Stupidity

Coaching for College Students

Stupidity

These lessons have been coaching and mentoring for college success.  Even lesson 10 on failure is learning how to ‘fail forward’.  Today’s lesson is about stupidity.

Scenario 1:  Lexi (or any student really) is off to college.  She is away from home and away from her parents.  She can set her own hours; she has a lot of freedom to explore life that she didn’t have at home.  Early in her first semester, some friends invited her to a party.  There was an abundance of alcohol and Lexi got drunk.  She also found friendship.  Since then two or three times a week Lexi binge drinks – she is drunk at least two nights a week.  She is studying less and is drinking more.   Lexi is being stupid and her actions can lead to less studying, poor grades and not reaching her goals.

Scenario 2:  Charles (modelled after a previous student of mine named Charles) was an average student in high school.  In college he is enjoying his computer classes and math classes, but hates his English class and those other general education classes.  He finds a part time job for a computer company – it pays well.  Charles is also concerned about money.  His parents divorced when he was eleven and money for college is an issue.  He doesn’t want to borrow for college.  The part time job pays well.  His boss likes his computer work and offers him half-time work or 20 hours a week.  It pays fairly good for half-time.  He will have enjoy having money saved for second semester if he keeps this up.  But, with twenty hours a week, something has to go, so he drops his English class.  Weekends are spent catching up on his computer courses and his calculus class.   After mid semester he finds that his calculus grade is a B minus.  He knows he could do better, but he has to keep working.  He drops the calculus class on the last day to withdraw from a class.  For spring semester, he registers for calculus and English and again drops them.  After his first year in college, he has completed eighteen credits.  He decides it is not worth it and takes a full time computing position. He is abandoning his goals.

Scenario 3:  Daniel also finds he likes to party in college.  At one party, a friend gives him some marijuana.  Soon Daniel is smoking pot frequently and lately has started using cocaine.  He enjoys getting high.  His classes also are suffering and his bank account is going down quickly.  He finds he can sell some marijuana and cocaine to raise the money he wants and needs for more partying.  He is abandoning his goals.

Scenario 4: Kasey has joined a sorority and is doing well.  Her grades are very good as the sorority requires study hours and there are older girls who mentor her in her classes.  She likes the social events that the sorority sponsors and soon has a boyfriend and soon she finds out she is pregnant.  She is on the verge of abandoning her goals.

No one comes to college with a goal of living under a bridge by the time they are 30 with a paper bag holding a bottle of wine – but it happens.

No one comes to college with the goal of getting married and divorced three times before he/she reaches 40 – but it happens.

No one comes to college with the goal of becoming an alcoholic, or drug addict, or a sex slave or a college dropout – but it happens.

It is stupidity.  DON’T GET TRAPPED!!!

Assignment:

Research and write a two paragraph paper in your journal on why students drop out of college.  While poor grades might be the ultimate factor, dig deeper and find the underlying factors.

What temptations might you expect in college?  How might you avoid them?

What are your thoughts on college life – and the very real ease of getting alcohol?  Is social drinking okay with you? 

How do you learn to say “NO”?

Today’s quote – from the Christian prayer Lord’s Prayer also known as the Our Father – “And lead us not into temptation.

A Systems View

Be Ready for the New Employment: Jobs for the 21st Century

 

They System View:

I’ve been a professor of Information Systems for 38 years. One of the main titles in Information Systems is that of “Systems Analyst”.  The title is pretty indicative of the job – analyzing systems – for improvement, efficiencies, effectiveness, using new technologies and more.  A systems analysis can be considered a “change agent” because when they analyze systems and find ways of improving, they have to lead the change from the old system to the new system. 

Systems Approach:

Analysis the “as is” system – how does it work, what changed need to be made.

Then do they analysis of the ‘to be’ system – how will the new system work?

There are three outcomes of the system analysis phase of the Systems
Development Life Cycle:

-       
  Go – do it now; the changes are important, the new / updated system will pay for itself

-          Wait – there are some advantages, but there are other systems that might need changing first and this proposal might be cost effective

-          No Go – not feasible

In Systems Analysis we have several ways of determining ‘feasibility’:

-          Economic feasibility:  Will these pay for itself (for career change – can I make a living doing this new job)

-          Organization feasibility: Will the organization ‘buy in’ (for career change – can I adapt to the new career and will they accept me.  There are also ‘cultural / organizational questions – working for Google is vastly different culturally than working for IBM)

-          Technical feasibility:  Does the organization have the technology for the change (for career change – do I have the technology for the new career)

-          Schedule feasibility:  Can we get this new system working on time – such as for year-end accounting (for career change – can I be prepared for the new career in 6 months or similar)

I’m also adding an additional feasibility for making a career or job change:  The “Why” feasibility:   Why am I making this change?

Looking more at the “Why” feasibility, attitude is the important driver. Why are you looking at a career or job change?

-          Because I’m a hard worker and am ambitious and want to work up in this field (great answer)

-          Because I don’t like my boss and co-workers (poor answer – adjust your attitude – you might be a negative person and the new career will also have bosses and co-workers that you will not like

-          Because it is getting harder to have enough money – I need to support my family appropriately (good answer)

-          Because my company was bought out and I was terminate (great reason to change)

Making a career change is a major step – don’t enter it without the proper analysis. 

Near my neighborhood there is a house that just isn’t finished – it is like the owner / builder said “I want a new house” – went out and got some materials and ran out of money; ran out of time; changed his mind – and never got the job done.  It is being built in front of their existing house.  It might be weeks before they get back and something new has happened.  Recently (after several months of frame only); the exterior plywood was put up.  There were some windows cut in and some areas with no windows. 

In some cases, even if you analyze that the change is good, that it is feasible, it can take time before the ‘as is’ system becomes the ‘to be’ system.  In technology, you might have to buy new equipment, install and adapt software to your environment, move data, test, document the new system – and make the transition. 

For a career change (especially), you might need to acquire new skills, get certifications; get a new degree;  you might have to spend a great deal of money acquiring those new skills before you are ready to make the career change. 

First – do the feasibility analysis – and the “Why” analysis.  What do you need to learn?  How can you be accepted in the new career? 

Then – research, develop a plan and work your plan!!!  You might have to work your current job while you train and prepare for your new career.

Timing:  Some information systems projects take years to complete; you have to determine your timeline.  Set a date and a goal to reach your new career and new job.  

In information systems we talk of direct cutover, parallel cutover and pilot projects.  Let’s see how that might relate to you:

Direct cutover.  Friday <date> is your last day at your old career / your old job; Monday <date> is your first day of your new career / new job.  No going back – the ‘as is’ system is gone; the ‘to be’ system is the new reality.

Parallel cutover.  This generally means running the old system and the new systems concurrently. Now this can be hard.  Maybe you can work your current job / current career and do the new career part time in the evenings or weekend.  This can take time – but does keep some income coming in.

Pilot project:  Maybe you can take your vacation from your old job; do a short term project with your new career to see if it fits you.  This can be a pilot project for you. 

I remember a student who was sure she wanted to be a teacher.  She took the teacher education classes, observed students – and finally in her senior year went out as a student teacher – meaning that she was in the classroom full time and was teaching.  AND … she found out she didn’t like teaching!!  That can be a problem.  (Maybe she needed to work on her attitude and goals to be positive on becoming a teacher).  Fortunately most teacher education programs these days try to get potential teachers into classrooms early enough so they can see if they like teaching.

Assignment:

Do your “Why” analysis – why are you looking at a career or job change? 

Do your feasibility analysis – is this economically a good change?  Organizationally / culturally a good change?

Determine the skills you need, do the analysis on how to acquire them.

Set up your time schedule for changing the ‘as is’ system to the ‘to be’ system.

Today’s Quote: “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything”. George Bernard Shaw
 http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/georgebern386923.html

Networking and mentoring

	Be Ready for the New Employment: Jobs for the 21st Century

 

Networking and Mentoring

A very important topic today – building your network and finding a mentor or mentors.

It’s not what you know, it is WHO you know!!!

Networking:  Interacting with other people to share information, develop contacts and learn more about life. 

You really have been networking all your life.  You have friends.  You might talk music, shopping, sports, politics, weather and other topics. 

Networking for professional reasons is similar.  You need to develop relationships with people that are interesting to you – and could be helpful to you in the future.  As a professor, one of the favorite things that I did was to network with other professionals.  That networking got me into professional organizations. That networking got me to be chair of an international conference (four times), helped me have the confidence to be a program evaluator for a major accrediting group, helped me apply for a Fulbright exchange visit. 

And … on the other hand, I have given back to my students by networking with them – talking about jobs, about internships, about careers and just being a friend.  (We all need friends!!)

So, who should you befriend and network with? 

Think of where you see yourself – through your goals, attitude and analysis.  Do you want to be a software developer?  Then find software developers to network with.  Does that mean NOT to network with accountants or artists or novelists?  Not at all.  Guess what – those accountants or artists or novelists probably are friends with software developers and can help you make the connection to software developers.  

Consider network platforms.  I’m connected to well over 3,000 people on LinkedIn.  I’ll admit I should use LinkedIn better for networking.  On Facebook, I’m connected to over 1,400 people.  I message top friends frequently.  When I wrote my first ebook, I used Facebook Messenger to let my network know.  And … they also let me know about their activities and accomplishments.  I also use email to connect with friends – and to introduce friend-1 with friend-2 – so my network expands as well.

Make new network connections by being a friend.  If you are looking at a career or job change, see if you can shadow somebody in that new field.  Most people would be honored to show you around their workplace (but … not all can for security or other reasons).  Be open and honest.  Don’t just ‘use’ people to get a head but ‘befriend’ them.

 What to do with networks?

If you had a great friend and never saw that friend, never communicated with that friend – would that really be a great friend? 

You need to keep in touch with your friends and network.  If you are in the same area, share a cup of coffee (or beer or wine or soft drink) occasionally.  “Do Lunch” sometimes. If you are not physically near, drop an email note – or Facebook or other messaging platform.  When LinkedIn tells me that one of my contacts has been promoted or taking a new position, I like to drop them a LinkedIn message to congratulate them.  I also like recommending or highlighting their skills on LinkedIn.  Don’t burn bridges – and keep your network strong.  Yes, it will take time – but it is time well spent. 

Ask them to help you.  If you are thinking of a career or job change, drop your most valued network contacts a note to get their input.  Really, you are turning a network contact into a mentor.

What is a mentor?

“A mentor is a person or friend who guides a less experienced person by building trust and modeling positive behaviors. An effective mentor understands that his or her role is to be dependable, engaged, authentic, and tuned into the needs of the mentee. (taken from: http://www.oycp.com/MentorTraining/3/m3.html - which is a great resource to check out)

Having a experienced person listen to you; guide you and when appropriate give suggestions is going to be very valuable to you. 

Over the years, I have had many student mentees.

Example 1: Jerry was unsure of his major and direction.  We talked frequently and as it got to be time to register for classes for the next semester, we agreed for him to add a programming class to his schedule.  He wasn’t sure he wanted to be a programmer or an information systems major.  My advice was to try it out, it is one class and if it doesn’t fit, he could drop the class or finish it and go in another direction.  As it happened, he loved the class and did extremely well.  This lead to more information systems classes.  Then was the opportunity for an internship.  He had some different options.  The experience of an internship was going to be good no matter where he went.   He selected an internship with a major financial company – and now 20 years later has been promoted several times, has a group working under him and is very happy.

Example 2: Andrew was also good with information systems and we talked frequently about careers and direction.  He too had many options upon graduation and took one with a leadership development program which gave him about five internal positions within the business over a three year period.  At the end of that time, he was very valuable to the company and know the in-and-outs of how the entire company worked from working in the different departments.  He settled in and was recognized as a valued employee.  Then an opportunity came for him to move within that company to a different location. We talked about it – moving away from what he knew and people he knew to a new town, a new boss, and new experiences.  It meant selling a house and starting over.  Again, we talked and I listened to what I was hearing from his heart.  He made the move and is so much happier and in a great position to continue to be promoted.

Example 3: Lori was an average student.  She did well and we talked frequently.  Coming from a very close family and a small town, she just didn’t want to take a position in a large company in a different state.  We found a fantastic internship with a non-profit organization for her.  She really flourished in that environment and while that non-profit organization didn’t have an opportunity for her, she found her niche in a governmental agency and loves what she does – with less stress and more time with family than she would have had by moving to a neighboring state.

Example 4:  Eric was a poor student.  He was majoring in business because his father was a businessman and told (commanded?) Eric to go into business.  But his heart wasn’t in being a business major.  Unfortunately (but really fortunately), he got into a motorcycle accident and ended in a hospital for broken bones.  But that experience woke Eric up.  He started to ask the nurses and hospital staff about their jobs, and eventually went back to school (he had a hard road of cleaning up the poor grades) and became an excellent nurse.

I do have many more mentoring success stories.

Have you been to college?  Go back and find one of your professors that was the most important to you and with whom you  have great rapport. Talk to them about careers.  Experienced professors will also be able to help with networking and finding professionals to talk to.  Stop by their office to chat.  Ask them why they picked their particular discipline.  Stop to visit at least monthly.  Then narrow your focus to two that seem to be better able to help you in your career and future.  Get to know them more – take them for coffee (aside, faculty love to go for coffee).  Build your relationship.

Assignment:

Research mentoring and being a mentee. 

What makes for a good mentor? 

How can you be a good mentee?

Go out and add 20 people (or more) to your network.  Work the network connections. 

Then work your network for mentors – somebody who cares for you and wants to see you successful.

Quote for today: “I am not a teacher, but an awakener.” ― Robert Frost

Soft Skills

	Be Ready for the New Employment: Jobs for the 21st Century

 

Soft Skills

Today another important topic – building your soft skills. 

If we cannot communicate effectively, whatever we do might will be for nothing!

So, what are soft skills anyway?  One definition is: “personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people”

First – you need the right technical skills to get your job interview and get your job / career change.  If you want to be a systems analyst, you need the appropriate skills and abilities.  If you want to be an accountant, you need the appropriate accounting skills.  Do you want to be a doctor?  They you need the appropriate medical skills (and credentialing). 

But let’s look at the rest of it. 

Have you gone to a restaurant and the surly server asks “and what do you want?” instead of “Can I help you?” 

You want your accountant to be able to explain why she put certain expenses in one category; and how she arrived at the net income (or the tax amount payable).  If she just hands you the various papers without an explanation, you would miss the reasons for the decisions and processes.

Taking the definition – to work effectively and harmoniously with others – sounds like something we should have learned long ago.

A friend once shared three secrets of getting work done:  (1) Show up; (2) Show up on time (or early – and work later); (3) Show up on time and be ready to be productive.

I remember a co-worker who seemed like he never got anything done.  He would be at the coffee machine; he’d be talking to other co-workers; he would rarely be at his desk – and when he was (in the cubicle next to mine) – we would be on the phone working on a civic group he was involved with.

How about you?  Come late and leave early?  Waste time at work – and then wonder “Where did the day go?”

We’ve talked about attitude – do you know people that are absolutely hard to be around?  They are always crabby, work on your attitude and personal skills (and personality).

Scenario:  A researcher comes up with a 100% cure for cancer – but because of neurological problem, the researcher is unable to communicate the cure to others. 

While the scenario is extreme, the point is:  You might have solved a great problem, created the best app ever, and found a way to combat world poverty, but if you can’t get your message across, it gets lost.

So, what makes up communication?

·         Written communication

·         Verbal communication

·         Body Language

·         Nuances and jargon

Written Communication:

To be an effective communicator, you need to write well.  In this day where you have to express yourself in 140 characters for Twitter, which can be too limiting.  You condense characters for text messages like UR for You Are.  Frequently we lapse into phrases that may be familiar to some of your audience but not all.  We use expressions like “After the kickoff, the game went south”. (Huh?)  The meaning of “went south” is that it fell apart, but when we use informal phrases, we can leave some people confused.  In my classes I’ve had international students what have asked what I meant by a certain informal phrase (or … more likely, DIDN’T ask and left class confused).  In writing, you need to be succinct and logical. 

Business English is different than English literature.  I remember a three paragraph memo from working at Citibank.  The first paragraph basically said “we like the project”; the second paragraph said “But, we might have some questions”; and the last paragraph said “We don’t really like the project”.  It wasn’t that clear and clean.  You could sense the writers didn’t want to say that his business unit didn’t like the project immediately, so give some praise to the developers.  Consider your audience.

Can you improve your writing?  YES

Why do you think you took 12 years of English, followed by college English classes.  Practice.  For a starter, write an analysis of where your work field will be going in the next ten years with artificial intelligence.  Let somebody critique your writing so you can improve it – such as having a friend colleague help you.  I used to have my daughter review my papers for suggestions and positive comments.

So .. how about verbal communication?

There are business communications; formal communications; informal communications; communication between friends; communication between spouses; communication between parents and children; communications between bosses and employees. 

I went to: http://www.littlethingsmatter.com/blog/2010/11/30/10-verbal-communication-skills-worth-mastering/ for some suggestions for verbal communications skills:

1)      Be friendly

2)      Think before you think

3)      Be clear

4)      Don’t talk too much

5)      Be authentic

6)      Practice humility

7)      Speak with confidence

8)      Watch your body language

9)      Be concise

10)   Listen carefully

Let’s look at #3 – be clear.  Watch use of jargon or special language.  Don’t be vague (or .. .in the casual language – “beat around the bush”) – come to the point.  While I see this more in written essay questions from students where they never really come to the point in their analysis.  English can be a tough language – some words have multiple meaning.  In a similar fashion, there are homophones – words pronounced the same but spelled differently – foul / fowl; ad / add; hour / our; hear  /here.  In written communication, the reader can see “hear” and understand the author is implying using the ears to ‘hear’ as compared to being ‘here’.  But, in verbal communication, the listener cannot see how the word is spelled.  Make the meaning clear from your complete sentence.

And #5 – be authentic.  Don’t be what you think the other person wants you to be – be yourself.  After all, who can be you better than you can?  In communication, don’t play games – say what you need to say and listen and make the communication work.

Other ways to improve your verbal skills with additional practice might be the Toastmaster’s Group.  They generally meet every week or every other week and members have to give presentations.  If you are scared of speaking before a group, you need to PRACTICE, PRACTICE,PRACTICE!!!!

Assignment:

Write a two page analysis of your job.  Send it to somebody (or more than one) to review and critique.

Write two pages of goals, where you are at and where you want to be.  Review it for quality writing.

Read the ten suggestions above from the website for effective verbal communication – what do you need to work on?

Quote for today: “If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.”― Toni Morrison

Being Remarkable

Be Ready for the New Employment: Jobs for the 21st Century

Lesson 9 - Remarkable

Becoming Remarkable.

Seth Godin talked about becoming ‘remarkable’ in his book Purple Cow.  As Godin presented the concept, he and his family were in France and as they drove they noticed all the cows in the fields.  So colorful, idyllic so they thought.  But as their drive continued, they didn’t even notice the cows – the cows were now ‘commonplace’.  He makes the point that the only cows that would have appeared on their radar at that point would have to be really different – like Purple Cows. 

The idea of a purple cow is really to be REMARKABLE – to stand out among the others. 

Do you need to be a purple cow?  How are you going to stand out with the millions of other people looking at careers in your area from around the world?

So, how do you become remarkable?

It isn’t really from the appearance – a purple cow would still out; a person interviewing in a purple suit (maybe with a bright orange tie) would stand out, and would probably not be hired (“too weird”). 

So, some thoughts on being remarkable:

·         Be great in your field

·         Have a great attitude

·         Have experiences that make you remarkable

·         Have a great personality

This lesson is vital to you!!  If you are average, bland, blend in with the others, your chances of being hired are average as well.  You must be remarkable.  That is also an attitude.

Be Great in Your Field:

Be great in your field:  If you are in the same field in your job change, you will have some credentials that will help you stick out. But, if you are making a career change, how can you be ‘great’ in your field?

Are there certifications in the field that can show you know the field?  If you are in accounting, earn your CPA.  If you are in Computer Security, get your CISSP (or other) certification. 

If you are moving into a new field without certification, you MUST be able to demonstration that you really know the area. 

There is an old example “Two hours ago, I couldn’t spell ‘salesperson’, now I is one” – yes, you might have been hired as a salesperson, but being great and remarkable in sales takes more than a title.  Great salespeople research sales techniques, work on their pitches, follow up with clients.  Great salespeople have great attitudes, great personalities and great soft skills.

I had the title of Professor.  Yes, I had earned a doctorate degree – with a lot of work and a dissertation.  I started as an instructor.  I had to document my teaching, research and service to be promoted to assistant professor; and then to associate professor and finally to full professor.  My application for promotions were huge and in three binders – volumes of teaching evaluations, comments from students; then the papers that were published or presented were in a binder; and finally my service was documented.  I had to verify that I was remarkable enough to be promoted. 

I later sat on the Promotions and Tenure committee and on that committee, we carefully scrutinized the applications – were the individuals applying for promotion (or tenure) worthy of the rank?  Were they remarkable in their field?  The Promotion and Tenure committee did approve some and also disapproved some.  Some just were not remarkable enough to be deemed “Full Professors”.

If you are making a career change after completing courses or a new degree, it is going to be really hard to be recognized for being great in your field.  For discussions sake, let’s say you are an accounting major.  How can you be recognized for being great in your field?  Good Grades?  Maybe.  Great faculty recommendations?  Maybe.  Great internship experiences?  Maybe.  Service in the community to non-profits or to third world countries?  Maybe. 

How about some out-of-the-ordinary ways to be remarkable?  Could you publish an academic paper with a professor that gets into an academic journal?  How many undergraduates are published in academic journals?  (Not many). 

Could you develop and implement an accounting system (or appropriate for your field) for non-profit organizations that wins recognition in a competition?

Could you work with a computing student to develop a new and innovative way for secure payment processing, maybe for secure payment on a smart phone using your finger logon component?

Could you work with a government agency (like the Internal Revenue Service or FBI) to fully analyze fraudulent accounting reports?  Or work with the Small Business Administration to set up accounting systems for new businesses – especially for those who have no accounting background.

To compete – you have to be great!!

Have a Great Attitude:

Having a great attitude is almost always remarkable.  We go through life with the ‘average’ folks, so seeing somebody smile, somebody says “have a nice day” and really, really mean it, to stop and listen to the person you are talking with. 

This ebook has talked about attitude before.  What is your attitude?  Have you changed it in a positive way?  Are you upbeat – always?  What to you is a “Great Attitude”?

Have remarkable experiences: 

Some of the remarkable experiences can go with your major field; but you can have others.   Work in a soup kitchen, climb Mount Everest, do marathons and triathlons, take a Boy Scout troop (or others) wilderness camping for three weeks, organize a community wide event.  There are many ways to be remarkable and to demonstrate it.

When making a career or job change, find ways to make your remarkable experiences into relevant job experiences. 

Having remarkable experience can be like being an entrepreneur – can you demonstrate that you are a ‘self-starter’?  That you can get things done?  That you can work with little or no supervision? 

Why is having done two marathons relevant to a new career?  In lots of ways – you have trained, (i.e. practiced) for hours, you have built up your stamina; you have set a high goals and kept your attitude focused on completing the marathons.  That is definitely relevant to a new career or job.  You can translate the hard work in doing marathons into the hard work required of your new job.

If you are average, and have average experiences how do you complete against somebody who has some remarkable experiences and has demonstrated greatness in the field?

Have a Great Personality:

Having a great attitude is part of having a great personality.  Think of people who are very personable.  People you’d like to just sit and talk to.  How can you be that ‘instant’ friend and person that people will recognize quickly and say “Definitely a team player and definitely one that we’d love to have on our team”.

You might have to work on your small talk, learn how to network, develop the ability to use soft skills of language, body language, poise, and attitude to build a great personality.

Assignment:

·         Think about what you can do to be remarkable – to be a ‘purple cow’ in a black-and-white cow world.  Write an essay about how you are going to make yourself remarkable this year.

·         Develop goals to become remarkable

·         Research certifications in your field – what might you need to do and learn to be certified?  Just a test or do you need experiences as well?

·         What kind of remarkable experiences might you do? 

·         How can you build your soft skills to be a better communicator?  Are there groups like Toastmasters in your area where you can build skills?

Quote for today – being remarkable sometimes can get you in trouble: ““If you are too afraid to offend anyone, then I'm afraid you may not be able to do anything remarkable” ― Bernard Kelvin Clive