Learning to think for oneself, even against the norms of society, is a way to become a better human being and a better member of society.

Michael Strong is one of the most experienced creators of small, innovative, high performance schools in the world, including Moreno Valley High School, which was ranked the 36th best public high school in the U.S. One of Michael’s innovations at his schools is Socratic practice, a form of text-based intellectual dialogue designed to increase SAT verbal scores and increase intellectual sophistication. He has consulted for hundreds of schools and universities across world. His work as an educational entrepreneur led to a partnership with John Mackey, the founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market. They co-founded a non-profit, Freedom Lights Our World (FLOW, Inc.), dedicated to promoting entrepreneurial solutions to world problems. FLOW gave birth to Conscious Capitalism, Peace through Commerce, Radical Social Entrepreneurs, and the Startup Cities Institute. Michael is the lead author of "Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalism Can Solve All the World’s Problems."

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx.