Borderlands: developing character strengths for a knowmadic world Brad Hokanson and Roger M. Karlson Abstract Purpose – The paper’s aim is to highlight the value of non-cognitive strengths such as creativity and grit. In a knowledge age, those aspects will be the distinguishing characteristics in a global work force and must be a goal of educational pursuits. Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines research supporting the inclusion of character strengths in education for a borderless global future. Findings – Presently, most education and work deals with information and data. Technology has made data/facts/information more accessible but less unique for any given learner, worker, or place. At the same time, education has focused on simple distribution of content, knowledge assessment, and testing instead of the development of rich knowledge and non-cognitive skills. This can be seen in the reliance on testing and achievement, and, by and large, in a generation of students knowing ‘‘what’’ but not ‘‘how’’, a generation less creative and more prone to set answers, a generation often lacking character strengths and less able to persevere in the face of challenge or failure. Research limitations/implications – Research must focus more intensely on the character strengths or non-cognitive skills to better understand their relationship to learning and achievement. Methods of developing character strengths should be researched for efficacy. Correlation between various character strengths (such as creativity and persistence) and academic achievement should be broadly researched. This correlative research could support new methods and foci in education offering a broader, more inclusive direction in learning. Practical implications – Research has shown character strengths can be better developed in explicit class settings than through tacit methods. Previous research into strengths such as grit and perseverance could also lead to different participant selection for employment, enrollment, or to intervention programs. In a world where information travels around the world in the blink of an eye, in a borderless global future, education must metaphorically cross the cognitive border and begin to directly address that broader set of skills that are cherished but often do not seem to be taught. It is on the border between learning information – explicit knowledge – and affective, social, and behavioral skills where change must occur. Originality/value – This paper addresses a need in education to examine and explicitly address non-cognitive skills. Keywords Creativity, Character strengths, Persistence, Grit, Cognitive values, Innovation, Globalization Paper type Conceptual paper Introduction In the US and in much of the industrialized world, the goal of primary and secondary education is clear; to increase scores on standardized tests, particularly in math and science. Most education deals with information and data; and similarly, most education is focused on the lowest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, those of knowledge and remembering. Over the last ten years, the main focus of K-12 education has been on evaluation by standardized testing, in a mistaken belief this type of learning is more valuable than a more integrative approach. DOI 10.1108/10748121311323003 VOL. 21 NO. 2 2013, pp. 107-113, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1074-8121 j ON THE HORIZON j PAGE 107 Brad Hokanson is a Professor and Associate Dean for Research at the College of Design, University of Minnesota, St Paul, Minnesota, USA. Roger M. Karlson is an Instructor at the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.