NORTHBRIDGE MEDIA
Climbing Without a Ladder Day · Pilot Spring 2027

The Experience.

A full-day program for high school students, built on the four-force framework from Joe T. Holt's book. Designed for students building careers without inherited leverage.

The four forces
01
Legacy
Students identify what they want to leave behind and start building toward it now.
02
Intention
Students name the real reasons behind their biggest efforts and stop chasing goals that were never theirs.
03
Vision
Students walk out with doors they didn't know existed and a first knock on one of them.
04
Execution
Students practice the reps most adults never do and leave with a scripted next step.
Why schools bring this to their students

A day their students remember, and use.

The program reaches the students traditional career events miss — first-generation candidates, vocational students, and the kids who default to the first job after graduation.

  • Face-to-face with careers they haven't imagined.Trades, healthcare, small business, corporate — real adults, not slide decks.
  • A framework that transfers back to class.Students leave with a Playbook workbook they filled out themselves — vocabulary for career and identity that lasts months.
  • Instruction, not motivation.Built from a book by someone who was one of those students, so it lands as usable, not aspirational.
  • Direct mentor relationships.Structured lunch tables put students next to executives they'd otherwise never meet — a real connection, not a business card.
Why sponsors fund the experience

A workforce pipeline you can measure.

Sponsorship of this program is community engagement that produces content, relationships, and workforce access — not a logo on a gala program.

  • Substantive contact with the students you want to hire.Multi-hour engagement per program day, not a five-minute career fair table.
  • Sustained presence, not a one-day gala.Brand visibility across the school year, in classrooms, in press coverage, and in the students' own materials.
  • Content your marketing team will actually use.Professional video and photography from every program day, with usage rights included.
  • Your executives in the room as mentors.The "sitting next to proof" moment made real — with your people at the lunch table.
Two formats
Full Day

The flagship

7.5 HOURS · 150–300 STUDENTS

Four stations, lunch with mentors, business simulation, capstone, closing ceremony. The complete experience.

Half Day

The launch

3.5 HOURS · 60–120 STUDENTS

Two force stations plus a compressed business challenge and capstone. The right first hosting for a new school partner.

A day at a glance

What a full day looks like.

Each student rotates through the four force stations, sits with mentors over lunch, works through a team-based business simulation, and leaves with a written commitment.

8:00–8:30 AM
Arrival & opening. Breakfast, name tags, team assignments.
8:30 AM–12:15 PM
The four force stations. Students rotate through Legacy, Intention, Vision, and Execution.
12:15–1:15 PM
Mentor lunch. Structured tables. Real adults, real conversations.
1:15–2:45 PM
The business simulation. Teams work through five chapter-driven rounds.
2:45–3:30 PM
Capstone & closing. Written commitments, sponsor recognition, one student per table reads aloud.
Two $1,000 scholarships
Music

The Ms. Forrest Music Scholarship

For a graduating high school student pursuing music — an instrument, private lessons, or a music education. Named for the orchestra teacher whose relentless "again" taught Joe how skill actually gets built.

Vision

The Ellen W. Holt Scholarship

For a student whose family income is below $75,000, no GPA requirement, pursuing any path they can articulate — trade school, certification, college, business. Named for Joe's grandmother.

Bring the program
to your school
or sponsor a day.

Whether you're a principal exploring a program day, a sponsor considering a funded event, or an organization interested in a partnership — start here.