Best student work for Spring 2006
I'm sorry to say that apparently none of my students this term will be rushing out to start businesses of their own. There were four business plans developed: three of them are simply too ambitious to be undertaken by college freshmen (two clubs for teenagers and a beauty salon); the fourth, involving personalized scrubs for medical personnel, is highly interesting but the idea-people here are a bit nervous. Even when you can start slow, develop a business in your spare time (as
Juterphusion is doing), and grow it without a huge investment of early capital, young college students still see their primary job (as they probably should see it) as doing well in school -- and that of course includes having lives of their own (as opposed to the life of the business) while they are in school. [sigh...] For the scrubs I would've invested and served, as I have been doing with the other small businesses most often mentioned here.
Anyway, the scrub-makers (called "Allica") had an interesting idea for a logo:
...the shape of a capital "A" made from a stethoscope would be cute for Allica. The "A" would be a good symbol of the company name, and then the stethoscope would show what the company deals with.
I mentioned the great interest in clubs for teenagers. This is something cities should be looking at when they are serious about reviving a business district:
There is just nothing to do in Union City. There's a $2 movie theater that only shows movies that are already on DVD; and also a $5 theater that it is so poorly managed that someone can be eating Chinese food next to you or even changing diapers. There's a bowling alley, too expensive and not even worth it in the end; and the same goes for the billiard parlor located on top of a Laundromat, also too expensive.
Even when students are not ready to start new businesses, that will not stop them from thinking critically about what they see others doing, and that might mean they will be better prepared when it's their turn:
Another concern I have about Juterphusion, though a small nuance, is the name of the business itself -- try remembering how to spell "Juterphusion" the next time you want to "Google it" (by the way, I think that the phrase "Google it" should be used in their advertising... then again, they really don't advertise at all, so scratch that).
The thought of "Google It" as a tagline for almost any business -- except possibly Juterphusion :-) -- is intriguing, and I am giving this student a bunch of points for coming up with what may be the single best idea of the term. (Of course it's not new. But the idea that any of us can apply it is not one that comes to mind readily. At least, not until now.)
Finally, I like it when students think critically about
customer service. I mean, really think about it, instead of simply complaining like most of us do:
Once last week I was standing at the bus stop by 10:48am, to catch a bus scheduled to leave at 10:50am. Usually the buses are pretty accurate in their arrival and departure, but this day it was a different story. The bus driver often sits for a short period of time before he leaves for his rounds and when he leaves it is exactly the time on the bus schedule. But that day I did not get on the bus until 11:50am. What went wrong? I cannot tell you. Did I miss the bus? I doubt it. If there was a previous bus, was that bus driver wrong for leaving more then two minutes earlier then he was suppose to? I believe so.
Labels: education
My curse is upon you, doctor's answering service!
This morning I called a doctor's office about a prescription we're out of. (I know, they don't HAVE to fill it on Saturday.) The answering service's recorded message went like this:
If you are calling about referrals, scheduling appointments, or prescriptions, please press "2."
So I did.
If you are calling about referrals, scheduling appointments, or prescriptions, please call back during regular business hours.
If your doctor's office does this, may that doctor be cursed. My curse is this: the doctor will pound sand willingly.
Labels: character, diversions
You have discovered the Axe!
This is a capture from my son Rob's first short film, "The Golden Axe," which stars (if that's the operative word here) Rob (pictured left), my daughter Beth's boyfriend Joe Holt (right), and Mark Wetherbee Jr., who wrote the theme:
You have discovered the Axe
It is a Golden Axe
It is a magical
Magical magical magical magical mag-ic-al Gol-den Axe!
Hey, it's a first film. He wants to be a director one day. I could name Hollywood directors who, inexplicably, have jobs whenever they want them, while my 18-year-old son is already thinking about the craft more critically than they do. Of course, a critical eye on the craft may not be what puts a new director in business; it may be
explosions rather than cosmic jokes like a Golden Axe.
Labels: education
Whaddaya do with student evaluations?
Well, it's the time of year when student evaluations are taken. Here's how we do it:
- Pass out two separate evaluation sheets to each student.
- Get a volunteer to collect them and seal them in envelopes.
- Leave the room until the students are done and the envelopes are sealed.
A simple process, one which yields meaningless results. Here's why:
- I leave the room so I can't influence the students' responses, but they're still there to influence each other. Is that type of influence somehow much less significant than my own?
- I know not all authorities are convinced that students' evaluations are tied in to their grades. (This study, for instance, is cautiously convinced.) But I AM convinced. Sure, the students don't KNOW what they're getting yet when the survey gets to them, but they can guess. If they think they are getting a good grade, they will praise me; if they think they are not, they will point out that it is my fault. And if they think they are getting a good grade and don't, they will make up for their survey "error" by blasting me on Virtual Ratings.
Now, I used to encourage students to
say stuff about me on Virtual Ratings (as in the picture), but as time went on, I found that the site was never updated. You can see that a year would pass by between ratings for me, at least, and
my wife, a full-time faculty member, is rated even less often. You'd also find that the two highest-rated profs on campus, Matt Winkel and Burt Klein, haven't taught a class in nearly two years. AND, you'd find on their home page a link to comments I wrote about four years ago under the heading "NEW!" Finally, you see in the picture that I was evaluated at least once by someone who never took a course from me, and indeed has probably never met me. I would like to know what's keeping Virtual Ratings on the Internet, frankly.
Pick-a-Prof is the new thing, and I'm told that TCNJ was
paying for the Pick-a-Prof service until about a year ago. Their site is clean, regularly updated, and endorsed heartily by both students and faculty (though I haven't seen any testimonials from anyone at TCNJ). So far, I only have one evaluation there, and when you read it, you can see several reasons for not taking evaluations seriously:
He's a 20 year old trapped in a 45 year old body. He can get boring, but it's a boring subject sometimes. We watched Jerry Maguire and the Apprentice and just talked about starting a business. I want to teach music, and I still enjoyed the class very much, he knows a lot. [...] He can get monotonous, but that's it.
While I don't deny the truth of anything the student ("tcnjmusic") said (except maybe about my actual age, about which the student was generous), none of it is relevant to my actual
performance. What you see is a student who has no interest in the subject, and was evidently taking a required class because it was required; a student whose interest was in being entertained rather than in learning life skills.
I know from experience that the formal TCNJ evaluations that I wrote about above get information that's no different. They tell me I'm not supposed to see them until they've been processed by management and then returned some months later. For my part, I don't give a shit: I stopped reading them altogether two years ago. They verify things we should know about
surveys, and in fact don't:
- that people responding to surveys will sometimes LIE
- that they will answer the wrong questions
- that they will say (even accidentally) what they perceive that the survey taker wants to hear
...and none of that is valid, in terms of actually evaluating whether or not faculty members (or any employee, for that matter) are any good.
Labels: education
Shock Alarm doesn't jump through first hoop
Randy Reali's "shock alarm," which I wrote about
in an earlier post, has been for the time being abandoned. He found out two important facts after completing the first prototype:
- The IMET Corporation would charge $3K to create Randy's second-generation prototype.
- There is no guarantee it would sell. Potential users would be scared off by the thought of a shock, even though it's mild -- no more voltage than our bodies generate internally to make us twitch.
As for the first concern, Randy thought (and so do I) that IMET had a reasonable price. BUT... Randy is far enough along in engineering that he could do it himself now, if not as well. And the price was what made him start thinking about and talking to potential customers. He found the customer base just wasn't smart enough to be impressed by the technology, instead of scared off by it.
I've since learned that, as usual,
this idea was nothing new, either.
Labels: engineering, office space
Natasha Bedingfield: preach it, sister!
It's not usually my place to promote popular culture in this blog. But every once in a while somebody does something that should encourage entrepreneurs, if not everybody.
Natasha Bedingfield (pictured) gives us
Unwritten, a song that does that.
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
I have listened to "message music" for years and years. This song is more effective from my point of view than thousands of others recorded by people who think it's their business to spread a message. Even if it's not your style, there's a simple message that might help you face tomorrow without fear. Hear that? No fear!
Labels: character, diversions
The truth about the Red Bead Experiment, as I see it
In a previous post, I mentioned W. Edwards Deming and how most of us ignore the lessons he taught the world about quality. A friend of mine wrote me back and talked wistfully about Deming's famous
Red Bead Experiment -- how that illustrates the ignorance of quality shared by management in much of American business, industry, and (as I now know very well) public school systems.
I used to teach the Red Bead Experiment in my TCNJ classes (and maybe I should bring it back -- I still have the beads, after all), though strictly speaking, what I did wasn't
exactly what was outlined by Deming according to most sources (like the Web site I link to above). Here's what I'd do:
- I would have a small bucket of beads, and about ten percent of them would be red. The rest would be white. (This far I'm with Deming, except if I read him correctly he used red beads that were also a slightly different size from the white ones. I had to get same-size beads at the local craft supply store.)
- I'd choose five students to be "workers," one to be "management."
- Each in turn would use a 1/2 cup measuring scoop to get a level scoop of beads. (I usually ask the students to reach in without looking. Lost a fair number of dropped beads that way. Very realistic. But sometimes I would let each player look. I found that didn't change the results significantly. I different winner in a given round might well still be the loser in the next.)
- We'd count the number of red beads each got.
- The one who got the most was "fired" and the one who got the fewest got a "raise."
- Return the beads to the bucket, and shake up the bucket.
- Repeat the process with the scoop. Inevitably the one who got the raise would be just as likely to be fired in the next round as to get a raise again.
This is simpler than the experiment the Web sites describe; in my classes, since they're not about
statistics or
quality, it's not necessary for me to get into control charting and upper and lower control limits. But I don't usually need to get all the students fired before the rest of the class gets the idea: many of the "standards" we use to evaluate employees and co-workers are outside of their control. (Young people use the word "random" very loosely these days, but it applies here.) And some of the things they can't control, WE can help them with, through a combination of extra (and usually simple) training,
mentoring, etc.
What takes a little extra effort for us to teach is this: management is responsible for anticipating what employees won't know, what questions employees might ask, what system problems might cause employees to "under-perform." You can't leave that in the hands of employees, because they might not know enough about the system to know what questions to ASK about the system. I gotta tell ya, if we leave employees to figure out for themselves what they come in to the job not knowing, we're asking them to avoid red beads. It's cruel.
Labels: engineering, office space
Using radio to meet a goal
The following is drastically shortened, restated and summarized from
Gordon, K. "Riding the Airwaves," Entrepreneur 02.2006.
- Set a PR goal.
- Target the right stations. (What listeners care about you and what you offer?)
- Create a "media hook." (This is often connected to some trend or event, whether it's your event or not.)
- Write a media alert, based on the hook. Explain the hook, including your connection to or interpretation of the trend or event on which the hook is based.
- Outline your credentials.
- Let 'em know you're available to talk about it.
- Pitch the stations.
- Practice your interview!
I have always told my students that if they want to become better speakers, take a shift on the campus radio station for a while. They'll never get a better opportunity!
Labels: consulting
Forrester's speaker series continues -- good stuff!
Doug Forrester (pictured) lost the last Governor's race here in New Jersey. After he lost, though, he didn't just disappear. The Republican former mayor of
West Windsor has been a busy guy, and unlike a host of politicians I could name has been active on behalf of entrepreneurs. For instance, he and his wife Andrea are now underwriting the
Entrepreneurship for the Public Good program at TCNJ. This program has among its features a regular speaker series, and I attended the most recent forum in this series a few days ago. Forrester was there, and I'm guessing had I not been dressed in a "
Ewing Marching Blue Devils" t-shirt and bluejeans, I might've gotten to meet him. :-(
The speakers for the event, and how they define "entrepreneur," are as follows:
How can I begin to describe what was said among these entrepreneurial big-brains in an hour and a half? All I can tell you is that though there were a paltry 50 people in the audience, most were recharged and reinforced in their desire to change a piece of the world, outside of the context of a larger company. That's what I'm talkin' about!
Labels: education, young entrepreneurs
We don't understand math
I've worked with enough young people on their math that I know when I walk in the room some smart-ass will ask me, "how do I use this in real life?" Or more to the point, "why do I need to learn this?" (Like they're the first people in history to ask that question...) But didja ever notice that the people who ask are the ones who, five years later, will not be able to tell
whether they have enough gas in their tank to make it to the gas station? Or whether they can afford BOTH the movie AND the popcorn? This is why the United States if falling behind most of the rest of the world in economic competitiveness -- you need look no further.
But math is more subtle even than that. I have met a fair number of adults, most of them in supervisory positions, who fail to understand that it will cost them more to fire or lay off an employee and then hire and train a new one than it will to keep the old one and offer some extra training and maybe a deadline for performance improvement. This is why
Deming said "drive out fear". Employees who are in fear for their careers are not naturally productive, and will not generally go out of their way to bless customers. Consider the following comment from a
Fast Company panel discussion:
What we found in our study was that companies that have soft and fuzzy behaviors -- making all employees feel like owners and feel connected to the company's vision and values -- were growing at 141%. The companies without these behaviors were growing at 10%. Those "nice things" ultimately produce dramatically different economic impacts.
We don't understand math, so we don't value the things the math tells us we ought to value.
Labels: education
Ah, to be the interviewer!
The following conversation between myself and a friend whose name is changed to protect the innocent, took place recently. It was about interviewing. I'd almost forgotten what a wonderland of
anecdotes the task of conducting
interviews can be!
JS: I always tell people who come into our office ... take nearly any job that will pay you something reasonable. It's always easier to find work if you're already working. I don't know why that works, but it always does.
RG: well, yeah. you're right of course.
RG: they think yer some sort of pariah if yer not working.
RG: or maybe they like the feeling of stealing you away from someone.
JS: Could be both.
RG: could be. i've often wondered about that.
RG: do you hire people?
RG: i mean, you, personally.
JS: Not anymore ... I used to do that, but not for a long time. But I still get calls from people ... "so-and-so gave me your name ... "
RG: well, what was it like for you? were you more comfortable with a candidate who was working?
JS: I think so. I can honestly say that many of the ones who weren't working were usually weird or it was apparent why they weren't. Occasionally I'd find someone who I wondered why they hadn't been snapped up. I can think of three off-hand in that situation that I hired who are still working and have worked out well.
JS: Had a guy interview with me one time for a job in our computer group ... he wanted to be a writer ... told me he even had his idea and title for his book already picked out ...
RG: i have met some weird ones too, in networking. that's why i don't completely trust networking as an option for the unemployed. too many losers.
JS: "Bistro for Zombies."
RG: what the hell...?
JS: I about dropped my teeth.
JS: I didn't hire him.
RG: that was the guy's title?
RG: and he just HAD to tell you that?
JS: Yep. And the idea behind the book.
RG: and he did it with a straight face?
JS: Then there was Herman Zilman ... he wore headphones during the interiew. It helped keep the other voices from interfering.
JS: The other guy's name was Roger Mingus.
JS: I remember the weirdos by name.
RG: holy crap. can i take part of this transcript and blog it? (changing the names, of course...)
JS: LOL - no names or locations, ok?
RG: not a one.
JS: I can't afford to be sued.
RG: not a chance.
RG: but the anecdotes are too funny.
JS: Oh, I could write my own book!
RG: wonder if i can change the book's title and come out with something just as twisted...
JS: One lady asked if she could knit while we interviewed.
RG: christmas crap. "Bistro for Zombies." LOL
RG: you know what this reminds me of?
JS: What?
RG: those court shows. where a witness gets on the stand and he's so stupid, they just let him talk and he spills everything.
RG: anyway, if you ever see on PBS, or read john mortimer's "rumpole of the bailey," you will get a lot of this.
RG: see, rumpole is a barrister.
RG: and he gets involved in only criminal cases. on the defense.
RG: his rule is never to let his clients sit on the witness stand.
RG: because they will inevitably say something stupid.
JS: That's a given. lol
RG: he doesn't even want them to tell HIM if they are guilty. LOL
RG: it would affect his defense. LOL
JS: Ah.
RG: the late
leo mckern [pictured above] played that role on TV. you would've loved it.
JS: Ohhhhh ... I got a good one for you.
JS: We hired this guy who was in the National Guard or reserves or something.
RG: those make popular hires!
JS: He came to work and worked a couple of weeks, and the military offered him a full-time position.
RG: the regulars?
JS: He asked if he could take a leave of absence for a few months to try out this other job to see if he liked it and if he didn't, he could come back.
RG: oh yeah.
RG: LOL
JS: I was like, "Ummmmm, no."
JS: He liked the job we hired him for, but the other one paid more.
RG: i just DID something like that. i feel like an idiot.
RG: see, there was a start-up.
RG: they wanted me as a kind of assistant manager.
RG: and their interest came in about two weeks after i started at the high school.
RG: plus, they were only able to pay about $30K and had longer hours. you know how start-ups are.
JS: Yeah.
RG: so i had to turn them down. this was basically my wife's orders. LOL
RG: this was about five months ago.
RG: so i wrote them later and told them after giving high school teaching a serious look, i'd decided i "like their kind of life and way of doing business better." so would they please give me a look?
RG: well, they haven't written back.
RG: i knew that would happen.
JS: Just keep irons in the fire.
RG: i do, but for some reason they keep poking me in the ass. what are they, branding irons?
JS: LOL - maybe you should apply to a dude ranch?
JS: "Have branding iron experience - see my a** for a reference."
RG: i wish i had had a chance to be in on interviews.
RG: that sounds like so much fun!
RG: i did help interview a guy once.
RG: i didn't like the guy. he gave no helpful answers to questions. we couldn't even really get us to tell him anything he knew.
JS: You know - it's fun for awhile, but then it's like, "Oh God, not another day of talking with people."
RG: but... my outfit had an opening, so they were gonna hire him unless he had, like, oozing pustules or something.
JS: And the worst was when you got someone who stunk.
JS: Blech.
RG: they did hire him.
RG: and he wasn't any good.
JS: Figures.
RG: but they couldn't get rid of him.
RG: ultimately, a gal in the building started cheating on her husband with him.
RG: i knew it was going on, so i went to my manager with the old "hostile atmosphere in the workplace" argument.
RG: and they denied anything was going on, so *i* got in trouble for it.
RG: well, i got a sense of humor still. and i got a blog for sounding off.
RG: maybe i'll be like thomas paine and write this generation's "common sense." or something.
JS: You'll be famous!
RG: i'd be happy to pay the bills.
RG: but at least my branded ass would be epic. LOL
Labels: office space
How to Avoid Tantrums in Kids of All Ages
The following is a guest posting/commercial from
Anna-Marie Stewart.
Let's face it, kids will be kids and they can't possibly always be happy with every single decision that is made for them. Even from a very young age a child realizes that he/she is, in fact, a REAL person, with feelings, thoughts and emotions. This often leads to them wanting to do things their own way, making their own choices, or just not wanting to do as they're told.
Here's a scenario: your child is sitting happily playing with building bricks, or maybe playing on a games console, totally engulfed in his or her own world, and it's time for dinner. You ask your child to drop what they’re doing there and then, to tidy up quickly, to leave their "happy place" and come eat. Your child refuses to do as asked, wondering within why on earth you're being mean and spoiling their fun.
You, on the other hand may think the child is being naughty or obstinate. You remove the toys/games abruptly and the volcano erupts! Your child is throwing a full-blown tantrum!
Now, let's re-create the scenario: As before, your child is sitting happily playing and you're about to start making dinner. You give the child fair warning that playtime will be ending soon, in say 5-10 minutes, and that they will then need to put their things away so that they can help you make dinner.
Stick to your time-frame and get the things put away (help if you're needed), and involve your child in the dinner-making. Depending on your child's age this could be anything from wiping the table to boiling potatoes or even carving the meat. (Ok, so we may not have huge set meals every day, but you get the idea).
Wow! You just avoided a MAJOR tantrum! Your child is involved and happy, you are happy and non-stressed! Well Done You!
You can do this sort of thing with just about any scenario. Turn it around from something negative i.e. removing child from "happy place" and replacing in "upset place", to moving child from one happy place to another. You just have to make sure that your child knows beforehand that something other than what they are doing at the moment will soon be happening.
Let your child get involved and make sure you tell him/her how much you appreciate their help and co-operation. This way you will avoid the horrid confusion that ultimately leads to those dreadful tantrums.
Resource Box
Discover how a mom with four unruly kids avoided a breakdown with
this surprise discovery! 12-page guide reveals 32 ways to keep your kids occupied, happy and focused. It's a parent's dream come true!
Labels: education
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