A Special Edition...

Well, by the time the package arrived, I had literally heard enough about vampires, watched more than my fair share of cheesy entertainment shows with the cast of the latest popular movie made from a book series. What I will say is this, even though I had the pleasure of seeing Twilight at Randolph in the luxury seats, I was pretty sure that seeing it at home would be more enjoyable. My wife, Heather, who had literally bought all of the series over the course of a long weekend, and had finished them in just under three days, purchased the movie, a two disc special edition from Amazon.com so that we could have it delivered to our home when it was available for everyone to buy. She was actually out of town during the day, so she made sure to call every hour to see if the mailman had delivered the goods…which to her excitement had occurred early in the afternoon. She would be returning to the house with the plans of watching every minute of the special features, which included an additional disc with commentary that surprisingly was not bad compared to other feature films of late. The movie itself, well developed, though reportedly not as good as the book was entertaining in light of the surprisingly silly special effects.

Does anyone really think that anyone can move like that in a densely overgrown wood?

Haha…hopefully the new movie will have a larger budget for special effects, even though Jacob Black has reportedly gained 40lbs of muscle to appear more like the book version of his character. Overall this was an excellent movie, even if from the perspective of a teacher, it was entertaining and fun to watch.

A funny thought occurred to me recently while I was teaching one of my college classes. While one thing was significantly similar, all the students in class had the desire to attend college, but in this particular case they were all in different stages of their life. As an example, one student was in her mid twenties, while another was in his late fifties. While they shared education as the goal, certainly their reasons must be different. And so I asked the question, even though I expected the answers to be varied, I was surprised to find out that they were similar. The reason these two different target markets were attending class was simple. They enjoyed the way learning makes them feel, the sense of accomplishment when they get a good grade and are recognized for successful work. Remarkably simple in reality, but not at all expected. The younger student explained that after several years in the workforce, she missed the chance to interact with other students while accomplishing some task. In her professional role, she rarely worked in an environment where other employees were interested in the common good of the job or company. She further explained how this has led her to be unsatisfied in her job and actual pushed her to return to school to find a more satisfying career. The older student shared similar concerns and further explained that in his role he saw more often that employees were unhappy with their inability to improve their job options based on education limitations, and so he decided to return to school to complete his degree. Now for the funny thought. Why do we stop going to school in the first place? In a society where education is revered and rewarded, why then do we choose to stop as soon as they let us? Besides the obvious cost limitations, but there are lots of ways to continue learning without high costs. Community college is well within reach of just about anyone with a job, so why not continue to reach for self improvement?

You be the judge...

Recently I was having a discussion with a student in one of my college classes about ethics. To put some perspective on this student, he is in his capstone course, the last of many in his quest for a bachelor’s degree in business management. One of the focuses of the content in this course is personal ethics versus business ethics which sometimes are not inline with each other. As an example, his personal view is simple and not difficult to understand: if something is not yours, don’t take it, if you are able to help, do so, and look out for others as often as you can. This view is seemingly good natured in application and most people if they shared this opinion would lead happy full lives. Enter the dilemma.

As an example, his personal view is simple and not difficult to understand: if something is not yours, don’t take it, if you are able to help, do so, and look out for others as often as you can.

Corporate ethics seemingly do not share this basic goodness effort and more often than not are contradictory to these ideals. To understand what I mean, you only have to look at the last year’s petroleum industry profit margins. While we were busy paying $3+ per gallon, profits were at record levels. What happened to being a good neighbor and helping the consumer stay a consumer? Think about all the businesses that lost out as a result of the price gouging of fuel. Hospitality and tourism took a major hit as travelers were not able to get to destinations. In a meeting with a local resort on the cape this week, I was told they were down almost 25 percent last summer, and for a place that was typically at capacity all season long. So, as a result several departments experienced layoffs. This is only one example. So my question is about corporate ethics. What responsibility should a corporation have to its consumers? Should they only be driven by greed and the bottom line? Should the government step in and mandate policy to keep this type of control from being detrimental to the rest of our economy? You be the judge. Only you the consumer can control what happens as we make the final decision to buy or not to buy. What do you think?

Rule # 17 The Indisputable Laws of Teamwork

This concept is really simple and can be exemplified in our own school. Teamwork takes time, winning requires commitment, and success is measured over the long haul. Think about it. This year our football team was very successful, so much so they got to play in the Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium. We have not had such a successful season in over 20 years. This can be seen as the direct result of successful coaching over the last several years with Rob McCoy and the addition of Ted Currle. Each has brought their personal experiences with playing and coaching to the locker room and grown the team to the level of play required to achieve such success. It takes time to build a successful program, and it starts with freshman and even in many cases much earlier than that. The team this year had such strong seniors such as Josh Archer, Sean Ryan, Ricky Travers and Deuce. This was not something that happened in one season, it took years to develop and mature to this level.

The Law of Dividends: Investing in the Team Compounds Over Time

So the next time you think about a sports team or any other team for that matter, recognize that in order for that team to experience success, each member had to invest not only in themselves, but in the team as well. Try it sometime, see for yourself. You will be glad you did.

Rule # 16 The Indisputable Laws of Teamwork

How true it is… Often when we are faced with pain and the end result is a win, we can endure almost anything. People are resilient when they see the choices. Losing in itself can be a painful venture regardless of the energy and efforts extolled to play. Corporations employ this theory when they are introducing products to market and they are selling below costs. If they can corner the marketplace and market share, inevitably they are not concerned with the bottom line in the short run.

The Law of High Morale: When You're Winning, Nothing Hurts

Everyone from children to grandparents like to feel the exhilaration of the win, and to prove this theory, you only have to watch the look on someone’s face when they have crossed the finish line while running with a cramp, or a race car driver who has completed the race with a damaged car.

Rule # 15 The Indisputable Laws of Teamwork

Ever wonder why some teams make it to the big game with inconsistency and some make it seemingly every year? Of course there can be lots of different situations that can account for those two scenarios, but I would like you to think about two very different vantage points. For my example, we can use high school sports teams. Each year they change, players graduate, get hurt, change sports interests or any number of uncontrollable circumstances. Since we know there is almost no way a team can consistently be the same, how then can we account for some schools being more successful than others on a regular basis? Surely they have the same goals? They all want to win, they all want to be successful and gain the respect of their peers, but not everyone does. Why? Naturally we have to look at their leadership.

The Law of the Edge: The Difference Between Two Equally Talented Teams Is Leadership

In many cases, those who have remained in their leadership roles for a longer period of time experience more successes than those who do not. So what do we do when we look at two teams who have made it to the big game and they are similarly matched, it comes down to one thing: Leadership. The difficult part about leadership is that it is not easily measured. You either have it or you don’t. Lots of people think they do, and to some extent they may even exhibit some leadership qualities, but true leaders show those qualities at all times and in all situations. That is why you will see the same schools competing for the top slots year after year: quality leadership.

The Road Less Travelled...

Recently I had the opportunity to work with team of educators from around New England on a site visit for re-accreditation. It reminded me why I liked my educational background so much. Unlike most educators that I work with, initially I did not attend school with the intention of becoming a teacher. I went to a private university (JWU) for my undergraduate degrees in the area of business which I feel prepared me very well for my career in management. My studies were varied as my classes were diverse. I spent time in my classes with students from all over the globe, but for the most part each of us were in the same place in our lives, fresh from secondary schools with a whole lot of choices in front of us. While there were lots of things in our background that were different, in the classroom we were all about the same, with similar if not the same level of experiences and skills sets. In many instances this is what may make college a good experience, since you have lots of people who are in the same place to share your time with. While it was not a bad situation to learn in, I doubt seriously that I would ever return to such an institution. Let me explain. One of the reasons I enjoyed the NEASC work team was simple, each of the fourteen other members of the team came from somewhere else, with a different position and responsibility and level of experience. There were two superintendents, an assistant principal, a curriculum director, several guidance councilors, and even some teachers such as myself, although I was the only business teacher. It was a very enriching experience working closely with this group towards the same goal. I had a similar experience with my graduate degree program. I chose a different route than the traditional method; I chose an online program (UOP) which afforded me the flexibility to continue my other interests while still working two jobs which is not uncommon for a teacher these days. My classes were filled with students, all who wanted the same outcome, a graduate degree in Education Leadership, but they were very different than the students I would have had the opportunity to learn from in a traditional setting. Similar to the group of educators I worked with on the NEASC team; my classes were filled with people from all backgrounds in experience and title as well. I took classes with superintendents, principals, assistant principals and teachers as well. In addition to that, the students were not just from my geographic area, but from all over the country, and in some cases the world. This meant that not only was I learning with students who are interested in the same degree, but I was going to be able to learn from some of their experiences as well. I am not saying this process is for everyone, as it required significant discipline on my part, as the schedule was far more rigorous than a ground class, and as a faculty member of two accredited post-secondary schools, I can tell you the expectations for my program were indeed high. I had to sacrifice a great many things while I was earning my graduate degree, but in the end I feel it was worth the investment. There is still a stigma associated with schools like mine, but in time that too will change. As evidence of that, you only have to look at the course selection guide at just about every school you are interested in. If they are not offering distance learning now, they will be soon enough. There are even secondary schools that offer distance classes to enhance course offerings.The world is a much smaller place with the invention of the Internet, and only those that embrace its offerings will be in the front of the line.