Closing the Opportunity Gap

How Pluralsight wants everyone to access the skills they need to thrive in the digital age.

Tech Trends went back to the Silicon Slopes of Salt Lake City last week to check out this year’s Pluralsight LIVE. After last year’s amazing line-up which included Michelle Obama, expectations were pretty high, but the conference managed take a leaf from the former FLOTUS’ own book and reach even higher, delivering — among other things — an inspirational fireside chat with the world’s youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Malala Yousafzai.

One of my favourite Malala quotes ever — and I might be paraphrasing a bit — goes something along the lines of “nothing scares an extremist or dictator as much as a girl with a book. She told Pluralsight CEO Aaron Skonnard that she often wished governments around the world would realize the power of education to empower women as keenly as the Taliban has. “They understood it perfectly, which is why they tried to stop us going to school.” In today’s digital world, a logical extrapolation of that would be that despots should be even more scared of girls with computers.

Technology and education are incredibly empowering forces, and giving people all…