The idea of cause and effect has been discussed and debated throughout the ages. Cause is an emanation point. It is the source. It is the point in space where something originates. Effect is the receipt point. It receives a flow of some kind and is affected by it. The mark of a wise and mindful leader is his or her ability to extend an intention into space and become CAUSE.
If one was to look back in history at all the truly great leaders that attempted in some way to improve conditions in their sector or zone of influence, they share this common quality of causation. George Washington was a cause point over the army of Lord Cornwallis. In the sixteenth century, Martin Luther was a cause point over the Catholic Church and its abuses at the time. Rosa Parks was a cause point over the discriminatory policies of the Montgomery bus system. Siddartha Gautama was a cause point over his own mind and became The Buddha. These individuals were great because they were not the effect of their environment but stepped outside it to be the cause of change.
An overwhelming majority of us are seeking to bring forth positive and wholesome actions and behaviors in this world. We desire to improve ourselves, our relationships and our businesses. We want to see a better world emerge from these troubling times. One way to achieve this is to set your intention to be a wise and mindful leader in all aspects of your life. Those whose actions come from integrity cause wonderful effects everywhere they go.
A mindful leader leads from a position of mindful awareness, or mindstrength, by knowing how to respond from awareness instead of reaction and how to make everyone on their team feel recognized, affirmed and valued. Mindfulness provides you with clarity and calm in a crisis, protecting you from the temptation to panic and jump from one bad situation to another or to blame others for the crisis and avoid looking at your role in it. Plus it gives you the power to change it.
Mindful communication is an extraordinary tool for problem solving. It allows you to tolerate the discomfort of confrontation with others and the embarrassment of discovering how you might have contributed to the problem. Mindfulness also allows you to find your creativity and resourcefulness, so that you can approach the situation differently and perhaps transform it. It helps you to easily tap into your core creativity to solve problems and achieve goals.
Most of us were taught that creativity comes from the thoughts and emotions of the mind. The greatest singers, dancers, painters, writers and filmmakers recognize that the most original, and even transformative, ideas actually come from the core of our being. Core creativity emerges when we're in a state of open-mind consciousness, which evolves from a state of consciousness called mindful inquiry.
It isn't difficult to become a mindful leader if you are willing to make an effort to develop some type of mindfulness practice and be open to the process. One very effective way is through meditation, as it allows us to listen and pay attention to what we might otherwise overlook--whether it's a fresh idea or a new way of perceiving a situation, or enhancing our creativity and letting go of our obstacles to innovation. Just taking a five to ten minute break in the middle of your day to mediate can allow you to clear your head and tap into your core creativity. Many artists, philosophers, leaders and thinkers throughout time have intuitively used mindful awareness to further their inner development.
Through mindfulness you learn to have a more Zen way of looking at the world, knowing that anything you cause is an energy flow emanating from the core of your being. You realize what you are doing and take responsibility for the effects you create. If we all tried to be more mindful, the world will be a better place in short order. So set your mind on what you want and direct it with power and positive strength.
8/08/2010
Ronald Alexander, Ph.D.: The Cause and Effect of Mindful Leadership
Essays & Design by Cesar Torres » Debunking The Millennial Myth
I think it’s about time to lay to rest a major fallacy present in today’s society regarding my generation.
In the most unscientific study one can conduct (a Google search for the phrases “millennial sense of entitlement”), articles aggrandizing this theoretical high horse twentysomethings ride run rampant in major publications like the Wall Street Journal, CNBC and others. Maybe I’m a black swan in what feels like a controversy against my demographic, but today I’m taking a stand against this oppression and am ready to prove the naysayers wrong. There’s nothing that gets me more motivated than established institutions saying I “can’t” do something—is this entitlement rearing it’s ugly head? I’ll argue that it’s instead fuel for motivation and should be viewed differently if we expect progress as a modern society.
I recognize I’m potentially drawing a pretty deep line in the proverbial sand here, but I’m not trying to make a delineation between “us” and “them” or “us” and “you.” Rather, I’ve met handfuls of people my age who feel this external pressure and who are more than determined to set an example to the contrary. If you’ll indulge me, I’m going to take a step out of the echo chamber of my youth for a moment and for once not talk about me me me. The adults (because I’m still just a kid, right?) who I’ve met and who I consider close colleagues and friends—the ones I resonate and connect with the most—tend to be the intellectually curious adults who are interested in what I’m doing and the way that I think about the world. Not because it’s necessarily correct or because they’re going through a quarterlife crisis on the brink of their fifties either. Sure, conversations at times center around questions on how to more efficiently navigate their iPhones or to give them insights as to who’s running the newest hot web startup. I should note, however, that it’s never a question of what the hell Twitter is used for; instead it’s how to connect their blog’s RSS feed to autopost to their Twitter accounts.
These adults are the adults that I respect the most. Despite what a misguided psychologist might have you believe, I don’t feel better than them for knowing more about the latest internet meme or a cool iPad application; the content of the conversations are irrelevant—it’s the fact that they take time to have conversations with me. I respect the hell out of them for being continually curious and for having the confidence to ask someone half their age about questions they could easily be ashamed about. More importantly, I’m largely motivated by someone taking my opinions into consideration—especially when that person (or institution) is one I respect.
Many of the best conversations I have with my peers and closest friends around my age that center around our aspirations for the next decade deal with the need for motivation from outside forces, namely from the government, investment groups or from our bosses and superiors. I will note that I run in a circle of young entrepreneurs (French for “neurotic psychopaths”) and of course that echo chamber is hard to escape, but I try to be as skeptical as I can without being pessimistic. I feel that millennials will continue to do what we innately feel is right, but I offer a challenge to those who look at my generation as the leaders of tomorrow: help us help you. Don’t be afraid of the way that we look at the world. As the generations before us after all, you helped shape it, and for that, we really are truly grateful. We really do respect you, but in the end, we’re obsessed with technology and the Internet. We love our iPhones, Blackberries and it’s not a personal jab to you when we wear those white earbuds everywhere. Our music is weird, our fashion will always be jarring, our slang is abysmal and our pop cultural references are all over the map (not to mention on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr). We use acronyms and drop vowels to get our communications across faster. We have thousands of “friends” and we like to play hard, but we love to work hard too.
Ultimately, we look at things way differently, but don’t forget that we’re only here (physically and mentally) because of everything that came before. You always told us that we could gain your respect when we respected you. Could it be that we were actually listening?
…
I would love your thoughts on this potentially polarizing diatribe. Am I completely off base here? Am I unknowingly subject to the criticisms of my generation? Let me know in the comments or as always, via my Twitter account.
Sterling Radio Tip of the Week – Talk to the Millennials in Their Language «
by Kent Sterling
If it’s Thursday, it must be time for another Sterling Radio Tip of the Week!
I’m going against my own tease which promised what you can be sure would have been a magnificent treatise on the construction of format clocks. It will have to wait until next week because I read a piece on Huffington Post about branding. Normally, that doesn’t get me excited.
This time, the conversation is about the “Millennials” – those consumers who were born between 1980 and 1995. These people aren’t just consumers, they are advocates for brands connected via social networks with millions of other Millennials.
News/talk radio stations don’t play in that sandbox very often because those stations haven’t had success doing it. Without delving into the stupidity of that narrow-mindedness, let’s talk about sportstalk where Men 18-34 happily play (see, they can find a station on the AM dial if the content interests them!).
Here are the attributes of the Millennials, according to Ken Markman and Scott Shaw.
- They think in pictures
- They remember stories
- They embrace the real power of social media
- They use technology differently – really differently
If you use facts in your branding, stop. They don’t remember them. You need to tell a story – one story. Stop branding individual shows. Brand the station as a whole, and hire to that brand.
Here is the link to the post.
Read the post, and then because you can’t afford to hire a cognitive scientist, put every 22-28 year old who works in your building in a room, and ask how they get their news, weather, traffic, and sports. Your head will spin.
If you don’t do some work to try to figure this out, you will never reach this consumers through any means, and your station’s cume will keep aging. It’s not brain surgery, but it does require current managers to admit they don’t know everything. Not many of those out there.
Next week: Format clocks. How should they be built to both improve ratings and results for clients?
Pot it up!
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Ypulse Essentials: ‘The Hub’ Lineup, ‘Jackass’ In 3D, Millennials ‘Meh’ About Corporate Branding | Ypulse
Hasbro, Discovery prepare to launch The Hub (The new kids' cable channel will debut on October 10 targeting 6 to 12 year-olds with a mix of popular syndicated series and originals like a live-action adaptation of "Clue") (Los Angeles Times)
- BTS shopping goes mobile (or it will if the blast of mobile marketing, coupons and apps coming from retailers has its desired effect. Also 1 in 10 smartphones in the UK will be iPhone by 2012, according to predictions based on new research. Wonder what percentage will be teens… And Matt Britton of Mr. Youth on why all youth marketing will soon be location-based) (WSJ) (TechCrunch)
- Another positive spin on the 'Gen Me' discussion (in today's MediaPost column. Glad to see we're in agreement)
- Jackass in 3D (sounds painful on so many levels. Some parents might feel the same way about "Fred the Movie" coming this fall. Also the Juno team of Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman reunites for dark comedy "Young Adult") (USA Today) (BuzzFeed) (Monsters & Critics)
- K-Swiss "hires" Kenny Powers (The fictional ex-athlete played by Danny McBride on HBO show "Eastbound & Down" is the new face of the brand. Also targeting the young male demo is the Scion tC from Toyota. Hmm.. both might want to note this research on Millennials feeling meh about corporate branding) (Autoblog)
- One-fifth of record company revenue (in the UK comes outside of music sales) (PSFK)
- More teen celebs going under the knife (PopEater raises concerns of media attention glorifying/normalizing these procedures for teen and tween fans. Also a new CDC report finds young adults are more likely to smoke as well as use other tobacco products likely) (WebMD)
P.S. Ypulse will be taking Summer Fridays off until Labor Day. Hope readers are enjoying the Dog Days!
Categorized under: Ypulse Essentials
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Gen Y Workplace Demands Can Help Retain Boomers Wanting to Retire | Lisa’s Generation Relations Blog
Lisa Orrell is The Generation Relations Expert, and has appeared on ABC, MSNBC and NPR (to name a few). She is a speaker, consultant, and author of the book "Millennials Incorporated" (on Amazon). Based on her expertise, Lisa is an in-demand expert who educates well-known companies (such as Cisco Systems, Paul Mitchell, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield) about effectively attracting, recruiting, managing and retaining Millennials (Generation Y). She also conducts popular seminars on how to improve generation relations within the workforce – thus improving communication, productivity and revenue. MEDIA: Contact Lisa for an interesting interview!
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Radiance Medspa is the First Medspa in the Miami Area to Introduce The Perfector Non-surgical Facelift
Coral Gables, FL (PRWEB) February 9, 2006 -– Radiance Medspa of Coral Gables, located at the Village of Merrick Park, is proud to add the Perfector Non-Surgical Facelift to their list of cutting-edge services. The Perfector Non-Surgical Facelift is a systemic balance approach to anti-aging through cellular regeneration, and is considered the “Rolls Royce of microcurrent technologies.” It has been recognized as the number one microcurrent system in the UK for more than 10 years.
Since its launch in the U.S. in 2004, the Perfector has turned heads in the national media, with feature articles in newspapers and magazines including Harpers, Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan, who are touting it as the “Star Wars of non-surgical procedures.” It is also creating a buzz in Hollywood, where it is rumored to be used by A-list celebrity figures including Cher, Goldie Hawn and Sharon Stone.
Radiance will hold a special Cocktail Reception on Thursday, February 23rd, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Medspa to celebrate the recent opening of their exclusive new medical spa and introduce the Perfector facelift. Guests attending the reception will be served Champagne, hors d’oeuvres, and an assortment of healthy herbal teas, while learning about this cutting-edge scientific technology for anti-aging in Radiance’s tranquil, spa-like environment. There will be hands-on demonstrations, discounts and giveaways throughout the evening.
Click here to read more…
Capital Wire PR
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Washington, DC - Dialogue on Diversity’s 2010 Entrepreneurship/IT Conference, presented Friday, July 27th filled a conference hall to capacity at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center on Capitol Hill. Women entrepreneurs were the subject of a series of rapid fire seminars through the day, covering the marketing, information, and financial management skills they need to hold their own in today’s sharply competitive business milieu. Leading off a packed agenda was introductory speaker Alex Rodriguez, Chair of the Washington Metro Chapter of LULAC, who, in an emotional and evocative address, named the many marginalized classes of persons in American society, each of which must be an effectively protected class, whose persons and interests, the image of our American diversity, must have a claim on our attention and action.
“Dialogue on Diversity”, noted its President, Ma. Cristina Caballero, “celebrates the achievements of young women entrepreneurs, in two enterprises rocketing ahead in prestige, quality, and revenues.” Cristina Mossi, recently acquiring ownership of Devis, a software design firm that is now much in the ascendant under her driving leadership; and Evelyn Brooks, jewelry designer of rare talent, received the Young Entrepreneur Awards, while the Entrepreneurial Mentorship Award was conferred on the resourceful Charlie Partridge, a supplier diversity executive with Pepco Holdings, Inc., who has for long combined her purchasing functions with active mentoring of the small, often struggling, entrepreneurs she encounters. Recognition of the honorees was part of the midday session, in which Ms. Harriet Fulbright, head of the J. William and Harriet Fulbright Center and a much valued friend of Dialogue on Diversity, joined Ms. Caballero of the Dialogue, who presented the awards. Ms. Fulbright is a former Chair of the President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities, and spouse of the late Senator J. William Fulbright.
Rep. Raul Grijalva, building on some of the themes expressed in the introductory overview, offered a persuasive vision of diversity in America society which conceives economic activity and our social classes and income levels as “part and parcel” of a dynamic that includes an ongoing stream of immigration as part of an integral structure, without which none of the other parts can be rightly accounted for and which is a necessary feature in the functioning of the national economy. Policy measures which view the inflows of migrants as accidental, extraneous interferences with a self satisfied native polity, both misread the logic of American society and view any provision touching migrants as a begrudged concession rather than as a recognition of the integral character of their presence on the national scene.
The many-talented Yvette Mouton, representing Conference sponsor AT&T, led off the marketing- supplier diversity session, once again this year a central Conference focus, dealing with the nuts and bolts of entry into the diverse supply chains of large private-sector and governmental purchasing entities. Also speaking were the magisterial Jonice Adams of the Washington area Minority Supplier Development Council, Mauricio Vera, Chair of the federal Inter-Agency OSDBU Council, Charlie Partridge of Pepco purchasing, Michael Veve, experienced Washington attorney, on the crucial step of Certification, and finally Susan Au Allen, head of the U.S. Pan-Asian American Chamber of Commerce, on international aspects of small enterprise marketing.
In examining still another facet of the near pervasive influence of modern IT and the Internet in the lives of citizens, and of businesses owners in particular, a privacy roundtable had opened the Conference, with Mamie Kresses of the FTC, and Debra Berlyn of Consumer Privacy Solutions, together with Andrew Bloom, whose encyclopedic grasp of the privacy issue completed the panel, all fixing their focus on the challenges and the obligations resting on owners of small business enterprises in the face of multifarious privacy threats.
The featured speaker for the Conference’s midday session was C. Lincoln Hoewing Verizon’s Vice President for Internet Technology and Policy, Mr. Hoewing outlined in a systematic but concise way the current information technology landscape, stressing that the internet is not, as sometime is asserted, a flagging, effete technology, a spent force in economic society. It is in fact just beginning its transformative work: with the penetration of high speed internet -- and high speed means at this juncture unheard-of transmission velocity, information volume, and efficiency. The legion of uses of broadband not yet exploited are, among others: energy saving, with “smart grids” for electrical power distribution, health care technology, with the promise of a functioning facility for “telemedicine”, and much more.
Information technology was again the theme of a later conversation between Cristina Mossi, one of the Awards honorees, and the remarkable Joycelyn Tate, Telecommunications Advisor to the Black Women’s Roundtable, who laid out a broad view of the place of the new technologies in the small business setting. These technical possibilities are the “On Ramp” for women setting out in the entrepreneurial race; they are the equalizer speeding functions that can now be dealt with as easily and swiftly as they might be by larger firms.
In addition to Ana Harvey, the top SBA executive charged with designing services for women business owners, the very welcome S.B.A. representation on the conference agenda included Stuart Shalloway on HUBZones, Melissa Fischer on loan guaranties, and Andrea Giles on micro-finance. Alejandra Castillo, second in command at the Minority Business Development Agency, described the work of that agency, outlining the panoply of consulting and active referral services available to inquiring minority entrepreneurs. Joseph Donadoni of Citibank set forth in detail the protocol of considerations his bank reviews in extending credit, emphasizing that while sound economic basics must be in place, businesses are now obtaining loans from his and similar institutions. Kevin Kelly held forth on small and micro-enterprise and on the work of his Enterprise Development Group as mentors and lending intermediaries for many such entities, while Cindy Hounsell on lifetime financial planning -- an often sadly neglected art -- and Christina Diaz-Malone of Freddie Mac rounded out the panel.
Sponsors for the 2010 Conference were venerable members of Dialogue on Diversity’s Corporate family, AT&T and Southwest Airlines.
About Dialogue on Diversity: Founded in 1991, Dialogue on Diversity is a international network of women entrepreneurs, actively promoting constructive dialogue among Latino and other ethnic and cultural communities, with especial emphasis on their economic viability through entrepreneurship. America’s minority entrepreneurs are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. economy. They promise to be the backbone of American economic strength in the 21st Century. Dialogue on Diversity’s annual Entrepreneurship programs both celebrate and advance that promise.
Making it locally in music equal parts entrepreneurship, showmanship | Palm Beach Entertainment: Events, movies, restaurants, nightlife & more
Brendan O'Hara performs with his band, The Big Bounce, at the Colony Theater during a CD release party for 'Champagne & Apple Juice'. (Chris Cutro / The Miami Herald)
BY SALVATORE FAZIO AND ADRIANA GALINDO
The most important lesson Brendan O’Hara, 29, has learned from entertaining exclusive nightclub audiences is the value of flexibility and independence in the music business.
“You have to trust the creative side of yourself, but adjust to the market,” said O’Hara, lead vocalist, pianist, guitarist and co-manager of Brendan O’Hara and the The Big Bounce Collective, which has successfully played at South Florida venues for the past two years.
Galena Mosovich, 27, the band’s co-manager and director of public relations and marketing, agrees. The secret to self-advancement in today’s music industry business, she said, is “Indipreneurship” — a creative and independent approach to following entrepreneurship principles.
“We don’t necessarily follow the traditional model of success in the music business, she said. “We are not signed to a major or an independent label. We do all of our business development, business and fan relations, marketing and social networking.”
Since forming its entrepreneurial music effort in 2008, The Big Bounce Collective has racked up more than 1,000 fans on the Facebook social network, an average of 33,000 website hits per month and an e-mail list of about 3,000 people.The Hollywood act has performed in art festivals, corporate functions and upscale nightclubs including Miami’s Florida Room at The Delano and the Clevelander in South Beach, Blue Martini in Miami and the chic club Ella in New York City’s East Village.
The Big Bounce isn’t alone. Increasingly, bands are abandoning the search for international record deals in favor of self-managed careers, said Serona Elton, entertainment industry consultant and assistant professor in the Music Business & Entertainment Industries study program at the University of Miami.
“It’s a trend more today than ever before,” said Elton. “There are more opportunities to make a living as a performing musician in terms of live shows versus an old-school model where everybody seeks an elusive record deal that turns them into a superstar.”
According to the Nielsen Soundscan, which tracks sales of music and music video products in the United States and Canada, only 2.1 percent of the 97,751 albums released in 2009 sold more than 5,000 units.
“If you’re trying to become a household name and sell millions of units, it probably won’t happen unless you are able to align yourself with an entity that has both the experience and the money to back the marketing effort it would take to do that,” said Elton, who worked eight years for record company giant EMI.
O’Hara understands that all too well.
“There’s no real record deal. There aren’t many out there,” he said. “At this point I’d rather cover my own risks and rewards. It’s not a secret that the major label model is sort of like drug trafficking, where they only invest if the profit margin is worth the risk.”
The Big Bounce recently released its first studio album, Champagne & Apple Juice, a self-financed and self-promoted effort distributed through Tunecore, a service that places songs for download in the virtual shelves of music stores such as iTunes, Rhapsody and Amazon.
Most of the funding for the album came from live performance revenue, which on average ranges from $1,000 to $3,000 per show, said Mosovich. For 2010, gross revenues from The Big Bounce’s live performances is projected at over $100,000.
That live performance schedule does more than just finance the album: It has helped build the band’s buzz. For more than 23 months, The Big Bounce has played hotspots including Florida Room at The Delano, one of Miami Beach’s most exclusive lounging hotspots, where O’Hara plays each Tuesday night.
“The Florida Room has been an incredible part of the genesis of taking this music into a specific demographic,” O’Hara said. “We targeted an audience that prides itself on being part of that which is hip.”
Whether The Big Bounce performs its original bluesy hip-pop hybrid music as a voice and piano setup or as eight-piece group with horns is a client’s choice. That ability to expand or contract the band’s size — and the price that goes with it — is a key selling point.
“At the smallest, The Big Bounce could just be me,” O’Hara said. “We’ve learned, over the course of the gigs, how to do a gig and keep your cost low and your profit high.”
Until April, The Big Bounce had two permanent members: O’Hara and vocal percussionist Michael Rodney, 22, known as Komakozie. After the album’s release, the pair split. To fill out the band, O’Hara uses the same strategy as when they were a duo, hiring local musicians already familiar with his sound.
Another successful strategy: Get the audience onto the dance floor.
At the release concert for Champagne & Apple Juice at Miami Beach’s Colony Theater, dozens of concertgoers took over the stage, turning it into a dance floor.
“They are great performers and they get the crowd involved,” said Carla Crotts, 29, who has followed The Big Bounce’s local performances for more than a year.
The group’s rise to local celebrity status has also sparked the interest of sponsors, in part because of The Big Bounce’s appeal to nightlife-savvy business professionals.
“We’re lucky to have a clientele that can justify spending $12-20 on a cocktail,” O’Hara said. “They figure, ‘Hell, my bill is already $60. What’s another $15-20 for a CD?’ “
To help offset the cost of organizing the recent album release concert, Mosovich forged a partnership with Russian Standard Vodka.
It was an easy decision, said Russian Standard Vodka’s South Florida market manager Kristin Pietrantonio.
“The Big Bounce has a very strong Miami following, and our brand is huge in Miami,” said Pietrantonio. “The people who follow the band are our target audience, so it seemed like a natural partnership.”
For others embarking on an independent music career, Moskovich has this advice: Take baby steps.
“Start small and build a foundation base before you start piling on the expenses.”
Entrepreneurship : EphBlog
Fri 6 Aug 2010
Entrepreneurship
Posted by esoskin under Alumni Office, Curriculum at 8:45 am
A troubling thought has been rattling around my mind since the June Alumni Review arrived. Thanks to the comment thread in one of this week’s Beyond the Log seminar session, I’ve been inspired to post. (Note: there have been more relevant posts since I started this one — particularly yesterday’s Institute of Finance post, but this post is already too long, so it’s going up as is.) In a discussion of “decreas[ing] the penalty placed on international applicants” with the ultimate goal being to “accept a class with the most academically talented and ambitious students from around the world,” Ken pointed out:
the issue which echoes across the educational system . . . creativity and entrepreneurship. The issue, which parallels the problems of Germany and elsewhere, is that you need a new economic system, and people who will lead it, and the people who go to Sciences Po, while incredibly intelligent and ‘clever,’ are not, necessarily, risk-takers.
They’re happy with $140K/yr (plus possibly investments) in a country where, down in Fontainbleau, the children taking the metro will never know lives where they have more than $30K/yr in resources. . .
But that’s what Williams can offer. . . Because the French need what Williams offers. And we could benefit a lot, from giving our students access to that world…
“Creativity and entrepreneurship,” indeed. The alumni review article (link to the June magazine — as David has pointed out, the online magazine unhelpfully doesn’t allow links to individual articles) took a tour through Eph entrepreneurs who have brought their businesses to the Berkshires. That’s living the dream — Williams College at one end of the street and your company at the other. But largely absent from the article — except for a brief mention of the influence of the late Prof. Dick Sabot on Bo Peabody ’94 — was any indication of how the subjects’ Williams education contributed to their business undertakings, other than drawing them to the Berkshire setting.
Now, there’s no doubt that an athletically-minded liberal arts college like ours provides the ideal flexible set of tools for just about anything – including starting your own business. Or, notwithstanding the Peabody example, most entrepreneurs will benefit from first working in a more structured environment.
That still leaves open the question — does Williams do enough to assist students who are thinking about an entrepreneurial future or who might think that way, if the opportunity presented itself?
As far as I know, the only curricular commitment to the topic is in Winter Study, where Professor Stephen Sheppard is sponsoring two courses:
“ECON 12 – So You Want to Start a Business Some Day—Understanding the Business Plan”, with Steve Fogel, the Program Director of Berkshire Enterprises Entrepreneurial Training Program, as the instructor; and
“ECON 17 – Entrepreneurship,” with Dr. Jeffrey Thomas, a Boston-based bioinformatics entrepreneur, as the instructor.
This isn’t surprising, as Winter Study has always been the place where the curriculum expands to areas otherwise considered insufficiently academic or excessively professional. (Kudos to Prof. Sheppard, by the way, who appears to be a go-to guy for sponsorship of WSP programs in economics — his name appears after virtually all of them. Only a few other Economics professors appear to be taking a similar interest in Winter Study).
Is there anything from the regular curriculum a student should consider taking as preparation for an independent future? Although the overall Leadership Studies curriculum appears starved for courses that examine business leadership, Leadership Studies 295, “Leadership and Management,” is perhaps relevant. (Also missing from both the Leadership Studies and Psychology curricula is anything studying leadership or the dynamics if small groups — but hopefully that’s an area students are getting a lot of experience with outside the classroom).
Accounting is the kind of pre-professional course that Williams frowns on, so it’s only available during winter study. However, the Math/Stats department has a couple of introductory courses in statistics that are offered every semester and that every student – regardless of their interests – should probably consider. (Bonus: some of the introductory courses are taught by academic entrepreneur Dick De Veaux).
What about outside the classroom? It looks like there’s been a Williams Entrepreneurship Society in the recent past, as well as an Eph Business Association that brought Herb Allen ’62, James Lee ’75 and Bo Peabody as speakers. Is either of these groups still active?
OCC counselor Robin Meyer has wisely set up a separate resource page for those interested in “business” and thinking of something other than investment banking or consulting. The various endowed summer internships are all directed at supporting students in non-profit or governmental endeavors, but I know there are a number of smaller alumni enterprises that come to campus looking to hire interns (I understand there’s more to David than just EphBlog and taking stAmudents to lunch).
With respect to these efforts, it seems a mighty weak brew. Compare it to the efforts directed to encouraging/supporting so-called “public service” careers. And compared to many competitors, it’s unimpressive. Middlebury has its Project on Creativity and Innovation, subsuming a winter-term offering into a prominent program that includes dedicated physical space, an idea competition with a summer-earnings subsidy, and more. Swarthmore has an annual entrepreneurship conference with nearly a decade of history drawing prominent alumni. Even Amherst promotes “social entrepreneurship” through its Center for Community Engagement.
Am I missing something? What curricular or cocurricular experiences should an Eph ’12 or Eph ’13 be taking advantage of?
This is obviously more important to more than just attracting international students — and the right international students, of course. The Williams interests in having a robust and thriving community of Eph entrepreneurs begin with the nakedly financial: professionals get only to the upper middle class (especially if they eschew legal entrepreneurship for jobs more conducive to contributing to EphBlog!); entrepreneurs, by and large, make up the ranks of the wildly rich. They extend to the immediately enriching: a broader coterie of employers looking to hire alumni (and provide internships), potentially providing students with a better set of opportunities to explore their enthusiasms. And don’t we need some compelling new names for the honorary degree and graduation speaker pool, too?
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kthomas says:
I’d like to comment, but I’m going to need to read this though carefully three times first.
August 6th, 2010 at 9:15 am
kthomas says:
Actually, let me stop:
What you to do, is connect students with ideas and ambition, to alumni and others with the technical and other knowledge necessary to mentor and execute, to those who have the capital and connections to make things happen in exchange for equity.
I … Ken shuts his mouth.
August 6th, 2010 at 9:22 am
esoskin says:
Oops – thought I had scheduled this post for Saturday, but I’ll leave it up anyway
August 6th, 2010 at 9:29 am
JeffZ says:
Excellent post (well, excepting the “so called” public service comment :); I am all for supporting more Williams alums doing things like the Peace Corp, Teach for America, and so on).
I note that MCLA is instituting this year what appears to an executive MBA program. I know Williams in the past tried to synch up with MCLA’s graduate teacher education program, and I’m not sure whether any students still are involved with that, or if it proved useful. But I would think there might be some opportunities for synergy for upperclassmen at Williams who are interested in entrepeneurship to take a class or two at MCLA, or at least work with any entrepeneurs who are hired as faculty.
http://www.mcla.edu/Academics/news/mclatoofferprofessionalmbaprogram_311/
I also wonder if there are ways to better connect with the small community of tech and arts entrepeneurs operating in Williamstown / North Adams (in particular at and around MassMoca).
August 6th, 2010 at 10:01 am
Leigh says:
Great post, Eric. I loved that article as well, but agree, the how do you get there part was missing.
I remember in my Econ senior seminar that we each had to lead class one day on a given topic. I chose Entrepreneurship as my topic, and opened the class by asking for a show of hands of who would ultimately like to be an entrepreneur. I assumed I’d get a near unanimous show of hands, thinking of course it would be a goal of almost anyone. But I was pretty much the only one with my hand up. I think there’s a gap in terms of exposure – exposure to people/alums and their stories.
Senior year an alum named Aaric Eisenstein ’91 came back to campus and gave a talk on entrepreneurship – he had essentially built a race track, and was off starting another company if I remember correctly – it inspired me and stuck in my head more than any other career-oriented talks, because it was the only one of its kind. Connecting more alums and current students is key. How can we get more alums coming back to tell these stories?
August 6th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
jeffz says:
I do think Eric’s idea of using the leadership studies major as a platform is a particularly good one. I know that in the past the leadership studies program has hosted, over a weekend, a series of speakers / seminars on a particular topic over at Mount Hope Farm. An entrepeneurial leaders in business weekend (and this also echoes something DK suggested recently) conference, featuring both alums and intriguing non-Eph entrepeneurs, could be a very interesting academic event for leadership studies. BTW, I really think leadership studies could be a real selling point for Williams if it receives more institutional attention / support / emphasis. But that is getting off point …
August 6th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
Sr. Mom says:
I agree, terrific post.
And, being that I’m the parent of a (too) soon-to-be-graduating senior, versions of this topic have been at our dinner table all summer. I have questions and comments, some more along the lines of career counseling and guidance, but IMO, they tie right in with some of the comments and suggestions that are already posted. However, I am running out the door, so I will have to check in later. Just wanted to voice my appreciation for the post.
August 6th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
esoskin says:
@Leigh: Great story — and I was thinking that we were pretty much there during the golden age of interest in starting for yourself, with Tripod having such a high profile and the dot.com boom in general making it look “easy” to come up with some idea and be rich overnight. Interesting that I see Aaric Eisenstein’s name all over and he’s still a great Williams enthusiast, but I haven’t seen anything about him coming back to campus recently. Perhaps because Leigh was the only one who showed up?
Regarding a conference, I also think that it would be a good way not only to connect students and alumni, per Ken, but also to raise the mindshare and get more students interested.
It would be interesting to try to ascertain how successful Swarthmore’s conference is not just at getting staged, but at making those connections between students and alumni (and alumni and each other). As well as expanding overall interest. It’s certainly not generating interest in Swarthmore’s entrepreneurs Twitter list, which has three followers, relative to 600 on the Swarthmore Twitter feed as a whole.
August 7th, 2010 at 10:26 am
kthomas says:
@esoskin:
Hi Eric. I’ll try to comment here.
Let’s break this up a little:
Part the first
First, a little background.
I left the world of graduate school at Berkeley (another story, but certainly not a world dedicated to entrepreneurship of any kind) to co-found a series of companies.
Certainly that was due, in large part, to the Tripod example– and, in fact, to the very concrete examples of a month of having Brett and Bo sharing an apartment with me, and the years of tales of Tripod to follow.
It doesn’t boil, simply, down to that. There were items in Mark Taylor’s Imagologies class (Bo was taking Mark’s Psychology of Religion at the time); there was Dick Sabott’s presence; there were things in many other classes; there was, for that matter, the pure contingency of meeting someone from BBN on a train from Munich to Prague, because M——- ’95 decided to meet here, that whole chain of events contingent on sitting next to Bill Fox’s son during a busride from Williamstown to Boston to catch the flight to Munich.
I won’t try to spin that into a tale of contingency and luck or spontaneity, all things that are important in the entrepreneurial world.
Well– actually what I want to talk about for a moment, are part of Wendy Brown’s remarks during the ‘crisis’ at Berkeley– posted here by David– [*1]– one of the thinks that struck me most in what she said, amid things that made a lot of sense to me in general– well, I really had to wonder if she had thought about what ‘shared governance’ really means–
but what stood out above all, was her hostility to the word ‘entrepreneurship,’ her almost contempt in using it. The idea that we might need something like ‘educational entrepreneurship’ at Berkeley–
well what people are really reacting to, what people who are professors in particular are really reacting to, is the challenge of change.
[*1: 'as it were' I looked at them in London while waiting for Prof. Zizek, as street riots rocked the German educational system]
August 7th, 2010 at 10:48 am
kthomas says:
Part the second.
Let me turn back to the main topic, just a bit.
NPR ran a series, a few years ago, on ‘entrepreneurs’ from the internet boom years, who had founded companies in their early 20s, failed, and, after gaining some experience, tried again in their 30s.
One of them said something, which Dylan Tweeney echoed (in a piece linked here on EphBlog by Chris Gondek): that we’d all learned a great deal, and in the end, learned a great deal about what we didn’t know anything about.
That was from NPR– what Dylan said, was that his company should have gone a little slower, and focused on building something of value.
Item: I never knew that Dylan– not to mention a few others– was involved in any sort of startup idea. And that’s a mistake. Because I don’t know that I could have helped Dylan, but I’m sure Dylan’s experience and knowledge, for example, could have helped me.
OK, I’m going to risk dominating the sidebar again, by stopping to rethink.
August 7th, 2010 at 11:02 am
kthomas says:
Part the second: interlude: the Valley; venture!; capital
Another aspect of this, which may be important, are the communities which support entrepreneurship.
In my time, the culture of the Valley, and of its enormous creativity of all types– it still seems, largely separate and alien, to at least Williamstown– at the time, certainly, to draw with a very big brush, “to the East Coast.”
Ronit recently gave us some maps of venture firms. What was interesting and amazing to me, was the extent to which they had expanded.
Institutions and resources do matter. Having a startup incubator at Stanford or Berkeley, a business plan contest, a culture of ‘angel’ group, and so forth, does matter. You might call all of that– ‘enablers,’ and I fully mean to use a work with double and potentially negative meaning there.
But in any case, Sean Schickedanz would put some similar maps up in front of us, at HAAS’s entrepreneur’s forum, in about ’98 or ’99. And they would show a quite smaller distribution of venture capital, — to keep it short, it was all in the Bay Area. There were a few firms in LA, and a few in New York and Boston– but there were hundreds in the Bay Area.
And– if we’re talking about key enablers– then in my life, among those key enablers were the existence of HAAS itself, of the business plan competition and the associated incubators, of a lively community of venture investors willing to give time (and risk capital!), and the general community around this.
They provided the message: “you can.”
Perhaps.
August 7th, 2010 at 11:14 am
kthomas says:
Part the Second: continuing– experience(s): what the Valley “is”
My tale is also a somewhat cautionary one. For certainly to say, I wouldn’t have done it any other way, would be declaring I couldn’t learn from experience.
The venture capital model, and the enormous productivity (if that is what it is) of the Silicon Valley, is a model which people have attempted to replicate around the world. There’s an attempt here in Prague– I should ask more about it.
What I’m trying to say is– there are critical differences one might want to think about, between the worlds of starting essentially small businesses, or fairly limited entrepreneurial endeavors, and large-scale ones and “the Valley.”
This is one of those points when I have to worry if I’m saying something important to the audience, or how I can make the point I want to make, both clear and relevant.
In Western Kentucky, for instance, — well in all of Kentucky, there are regional startup incubators. They are meant to encourage regional economic development. The problem is– the businesses in them, are more of the same. In Western Kentucky, they generally house plain-vanilla-ish manufacturing operations, which are what was happening anyway.
And, heck, there’s one of those about 50 kilometers above Acapulco, though why it’s so far out I don’t know. Why?
My point here is– what’s happening in the Valley is really, really quite different. It’s a different series of technologies, and to some extent, depending upon the specific network of connections and ‘relations of production’ in the Valley.
So, really– if you’ll not mind me focusing a little too much on Kentucky, but I hope you might generalize– if you want to develop that somewhere else, you have to get concept of what it is, how it works, what it does– what the specifics are– who knows what.
We’re talking about technology transfer, there.
Now– here’s the hook to the Berkshires.
Ethan Zuckermann and I have had a conversation or two, about Tripod, and the great expectations (and then resentments) that occurred in the area.
Because one hope, even expectation, was that Tripod could bring a large number of jobs to the Berkshires, even reignite the economy.
I’ll keep this section shorter by cutting myself off. Tripod couldn’t do that. But I’m sure that it was very much, though only partially, responsible for the North Adams renewal.
It showed people that they could– well, at least, that they might.
August 7th, 2010 at 11:28 am
kthomas says:
Part the Second: continuing: experience(s): mine! (Company 1)
Now I’ve beat around the bush. It’s a rainy day in Prague and I have a headache, though fortunately, not enough to affect my peripheral vision– much– though I just recorded a good description, from someone else, of the experience how a migraine incident begins for him with distortions at the edges of vision, then proceeds with a sort of stars and hallucinations– at which point he’d better find a place to shut down immediately, before the nausea begins.
That experience is relevant to startup life– especially, to the potentially stresses of startup life and cash flow management, to what Bo talks about in terms of the “inevitable total failures any startup will face–” as well as the constraints of economic development.
“But what did you do, Ken?” Oh, yes.
Nothing entirely impressive, and nothing that, except on paper, every particularly made much money.
The first venture I participated in, which had nothing but a smidgen of angel funding– we started with offices in a fraternity in Berkeley, and eventually had the money to move to offices in Emeryville, though I think we’d have been better off staying in the frat–
my point right there, is important. Steve Vachiani, who is running a startup in Brazil right not– I’ve dropped another hook, though rather awkwardly, so we have two important hooks–
Steve, and his right-hand guy, would explain to me a few years later, when I had a bit more operating cash in hand, that the first thing I should do, is guard that operating cash like blood. Because it’s life.
What we did in moving to Emeryville– the first wrong thing we did– was to take on approximately $2,000 in unnecessary monthly expenses for an office.
We would have done better to work out of café space in Berkeley, or negotiate for a corner in an incubator, or with another company– we just didn’t need 3,500 sf, or whatever we had!
The other important point — well, I had known Steve Vachiani for a while, because we had bonded for a variety of reasons, some of them indeed quite purely contingent– he was an Indian immigrant to Toronto, who spoke French– Lawrence Cohen, my housemate, was a French-speaker from Toronto, who taught me loads of French– Steve’s girlfriend of the time, was a woman from Lodz, a Polish city only a few tens of kilometers from here.
Bluntly stated, the second important point — was that the area around UCB and HAAS was teeming with entrepreneurs and people thinking about entrepreneurship and possibility– so moving to Emeryville was a bad idea. Sure, we were next to WebVan (well!…) but it moved us away, from the center, from the culture, from the resources.
In Emeryville, the streets were quiet; you could walk down to the AskJeeves complex, part of an industrial park, and in the lunchroom, there were Jeeves and WebVan and a handful of other people–
but generally, 9 out of 10 people weren’t doing the same sort of think, and didn’t understand a think, more or less, about what you were trying to do.
Over at the fraternityРwell, we were a half-block from the International House Caf̩, where, on any given afternoon in those years, you could run into a group of guys (real story) with the contract to build an email system for Congress.
And you could get a job with them by simply pointing out that they couldn’t do X,Y, and Z for reasons a,b, and c, and explaining it to them.
That was the environment. That was what was critical– the — a sort of co-generation or cross-pollination.
In the business literature today, when people talk about entrepreneurs, and especially serial entrepreneurs, the tendency is not to talk about the person. Rather, we speak of the people around them– the community they surround themselves with– the resources.
The point I’m trying to make is– that’s critical! So that’s one goal.
August 7th, 2010 at 11:52 am
Kevin says:
esoskin @ 8: I don’t know about Swarthmore, but Middlebury’s project on creativity and innovation (which you have linked in your original post), which includes an intensive winter term (J-term) course, also includes a yearly conference centered around 20-30 alums’ return to campus. The alums present to the student in the winter term class and students at-large, and is a huge success. The alums return to campus throughout Jan to present to and engage students on their successes, failures, and lessons learned in the world of entrepreneurship, and the month concludes with a focused conference. The month-long program leads to meaningful relationships, networking, collaborations, and career mentoring that the College’s career office wished it could somehow replicate.
August 7th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
kthomas says:
Part the Second: continuing: experience(s): (Company 1: autoguru)
[irritated voice:] But what did you do, Ken?
In some sense it doesn’t matter, does it? Because with big ideas… Big Hunkin’ Ideas…
Sorry, that was the 2-person PR firm down in LA, which was quite cute. (Another contact would get a copy of our business plan to Ogilvy, who would then keep taking us to $500 lunches on them).
I might stop and ask if those $500 lunches were worth it? Because in some sense that’s one indication of the insanity of the age, there, in that era–
But let me get on topic, though in some sense, how one presents things, was also crucial in all of this.
In technical language that most of you will likely understand, what we wanted to establish was an online reverse-price marketplace for automobile sales.
In the age of Toyota and it’s supply chain management miracles, which mean you can go into Toyota, tell them what you want, plop down cash and get financing– and then Toyota takes your cash and starts building the auto and it is quite miraculously delivered to you 8 days later or so — well none of that existed then– and the idea was, that with all this sitting inventory out there on dealers’ lots, with the inconveniences of negotiation and haggling for price (which everyone hates), with the general inability to find a vehicle that’s exactly what you want (remember– no Toyota, no inventory systems except at individual dealers)–
so the idea here was that you’d go online, put in what kind of vehicle you wanted, what color inside and out, what engine (2.0l or 2.2l?), sunroof or cassette deck (we had heard of CDs– just kidding), and so forth–
and then this request would go out, a big database would find where on lots throughout the country were vehicles like this– and– best of all– the dealers would then bid downwards for your business.
Wonderful idea, right?
August 7th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
kthomas says:
Part the Second: continuing: experience(s): (Company 1: autoguru: language/Deal?)
Now guess what. Explanation is hard. If you pitch 100 or 200 people, you’ll find that– for 10 out of the 100 or 200– you can’t possibly explain what you want to explain.
You can’t say “reverse price market for automobiles,” or explain any of that, because they don’t think that way.
Moreover, — moreover– you don’t have much time. They may be giving you the space of an elevator ride.
It’s critically important to determine what language they speak, and what may be effective in communicating your idea to them, quickly and succinctly.
And heck, you might even learn a thing or two, as you do it.
For the CFO of Intuit, that language was “NASDAQ for automobiles” Nothing more, nothing less– well, other than comparisons with what Intuit does.
Now– to expand this a bit– he knew what the NASDAQ was (first online stock exchange, that is, putting a manual process online and acheiving advantages); and he knew a little bit about automotive; and he knew a lot about finance, and what Intuit’s products had done in financial planning world.
Are you starting to see ‘fit’ here? For besides speaking a common language– that is, we can communicate a good deal of what we’re doing, to you in terms important to you, and we can take the time to hear your out and learn from what you have to say, even if it’s in a language and even jargon that’s pretty alien to us–
one way of looking at it was that we were a strategic fit for Intuit. We were proposing the creation of an entity, closely aligned with what Intuit did. In fact– we were talking about Intuit’s future, which, thus, gave Intuit a lot of good reasons to “get in bed with us,” as the business phrase went.
Why not?
August 7th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
kthomas says:
Part the Second: continuing: experience(s): (Company 1: AG: Deal? Deal? negotiating the deal )
At this point, I should perhaps be a little more explicit.
At this point in my life, I had gone from being a grad student at Berkeley– perhaps the most marginalized economic position in the world, short of living on the streets, which, actually, come to think of it, a good number of grad students have done– to having a significant equity stake in a company, that is talking with the CFO of Intuit about an seven-figure investment.
This took about six or seven months. That was the tech boom– and while it is important to recognize the ‘irrational exuberance’ of that boom, its seemingly insane ability to invest in projects which an outside observer would surely think, had no chance of generating revenue–
it’s equally important to keep in mind, on the one hand, that this is the culture of the Valley, that over the past century or so, there have been numerous booms and crises and busts, in a cyclical pattern–
and that, of course, to get back to a topic above, change can happen, and sometimes simple change, or well-managed change, or innovation, can lead to significant advances, efficiencies, gains– “a better world,” so to speak.
You eliminate internal borders between Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. You integrate your train systems; you educational systems, so that over a period of time, it becomes possible for people to transparently live and work in your part of the world, without borders and controls.
Because of this, the cost of train travel goes down by 20%. A student in the Hague, can complete one semesters’ requirements, by traveling to Leuven or Gent.
I’ve suddenly switched to larger issues of education and society and social goods– but isn’t that the point– in the end?
But so– did you get the deal?
August 7th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
esoskin says:
@kthomas: These might make a great series of main-page posts, or at least one really long one — perhaps easier to engage with — and to reference in the future — that way.
August 7th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
kthomas says:
=============================================================
PAUSE IN CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
Well, on that note, I did have to get other things done, but this is a good point for a pause.
One of the things I try to emphasize above (sure could use a rewrite) is the CULTURE of entrepreneurship.
For if I complemented Williams, what I’m saying is that Williamstown can be pretty distant from that. Even if Bo can occasionally be found at … have they moved Mezze???
My second point is, of course, that there being all sorts of other things that we can talk about, such as a conference– well, you know, I’m thinking we talk about a lot of things here on EB, but don’t do that many…
the one thing we clearly *could* do, is try to make some of those connections, online.
Think of that as the “turn part of EphBlog into the NASDAQ of Williams Entrepreneurship” proposal, for the Board.
I’ll go back to building the tools you’ll need now…
=============================================================August 7th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
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UA offering online business courses
News
UA offering online business courses
6 comments by Eugene Scott - Aug. 6, 2010 12:30 PM
The Arizona Republic
Small-business owners who want to add to their education may not have to leave their shops.
The McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Arizona is launching three online certificate courses in entrepreneurship Aug. 15. The center is part of the Eller College of Management.
"New businesses and new start-ups have a unique opportunity because of the economy. On the other hand, in Arizona, there's some pretty serious capital issues," said Sherry Hoskinson, the center's director. "There's a real mixed bag."
While students will never have in-class time, they will have mentors from the McGuire Center.
"We're hoping the kind of training we're offering through these courses will create innovation in business modules and will reach more customers in unique ways," she said.
The decision to provide distance learning for entrepreneurs is rooted in UA's history, university officials said.
"Entrepreneurship is very important to the economy and state and healthy communities," Hoskinson said. "We wanted to create something that was accessible to the community."
Classes are Aug. 15-Dec. 5. Cost is $1,495 per course.
The design of each course varies. There is a semester-long course for individuals who want to explore innovation-driven concepts. A second course is for those entering the small-business world. The third is for entrepreneurs who want to grow their business.
"The reasons there are three courses is because it's for three different types of individuals that will define themselves as entrepreneurs and get them into the right kind of learning environment," Hoskinson said. "These three courses, anyone can take anywhere and anytime.
The university will not award credit for the pilot courses, she said.
More information: outreachcollege. arizona.edu.
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- MrCampfire
- Aug-06 @ 1:21 PM
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Ha! $1,495 a course..
Oh yeah, that's going to help the economy...theirs.
It's like the author of the "success books" they are the only ones getting rich.
- JimGraham
- Aug-06 @ 1:57 PM
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Yes, $1495 seems steep. It seems like an amount that could go far toward a bootstrap startup getting going. But, I guess that the UA doesn't want garage bootstrap startups like HP, or Apple, or Dell, or Microsoft, since those lightweights wouldn't be much help for the Eller COM endowment.
- a88simon88
- Aug-06 @ 2:40 PM
- Report abuse
Yea. $1495 is high for someone trying to start a business. A friend of mine who is trying to start a business did or is about to take a business course for people who want to start a business. It is something like $250 a course. Which is way more doable I think. He said it was so easy to learn and makes sense for people who do not understand business. Here I found it: careerhearted.com I think the guy that is teaching has developed several successful small business and does personal coaching for large business and the girl is pretty hot.
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- jozedmary
- Aug-06 @ 3:39 PM
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thanks this looks more interesting and just what I was looking for. Very cool@!
- DickNasty1
- Aug-06 @ 4:29 PM
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I would suggest business courses that ACTUALLY count toward a business degree with hours credited. This is just some BS certificate that NOBODY in the business world will recognize unless it's Sex Sigma or something like that.
It's a complete waste of money because hardly ANY Professor has actually RUN a business in their lifetime.All they know is how to discuss academics and theory- it's a completely DIFFERENT world starting/funding/operating a business than what you read from some textbook. We deal in reality in the business world unlike what professors deal with behind the tenured ivory towers of a college campus.
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- wikieupislife
- Aug-06 @ 4:41 PM
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Cost is $1,495 per course.
That's affordable! Might as well go to Vegas and bet on green at the roulette wheel. It will give you a better education in economics, that's for sure!
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Kent:
Thank you for your reference and overlay of sports regarding The Advent of BrandCulture.
Ken Markman
Comment by ken markman August 7, 2010 @ 3:14 pmkkm Global Brand Strategies