College May Be Causing You to Lose Out On Career Readiness

It's graduation season for college seniors.

It's also the time of year when high school seniors (for the most part) decide where they want to go to college.

So, since this blog is often about recognizing and adapting to changing paradigms, it's as good as time as any to bring this one up.

The primary catalyst for this post is Tom Friedman's excellent new book, Thank You For Being Late. (Go buy it now. I'll wait.)

Ok, thanks for coming back. So, let's talk about the "idea" of college and, naturally, we'll connect it to blockchains. Stay tuned for that.

The Original Paradigm

It's not really new to say that, for years (probably since the end of WWII) the basic social contract in America was- "to go college, get a good job."

Implied within that was, "if you finish high school and you graduate college, your formal education is pretty much done and you are in pretty good shape for a solidly middle-class lifestyle."

Essentially, a college degree was a signal to an employer that "yes, this person is responsible enough to show up at 9, leave at 5, and get the job done by following orders/processes."

Broken Paradigm

As we've all seen, however, the last part of that implied contract "solidly middle-class lifestyle" is far from a guarantee these days.  It's under assault by offshoring, robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and more.

Yet, while the second half of the equation isn't holding, it doesn't feel like society (for the most part) has started to question the first part of the equation, the input of "college."

Now, on this blog, I've been on a "Higher Ed" is broken rant for a LONG time, but I'll recap my main points here.

1. a traditional liberal arts education IS a good thing and should be valued
2. the Return on Investment on most college degrees is sub-optimal
3. the debt burden prevents young people from exploring, innovating, and being as creative as they can at the time in their lives when they have the most flexibility
4. college doesn't really prepare most people for today's working world
5. there are some exceptions-but they are exceptions

Why The Paradigm Is Broken

At this point, I'll let Friedman take over:

"Another big challenge is the way we educate our population. We go to school for twelve or more years during our childhoods and early adulthoods, and then we're done. But when the pace of change gets this fast, the only way to retain a lifelong working capacity is to engage in lifelong learning. There is a whole group of people -judging from the 2016 election- who did not join the labor market at age twenty thinking they were going to have to do lifelong learning...and they are not happy about it."

Sadly, our colleges (and I've seen this in hiring or not hiring many recent college graduates over the past few years) do not prepare students for today's rapidly changing world.

Friedman calls it "The Age of Accelerations." Accelerating technology (Moore's Law), markets (globalization), and Mother Nature (climate change) that are SO fast, it recalls the Darwinian that only the most adaptable survive.

Accelerating technology (Moore's Law), markets (globalization), and Mother Nature (climate change) that are SO fast, it recalls the Darwinian that only the most adaptable survive.

A powerful anecdote he tells is that when he began his journalism career in the late 1970s, he used a typewriter, which was essentially the same device that had been used for nearly 100 years.

In the 40 years since, the number of technologies he's adapted to, used, and moved beyond is quite long.

And it's getting faster.

Meanwhile, our society is fixated upon traditional college degrees that rely on "broadcast" methods of teaching (lecturer to student) and are centered in a place, instead of recognizing that now, the BEST lecturers from everywhere are available anytime and that learning can be customized and skills can be mastered anywhere.

What's more, tenure creates complacency (under the guise of academic freedom) and no one dares question spending on education, so colleges/universities raise their rates over and over again, knowing that the money will keep coming.

It's like The Big Short...but worse. Or should I say, bigger,

Bottom line: College-as we have it today- in the US is, for the most part, utterly failing the students who are counting on them to prepare them for the world of the future.

The Emergent Paradigm

Here's where blockchain fits in.

If you really want to go deep (and you should) read this excellent article about the Blockchain Revolution in Higher Education.

The major takeaway here is that the combination of micro-customizable learning and blockchain-based certifications that can prove competencies or skills in an immutable and personally portable way offers the possibility of a full-blown "enlightenment" type explosion coming to the industry.

It not only levels the playing the field, giving access to many, it actually raises the playing field for everyone.

You aren't bound by an institution. Your credentials can be determined and verified by an employer.

And the value of those credentials can be measured in real-time in the market.

This is early days (which is really, really unfortunate), but at least I now feel like there's an answer to "what comes next?

My Advice to Students Today

Sadly, most of society hasn't recognized this yet so you're in a transition period. A few things then.

One, don't overspend on college, particularly for a liberal arts degree. (Engineering and CompSci are an exception where name brands like MIT, Carnegie Mellon really deliver value).

Yes, there's some 'brand lift' from attending a top tier school, but I skeptical that the ROI will be there. If you get a scholarship, go for it, but be intentional.  Your parents graduated college before the Internet was a "thing."  Don't accept their paradigm blindly.

Most likely, getting a college degree makes sense, so think cost-benefit and then CRUSH IT.

On top of that, OWN your education. Think about how to become a lifelong learner. That's critical.

Should Kids Skip College?

I’ve long wondered if the idea of “everyone should go to college” is becoming doctrine and no longer based in reality.
Sure, the credential has value, but is that based on a paradigm that is becoming outdated?
Are the “skills” taught in college really the ones that will be most valuable in the next innovation economy?
I have doubts.
Add to that the college marketing problem. Namely, the colleges, because there are too many of them (leftover from the Baby Boomers) have a marketing problem, so they-out of necessity-make us all believe that a college education is the KEY.
Of course, as we all know, there are ample sets of evidence showing that college doesn’t always turn out to job security or wealth.
All of this came to mind, because of these two articles which came across my desk.

• Don’t Send Your Kids to College
• 10 More Reasons to Not Send Your Kids to College

The Jobs We Will or Won't Lose to Machines

I've been on the anti-college kick for a while.

Not in the "you don't need college" sense, but in the "you don't need college in its current incarnation" sense.

I just don't think that college (or frankly most of K-12 education for that matter) is really preparing people for the jobs world we're going to see shortly.

And I've been on the technology-driven disruption kick and fascinated with the blockchain (mostly on my other blog) recently as well.

I was talking recently with someone about how the pace of technological change seems to be accelerating. We felt it, but couldn't necessarily prove it.

Then, I came upon this passage in the Blockchain Revolution:

"Moore’s law indicates that the rate of change is accelerating exponentially. We’re moving to the proverbial “second half of the chessboard” where exponential growth upon exponential growth creates the incomprehensible."

Then, of course, there's the personal re-invention theme that comes willingly or unwillingly.

Now, maybe it's confirmation bias, but this TED talk by Anthony Goldbloom "The jobs we'll lose to machines--and the ones we won't"  brings a lot of these together for me.

The paradigms of what worked in the past..."good grades, good college, good career" are just out-moded. It may be a slow trickle now, but at some point, it's going to be totally evident.

When will American Higher Education system finally fall apart?

The other night I saw "the Big Short," based on Michael Lewis' book.

I enjoyed it a lot, so I probably am a bit delusional in seeing myself in the "heroes" of that story.

Granted, I don't have as much of the data points, but there are so many trends converging on the topic of:

the disruption and ultimate disintegration of the American system of higher education.

Unlike the folks in the "Big Short," the timing isn't as clear (for them, it was Q2, 2007).

Here are some of the things I have observed...

1. Changing Economy Requires Different Skills...Colleges Don't Give Us Them
   the economy continues to evolve towards an even greater need for entrepreneurial and creative skills (see: is college worth it?) and I'm not sure our colleges truly prepare us for that.
   
2. The Value of a Liberal Education Exists, but Not at the Current Pricepoint
   the economics of most colleges, in terms of debt accumulated, and average incomes don't work out...and some colleges are already hurting because of it.
   
3. You Don't Need A Physical Place to Disseminate Knowledge
   new technologies (e.g. Khan Academy, CodeAcademy) make it easier and cheaper than ever to get the best knowledge to more people...here's a fantastic 6 minute video on the Future of Higher Education by a top VC

I used to think that this challenge really sat at so-called 2nd-tier schools and below and that the top-tier/Ivy League were immune.

Now, because of these two scathing indictments, I'm not even sure about that. His arguments resonate with me.

The Ivy League, Mental Illness, and the Meaning of Life

and

Don't Send Your Kid to the Ivy League.

It's going to happen...I just don't know when. Probably, the sooner, the better.

Previous posts on this topic

• Should kids skip college?
• Pay kids not to go to college?
• Does college really make sense?

Pay Kids to Not Go to College…

Remember how I asked if kids shouldn’t go to college?

Well, there’s a guy named Peter Thiel who is actually paying kids to do exactly that.

The 20 under 20 Fellowship gives people $100k to start a business…provided they don’t go to college.

Yep, you read that right.

See more here.

I first learned about this while watching “Meeting of the Minds: The Business of Science” on CNBC.

I haven’t discussed it with the NFO, but I’m slowly reaching the conclusion that, unless you are going into science/engineering, college may no longer be worth the price tag.

Is College Really Worth It?

Long time readers of this blog know that I’ve been wrestling with the idea that college is the sacrosanct ticket to middle-class success that it has been in the past.

This stems from my beliefs around the fundamentally changing nature of work, the skills required for economic success in a flat/globalized/connected world, and the rising costs/debt challenge associated with technology.

Along these lines are two fascinating articles, one by one of my favorite thinkers about the Internet, Clay Shirky, where he uses the Recording industry as the example of how Education could be overhauled. The real kicker isn’t even about that, it’s about how most of us don’t see the big changes that are coming until it’s too late.

I think this may be one of them.

Then, is a 2nd article from the New York Times about, at least on the cutting-edge, in some circles, not going to college is viewed as a positive thing.

As a note, I enrolled in Sebastian Thrun’s class (described in Shirky’s article) and though I didn’t complete it, I saw the power and potential in it.

I also have a recording of Thiel’s 20 under 20 on my DVR which I haven’t watched yet, but will soon.

It’s going to be tough for many of us (myself included) to arrive at the conclusion that the model of college (not higher education, mind you) might be outdated, but if the changes wrought by the Internet are as big as I think they will be (and I think we are only at the beginning), we may have to do just that.

My dad had a wonderful piece in the WSJ last Saturday in the "Peggy Noonan" slot.  Link here. Pasted below.
Well worth the read.

The Questions of a Lifetime

‘Why are we in America?’ I asked when I was 4. The next eight decades have provided many answers.

By 

David Epstein

May 12, 2017 4:49 p.m. ET

41 COMMENTS

‘Why are we in America?” was the first substantive question I ever asked. It was 1939. I was 4 years old and speaking to my father, Yudie, in a San Antonio neighborhood not far removed from the frontier. He responded by writing a poem, in Yiddish, about how he left a Lithuanian shtetl in 1922 to join his siblings in America. My mother Sonia came from Poland, via Mexico, a few years later. When I got older, I joked that I thought everyone in Texas spoke Yiddish.

“Will there still be news after the war?” I asked my father during World War II. Each day he drove my brother William and me to our local public elementary school. There was no radio in the car, so my father wouldn’t leave the house until he’d heard the latest news about the war. I was always worried we’d be late. We usually arrived just before the tardy bell. I learned later that news would not only still exist but that the concept of news is elastic and ever-expanding, going well beyond great wars.

“What were the causes of the American Civil War?” asked a professor at Harvard College while I was a student there in the mid-1950s. Similar lofty questions filled the air in Harvard Yard, at the dining tables in Adams House, and in well-worn lecture halls. “Were the Dark Ages really without learning and culture? What were the consequences of the closing of the American frontier? What is the Greek idea of tragedy? Why do the righteous suffer and the evil prosper?” Science posed different questions with precise answers, about how to create compounds, measure weights, and understand mass and acceleration.

Saluting the flag in the 1940s. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

“Do I want to be a doctor?” I asked myself in 1957 during the summer after college graduation. I’d been accepted to several medical schools. No, I decided, I wanted something else. At Harvard Law School, the interrogative Socratic Method was applied in such a way that previously confident students were resigned to humiliation.

“Aye, aye sir,” is the answer of a junior officer in the U.S. Coast Guard, aboard ship or on shore. Follow orders, rules, and military etiquette. I served my country by doing as I was told. No questions asked.

“Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country,” said President Kennedy in 1961. I took his command literally. Moving to Washington, I became an assistant U.S. attorney. I asked a prosecutor’s questions in my effort to learn and present affirmative facts or to challenge those offered by the defense. Eventually I asked legal questions in courtrooms as a civil litigator, in classrooms as a law professor, and in conference rooms as an arbitrator.

“Who is America’s most obscure president?” I asked Ellen Robinson in May 1971. It was our second date. She answered that this was the same question that she asked her dates. “If we have that much in common, we should get married,” I said. Ten weeks later we did. Our marriage is in its 46th year and has produced five children and 12 grandchildren. (For the record, I say Franklin Pierce was most obscure; Ellen says Chester Alan Arthur. )

“What’s in this week’s Torah?” my then 5-year-old son once asked me during our traditional Sabbath-eve dinner. I made dinner-table questions a feature of family life in order to divert the children from their antics and introduce content to our discussions. One week, I forgot to raise any topics. The child’s question led me to write an article. That generated an offer from a major publisher to write a book. I co-authored “Torah With Love: A Guide for Strengthening Jewish Values Within the Family.” A reviewer wrote, “This is one of those books which can change lives.” Years later, an author referred to our book as a “classic.”

“I wonder what we are missing right now?” is the question I asked Ellen during the weeklong celebration of Harvard’s 350th anniversary in 1986. The dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government had just noted that in 1936, at the Harvard tercentenary, not a single one of the speakers made reference to conditions in Europe. Three years later the Continent was consumed by war, the consequences of which would take 50 years to resolve. I attest that in 1986 none of the academic, political and cultural leaders who spoke offered a single thought to suggest that Europe was again on the verge of world-changing events. Three years later, in 1989, the Berlin Wall, the physical symbol of the divide between freedom and totalitarianism, fell. In 1991, the “evil empire” itself, the Soviet Union, collapsed.

“Where shall we go?” I asked each of my children when they were teenagers and ready for a one-on-one trip with Dad. Our eldest, Jeremy, chose communist Europe, and we contemplated the blessings of freedom and the meaning of democracy from both sides of the then-still-standing Berlin Wall. Asher chose New Zealand and Australia during the latter’s 200th celebration of the arrival of the First Fleet. When Barak and I set off to see the Roman Empire, our shared reading assignment was Edward Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall.” On our trip to Turkey, Dina and I walked up to the ruins of Troy while listening to “The Iliad.” My trip with Kira, the youngest, took us across a broad swath of the new South Africa, conceived by Nelson Mandela.

“What do you know now that you didn’t know then?” I asked my childhood, high school, and college friends when we reconnected during a yearlong, cross-country 80th-birthday celebration in 2015. We talked about lessons learned, not current events. We talked about resilience after being battered by life, adjustments to a changing world, disappointments and satisfaction in family, career, and community.

“Are you depressed?” an exercise therapist asked me after an unexpected four-way coronary artery bypass surgery during that same 80th birthday year. “No, am I supposed to be?” I responded. I was actually amazed at what medical science had done for me.

“What bedrock principles and values would you like to pass on to your descendants?” My answer: integrity is not negotiable; never stop learning; cling to the aspirations of the Declaration of Independence and defend the restraints of the Constitution; salute the flag; and pass along these values to the next generation.

Oh, and ask substantive questions.

Mr. Epstein is a lawyer in Washington, D.C. and a self-styled “minor American playwright.” This essay is adapted from his contribution to a collection published for the 60th reunion of the Harvard College Class of 1957.

The Power of a Women’s Education…

Image by candyschwartz via Flickr

My mom is a graduate of an all-woman college and swears by it.

On my flight to Boston the other day, I met a fascinating woman, Lauren Brisky who is the current Chair of the Board of Trustees of Simmons College.

To say she is a passionate believer in the value of the education she received there is a major understatement. She really sold me on the benefits of all-women colleges (maybe Tonka and Nadia will go there?) and I found myself a believer.

Hey, being the father of daughters has changed my worldview.

What’s more, we had a fascinating conversation about the future of higher education in the US (she’s the former CFO of Vanderbilt), American competitiveness, and some of the disturbing trends we are seeing.

The video interview I made her do (heh, heh) is a good one. I hope you’ll take 4 minutes to check it out.

Does college really make sense?

An interesting article (from WSJ) questioning the value of college education for everyone. Sure to be somewhat controversial.

Tangentially related, I had a mild 'eye-opening' experience a few years ago.

As part of a team exercise, we went around the room and each colleague identified the college s/he attended.

By the measure of "name-brand" or "US News," I had gone to the top-ranked school of all my peers.

But, in that room, I realized...it didn't really matter.

Here was a room of people for whom I had/have a TREMENDOUS amount of respect and confidence in their intellectual/professional abilities. They were, in my estimation, very "smart" and they possessed a commendable work ethic.

Most importantly, they performed exceedingly well in the marketplace of commerce.

I started to wonder...is the value of the education at a Hopkins, Harvard, Penn, Columbia, etc. for liberal arts so much better than Bucknell, Michigan State, or Texas? Or is this just another case of "branding" and marketing?

The question many college students get wrong...

Despite some of my previous rants against the system of higher education in America today, my issue is not with the concept of a liberal arts well-rounded education.

My issue is with the cost, the lack of academic rigor, and decreasing amounts of intellectual honest/integrity.  

I also, for the record, like the idea of having people from diverse backgrounds co-exist...or try to.

However, one of the most commonly cited criticisms by students (and adults) of a traditional liberal arts education is:

"When will I ever use that [history, English, philosophy, art, literature, psychology, etc.] in REAL life?"

Well, let me tell you a story. 

In college, I took two semesters of a class from one of the world's foremost experts on French history, Orest Ranum.

The first was called "French Government in Thought and Practice from 1648-1715." The second was either the period immediately before or after that. Sorry, can't remember.

Anyway, that's about as good as an example as you will find of a class that would seemingly have no future practical value.

So, let me tell you a story.

A few months ago, I was at a dinner with a number of very (and I do mean very) successful business people.

I don't know the total net worth of the table, but easily into the billions.

I happened to be sitting next to the investment banker for one of them.

Turns out...he's French.

We start talking and he was naturally skeptical that I, being American, know all that much about France. 

After all, he would normally be right. The average American sadly doesn't have a serious depth of knowledge about France.

Well, thank you Orest Ranum. 

After I shared my thoughts on the Edict of Nantes among other things, we discussed some of the various regions in France. 

The result? I could tell he was relaxed.

That led to us having a pretty in-depth conversation and establishing mutual trust.

I remember thinking afterwards....

"you want to know when you will use a French history class that you took in college?  

You'll use it nearly 30 later at a dinner with one of the world's top investment bankers who happens to French.  You won't use it to show off, but to show him (or her) that you are educated, thoughtful, and appreciate other people's histories outside of America. This will set you apart as different, which is what you are trying to do."

Embattled Colleges

My friend, Michael Einbinder-Schatz of Jobecca sent me the following link.

http://www.phillymag.com/articles/my-annual-110000-college-tuition-bill/

A father who is not convinced he is getting his money’s worth for his $110k/year education bill.

He was shouted down in the comments, but I think it was unfair.

The college model is way broken.

And I think the educational industry knows it…which is why I saw a piece on CNN titled “Why College Is Worth It”.

Clearly, something that their trade association put in place and the PR folks pitched. Can you imagine that discussion 25 years ago?

Of course not. It was a given..and it was true.

Now, the cost-benefit model is way out of whack and the cracks are starting to show.

Let’s be clear…I’m not against higher education. It’s more critical than ever. What I am against is a system that is based on a previous paradigm.  

It’s going to get disrupted (and it already is a bit).  

Papa Don't Bleach

My aunt sent this to me...For all you guys w/little girls running around your homes.

Papa, Don't Bleach
Fathers Discover the Unique Joys of Girls and Pink Laundry
By Tom Downey and Mark Colonna
Special to The Washington Post
Monday, June 19, 2006; C10

Let's consider laundry as a metaphor for stages of the male life.

When we were young and blissfully ignorant, our parents did the wash and we had no idea how, nor did we care.

Then we arrived at college, which is when young men are given their first hint of decision-making power. We embraced this freedom by stuffing 30 pounds of random items, mostly clothing, into a 15-pound washer and setting it on Warm.

We emerged from the experimentation of college with our new diploma-validated skills needed for adulthood, and we used these skills to master two distinct categories of laundry: whites and colors.

Then, suddenly, unexpectedly, we were married. This stage was accompanied by a brief and sadly failed attempt to get out of doing the laundry, because we "can't figure out how to do it."

Now we have finally arrived at the pinnacle of laundry knowledge: the pink laundry stage.

After years of daydreaming about guiding our sons, we find ourselves instead washing pink laundry. No, it does not mean we are so incompetent as to drop a red sock in with the whites, nor is it a metaphor for an alternative lifestyle. It means we have young daughters whose distinctive wardrobes require a separate load, the pinkness of which we never previously fathomed.

We pictured our fatherly role as teaching our boys about power tools in our wood shops (which also really only ever existed in our minds) and engaging in the age-old guy activity of taking things apart. We did not imagine that we would be putting together matching outfits for stuffed bears, an activity we don't understand but thoroughly enjoy, or that we would learn the 17 distinct shades between pink and purple.

Movies and television glorify the simplicity and significance of the father-son relationship. Don Vito and Michael Corleone, Mr. C. and Richie Cunningham, Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, Marlin and Nemo. Have you noticed that you never see dads and daughters on Jerry Springer, talking about ridiculous problems?

We have learned the advantages of having daughters. A daughter runs in the room and gives Daddy a hug and tells him she loves him. A son runs in and punches him in the stomach (and then breaks a lamp, for good measure).
Of course we realize that our precious girls will be just as able as any boy to throw a perfect spiral, memorize the lines from "Fletch" and even assemble a carburetor. It is just that at this particular time, they are in a girly-girl phase -- much to the dismay of their high-achieving mothers. That much-idealized game of catch will have to wait for the moment.

At the end of the day, we are okay with all of this. We know we are playing an important role in society, one that is underrated and underreported by the media, and that college-age guys won't even admit is possible.

We are reveling in the quiet glory of pink laundry

Back on Top

What is about sports teams that makes us experience events vicariously?

When I was a kid, I lived and died with the fortunes of the Washington Redskins. At some point, that changed, and when I got to college, I became a die-hard fan of the Johns Hopkins lacrosse team. As the only Division 1 sport at the school and with a very proud legacy (more national titles than any other school), we had reason to be optimistic.

Yet, the championship eluded us every year since 1987. An unbearable 18 years passed before we ascended to the top spot this past Monday.

What’s worse is that each spring was filled with hope and the team performed quite well in the regular season. Frequently, we were #1 and in my senior season, er, year, we were undefeated (I went to every game that year-home AND away). Yet, we’d always run into a “hot” goalie or some other obstacle that would cause us to lose. Each spring would start with the best beliefs and end with a “next year.”

This year, however, was “next year.”

This year, we were coached by a returning son, who had played on the last championship team and whose sole mission was to restore Hopkins to its rightful place at the top of college lacrosse.

On Saturday, we faced a familiar nemesis, UVA, which had quashed our most recent hopes in the Finals 2 years ago. After a miraculous come from behind victory, we encountered a newcomer to the upper echelons of the college lacrosse world, Duke, which had motive for revenge following a close defeat one month prior as well as possessing the nation’s best offense.

Yet somehow, this year, we had the “hot” goalie and in a game that was in doubt until the very end, we came out on top.

During the entire game, my heart was pounding. I was jumping for joy when we scored. I wore my jersey. The kid in me lived on. I reconnected with people I hadn’t talked to in a while simply because my, no ‘our’ team had become the champions.

We didn’t score a goal, play defense, or attend practice, yet somehow, I feel this victory is as much mine as the guys who played.

Why is that? What is it about the allegiance to a sports team that creates this emotional bond?

50 years after Harvard...

David Epstein, Harvard College Class of 1957.

50th Class Reunion

October, 2006.

“The Register” of our freshman year described an exotic classmate, Cesare Undula Balzotti, III. He resided at “1369 Rue Eartha Kitt” in Kenya, Africa with hobbies that included “falconry” and a probable major in “Sanskrit or Indic Philology.” He campaigned for election to run the “Freshman Smoker” but was disqualified when pronounced a hoax. (Harvard Crimson, December 8, 1953.) He makes no further appearance, not in the 1957 yearbook “Three Twenty One” nor in the ten reunion reports of our Class.

Cesare Balzotti had a limited fictive life. He did not soar like Shakespeare’s King Henry V at Agincourt. He was not Alyosha Karamazov challenged by the story of the Grand Inquisitor. He also did not descend into “The Heart of Darkness” like Kurtz and proclaim, at the end, "The horror! The horror!"

Cesare Balzotti may have offered us some life lessons. For those days when we thought he was real, were we gullible like the Trojans in allowing the wooden horse into gates of the city or like Othello in looking at the handkerchief and listening to the deceitful words of Iago. Is a deception harmless if no one suffers ? If we could not believe the truth of this Harvard publication, where was “Veritas” ?

Balzotti never had to engage in retrospection. All that he would ever achieve happened by the time he entered college. We have shared the intervening years benefited from the technology of jet planes, scanners, computers, and the internet and the scientific discoveries of DNA, the human genome, and deep space. We heard “ I have a dream” and “That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.”

In the five decades since we received our degrees, there are no longer just Harvard Men but an equal number of Harvard Women.

By inclination and professional training, I ask many questions. My first big question was in the 1940’s during World War II. My father drove me to Woodlawn Elementary School each morning. We did not have a car radio so he would not leave until he had finished listening to the war news. As a consequence, I anxiously arrived just seconds before the sounding of the tardy bell. One day, I hopefully asked, “After the war will there still be news ?”

I know the answer. We have lived in the “interesting times” of the oft-quoted Chinese curse. I, like many of us, served in the military at a slice of time when war was cold. We have seen much irony. Communism seen by some as the wave of the future decayed, the Soviet Empire collapsed, and free market capitalism rather than impoverishing is beneficially transforming the lives of billions. Events offer surprise. One American President resigns, another is impeached. The Republic endures. A Harvard President is hounded from office. History reverberates as a cry is raised to establish a world-girdling Islamic caliphate. A Pope confronts this cry with an appeal to millenial discussions about the relationship between faith and reason.

Until multiculturalism became the byword, I had not thought of presenting myself as having at least as exotic a personal history as Cesare U. Balzotti, III. I was born in Texas to parents who came from Eastern Europe and my home language was Yiddish, English in the schools, and a cowboy drawl or Spanish in different parts of the marketplace. My many maternal relatives all lived in Mexco City. Going each semester to and from Cambridge was a forty-five hour train trip that included listening to the emotional life stories of a procession of travelers while looking out the window at a country that was, at times, ramshackle humble, industrially powerful, and always vast and beautiful. A quaint way to travel as I have since bounded to the most distant parts of the planet in many fewer hours.

Now I sit in my home office above a canopy of leaves. My litigation practice has moved a few miles away from the world of Washington law firms. The digital age permits me to have all of the law at my fingertips. My documents go to a secretary whom I have never met. The final versions are electronically filed in distant courthouses. I look at my computer screen and listen to professors lecture on astronomy, music, and anatomy.

The five children that Ellen and I have raised are having an impact in their respective pursuits. The generation beyond them is beginning to unfold.

Yet, those calling for annihilation of the Jews and the destruction of the State of Israel are out to get me. Millions are feeding on a frenzy of hate whose major goal is destruction. The United States, a country that my parents loved with the passion of immigrants, is under attack from many who would come to live here in an instant, were they given the opportunity, but, in the meantime pray and dance for its collapse. The preservation of Western Civilization is not just a course taught in college, but a cause for concern.

Fair Harvard, are we living in the Age of Discovery, the Age of Democracy, the Age of Faith, the Age of Reason or the Age Anxiety ? Choose one or several or all of the above and explain your reasons.

Advising a Telemarketer…

Maybe I am on a mentoring kick now, I don’t know, but I got a call from the Johns Hopkins Annual Fund the other night asking for a donation.

I’m at the point now where I routinely tell people, “I don’t make commitments over the phone, put something in the mail” (and I’m particularly irate at Jewish charities that buy lists and telephone spam me-yes, I get the irony of that word).

So, I was on my guard when I got the call from JHU.

Now, the thing is, I worked at the Annual Fund for 3 years in college and, frankly, I learned as much (or more) about sales and marketing doing that as anything I did in college.

When the guy started, I could tell he was a rookie. (It’s the beginning of the school year and the newbies are tossed on the phone to make calls, while upperclassmen become supervisors.)

I had a pretty successful career there, so I stopped the guy mid-track.

“Ok, I’ll donate, so let’s get that out of the way. I can tell you have energy, which is good, but what I think you need is the confidence to deviate from the script. It’s about relationships, listening to people, connecting with them.”

He relaxed.

We had a great chat. He felt inspired.

“You know, the other night, I was told by my boss to ‘stick to the script.’”

“You tell them, ‘judge me on the results, not on the process,’ and just be yourself. I can tell you will be fine.”

Then, we just talked for a while. Turns out we’re both History majors.

He said that after he tells people he goes to Hopkins and ‘no, I am not going to be a doctor,’ he is often asked ‘what are you going to do with History?”

“You’re going to be able to piece together disparate segments of information and create a meaningful narrative that explains the larger context so others can understand it.”

He was profuse in his thanks.

I wonder if there is a point in your life when you start saying, “hey, it’s my turn to ‘pay it forward’ in the way that others have helped me?’

Football Fandom and Autographs...

Growing up, I was a huge Redskins fan. As was my buddy, Chuck (I'm the hirsute one).

Twice, we made the day trip to Carlisle, PA to visit the Redskins summer training camp facility.

The second time...I became famous...for a few minutes.

Chuck had an uncanny ability to recognize players who, in my estimation, had a greater likelihood of swimming the English Channel than of making the team.

He would see one of them and say, "Hey, Gregory Williams! You went to Johnson C. Smith College! Can I have your autograph?"

The player, stunned that anyone would know him, would, of course, gladly oblige.

Soon, the other fans there would say, "hey, it's a player, let's get his autograph!" and Chuck had begun a tidal wave of attention on this guy whose career in the NFL ended 2 weeks later.

While at lunch, we were talking to the brand new coach of the team, Richie Petitbon, and some teenager comes up to him and asks, "are you with the team?"

Chuck, livid at the diminishing appreciation for the game and the commercialization of the autograph experience, yells at the guy, "you IDIOT! He's the head coach."

Seeing the widespread ignorance, and being wiseass college kids, we sense an opportuntity.

After lunch, the players returned to the practice facility, walking through some gates. As they do, people approach them and ask for autographs.

Chuck goes inside the gate. I wait a few minutes and, dressed as I am in the lower left picture above, walk into the practice facility.

Chuck runs up to me and says, "Hey, Coach! CAn I have your autograph?"

"Sure," I say.

Within seconds, I am swarmed. I'm signing hats, pennants, footballs. One lady asked me to sign the shirt she was wearing.

I hear someone say, "what's his number?"

And another person yells, "he's a coach!!"

I'm having a blast, but nervous as hell that any one of the real/authentic players around me will expose me and the mob will turn against me.

Soon, I say, "sorry, I've got to get to practice."

And I break away from the crowd, my football career over.

(Another pic from the scrapbook inspired the post.)

Time to Retire “Retirement?”

A friend sent in this question/quandary. Figured I’d put it to the blog readership for input. What would you tell his father?

My dad told me he will retire in Jan. He’s only 59 ½ and would have another 2 ½ years to go at his work place.

He comes from a long line of public servants, was born and raised in a country where “careers” in public office are common, and his hometown basically has two job sectors, public and tourism (which during his life was low paying).

So he’s always been brainwashed into the long, stable career at one place and eventually retiring. From the same culture, retiring is seen as “life is over, now I idly wait for death”. He even brings this up in his email (that retirement does not mean death), so it’s definitely still present in his way of thinking.

I think the word retirement should be banished from the face of the earth. It’s been way too long since my college years of studying Economics, but I know it’s the result of an old system/way of thinking that is just no longer applicable.

The Challenge:

Help me find an alternate word or phrase for this period of life. I’ve always been fond of a period I describe as “Independent with no dependents”, which is usually that moment after college where you have your first job and no worries on your mind.

It’s that entrepreneurial spirit that lets you take risks without care, since you’re in it for the experience and thrills. It seems like “retirement” would be a similar phase.

You’ve done your time, paid your dues to higher ups, presumably saved up and will not worry about bills and finances.

You’re independent – again. You’ve also, in many cases, raised your kids/family and they’re off and on their own.

You’ve got no dependents – again. What a wonderful time to be in – again! Yet “retirement”, yuck.

The Skills, Network, Challenges Career Path

When I was 18 and opted to take German in college, one of the reasons I decided to do so because I looked at the state of the world economy and thought, “well, if Germany is the largest economy in Europe, it probably can’t hurt to learn that language.”

And, after college when the opportunity came up to go to Japan, I thought, “well, Japan is the 2^nd largest economy in the world [it was at the time], that could be useful one day.”

What I didn’t realize is that it’s more than the language, it’s the culture and history of the countries that help you really work within those environments.

In my Never Stop Marketing days, I was able to travel to both Germany and Japan to provide services to clients.

And, now, as Sprinklr expands globally, those same skill investments I made over 20 years ago are paying off.

In February, I was in Germany as part of the SAP partnership we have and in April, I visited Japan to help the Sprinklr Japan team get off the ground.

(And, heck, in the middle, I went to Israel-keeping the Hebrew fresh.)

It’s been rewarding and exciting to see how this part of my life/career has played out to date.

Same goes for the combined 3 years I spent living in those 2 countries. Not only did it help me learn the languages and cultures of those particular places, but it served to expand and enrich my ability to function in any foreign environment.

In a globalized world, that’s obviously a good thing.

When people ask me about “career path,” I cast it aside. I don’t think a “career path” exists. How could I have predicted the rise of Facebook, Twitter, etc. 15 years ago?

What I tell them is this:

·      Focus on building your skills. Develop new ones because you never know when they will come in handy.

·      Focus on building your network.  People whom I met 20 years ago (and stayed in touch with for genuine, non-selfish reasons [that is the key] end up being great resources for you in unexpected ways.

·      Take on big challenges: No one likes to feel like they failed or might fail, but forcing yourself to do new things that may fail is a skill in and of itself.  It’s better to force the change on yourself than have the change forced upon you. It’s Darwinian. Need to be able to adapt.

Anyway, I’m writing this on the plane back from Japan and I suppose I’m a bit reflective right now.

And inspired.

Now, it’s time to think about “what are the skills I am going to need 20 years down the road to stay relevant?”

I don’t know for sure, of course, but I do know that it involves looking at the larger trends and following the skills, network, challenge approach.

Does College Prepare Students for the World Today?

Continuing with my efforts to call into question the structure of Higher Education as it stands today (not the need for it), I offer this post.

It argues that college doesn't prepare students for the job market.

For background: When will American higher education system fall apart?

Thinking vs. Doing Economies

I was reading an article about the disaffected youth of Europe and their protests (similar to Occupy Wall Street--Occupy Europe: How a generation went from indifferent to indignant) and one part jumped out at me

Wendy Cunningham of the World Bank in Washington says the old social contract that college equals a job is fast disappearing.
The days of "I have a degree in medieval studies, I deserve a job" are over, she says.

I suspect that the “old social contract” was based partially on the notion of “well, you seem to be responsible enough to complete a degree at a university, so we can trust you do to this job where, like college, you just follow the rules and you’ll be set.”
If you think about it, it’s kind of always been “follow the rules and you’ll be set.”
Whether Agrarian, Industrial, or Post-Industrial (the last 30 years or so), most employees weren’t asked to think or innovate on the job. They were given a set of tasks and told to “go do them in this order,” whether in the field, the factory, or in most offices.
Now, however, it’s different.
Now, if you can list the tasks to be done in order, it’s cheaper to either automate or outsource those tasks which means that you either figure out how to create value where it didn’t exist before, you have a low-level job that can’t be outsourced (although those will increasingly shrink due to automation), or you’re unemployed.
A lot of people have noticed this trend in the past, but we’ll highlight Dan Pink’s work “A Whole New Mind” since, well, he’s a client, but the message is the same.
It’s no longer about “following the rules and the recipe,” it’s about “take what you know about this subject area and figure out how to leverage your skills, your network, information, and supply chains to deliver something unique.”
It used to be about doing. Now, it’s about THINKING…then doing.
Big shift.
(HT to Matthew Woodget for the original pointer on the article).