Gary Mintchell's Feed Forward

Chris Brogan:

I’m also interested in educational models for business workers. We’re in a society where HR is less and less about career development and more and more about benefits management. Companies are no longer the stewards of your development and career. How can I help those of us who lived in the cubicle farms, and what can I do to share that information in a way that will empower others?

Too often true these days. When I read Jack Welch's books on his days as GE CEO, one thing that stood out to me was his close working relationship with the head of HR for exactly that which Brogan bemoans--talent development. Where does your company stand? What are you doing for your own development? (As for me, I've never stopped learning. It's too much fun.)

I received this note indirectly from Dave Emerson of Yokogawa. He attended a "show" involving high school engineering students. Sounds like a very cool program. You can take whatever attitude you wish from reading popular media. But kids getting enthused about science and engineering do exist--and mentors helping them also exist. Here are some of Dave's observations:

This past Sunday my local high school had an engineering expo. The school, with an enrollment of ~2700 in 4 grades, has an engineering program with over 200 students participating  It even has a booster program like the sports teams do! It's one of the few high school engineering programs in the country.

At the expo the kids were proud to show off their projects, I was impressed by how they could communicate the technical work behind them. From the solar powered car project (they plan to drive it to Denver next summer) to the underwater robot. There was a large crowd of parents and students attending, I met some families from other school districts who came to see the expo. The parking lot was packed, just like at a high school sports event. There were lots of colleges from across the country (Cal Berkeley, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, George Tech,...) and companies exhibiting. The kids in this program and the attendees don't have a problem thinking that engineering is cool. These kids will be ready to excel in college and in careers.

 I saw this article in The New York Times about colleges supposedly failing. I guess I've grown tired (actually probably 20 years ago) with that set of journalists who don't do anything or put their necks on the line, but love to sit back and criticize--especially institutions. I think the question is, who is failing. I've watched progressively over the past 25 years as parents (not all, thank God) decide that their little kiddies shouldn't be responsible for anything, but instead their failures should be overlooked and blamed on someone else.

Last week, I had two interesting conversations that illustrate my belief that people are responsible for their own direction and education. First was with Craig. He is developmentally challenged. He reads words well, can converse well, but his understanding isn't deep. But...what he's interested in drives fantastic knowledge--and that interest is country music. He asked if I had really been in Austin, Texas recently. I said yes. He said, there have been a lot of country music stars from Texas. He then proceeded to name 15-20. And he named some of their songs and/or the type of country music they represented. I said Wow, that's great knowledge. He said simply, "I like country music so I study it."

Then I talked with a woman down the street who is pushing 90. She not only watches the news, she thinks about what's going on. We are constantly sharing books to read with each other. She's interesting and well read.

I'm not really writing this to defend universities in general, just to point out that information is out there. If the goal is just getting a degree and not an education, well, good luck. (I meet lots of those people--a piece of paper with nothing to back it up.) But if you want to learn something, you can. If Craig with a lower IQ can remember all the stuff he does, kids with normal IQ surely can remember the things they need to learn.

I learned my lessons by reading the US founding fathers. They were all about personal responsibility. I say Amen to that.