Julia Freeland Fisher

Who you know matters, especially when it comes to accessing opportunity. Julia Freeland Fisher believes expanding networks – people’s stock of “social capital” – will be a game changer for future generations’ learners and workers.

A highly regarded expert in education and workforce, Fisher is the author of “Who You Know: Unlocking Innovations That Expand Students’ Networks” (Jossey-Bass, 2018). The book focuses on emerging tools and practices that can deepen and diversify students’ networks to expand their access to opportunities. As the director of research at the Christensen Institute, Fisher has published and spoken extensively on trends in education and human connection and how disruptive innovations will impact students’ networks in the years ahead.

Those themes have newfound resonance in the age of AI, where chatbots could begin to disrupt human connection as we know it. Her recent research, Navigation and Guidance in the Age of AI, offers an in-depth look at how chatbots are transforming college and career guidance. Her upcoming research will focus beyond the classroom, analyzing what’s motivating young people to engage with AI companions in the consumer market, and what it will take to safeguard human relationships in this new era.

Fisher’s research has been featured in The New York Times, Boston Globe, Axios, Harvard Business Review, and Stanford Social Innovation Review. Prior to joining the Institute, she worked at NewSchools Venture Fund, a venture philanthropy organization that supports education entrepreneurs who are transforming public education. She also served as an instructor in the Yale College Seminar Program. Fisher holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a JD from Yale Law School.