Have you ever felt like you never realized how much you were capable of, because, simple as it may seem, no one told you along the way? Despite the fact that I went to a magnet school, I never strived to be a leader in high school or to discover the unique imprint I could leave on the world, mostly because I just didn't realize that I could be on the same level as the high achievers.
And yet, somehow we assume the US is going to retain a leadership position in the world over the decades to come, even though we really don't spend much effort at all on leadership training.
Sure, we have lots of leadership problems. The top of every class get special awards, plaques, and wind up on lists, but how many of those students are actually getting the leadership tools they need to impact cities, states, countries, even the whole world?
What's worse, how many are being told they can?
What passes for student leadership these days is often pretty lame. Lead a club that had been on campus for generations. Get elected to the student council and run a new program. This will put you in the top 10% of your school in terms of leadership, but that's a pretty low bar, since we all know most students don't try too hard to be leaders.
The difference between that and being one of the top 30 under 30 years of age in your profession is huge, and most people don't know how to teach or motivate for that. In fact, I'm not sure they even try, because much of that level of achievement involves reaching across institutions and changing the way things are done, something most schools aren't even good at themselves.
Imagine, for a moment, what the top 30 people in your profession under 30 years of age are probably doing. Or the 25 under 25. Maybe your industry actually has that list . Maybe you need to create it. Identifying standout performances could help motivate yourself and others by identifying just how high the bar really is.
Many people don't strive for leadership because they don't want the pressure and responsibility that leadership comes with. What they fail to realize is that it's actually much easier to be a leader than being the low person on the totem pole. Leadership brings with it the flexibiliity to do more on your own terms, and the support of others who follow you who can help lighten the load because they believe in your vision.
So if you're a college student or in your 20's, think about what you need to do to be recognized as one of the top people in your field at such a young age--part of a 30 under 30. If you don't know what that would entail, go ask anyone and everyone that you know who is involved in the industry what it would take.
Publish the answers, strive the the goal, make an impact, because who really wants to ride in the back seat for this lifetime?
All in Teaching
"Telling alumni what tools to use, and how to use them is old school, and they won't care one way or the other that we have certain information on our web sites...We must let alumni build their own online activities, using a framework we provide for the purpose of enabling that process."
Fordham is starting an entrepreneurship program for its undergrad students and I'll be teaching a course entitled "Innovation and the Entrepreneurial Mindset". Yesterday, those of us who teach in the program were talking with the dean about whether or not the program should be a major or concentration, a specialization, a minor, etc.
The difference is whether or not it should be something focused on by itself or in conjunction with other majors, like finance or marketing.
I've always leaned towards identifying yourself with some fundamental business skills set, like finance, accounting, marketing, info systems, etc., and then layering on specializations, like entrepreneurship or international study. To me, international marketing, marketing in mainstream media or advertising, or marketing for a startup are three pretty different types of marketing--all of whom require the fundamental principals of marketing, but differ in their application. Now, whether those are specializations, double majors, etc. I don't think it matters.
Also, you have to think about fallback, too. What if someone does the entrepreneurship program, but can't nail that business idea or decides that getting some industry experience and connection in the area of their startup idea would be valuable--working for DKNY before you decide to start your own fashion label, perhaps. Would anyone want to hire you if you were only an entrepreneurship major and didn't at least have marketing, finance, or accounting?
There are business programs that have full majors in entrepreneurship, like Babson. In fact, I met a Babson entreprenuership major last night at the CooBric opening and he thought it was a valuable experience.
Of course, this question of where it fits in a program presupposes that you can even teach entrepreneurship in the first place... and to be honest, while I might not have thought so a few years ago, the more I get involved in this program, the more I think you can. It's not so much teaching as it is introduction. When I grew up, starting your own business was seen as kind of a flakey thing to do. My mom worked in a school and my dad was a fireman before he went into accounting (yeah, I never understood that transition either). I never knew about the startup world, and when I learned about it, I thought it was just all about having the big idea one day--like a lightning strike.
In my own experience, I think what is more likely to happen is that the big idea is slow cooked after being involved in a space or a line of thinking over time. I got the idea for Path 101 after seven years of various mentoring and intership programs. I wasn't trying to be an entrepreneur and the best ideas probably come when you're not trying to be one.
So, what am I going to teach? I'm going to teach immersion and opportunity identification. I'm going to teach these kids what it means to actually get waist deep in something like I am... that it's not just getting a job... it's about real active participation in the industry, in the community, whatever it is. And, once you're in the thick of it, learning how to identify power structures, pain points, etc.
These are lessons that are useful whether or not they'll ever become entrepreneurs, because it's not enough to just clock in and clock out anymore. There are so many more opportunities to really get active in a space and the people that take advantage of those opportunities are often the ones that wind up innovating and changing those spaces.
What do you think? What does an entrepreneurial education look like to you? How does it fit with other skills and courses? Did anyone take any entrepreneurship courses in school?
LinkedIn. It's social networking for professionals. So, think MySpace and swap out thongs for resumes and there you have it. It has been an indespensible tool for me to find the right person in the right places to connect to, and reach them through a trusted contact that can recommend me.
Like offline networking, it's value is maximized when you keep up with it, b/c connections are a funny thing. You never know when someone is connected to someone that might come in handy.
This is a continuation of other "Getting Into... " posts... see:
Getting into this online stuff: Part I - Blogging as the Industry Cocktail Party
Getting into this online stuff: Part II - A better way to bookmark and favorite links on the web using del.icio.us
Here are our goals: You want to make sure that everyone, or as many people as possible, who are familiar with you and who already use LinkedIn productively, are connected to you. Why? Because when you really need a connection to a certain ad agency, its more likely you'll find it closer when you have 350 contacts than if you have 2.
Plus, you want to make yourself easily findable, so that when people are looking for what you can offer, they can reach you easily and you sound impressive.
So, here goes:
1) Organize and cleanup your contacts first. LinkedIn is most effective when you use it in conjunction with a real online address book and email system. For most, that means Outlook, which can be big and bulky but is also very powerful and has a well integrated email and address book solution. Many students still use their phone for numbers, their AOL, Gmail, or Yahoo! addressbook for emails and Facebook fills in the gaps. Well, grow up. Seriously. Think about how much of an information advantage someone has with a hosted addressbook with names, companies, emails, numbers, and notes all in one place, and who can access that from the web or on their phone.
2) Once you've got that all settled, install the LinkedIn toolbar for Outlook or just export and upload your contacts via *csv file to LinkedIn. This will allow LinkedIn to trudge through your contacts and emails and find out who you know is already on the system. These people are no brainer invites. You know them and you don't need to explain to them the value of joining. If you want to invite newbies, that's your own uphill battle if you choose to climb it.
3) After you upload your contacts, LinkedIn will tell you how many people you know and talk to are already on the system and give you a link to invite them to connect. Create custom invites!! I hate hate hate the stock invite and you should never use it. You want something that reflects who you are and sticks in someone's mind... maybe something that will cause even more
conversation.
For example, here is what I use:
As [insert timely pop culture reference here... spring training, celebrity weddings, etc] happen, , I'm using LinkedIn to keep in touch with my professional networ just in case I don't make the Mets major league roster.. Because you're a PERSON, I'm going to take two seconds to write a mildly creative and entertaining invitation, even though you know what this whole thing is about and any text is probably unnecessary.
So link to me, and then I'll troll your network for opportunities, contacts, dates, etc... all the while getting your permission at every step. Pretty soon, your network will realize that I'm a far more interesting person than you are, and one by one, they'll probably unlink you. You'll wind up alone in a bar somewhere, and probably wind up in a fight. Several haymakers and a black eye later, you'll wonder where all your friends went and you'll only have yourself, Reid Hoffman, Sequoia and Greylock to blame. :)
Of course, I'm joking...
Obviously, you can't blame the VC's.
- Charlie
Is this good for everyone? No way! Why? Because, one, it is a little bit snarky. For me, that's ok, but for a salesperson or a student or just someone who might have to present a slightly more professional face than a t-shirt and jeans product manager, you might want to rethink that, unless you know the person you're inviting can take a joke. Second, there's a lot of inside joking here. Most people don't know who any of the people are that I mentioned... except people in online media and technology. Figure out what works for you. For me, I don't think I've ever had anyone turn me down b/c I only invite people I actually know who already use the system plus I create this funny invite.
Make sure you update this regularly. If you use Firefox, install the LinkedIn plugin. I use it all the time... searching for people's names instead of through the Google searchbox. Redo the e-mail process every few months.
4) Live your profile. Make sure your bio is up to date and well written. Describe not only what you have done, but what you would like to do. Make sure you use keywords that would likely be used in the kind of searches that you want to be found with. Personalize the page by adding a LinkedIn screename for public profiles and stick it at the bottom of your e-mail signature. Use the blog badge. Put it on business cards. You want others that you encounter knowing that you have it.
5) If people don't accept your invite, do not pester them. They'll come around... or maybe they just don't like you, which is their right.
6) Ask for introductions sparingly. Some people join LinkedIn and two minutes after using it, I already have 6 requests to get introduced to people in my network. WHOA, Nelly! Calm down. I try not to ask people for introductions to people for at least a good month after we get connected... and usually after having at least one other non-LinkedIn related conversation. Plus, don't keep asking the same people. If you have 5 connections, all of whom have one contact except for one with 553, don't keep pestering that one person... get more friends.
7) Recommendations... no one ever really uses them, but you can score about a million brownie points... ermm... I mean social capital dollars, with someone by writing them sincerely and where appropriate. Many people don't even know they exist, and then when you randomly write something nice about them, they're floored. Admittedly, I don't do this enough, but the few times I've had, it really made the other person feel great and strengthened our connection.
So, there's LinkedIn 101 in a nutshell. I have 380+ contacts and, in my industry, there usually isn't a department or person I can't find some way to get into. I don't know where else you'd get that kind of penetration through the corporate viel... used wisely, its an indespensible tool.
GothamGal has a though provoking post up about the insanity of carefully crafting over acheivers and getting kids into college today. She says that we should drop the current system and look for a new way to screen students... fewer tests, less pressure.
I do think that what is going on is insane, but anytime there's insanity, you don't have to get caught up in it.
When I was in high school, the average graduating SAT score for my class was 1350. Now I hear its up over 1400... average... 1400! I was lucky because we all seemed to take a pretty healthy approach to it, but one could go nuts trying to test prep your way to a score like that.
If you need to take two test prep courses and hire a private tutor to get your kid to score a 1520, then, well, sorry, that kid just isn't a 1520 student. I remember this guy in my freshmen year of college who used to study in the lounge about 10 hours a day to get a 3.7 and I just remember heading out the door with my baseball glove to have a catch and enjoy a nice day while he was studying. If that was what it took to get the really high grades, well then I just wasn't going to be a great student... simple as that.
It was that kind of approach that I had in high school. In hindsight, I probably could have worked harder, I admit, but it was where my head was at the time. Pushing me wouldn't have helped.. .I had to push myself... which I did, big time, when I got to Fordham. Yeah, so I went to Fordham, which was a good school, but it wasn't Harvard or Yale or Princeton. However, I wouldn't be where I am today at another school. Being at Fordham, close to the city, enabled me to intern at the GM pension fund during school. It also meant that another Fordham grad who was at GM sort of took me under his wing, rather than the Harvard intern we had, because he felt like this guy would get everything he wanted anyway. That led directly to my job in the private equity group, which led to Union Square Ventures, which led to Oddcast.
If I was coming out of Harvard in '01, it wouldn't have been enough for me to just go to Harvard... I would have had to beat out all my own classmates for jobs. When you go to a top school, you almost have to be the best there, too, because there will already be 5 or 6 Harvard resumes in for a job, and they're not going to interview all of you.
You don't have to go to a top ten school and you don't have to be a Goldman Sachs investment banker to be successful either. Teach your kids to follow their own way at their own pace. Of course, give them all the tools and encouragement to be their best, but don't push them to be more than they're mentally ready to handle. I wasn't ready to take the lead in high school and I would have burned out very early had I tried. I'm lucky that my parents were just happy I was in a good school and supportive of whatever I did. They let me come around on my own terms.
Oh, and I wound up doing better than that kid who studied ten hours a day... and I really do owe it mostly to my mental health. In college, I really believe its really not about how hard you work, but more about how smart you work and how you handle stress. Oh, and networking, too. You'll never make good contacts in your field, which can take you a lot further than your GPA, if you're a big ball of stress that seems mentally unstable.
I'll be teaching a class to undergraduates at Fordham this Spring called "Managing in the MySpace Generation". Basically, it will catch these students up on all the things the rest of us tagheads have been talking about for the last couple of years... open, distributed, lightweight, social, etc... how it effects the way businesses are being run and how they should be running their careers.
I've slowly started saving links that I'll be using in my class somehow, tagging them "fordhamclass".
If anyone is doing anything similar... taking "Web 2.0", from a business and career perspective, to college students, I'd love to hear from you.