Logan DuBe’ was an exceptionally bright kid. But at 12 years old, he was struggling.
His way of working didn’t match how school expected things to be done. He could get results, just not in the way his teachers were looking for. That mismatch left everyone—Logan included—frustrated.
Things began to shift when Logan learned how he was naturally wired to take action.
Logan’s mom, CJ DuBe’, is a speaker, best-selling author, and expert EOS Implementer®. She’s also a Kolbe Certified™ Consultant. So when she saw her son having trouble in school, she knew where to start: the Kolbe Y™ Index, a 15-minute assessment that uncovers a student’s instinctive strengths—the way they take action when they’re free to be themselves.
“The education system is built for people that are high Fact Finders and high Follow Thrus,” CJ explained to Amy Bruske on an episode of the Powered by Instinct podcast.
Logan has a Kolbe MO of 2-3-9-7. He leads with Quick Start and Implementor, meaning he does best in fast-moving, hands-on environments where he can explore and adapt. But school wasn’t built for that.
In most classrooms, there’s a right way and a wrong way to reach the goal. Students are expected not just to meet expectations, but to get there using the same process as everyone else. There’s little room for alternatives. If you don’t follow the prescribed method, it’s seen as a failure.
That didn’t work for Logan. He was constantly being asked to work against the way he naturally took action.
Once he understood how he was wired, that changed.
“How it helped him was to know himself,” CJ explained. “He was able on his own to go talk to a teacher (and when he was in college, talk to a professor) and literally explain how he learned best.”
Knowing how he worked gave him language to advocate for himself. Not to avoid responsibility, but to get the job done in a way that made sense to him.
“He was suffering in the grade department until he figured out how to teach himself to do things a little differently, but also work with his teachers,” CJ clarified.
Logan is now 26 and thriving. Understanding his instincts didn’t just help him pass tests. It gave him confidence and clarity he’s used well beyond the classroom.
Being a kid in school is hard enough. When you’re constantly being asked to work against your strengths, it can start to feel impossible.
That’s something Amy Bruske, President of Kolbe Corp and a parent herself, sees clearly.
“As parents,” added Amy Bruske, “I know we work really hard to advocate for our kids and help coach them at home. But the next step really is that they get good at going directly and advocating for themselves; asking for what they need, not as an excuse.
And teachers have a lot of kids they’re focused on. So the goal isn’t to try and make their life harder. The goal is to say, ‘Hey, I do my best when I work this way,’ or ‘I really learned best this way. Can we work together to see if I can do this differently?’”
Understanding how you’re wired isn’t just helpful. It’s freeing.
“When kids struggle with certain subjects or a way of having to turn something in or a certain test,” Amy explained, “they sometimes either feel guilty or they feel like they’re stupid. And they’re not. It just isn’t being done in a way that works for them.
So being able to let that go, that is the biggest gift that we can give our kids. It’s being able to understand that you have these strengths. When you’re in a position to work against them, it’s not going to feel real natural, and it’s going to be a little bit of a struggle.”
The goal isn’t to lower standards. It’s to help kids meet those standards in ways that work for them—without losing confidence or motivation along the way.
Explore the Kolbe Y Index
