everywhere, and good people find good people.

Adam: What is the backstory behind the Johnny Carson Center? How did the idea emerge? How did Johnny Carson’s name get attached to it?

Megan: Johnny Carson was a favorite son of Nebraska and a 1949 alumnus of the University. The Johnny Carson Center was made possible by a $20 million gift from the Johnny Carson Foundation which, five years ago, issued a challenge to us to envision a bold new program for the 21st century. After consulting with leaders and faculty across the university, and with industry partners internationally, we created our vision for the center, and the University of Nebraska leveraged the $20 million gift into a $57 million investment.

We designed this program within the context that we now live within the most dynamic, complex, networked and abundant communication system that the world has ever seen, and that any human has ever had to wield the power of. It is a system that is becoming smart, being embedded in every object, and that we’re even embedding in our own bodies. We exist alongside intelligent machines, and our students are at the dawning of this new epoch. It’s our students, faculty and advisors who will get to shape the center, create new cultures and bring new futures into being. 

Adam: What do you believe is the future of higher education? What should and will all universities focus on delivering their students?

Megan: The big question is, what education do we need?  What education do we need at the birth of this new epoch and in times of rapid transformational change?  At the Carson Center, we believe that we need to focus on transdisciplinarity, experiential learning, speculative design and nurturing life-long learning and growth mindsets. Students need to co-create their curriculum and their learning spaces. Universities need to co-create courses with industry. Universities need to embrace platform thinking so that students and entrepreneurial faculty can find new ways to solve problems.

At the Johnny Carson Center, we exist to inspire our students to dream bigger, and to build the ultimate student-centered program where every graduate is able to realize the job of their dreams or raise money to start the company of their dreams straight out of school. We teach them to boldly leverage new and emerging technologies and push them to pursue audacious new career pathways and tackle global-scale problems. The jobs of the future don’t even exist today. So our students, and our faculty, need to be creative, adaptable and feel at home in ambiguity.

Adam: What do you believe students should be most focused on while in college? What do you believe students not in college - students in junior high, high school, trade school, etc. - should be focusing on?

Megan: They should be focused on strengthening the four cognitive capacities that we all need to thrive in an age of intelligent machines: systems thinking, critical thinking, cultural agility and entrepreneurship. We focus our students on learning how to master the arts of storytelling (cultural agility), design (critical thinking), code (systems thinking) and entrepreneurship. These four pillars will help them design and create the new jobs and companies of the future. All students, regardless of age or school, should focus on classes and experiences that will help them grow these four cognitive capacities and fostering a growth mindset. I also think that you need to be focused on developing your listening and empathy muscles, and how to communicate in meaningful ways with people who hold views divergent from your own.

Adam: What should people not in school but interested in developing skills that will keep them relevant consider learning?

Megan: We live in an age of rapid technological change and artificial intelligence. Develop skills that will allow you to be comfortable with ambiguity and change, so you can adapt and be flexible to realize your most aspirational dreams. Learn how to recognize and re-frame problems. Don’t be intimidated by technology or learning new skills, just start and then keep going, step by step.

Adam: What should everyone understand about Millennials and Gen-Zers?  

Megan: The first thing to know about Millennials and Gen-Zers is that you don’t ask them what they want to be, you ask them what problems do they want to solve.

Millennials have graduated from college. They came of age in the information age; they’re digital natives. They grew up sharing their lives on social media, so they are all about connecting and engagement. They’re confident, tolerant and achieving. They build communities, both locally and globally.

Gen Zers are those students who are entering college today. They are the “problem solving” generation. They were the first generation born after the internet became ubiquitous, so they are comfortable with both it and social media. Born after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, they have no generational memory of a time the U.S. has not been at war. They face a growing income gap and shrinking middle class. This has taught them to be independent and entrepreneurial – 72% of them want to start their own companies. They have questions about the ethics of technology and emerging media. They are becoming increasingly vocal that they want control over their data. They are often described as the “next creative class” with young artists, musicians, photographers, directors and influencers finding their voice in a new world of massive content creation.

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?

Megan: 

• Have a radical imagination. Always ask “What if?”

• Take improv classes – why?  Because it teaches you to say “Yes, and,” to always make your partner look good, and to be in service to the story, that is, to be in service to something greater than yourself. These are fabulous muscle memories to develop, and the Carson Center’s students’ “secret sauce.”

• Ask questions that you genuinely want to know the answer to and listen. You don’t learn a thing while you’re talking.

Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Megan: Great leaders are mission- and vision-driven. They are able to hold open multiple perspectives and possibilities and are willing to change anything and everything to produce a better outcome and to execute on vision. Brilliant communicators, their vision inspires loyalty and confidence. Great leaders are creative, have integrity and empower their teams. They have the self-knowledge and confidence to hire people smarter than themselves. Truly great leaders have grit and resilience and an unbridled passion for what they are doing. To take your leadership to the next level, I think you have to really commit to getting to know yourself, to valuing yourself and acknowledging your power, and to own the spaces where you need to improve and seek guidance.  

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams?

Megan: Always, always, hire people smarter than you and who complement your strengths. Don’t hire a “mini me,” hire someone who has the smarts or skills or emotional intelligence that you don’t!  Value your people, help them improve, mentor them, and celebrate their successes, and then get out of their way.

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?  

Megan: That if people aren’t trying to kill you, then you’re not doing anything valuable. And to not take it personally! If you’re a visionary and you’re trying to do something that has never been done before, you are going to ruffle feathers because most people don’t like change.

Adam: ​What is one thing everyone should be doing to pay it forward?  

Megan: Connecting emerging leaders with their peers or with people who can mentor them. I think creating networks amongst brilliant creative people and watching collaborations form and foster is one of the great joys of life. It’s what we did at X Media Lab for 15 years, and what we are now doing at the Carson Center. Be intentional about building and growing networks. It’s an ecosystem and it needs nurture and care.

Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share?

Megan: The Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts opened this fall at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. We are the first in the Big Ten to be part of the HP/Educause Campus of the Future Initiative, joining the ranks of MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Yale and Dartmouth Universities. We are looking for global partnerships with media and technology companies and researchers, as well as internship opportunities for our students. So, please contact us if you want to collaborate! We’re ready!