BCSW Building Competitive Services & Wares

Service-Learning: SEE-PIE SWOT Focus …

2012-01-27T07:37:00.000-08:00

This blog explores using the Triple Bottom Line Impacts forexamining Service-Learning Projects. Thiswas discussed in the previous blog “ABetter Way ... Triple Bottom Line Impacts”. Projects are examined using Social, Environmental and Economic(SEE) impacts.

Drawing on the Funnel Triple Bottom Line Service-LearningProjects diagram gives a way to evaluate for Social, Environmental & Economicimpacts as illustrated in the matrix rubrics.

This also gives a way to assess the priority of the Impact of interest. Should the focus be on Social, Economic, Environmental or a balance of alternate Impacts? Thinking through these priorities in the Design Concept stage should minimize later conflicts of SEE emphasis.

Project	Social	Environmental	Economic
Service-Learning 1	Impact	Impact	Impact
Service-Learning 2	Impact	Impact	Impact

Using this and SWOT discussed below should guide in thecritical analysis of design path options. Keeping in mind the balance of SEE during the design funnel pathdevelopment gives strength to the creation of Goals, Solutions, Products,Services, Processes or Experiences using PIE frameworks. The January 23 ProjectBased Learning (PBL) ….. PIE blog discusses PIEframeworks as a Project Based Learning platform.

The Wikipedi article “Strengths,Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) analysis” gives an additional wayto evaluate SEE. “ SWOT analysis (alternately SLOT analysis) is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths,Weaknesses/Limitations, Opportunities, and Threatsinvolved in a projector in a businessventure. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or projectand identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable andunfavorable to achieve that objective. The technique is credited to AlbertHumphrey, who led a convention at Stanford University in the 1960s and1970s using data from Fortune 500 companies.

Setting the objective should bedone after the SWOT analysis has been performed. This would allow achievablegoals or objectives to be set for the organization.

· Strengths: characteristics of the business,or project team that give it an advantage over others

· Weaknesses (or Limitations): arecharacteristics that place the team at a disadvantage relative to others

· Opportunities: external chances toimprove performance (e.g. make greater profits) in the environment

· Threats: external elements in theenvironment that could cause trouble for the business or project

Identificationof SWOTs is essential because subsequent steps in the process of planning forachievement of the selected objective may be derived from the SWOTs.

First,the decision makers have to determine whether the objective is attainable,given the SWOTs. If the objective is NOT attainable a different objective mustbe selected and the process repeated.”

Since SWOT is used in industry, this type of thinking should be beneficial in connecting students to the future economy.

Time spent in up-frontSEE-PIE SWOT analysis should give a more robust approach to theService-Learning Project.

Project Based Learning (PBL) ….. PIE

2012-01-23T11:11:00.000-08:00

This blog explores Productive Innovative Engine (PIE)framework as a Project Based Learning (PBL) platform.

This video gives a nice introduction to PBL vs traditional learningstyles. Learn NC has a page on Project Based Learning.

The concepts of Entrepreneurial ProductiveInnovative Engine (PIE) frameworks stresses teams as implemented inindustry to create new products, services, processes, solutions or experiences.

It focuses on a six hat team as illustrated in the graphicas:

-         Business Hat (Entrepreneur)
-         Customer Hat (Marketplace)
-         Technologist Hat (Production/Service)
-         Engineer Hat (Design & Development)
-         Scientist Hat (Research)
-         Logistics Hat (Global Supply Chain)

In the blog “ABetter Way .... Triple Bottom Line Impacts” presents the concept of designfunnel starting out with wide degrees of freedom and moving from outwardthinking to critical thinking to inward thinking to create products, solutions,services with the Triple Bottom Line focus. This concept should also apply students in their PBL projects.

Should the focus be on Social, Economic, Environmental or a balance of alternate Impacts? Thinking through these priorities in the Design Concept stage should minimize later conflicts of SEE emphasis.

This graphic is a 3-Dway of viewing Technologies to Product and the continuous improvementassociated with creating and refining products.

In the left it shows a variety of “Y” technologies as inputwhich were culled from the wide design funnel area. These are then processed in the “X” processinto a specific “Z” product. Note thatusing the same “Y” inputs and a different “X” process results in a variation “Z”product. The design funnel shown abovecan be overlaid on the Technology to Product Example; starting with a widerange of options and then refining them by critical thinking into a viableproduct.

Repurposing continued ...Earth Stone Products Blog illustrates the Technology to Product with Earth Stone Processes and Products. It is interesting that Earth Stone is a Triple Bottom Line company, in that they recycle Granite Counter Tops and also improve the quality of life with attractive products that enhance the livability of homes.

The right diagram focuses on the concept of iteration bybuilding on the previous versions. Anexample is the development of computer user interfaces that have evolved overthe past decades. When I startedinteracting with computers we used switches and then keyboard to type incommands followed by the earliest crude windows point and click to where we aretoday with touch and speak interfaces. Each generation raised the level from crude to slick approaches ofinteracting with computers and communications devices.

When I was workingwith Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA)the program managers had a very effective way of using a five viewgraphs for communicatingtheir project goals & objectives, approach & progress, schedule &budget. The overview Viewgraph (VG) wasa four frame graphic as shown in the diagram; they had backup viewgraphs whichexpanded on the contents of each of the frames.

The program managers who were responsible for severalmulti-million dollar projects would come to meetings with a briefcase full of 5VG sets. I was impressed with howeffective their approach was that when I was teaching at NCA&T in the 90s,I used this approach for students to document their final class project. I propose these be used in PIE PBL projects.

Another method of managing projects is the Work BreakdownStructure (WBS) as shown in the graphic. It identifies the various tasks/costs/schedules and functional organizationsassociated with the project. A WBS was Required for the NCA&T end courseproject mentioned above. The graphicbelow was extracted from the Workbreakdown structure article in Wikipedia.

It is hoped thisblog will be helpful to students and PBL coaches as PIE frameworks isimplemented in the Service-Learning project of Guilford County Schools.

Feedback is welcomed.

How Big is Your Spiritual Fish?

2012-01-11T08:12:00.000-08:00

WhenI was preparing my Sunday School Lesson plan somewhere around the turn of thecentury, there emerged in my mind a visual of two arcs; the Human Domain as adownward cupped arc and the Spiritual Domain as an upward cupped arc. The graphic illustrates this concept.

What struck me was that where the Human and SpiritualDomains overlap there is a Fish outline. Reflecting upon this, the concept of a Spiritual Fish evolved. There isan ebb and flow of the size of this fish; large when we have a closerelationship with God and small when we have a distant relationship with God.The question is “How big is yourSpiritual Fish?”

Around 2001 I shared this diagram with my 11 year oldgrandson, Travis Camp. While we werewalking over a sandy loam field on the family farm in South Carolina, Isketched the fish outline where two arcs overlapped and described to him theconcept of a spiritual fish. He grabbedthe drawing stick and started running sketching a large fish which was probablyabout 10-15 feet in length. He said “Grandpa that is your spiritual fish!” I was blown away by his response, which Ihave treasured every since.

These are some ways I have found useful to express theconcept of Spiritual Fish:

· As a farewell - “Have a Big Spiritual Fishweek!”

· Welcoming – “I hope you have had a Big SpiritualFish Week!”

· When inquiring about a person’s spiritual situation- “How Big is your Spiritual Fish?”

· Afterattending a memorial service - “They must have been a Big Spiritual Fishperson!”

The size of a fish can be expressed as a mathematical function as alpha = function (prayer, worship, love, service ....).

I am greatly appreciative of two items which I have received related to the Spiritual Fish. The picture shows a fish made from nails which I carry on my key chain and fish shaped candies. These were given to me by special friends.

During my visit to the Ukraine in 2004 I discovereda fish symbol over the door of a Kiev homeless children’s ministry center (seegraphic).

These are a few of the approximately 20,000 homeless street children that were receiving the love and care of the UCCC Ministry Center for Kiev Street Children. It was rewarding to experience the work of dedicated Christians caring for the children. Our team from Greensboro, NC were one of many teams that were volunteering on the Village of Hope project to build a facility that will enable these children to have a home environment and get an education. The facility was a restoration of an old Communist Youth training Camp on a beautiful 17 acre tract of stately pines. CBF of North Carolina has information on this project on their website.

While on the Ukraine trip I had the opportunity to share the Spiritual Fish with several people. It is a metaphor that gives a new dimension to the experience of Spiritual Faith.

In October 2004 a presentation “SIN à HEAVEN” in the Christian tradition was shared with the Southeast Baptist Youth. This is available as a Power Point Presentation and as a PDF document with 6 slides per page. It discusses SIN-ACTS, How Big is your Fish, and SINàHEAVEN. The graphic shows the concept of a spiritual fish, spiritual destinations and the critical decision point.

A previous blog SIN vs ACTS discusses the Selfish Insensitive Nature (SIN) as related to the spiritual perspective as well the business perspective. If we exclude or ignore the Customer, Nature or Others in our thinking it seems this is the Selfish Insensitive Nature dominating. However, if we include the Customer, Nature or Others in our thinking then Service will dominate.

Later the youth gave a demonstration which is included in the power point presentation as a post script. They used two facing chairs and a board to demonstrate the crossing over from unsaved to saved condition.

It is hoped this new way of thinking outside the box will be beneficial to the reader. Feedback is welcomed.

May you have many Big Spiritual Fish experiences!

A Better Way .... Triple Bottom Line Impacts

2012-01-07T11:31:00.000-08:00

This blog attempts to shift the paradigm of thinking from a single bottom line to triple bottom lines.
Too many businesses focus on making money at the expense of other areas of importance. The graphic here attempts to show a more balanced view of bottom line impacts and associated metrics. Rather than focus on the almighty dollar, a balanced focus is advocated which include Economic, Social and Environmental.

This concept was primarily triggered by an article in December 2011 Forbes. The front cover focused on Jacqueline Novogratz of the Acumen Fund. The section of Impact 30 has been compiled into a Mindjet interactive format and word document with information on the 30 funds. These are available at these links:

IMPACT 30 (1-15) Mindjet Player PDF
IMPACT 30 (16-30) Mindjet Player PDF

(Note the Mindjet Interactive Player uses Adobe PDF Reader which may not be available on some browsers or smart phones, therefore a word document export from Mindjet in PDF format is provided for access to the links to the IMPACT 30 related companies.)

An interesting presentation at TEDxPhilly by Jay Coen Gilbert on the bcorporation website (IMPACT 8) discusses the Shareholder vs Stakeholder viewpoints as shown in graphic at left. Anyone interested in the concepts of this should view the video.

In the Forbes issue the Stanford Social Innovation Review Winter 2012 Roundtable on Impact Investing the panel provides interesting take on their experiences on theme of Triple Bottom Line impact investing. Below are selected extracts from this panel discussion.

Jacqueline Novogratz of Acumen Fund: “My biggest concern is that the proposition for impact investing ends up being more about the potential financial returns on capital than about why the capital is being invested in the first place. The risk is that the focus is more on financial return as an end in itself rather than as a tool and a means to solve big intractable social problems. Right now the debate is often framed by the financial return an organization can make rather than by the goals of that organization and the best capital structures to realize those goals. I think the debate would be more effective if we framed it around the latter.”

Iftekhar Enayetullah of Waste Concern: “I find that the perspectives funders have on these issues really vary. There is a fundamental difference between dealing with donors and dealing with investors. When we are dealing with UNDP [the United Nations Development Programme] or UNICEF [the United Nations Children’s Fund], they look first at the development impact of the project. When we sit down and negotiate with them, before they look into the financials they first want to look into the development impact, such as whether the project is fulfilling the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. Once it is clear that the project meets the development goal, then they look into the financing issues. But their entry point is development impact. When we discuss the same proposal with investors, they will first want to dive into the numbers and the business plan. They want to understand how long the payback is, whether my assumptions are right, and what risk mitigation plans we have looked into for the project. If the project involves carbon credits, they will want to know what our plans are if the Kyoto Protocol falls apart. It’s only after looking at these financial issues that they want to look at the project’s social and environmental benefits. So there is a basic difference in the way each type of funder approaches these investments, and we have to take a different approach when we discuss the same project with different investors.”

Asad Mahmood of Deutsche Bank: “What distinguishes social finance from regular finance is two additional risks. One is the risk of failing to innovate— failing to push the envelope to meet the needs of the client and integrating the social impact into the business. It can’t be an afterthought—“We’ll make money and then contribute some of it to improve people’s welfare or set up a foundation”; that is not, in my mind, a social business. By labeling that a social business, we create a risk to the fundamentals of how this industry needs to develop. If our focus becomes making money and giving it away afterward, then we are not achieving the potential. The social and financial aspects have to be intertwined, like DNA. If we don’t focus on the customer and if we don’t innovate to meet and service the needs of the customer, then we will create a bigger risk in the sector because the expectations of the sector are far different than a normal business. It’s important to distinguish these risks from normal business risks. They are far more exaggerated for social enterprises because we have positioned this sector as being beneficial to the poor and beneficial to society. To me, one of the greatest risks in the sector is that it pumps up all its potentiality and then fails to focus on the customer, thereby creating no loyalty to the business and none of the social outcomes that were promised. How do we define the social finance industry? How do we avoid making it so commercial that the customer and the social service become secondary? That to me is a primary risk."

These three panelists give clarification to the Triple Bottom Line concept and hopefully emphasize in the reader’s mind the importance of the balanced concept depicted in the diagram above.

A regional approach to sustainability is an objective of the Piedmont Triad Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Project. In their Overview PDF document the “What is a Sustainable Region?” visual a Venn diagram identifies the Triple Bottom Lines as Social, Environmential and Economic Equity. It identifies a Sustainable Region as "An urban, suburban or rural community that has more housing and transporation choices, is closer to jobs, shops and schools, is more energy independent and helps protect clean air and water."

The Southeast Guilford Community Alliances, a local community in the Piedmont Triad Region focuses on enhancing the Quality of Life, strengthening community both now and for future generations, encouraging growth and financial support of community and businesses. They work independently and collaboratively toward that end. Both the Piedmont Triad Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Project and the Southeast Guilford Community Alliances are examples where regional and local communities align themselves to create a healthy paradigm for their citizens.

The August 2010 blog "Design Funnel ... Fish-Hook-Fry Metaphors ...." discusses an approach which starts with a wide funnel with many options and narrows to Goals, Solutions, Products or Services. When the design process focuses on a balanced Tripple Bottom Line the typical emphasis on almighty dollar is enhanced to include the social and environmental aspects.

The graphic "another way of visualizing" extracted from The Center for Creativity Economy gives an alternate concept of the design funnel showing breadth versus time.

In the November 2011 blog I-STEAM PIE Engine connects future economy to jobs … I-STEAMSS was introduced which reflects Innovation, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math and Social Studies. I now promote the I-STEAMSS concept, in fact this blog brings strength to the Social aspect.

Hopefully this blog will give the reader a new set of eyes of “New Ways of Thinking Inside and Outside the Box” and enable a more comprehensive understanding of how a balanced Triple Bottom Line is “A Better Way” toward a healthy paradigm. Feedback is welcomed.

“lhb: Quality comes from Ownership with Integrity and appropriate Resources in a healthy Paradigm”

Frame Works: P21 - PIE - bestChoices ....

2011-12-20T13:28:00.000-08:00

This blog explores P21, PIE, bestChoices and 21^st Century GrandChallenges frameworks relevant to connecting students to the future economy.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21)

During the 90s while teaching at NCA&T University, I wondered “Are we teaching the right things to students?” Since then I have had a passion for exploring various views of education. One which I find has system thinking and covers a lot of the bases are Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21).

The P21 Framework presents a holistic view of 21st century teaching and learning that combines a discrete focus on 21st century student outcomes (a blending of specific skills, content knowledge, expertise and literacies) with innovative support systems to help students master the multi-dimensional abilities required of them in the 21st century.

The key elements of 21st century learning are represented in the graphic and descriptions below. The graphic represents both 21st century skills student outcomes (as represented by the arches of the rainbow) and 21st century skills support systems (as represented by the pools at the bottom).

While the graphic represents each element distinctly for descriptive purposes, the Partnership views all the components as fully interconnected in the process of 21st century teaching and learning.

The elements described below are the critical systems necessary to ensure 21st century readiness for every student. Twenty-first century standards, assessments, curriculum, instruction, professional development and learning environments must be aligned to produce a support system that produces 21st century outcomes for today’s students.

Twenty-First Century Student Outcomes and Support Systems

· Download a brief PDF version of the Framework here.

· Download the full P21 Framework Definitions document.

· Visit Route 21 for an interactive view of the framework here.

bestChoices

During the 80s I struggled with what was the best way to look at company organizations. We were involved with multi-million dollar projects and in the Management Volume we would always spend exceptional amounts of time on trying to get the hierarchical organization levels to come to agreement on what should be presented to the customer. The customer was primarily interested in who was the principal investigator and who made project and money decisions.

This was the genesis of my starting to think of metaphors that better depicted the critical functions of an organizational entity. When I was teaching at NCA&T, I had a metaphor which addressed the Research, Development, Production/Service and Marketplace. The Department Chair of Manufacturing came up with a diagram which he called BEST to represent Business, Engineering, Science and Technology and used it to coordinate work between the Engineering and Technology Schools. It was at that time I started using the Hats of bestChoices. Notice that the only letter that is in caps is "C" which represents the Customer which is the most important since they pay for the products or services. After approximately two decades, it still is robust and gives a valid way of thinking inside and outside the box of companies. Listed below is the breakout of the various functions as originally defined in my initial thinking during the 90s. This is specifically illustrated in the rotating banner of Building Competitive Services & Wares.

bestChoices What's in a name?

b - Business - Project Management
e - Engineer - Design & Development
s - Scientist - Applied Research
t - Technologist - Production/Service
C - Customer - Marketplace
h - Human Resources - Knowledge & Skills
o - Outer Core - (Core Common Operational Resource Environment) Paradigm in which company
operates; includes Government, Cultural, Language, Social, Infrastructure, etc
i - Inner Core - Paradigm within company which supports the innovative engines or sub business units (SBU); includes logistics, financial, image relations, etc. Some functions are often outsourced.
c - Competition - Marketplace
e - Executive - Strategic Management/Financing
s - Sources - Trading Partners (Global Supply Chain)

With only minor changes from the orginal definitions above they are still valid today. A recent emphasis is the Entrepreneurial Productive Innovative Engine (PIE) Team hats which are a subset of bestChoices as noted in bold font.

Entrepreneurial PIE Teams bring to the table a view that we must have a proactive approach to creation of jobs. Drawing on Metaphors from M21C thinking, the concept of planting PIE Teams is a proactive way to get people thinking about the primary functions that create Things and therefore Jobs. A graphic expresses this with emphasis on hands and fingers. A new metaphor for the six hat team is presented using the fingers of a hand and the arm to represent essential functions associated with a viable business.

It is a team that wear the following hats with objective to create new products, services or processes:

Business Hat (Entrepreneur/Manager)
Customer Hat (Marketplace advocate)
Technologist Hat (Production/Service/Processes/Experiences)
Engineer Hat (Creative/Functional Design & Development)
Scientist Hat (Applied Research)
Logistics Hat (Global Supply Chain)

The concept evolved in the authors mind during the 90s when he was teaching at NCA&T. Students were having a difficult time determining where their future careers would be. The concept of a room with four corners was used to give the students an orientation from which they would share with the class where they felt their future would be.

The door of the room represented the marketplace where the customer hat resides, it had a unique understanding of the marketplace and the business and was an advocate of the Customer bringing solutions to fit his needs. Also, he brought the needs of the Customer to the business so they could create products, processes, services or experiences that they needed.

The corner of the room next to the door is the Technologist's Hat which makes specific stuff that the Customer needs. The next corner is where the Engineer Hat resides and does design & development; taking ideas and building prototypes that could be passed to the Technologist for producing high quality, low cost, high performance services and wares. In the next corner is the Scientist Hat doing Research, coming up with new technologies and techniques that the engineer and technologist can use for a competitive edge.

In the Hall is the Logistics (Sourcing) Hat which is concerned with the global supply chain.

What has been said about PIE Teams

Grand Challenges for 21st Century

Addressing the 14 Grand Challenges which the National Academy of Engineering has identified for the 21st century will require the awareness, commitment, and involvement of many areas of society. To develop the scientific and technological expertise and workforce to address these challenges, we must reach and impact not only the university level, but also the K-12 level-- students, teachers, administrators, and curriculum. Solving these Grand Challenges requires us to develop leaders, technological experts and workers, and an informed workforce and populace, both within and outside of engineering. To achieve this, our goal is to address the Grand Challenges at the K-12 level.

The NAE GC K12 Partners Program is the way the Grand Challenges get integrated into the lives of K12 students and teachers. To attain “Partner” status, an individual, class, school or district will implement a pathway in collaboration with a GC K12 Partners Program Site.

The Grand ChallengesThe 14 Grand Challenges of the National Academy of Engineering are as follows:

· Make solar energy economical

· Provide energy from fusion

· Develop carbon sequestration methods

· Manage the nitrogen cycle

· Provide access to clean water

· Restore and improve urban infrastructure

· Advance health informatics

· Engineer better medicines

· Reverse-engineer the brain

· Prevent nuclear terror

· Secure cyberspace

· Enhance virtual reality

· Advance personalized learning

· Engineer the tools of scientific discovery
Implementing the NAE Grand Challenge K-12 Partners Program involves 5 parts which reflect the 5 components approved by the NAE for the Grand Challenge Scholars Program, translated into appropriate K-12 terminology as the “5-Part Make It Happen Plan:”

Elementary School Level Project: How Do Plants Breathe?

An Example is Grand Challenge: Develop carbon sequestration methods

1. Do it:

You want to discover how plants breathe (K-3 grade levels) or  you want to discover how plants take in carbon dioxide and emit oxygen (4-5 grade levels).

2. Learn it:

You must find out how plants use sunlight for food (K-3 grade levels) or you must research photosynthesis, what it is and how it works (4-5 grade levels).

3. Share it:

Decide if you want to work with plants on land or plants in water, and learn about how much light these plants require (K-3 grade levels), or research which biomes would have the most photosynthesis going on. Remember to examine land and water biomes (4-5 grade levels).

4. Teach it:

5. Create it:

With the help of your teacher or another adult, place some small tea light candles in the bottom of a shoe box. Ask the adult to light the candles and also to place a piece of dry ice in the bottom of a gallon size Ziploc bag. Wait for the dry ice to disappear (sublimate away). Carefully pour the invisible contents of the plastic bag over the candles in the shoe box. Record what happens. Take a small plant and place it in the bottom of a gallon size Ziploc bag. (The container that the plant is in should have a plastic bag tied around it to expose only the leaves and stem of the plant—so you can turn it upside down and not spill anything.) Place a piece of dry ice in the bottom of the bag. Do not seal the bag until the dry ice disappears (sublimates away), but keep it upright so as not to spill the gas out. After the ice is gone, carefully seal the bag, making sure not to squeeze the gas out at all. Leave the plant over a night or two in your classroom. After that time, get your shoe box with the candles back out and ask the adult to light the candles. Carefully unseal the Ziploc with the plant in it and, holding the Ziploc so as to also keep the plant inside of it, carefully pour the invisible gas inside over the candles. Record what happens (Teacher performs for grades K-3; students with teacher help perform for grades 4-5).

Give some reasons why you saw the things you did in this activity. Teach some other student, group, class, etc. to do this activity and write up the steps for our GC K-12 Website (all grades).

HOW MUCH CAN I MAKE … WORK KEYS ….

2011-12-06T19:36:00.000-08:00

While volunteering with our local schools, one of the most frequent questions was how much can I make. I found that using the “Profile of Successful U.S. Firms in the Future” chart modified to show relative Dollars Symbols was helpful in orienting them to where they should be thinking about developing themselves for the future economy. In our IEEE Education Outreach program we stressed the importance of the Creative Work Skills shown on the chart. We also emphasized the various skill levels below the Creative Work Diamond. See Entrepreneurial Productive Innovative Engine (PIE) frameworks for a proposed way to create new products, processes and services and therefore jobs. The Skunk Works fits the Creative Work Diamond.

This blog examines the ACT Work Keys skills and associated wages from 2005 data. A spreadsheet “2005 NC-CRC Occupations – Scores – Wages” sorted based on 2005 US Median Wage and associated Occupation Titles is provided.

Note the AM, LI and RI scores have been totaled for the analysis and plotting of wages vs total score.

The data from the spreadsheet is plotted on “US Median Wages (2005) vs Workkeys Score” see chart with graph below. It also has the Work Keys (AM = Applied Math, LI = Locating Information and RI = Reading Information) scores associated with the Occupation Skill. Note the lowest skills with wages of $20,000 are shown in yellow on the spreadsheet. Wages of the highest skill levels range from $70,000 to $135,000.

The scatter diagram gives an indication of the relative salaries for workkey score totals. Note this was a quick and dirty way to show the correlation of skills to salaries, it is not a perfect approach but gives a feel and should give students an appreciation of the value of having a certified skill.

The CRC is based on three WorkKeys™ assessments: Applied Mathematics, Locating Information, and Reading for Information.

The Career Readiness Certificate (CRC) is a portable skills credential that gives employers and career seekers a uniform, standard, objective measure of key workplace skills. It CERTIFIES that a person has workplace skills that are transferrable between industry sectors and across jobs within a sector.

The WorkKeys™ website is excellent in showing how assessments of tasks and skills are identified to show the gap which must be trained.

Other skills are identified at ACT Solutions. The NC-CRC and National CRC have focused on the three essential skills as identified above. In addition to the hard skills there are soft skills that are important. My suggestion is to study the website for more details; it has nice demos and videos.

Bureau of Labor Statistics has details statistics on salaries by occupations at BLS Wage Data by Area and Occupation.

Hopefully information will help to answer students question of “How much can I make?”

Service-Learning PIE Sustainability ….

2011-12-04T18:34:00.000-08:00

The previous blog Service-Learning PIE …. introduced Service-Learning and Productive Innovative Engine (PIE) framework as synergistic in connecting students to the future economy. Emphasis was placed on the importance of Learning as applied to Service.

Repeating the Service-Learning Example here clarifies the distinction between service, learning and service-learning:

Picking up trash on a riverbank is service

Studying water samples under a microscope is learning

Science students collecting and analyzing water samples, documenting their results, and presenting their findings to a local pollution control agency is service-learning.

Thinking about PIE in conjunction with the above emphasis is a logical enhancement to the Learning aspect. The PIE framework brings relevance to the education curriculum by putting application to subjects in a project learning context. By so doing it strengthens the knowledge and skills of student in a concrete manner by creating a product, process or service.

Project-based learning as implemented in other states has an interesting way of incorporating the education standards criteria by having the students define as part of their project the state education standards that apply. Service-Learning PIE Sustainability projects should include state education standards as part of their project; this ties the project to objectives of state standards.

In the April 2008 blog M21C .... HEIFER referenced the saying "Give a person a fish and they will eat for a day; teach them how to fish and they will eat for a lifetime; build a fishery and the community will eat for generations". Heifer International is creating peace through programs described in "Best Friends Instead of Enemies" that emphasizes how new thinking inside and outside the box makes a difference. Their programs stress the ownership and passing on the gift; also they incorporate an excellent training and sustainability mindset in the recipients of the gifts. Their training helps to build the "fishery" concept mentioned above. I suggest we use the following to clarify the approaches:

Service-Learning-PIE

Give-Teach-Build

By adding PIE to the Service-Learning concept it brings positive "Building & Sustainability" into play. Sustainability is a concept that is needed in our world today and by engaging students with it in the Service-Learning PIE effort they will be better prepared as citizens and workforce of the future.

The Piedmont Triad has a Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Project underway to create a regional plan intended to build economic competitiveness by connecting housing with good jobs, quality schools and transportation. Wanted: Economy with a motor ... discusses creation of jobs in more detail.

AchieveGuilford is a community-based commitment to the educational success of all children in Guilford County that aligns community resources to ensure students are successful at each critical point in their education and future careers. It works with businesses, nonprofits, faith-based organizations, families and government to realize its mission of Every Child Ready: Cradle to Career.

In the November 10, 2011 News & Record article “AchieveGuilford sets crucial education goals” Dr. Margaret Arbuckle and Richard “Skip” Moore state the following:

“There are two realities that our community must face: The competitive global economy is here and students in today’s schools must graduate with the knowledge and skills that prepare them for success in this environment.

Our students’ future jobs will require sophisticated thinking, use of communication technology and problem-solving skills, and advanced levels of knowledge, particularly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).”

The above initiatives are ways people of our community can engage to create sustainability. Specifically Service-Learning PIE Sustainability is a vehicle that applies to both objectives.

Having promoted STEM for several years, I now feel the PIE framework best focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) as the STEM-NOTSTEM website advocates:

“STEM is based on skills generally using the left half of the brain and thus is logic driven. Much research and data shows that activities like Arts, which uses the right side of the brain supports and fosters creativity, which is essential to innovation. Clearly the combination of superior STEM education combined with Arts education (STEAM) should provide us with the education system that offers us the best chance for regaining the innovation leadership essential to the new economy.”

This stresses the creative skills advocated by Richard Florida author of the bestselling “The Rise of the Creative Class” in addition to STEM. The creative skill is essential to the magic that occurs between idealization and usability of a product/process/service as shown in the graphic.

Initiatives such as the Center for Design Innovation in Winston-Salem is an example of efforts to incorporate creative juices in new product development. PIE is right in sync with this. There are two types of design; functional and creative. Transportation can be provided by a jalopy but we pay money for creative stylish vehicles. Shelter can be provided by simple structures but we feel more satisfied in architectural aesthetic designed structures.

The August 25, 2010 Design Funnel ... Fish-Hook-Fry Metaphors .... blog discusses this concept in more detail.

The VentuRealization Workshop Series was interactive goal-directed designed for entrepreneurs interested in transforming an early-stage idea into a compelling business opportunity. Critical elements of this process include:

Creating an attractive value proposition
Developing a simple action plan
Defining goal-directed resource requirements
Forming the initial team
Identifying potential partners
Presenting the opportunity to stake holders

I include one of the visuals that were part of the workshop that illustrates Idea to Opportunity. This is an example of Helping Translate Ideas to Action.

In Service-Learning PIE Sustainability the PIE framework applies to this mapping of Idea to Opportunity.

The Sustainability Helix chart gives another perspective to the life cycle of a product, process or service. During the design an effort should be made to consider this life cycle sustainability.

Also the waste hierarchy should be considered in the design process.

Hopefully information included in this blog will be helpful toward implementing Service-Learning PIE Sustainability.
It is proposed that at least three schools be incorporated into a pilot implementation of PIE in support of Service-Learning. By doing at least three pilots from GCS Regions it will give insights/perspectives on each school’s approach to Service-Learning and would establish a collaborative base as the pilots are designed, developed and implemented.

Information in this blog is thoughts of the author and will be revised as planning with GCS proceeds.

Thank you for considering this blog, feedback is welcomed.

Service-Learning PIE ….

2011-11-25T20:09:00.000-08:00

Entrepreneurial Productive Innovative Engine (PIE) Teams are a framework for proactively creating products, processes or services. The Connecting Students to the Future Economy proposes that the PIE framework be utilized to develop service-learning experiences. This blog explores this as applied to the Guilford County Schools (GCS) Service-Learning Program.

This diagram shows the interaction of Industry Partners and the Service-Learning Experiences. PIE and Future 4 Kids is also shown as part of the diagram.

It would be expected that the PIE Team would establish interfaces with relevant Industry Partners for Service-Learning mentors.

Future 4 Kids also relies upon Industry Partners.

The GCS Service-Learning Handbook defines “Service-Learning as a way of teaching that connects positive and meaningful action in the community with academic learning, personal growth and civic responsibility. Service-Learning helps develop citizenship and good character while providing direct connections to the academic curriculum.” It brings relevance to education.

GCS has identified 5 Priority Areas for Service-Learning as follows: (Note Google Links have been provided for convenience)

· Community Renewal

· Health & Nutrition

· Energy & the Environment

· Education

· Safety & Security

A Service-Learning Example makes a distinction between service, learning and service-learning:

· Picking up trash on a riverbank is service

· Studying water samples under a microscope is learning

· Science students collecting and analyzing water samples, documenting their results, and presenting their findings to a local pollution control agency is service-learning.

More information is available at the GCS Service-Learning Resources website.

Types of Service Experiences are depicted in the diagram as:

· Teach Others (Could the youth teach what he/she is learning to benefit others?)

· * Product or Performance (Could the youth craft a product or performance to benefit others?)

· * Problem Solving (Could the youth’s learning be applied to solve a real concern in the community?)

· Apprentice (Could the youth apprentice/volunteer in a local non-profit?)

· Public Policy (Could the youth research a public policy issue and make recommendations to public officials?)

Initially PIE will be focused on the Product/Performance and Problem Solving since PIE framework is tailored toward this end.

Entrepreneurial Processes for PIE, IPARD Service-Learning and Graduation Project (PDF) are illustrated in a Mind-Map Format. Investigation, Preparation/Planning, Action, Reflection and Demonstration/Celebration (IPARD) process is advocated by the K-12 Service-Learning Program. The Graduation Project advocates Research, Product, Portfolio and Oral Presentation process.

Entrepreneurial Productive Innovative Engine (PIE) stresses the following Team:

Research - Scientist Hat
Design & Development - Engineer Hat
Production/Service - Technologist Hat
Marketplace - Customer Hat
Entrepreneurial/Manage - Business Hat
Global Supply Chain - Logistics Hat

PIE and FIRST Robotics processes (PDF) are also illustrated in a Mind-Map Format. Examination of the FIRST processes shows emphasis on iterative processes. The PIE shows this as Focus on Continuous Improvement. The Technology to Product Example shows a Three Dimensional (3-D) diagram with input:Y-Technology, output:Z-Product and Process:X; this is a universal diagram which applies to products as well as education. For education the input:Y is students, Process:X is the Education Process and the output:Z is the educated person. Note that the output:Z can become the Process that teaches or can be recycled through for higher learning.

For comparison the Scientific Method is illustrated in a variety of charts that are synergistic with PIE and processes depicted in the above PDF documents. The Steps of the Scientific Method and Steps of Engineering Design Process are examples that relate to processes discussed above. A Comparison of The Scientific Method and the Engineering Design Process shows the synergistic between methods.
Hopefully these processes will be helpful to participants in establishing the approach that will best support the Service-Learning projects. Other ways of thinking may be found in the author's blogs and M21C concepts.

I-STEAM PIE Engine connects future economy to jobs …

2011-11-09T11:08:00.000-08:00

As part of my involvement with the IEEE Educations Activity outreach into the local schools, we have been promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) in support of student career options in Engineering and Technology.

We have used the Greensboro Children’s Museum Transportation Exhibits as a means to introduce the students to the concept of STEM skill sets. This has been used since 2006 in Guilford County Schools and Alamance-Burlington Schools. It emphasizes “They couldn’t do it without Imagination & STEM Skill Sets”.

STEM is being promoted by various groups such as NCSTEM.

“The NC STEM Community Collaborative helps communities ensure that all North Carolina students are career and college ready by engaging in rigorous and relevant science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education that provides them with good choices in life and bolsters the economic strength of their communities. NC STEM does this by creating a network of local, state, and national partners that link them with cutting-edge resources, develop local and state initiatives, and create resources to advance their work.”

Recently I became aware of the concept of enhancing STEM to include Arts.

STEAM is being promoted by STEAM-NOTSTEM.

In an attempt to enhance the concept of STEM, I have posted the following blogs that introduce Innovation/Imagination to STEM:

After writing the above blogs, I discovered facilities such as the Center for Design Innovation in Winston-Salem NC which from what I know focus on the "I" as discussed above. Their vision is "To be a catalyst for transformation in North Carolina's Piedmont area, toward international recognition for preeminence in design and setting an example of how design can be an engine for economic development." The Mission is "To create an environment in which diverse constituents generate, develop and translate creative thinking to foster the growth of education, research and commercial enterprises."

Recently as I was sharing with Christopher Bronson the term STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) as a preference to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) he suggested we use “STEAM Engine”. Putting emphasis on “Arts” enhances the STEM term with the innovative and creative aspect of creating products/services/processes promoted in the Entrepreneurial Productive Innovative Engine (PIE) Team concept.

To the right is a drawing of an early Steam Engine, it depicts new thinking for the industrial era. I use it to illustrate how crude early thinking is when you think outside the box with new concepts. The Entrepreneurial PIE Team works together to create new products/processes/services.

Another interesting variation on STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, Math & Social Studies (STEMSS) where Social Studies are included. Maybe we should be thinking of I-STEAMSS which enhances STEM to include Innovation, Arts and Social Studies; this would give a more comprehensive education.

No matter which is your preference STEM, STEAM, STEMSS, PIE, STEAM Engine or I-STEAMSS, the key is to get students to thinking about skill sets that connect to future economy and create jobs.

How about an I-STEAMSS-PIE Academy to place emphasis on these important skill sets? Do you have a better idea? If so please let me know!

Hopefully these thoughts will be useful to you as we seek to find solutions that will create jobs for the future.

Paradigm Shifts ...

2011-10-03T16:56:00.000-07:00

“Thinking inside the box” represents a paradigm which has closed boundaries with constrained options; i.e. “the way it is”. “Thinking outside the box” represents a paradigm outside with flexible options; i.e. “what it might be”. Metaphors for the 21^st Century focuses on “New ways of Thinking inside and outside the box”. I feel it is essential to think inside and outside the box paradigms as well as the transition between the paradigms. This blog focuses on this concept.

“A simplified analogy for paradigm is a habit of reasoning, or "the box" in the commonly used phrase "thinking outside the box". Thinking inside the box is analogous with normal science. The box encompasses the thinking of normal science and thus the box is analogous with paradigm. "Thinking outside the box" would be what Kuhn calls revolutionary science. Revolutionary science is usually unsuccessful, and very rarely leads to new paradigms. However, when they are successful they lead to large scale changes in the scientific worldview. When these large scale shifts in the scientific view are implemented and accepted by the majority, it will then become "the box" and science will progress within it.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigm extract.

The “Focus on Paradigm Shifts …” shows the shift of Paradigm A to Paradigm B and Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Concept. The spiral in the center represents the processes that are involved with taking the input on the left and creating an output on the right with resources from the bottom.

“The Focus on Paradigm Shift Venn Diagram …” examines the paradigms and processes using the Venn diagram concept. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venn_diagram discusses Venn diagrams in detail. Tools such as SmartDraw can be used to create Venn Diagrams and other graphical communication visuals.

As you can see the current paradigm “A” and future paradigm “B” have overlap processes “C”. Note “D” represents areas of paradigms that are common to both. Current paradigm processes “E” and Future paradigms processes “F” have processes “G” that are common to both. Use of Venn diagrams is a tool for analyzing what needs to change and what needs to remain the same in the paradigm shift.

The “Focus on Dilts Leadership …” chart is a diagram from the book “Visionary Leadership Skills: Creating a World to Which People Want to Belong” by Robert Dilts. As I recall his work is based on Gregory Bateson’s work.

The “Focus on bcXX Paradigm Shift Chart …” is based on these levels of thinking from Dilt’s chart. It illustrates “Egypt” to “Promised Land” paradigm shifts and associated levels of Micro, Macro and Meta thinking. Kessels & Smit document describes the levels from Gregory Bateson and Robert Dilt’s work in a corporate coach context. My chart above is based on the Dilt’s chart modified for work in the context of paradigm shifts. Note some of the work starts with the lowest level in Paradigm A and examines it in an upward manner, once reaching the top it examines Paradigm B in a downward manner. This approach is useful in thinking through the various levels associated with Paradigm shifts and complements the Venn diagram approach. Some of the psychological treatments uses this up-down approach to align the clients thinking.

As discussed in Blog May 24, 2011 Blog “New Ways of Thinking Inside and Outside the Box …”. ‘Several years ago I read a book discussing Paradigm Shifts; in it the concepts of Visionary, Leader and Administrator paradigms were discussed. The author emphasized that a Leader is one that has the ability to move from one paradigm to another. This is what is being attempted to be depicted in the chart.’

Your challenge is to answer the question in " Focus on Your Paradigm ..."!

=================

Post Script October 4, 2010

After writing and posting this blog, I awakened in the middle of the night wondering if the concepts discussed in this blog could be used to understand the events of major paradigm shifts such as the 2011 Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, etc. Included below is extracts from Wikipedia related to these two paradigm shifts. Please look at the chart that shows Paradigm A – Egypt moving to Paradigm B – Promised Land.

------------------

The Wikipedia Arab Spring article gives information this event.

“Motivations

Numerous factors have led to the protests, including issues such as dictatorship or absolute monarchy, human rights violations, government corruption (demonstrated by Wikileaks diplomatic cables),^[139] economic decline, unemployment, extreme poverty, and a number of demographic structural factors,^[140] such as a large percentage of educated but dissatisfied youth within the population.^[141] Also, some attribute the 2009 Iranian protests as one of the reasons behind the Arab Spring.^[142] The catalysts for the revolts in all Northern African and Persian Gulf countries have been the concentration of wealth in the hands of autocrats in power for decades, insufficient transparency of its redistribution, corruption, and especially the refusal of the youth to accept the status quo.^[143] Increasing food prices and global famine rates have also been a significant factor, as they involve threats to food security worldwide and prices that approach levels of the 2007–2008 world food price crisis.^[144] Amnesty International singled out Wikileaks release of US diplomatic cables as a catalyst for the revolts.^[145]

In recent decades rising living standards and literacy rates, as well as the increased availability of higher education, have resulted in an improved human development index in the affected countries. The tension between rising aspirations and a lack of government reform may have been a contributing factor in all of the protests.^{[143][146][147]} Many of the internet-savvy youth of these countries have studied in the West, where autocrats and absolute monarchies are considered anachronisms. A university professor of Oman, Al-Najma Zidjaly referred to this upheaval as youthquake.^[143]

Tunisia and Egypt, the first to witness major uprisings, differ from other North African and Middle Eastern nations such as Algeria and Libya in that they lack significant oil revenue, and were thus unable to make concessions to calm the masses.^[143] “
----------

This Wikipedia Occupy Wall Street Article discusses this event.

“Background

After the late-2000s recession that left many countries on the edge of bankruptcy, with weakened economies and unemployment at very high levels, a Canadian-based group, the Adbusters Media Foundation, best known for its advertisement-free anti-consumerist magazine called Adbusters, proposed a peaceful occupation of Wall Street in protest against the current U.S. political leadership and the failure to prevent or make effective changes regarding the global financial crisis. According to the senior editor of the magazine, “[they] basically floated the idea in mid-July into our [email list] and it was spontaneously taken up by all the people of the world, it just kind of snowballed from there.”^[16]

Although it was originally proposed by Adbusters magazine, the demonstration is leaderless.^[17] Activists from Anonymous encouraged its followers to take part in the protest, which increased the attention it received.^[7] Other groups followed, including the NYC General Assembly and U.S. Day of Rage.^[11] The protests have brought together people of many political positions.

Prior to the protest's beginning on September 17, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a press conference, "People have a right to protest, and if they want to protest, we'll be happy to make sure they have locations to do it."^[11]“

Thank you for reading this blog, hopefully it will give you better understanding of Paradigm Shifts.

New Ways of Thinking Inside and Outside the Box ….

2011-05-24T13:52:00.000-07:00

I have used Metaphors for the 21st Century (M21C) to promote "New ways of thinking inside & outside the box" for a number of years. The M21C cap has been an effective way to get people's attention, they ask "What is M21C?" This has given me an opportunity to give them a business card and share thinking which is documented in my blogs.

This blog uses Design Funnels to express a new concept of thinking inside and outside the box.

Thinking Phase Views was an early version of the Design Funnel thinking in the context of Fish-Hook-Fry and parallels the Research-Development-Production-Marketplace concepts of M21C. It was an attempt to show how Degrees of Freedom start wide and then narrow as the product is attained.

It evolved from ideas of Outward thinking of creativity to Inward needs met focus. To effectively make the transition from Outward to Inward thinking Critical thinking comes into play.

This chart evolved from a discussion of Truth to represent differing viewpoints of Truth. The three viewpoints developed separately via Outward, Critical, Inward Focus thinking. An example is the three Abrahamic religions: Jewish, Christian, Islam, they all claim historical ties to Abraham. Another example is the Political viewpoints of Conservative, Liberal, etc. Looking at it from a Technology viewpoint Microsoft, Apple, Google Products and Services different in their implementation.

Expanding on the Truth Thinking this chart shows slices of the 3 Design Funnels Viewpoints. This slice corresponds to the previous chart comparing design funnels. Also shown is Fiction which is outside the Whole Truth sphere.

The chart below “New Ways of Thinking Inside & Outside the Box” is an outgrowth of Design Funnel Thinking. The “A” box depicts Visionary which has a large degree of freedom; “C” box represents Administrator with small degree of freedom and “B” encompasses both and transition between them. The Blue, Red and Green arrows depict Design Funnels at various stages of development. These could represent products or idea viewpoints. “C” would be a limited viewpoint or mature Red product. The Blue and Green are developing products or viewpoints.

Several years ago I read a book discussing Paradigm Shifts; in it the concepts of Visionary, Leader and Administrator paradigms were discussed. The author emphasized that a Leader is one that has the ability to move from one paradigm to another. This is what is being attempted to be depicted in the chart.

Revisiting the chart note our thinking sphere can be depicted by the box that is more like us. Communication problems are prone to evolve when they are thinking in different boxes, e.g., “A” and “C” will have completely different points of reference. When both move to the “B” box they should be in a better position to appreciate the others viewpoints.

Hopefully this blog be helpful to readers in new ways of thinking inside and outside the box. Feedback is welcomed.

What Grows an Economy? …. PIE? ….. X-Factor?

2010-12-07T09:14:00.000-08:00

The “What Grows an Economy?” article in the November 22, 2010 Forbes issue by Rich Karlgaard has some very interesting information which I find gives validity to the concept of planting PIE Teams.

He points out that “Since World War II the U.S. economy has averaged 3.3% GDP growth year. …. Right now the U.S. is in a “growth recession,” which we can define as statistical growth but at a subpar rate.”

It further points out “Carl Schramm, who heads America’s top entrepreneurial think tank, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, has a stunningly good insight into what causes an economy to grow. Growth, he says, correlates directly with startups that get big. …. He is quoted in an interview with Rich Karlgaard “The single most important contributor to a nation’s economic growth is the number of startups that grow to a billion dollars in revenue within 20 years.” He indicates the U.S. needs to spawn 75-125 billion-dollar babies every year in order to feed the country’s post WWII rate of growth.

This triggered in my mind the importance of planting Entrepreneur Productive Innovative Engines (PIE) Teams in our schools and jobless networks. In my previous blogs I discuss the concept of PIE Teams in:

     • Create Job Opportunities with PIE
     • Wanted Economy With Motor

     • Quality White Glove

Mr. Schramm states the “X factor” is startups that get big.

I suggest if we want to solve the problem of Jobs and a slow economy, we need policies that encourage PIE Teams to experiment with creating new products and services that have the potential for growing into big companies i.e., X factor effect.

The concept of Entrepreneur Productive Innovative Engine (PIE) Teams is that they are planted in Schools. Jobless Networks and within Industry as potential spin offs that will get those participating into a frame of mind of creating products and services that will result in new jobs. In Industry these Teams may be called "Skunk Works."

A Team consists of the following Hats:
- Business (Entrepreneur)
- Customer (Marketplace
- Technologist (Production/Service)
- Engineer (Design & Development)
- Scientist (Research)
- Logistics (Global Supply Chain

These are discussed in detail in blogs at http://www.bcswonline.com/blog/index.html.

Hopefully these thoughts will be useful in getting the pipe-line primed for the X-factor companies that will be needed in the next 20 years. Other thoughts regarding this concept are welcomed.

Design Funnel ... Fish-Hook-Fry Metaphors ....

2010-08-25T19:40:00.000-07:00

In my research and study using the latest versions of Microsoft Expression Studio and Visual Studio, I have been impressed with how they have treated the design and development area. In the book “Dynamic Prototyping with Sketch Flow in Expression Blend” by Chris Bernard & Sara Summers QUE c 2010 there is a nice chart shown here that does a good job of presenting the gap between design and development. It fits well with other thinking as discussed in blogs at http://www.bcswonline.com/blog/index.html.

In the http://bcswonline.blogspot.com/2008/03/innovation-customer.html blog the ISCORPIO Metaphor was introduced with emphasis on Innovation and Customer. Also in that blog a diagram of “Thinking Phase Views” ( shown below) was described that shows degrees of freedom of innovation beginning wide with outward thinking, then progressing to critical and then inward as the solution options become narrowly defined. This metaphor of the “Fish-Hook-Fry” was an early metaphor thinking that illustrates this narrowing of the degrees of freedom in the innovation development process.

A PDF file showing the two charts with notes is available at http://bcswonline.com/blog/DesignFunnelFishHookFryNotes.pdf. Comparing the two charts in the mid area where “Miracles Occur Here!!!” and “Critical – Understand” relate to similar areas in the Design Funnel. To the left of Critical “Outward” would correspond to “Ideation (Sketching)” and to the right of “Inward” would correspond to “Usability (Prototyping)”. Beneficial insights can be gleamed from reflection on both charts.

In the http://bcswonline.blogspot.com/2009/10/i-stem.html blog, I proposed we should add Imagination and Innovation to STEM and call it “I-STEM”. This was expanded on in http://bcswonline.blogspot.com/2009/12/cte-i-stem-cookie.html and blog http://bcswonline.blogspot.com/2010/06/i-in-i-stem.html references

Triad Design Leadershop website which documents the concept of Create – Change as conducted by five heavy hitters in the Creative Design area.

• David Rose – Designer of Tactile and Environmentally Aware Devices

• Bill Grant – Designer of Business and brand Experiences "Design is more than Decorating"

• Claudia Kotchka – Change Agent and Design Evangelist

• Jason Manley – Interactive Media and Game Designer

• David Adjaye & Phil Freelon – Innovative Architects of Public Sector Spaces

It appears these illustrations speak quite well to the concept of “I” in my blogs on “I-STEM” and “CTE-I-STEM Cookie”.

Quality - White Glove ...

2010-08-24T07:05:00.000-07:00

Quality – White Glove ….

This blog is a companion to http://bcswonline.blogspot.com/2010/08/create-job-opportunities-with-pie.html. It introduced the idea of Productive Innovative Engine (PIE) Team Players as represented by fingers, each of the fingers and arm is focused on the creation of a product or service.

This blog brings the concept of Quality to bear on the PIE Team.

The following definition of Quality came to me in the 1990s when I was teaching at NCA&T.

“Quality comes from Ownership with Integrity and appropriate Resources in a healthy Paradigm – lhb”

Note, that an “O” and an “I” make a “Q”. At first I started with Ownership, Integrity and appropriate Resources, but after thinking about it, realized that you could have Ownership, Integrity and appropriate Resources, but not necessarily have Quality. When you have an environment that is at cross purposes and discourage things working compatible together, that is not a healthy paradigm and Quality suffers.

This concept of Quality has been robust and has been accepted by many as the essential ingredients of Quality. It does not supersede other Quality concepts but complements them.

While reading “Skunk Works” by Ben Rich & Leo Janos, and thinking about the recent BP Oil Spill Disaster and the Space Shuttle Disaster, it triggered me to include Quality as an integral part of the PIE Team. Quality has always been a part of PIE Team thinking but is not quite as evident as needed.

I propose in this blog to add a second hand with a white glove that brings to bear quality described above. In Military Inspections the white glove inspection was a way of determining if the barracks was clean.

When you think of the white glove, which also has five fingers they stress the importance of various types of quality that is normal in industry. It also places emphasis on having appropriate resources such as financial, skills, tools, processes, facilities, best practices, etc. Creating a culture for a healthy paradigm is a primary function of the Quality hand. The Quality Hand must be vested with competence and authority to over ride poor decisions made by the PIE Team. In other words Safety and Quality must not be pre-empted by schedule or profit drivers.

ISO 9000 standards are responsibility of PIE Team and White Glove Team.

Maybe the concept of PIE Team Finger metaphor and white glove working together will result in a Creative/Innovative Quality Product/Service. It is worth thinking about.

Wanted: Economy with a motor ...

2010-08-12T15:27:00.000-07:00

In today's News & Record there is a headline "Wanted: Economy with a motor". In the graphic below it shows this headline along with two views of PIE Team and the workforce by skill level.

As was discussed in the previous blog "Create-Job-Opportunities-with-PIE" the concept of planting Productive Innovative Engines (PIE) in the schools and jobless networks was presented. It also discusses the Hats vs Fingers Metaphor.

In the report "Tough Choices or Tough Times" power point slide 8 shows a graphic "Profile of Successful U. S. Firms in the Future." A modified version is shown at the left with relative salaries for various levels of the workforce; it also has the creative work emphasized. It depicts a diamond area of creative work which is very similar to the PIE Team as discussed in several of my blogs.

A modified version shows the profile of work types also with relative salaries. In addition Creative Work, this chart shows Operations Work, Outsourced Work and routine work that has been Automated.

In the Worker Displacement Chart, it depicts various types of worker displacement by:

Automation
Outsourcing
Inadequate Resources
Failed Company

In addition it shows that there are worker jobs that were created by Automation.

PIE Teams are a potential answer to the headline "Wanted: Economy with a motor." In other words PIE Teams and other concepts are discussed in my blogs which present new ways of thinking inside and outside of the box.

By planting PIE Teams in Schools and Jobless Networks they:

Perform Creative Work
Create Products/Services
Create Operations Jobs
Automate Bad Jobs
Outsource non-competitive Jobs
Provide a Competitive Edge.

I welcome feedback to the concepts and suggestions discussed in this blog and other blogs.

Create Job Opportunities with PIE ...

2010-08-07T08:57:00.000-07:00

We hear Jobs, Jobs, Jobs; we need jobs. This blog brings to the table a view that we must have a proactive approach to creation of jobs.

Drawing on Metaphors from M21C thinking, the concept of planting PIE Teams is a proactive way to get people thinking about the primary functions that create Things and therefore Jobs. The graphic expresses this with emphasis on hands and fingers. A new metaphor for the six hat team is presented using the fingers of a hand and the arm.

Earlier thinking had been to plant PIE in Schools but later thinking focuses on also planting PIE in the Jobless Networking groups. Rather than calling it Pre-college Innovative Engines (PIE), maybe we should call it Productive Innovative Engines (PIE) which would apply to Schools as well as Jobless Networking groups. Both would benefit from PIE Team thinking.

In the previous metaphor of a PIE Team, a room was used with the Entrepreneur (Business Hat) in the center and four corners representing the Marketplace (Customer Hat), Production/Service (Technologist Hat), Design/Development (Engineer Hat) and Research (Scientist Hat). The hall represents Global Supply Chain (Logistics Hat) which connects rooms together with channel for flow of supplies and goods between rooms. The Entrepreneur (Business Hat) manages the resources of all hats toward a productive, efficient and profitable enterprise.

Recent thinking has evolved another metaphor which uses the fingers of the hand and arm to denote another view of the PIE Team. In the hand graphic the PIE Team is represented by the fingers as follows:

• Thumb – Business (Entrepreneur)

• Index – Customer (Marketplace)

• Middle – Technologist (Production/Service)

• Ring – Engineer (Design & Development)

• Little – Scientist (Research)

• Arm – Logistics (Global Supply Chain) – Moves Stuff

Bringing all five fingers together is the PIE Team. This metaphor gives flexibility to show the Business – Entrepreneur (Thumb) interacting with the other fingers either individually as shown by the thumb and index holding a product that is of interest to the Marketplace. In other cases it may be focusing on the Production/Service, Design & Development and Research. In this metaphor the arm is the Logistics which moves stuff in the global supply chain. One thing to note, the focus shifts dependent on the product development cycle.

In one of the videos of Partners for the 21st century education there is a young person that says "I am learning my fingers are the gateway to my future." She is probably thinking of a musical instrument but the words also apply to the PIE Team Fingers Metaphor.

Recently when I was sharing this PIE Team concept with Dr. Margaret Arbuckle - Guilford Education Alliance and Mr. George Clopton - Polo Ralph Lauren, George said it sounds like the “Skunk Works”. I had not thought about it like that but it does fit. I suspect they had PIE Teams in the Skunk works”.

Wikipedia cites “Skunk Works is an official alias for Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Programs (ADP), formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects. Skunk Works is responsible for a number of famous aircraft designs, including the U-2, the SR-71 Blackbird, the F-117 Nighthawk, and the F-22 Raptor. Its largest current project is the F-35 Lightning II, which will be used in the air forces of several countries around the world. Production is expected to last for up to four decades.

The designation "skunk works", or "skunkworks", is widely used in business, engineering, and technical fields to describe a group within an organization given a high degree of autonomy and unhampered by bureaucracy, tasked with working on advanced or secret projects”

More information is available at “Skunk works”.

In the graphic of all hands out represents PIE Teams working together to create Jobs in an enterprise environment.

I summit this to the table which is thinking about how to best create jobs. It may not create the jobs immediately but would provide a strong position for future product development that requires people with appropriate skills and entrepreneurial thinking from being part of a PIE Team.

Post Script 12/7/2010
Continued thinking of the PIE Team hand metaphor today expands the palm to include the following:

Products, Processes and Service (Triggered by "What Grows an Economy" blog)
Appropriate Resources
Skill Sets & I-STEM

Appropriate Resources and Skill Sets & I-STEM are mashed together to get the appropriate Products, Processes or Service solutions.

Adding the palm strengthens the PIE Team Metaphor. Feedback is welcome.

People ...

2010-06-21T21:04:00.000-07:00

On June 21, 2010 I attended the Marion County Economic Outlook Luncheon in Marion SC.

Quotes from the program:

• “The Beneteau USA Marion workforce has accomplished a truly exceptional feat in the past six months; a complete plant transformation to result in the only facility in the world with everything under one roof, from a CNC driven woodshop linked to a single-line, continuous flow, lean manufacturing machine. This major achievement proves that our team of creators of floating dreams is truly world class.”

Wayne Burdick, President, Beneteau USA

• “I believe that success begins and ends with the people on your team. Some people believe that the quality of the processes you put in place in your business determines whether or not you will be successful. I agree that effective processes are very important; but, it takes great people to establish great processes. Great people put great processes in place; then, they execute and continuously improve those processes every day. I believe our workforce at ArvinMeritor Mullins – our team – wants to succeed. I am grateful for them every day.”

Steve Mount, Site Manager, ArvinMeritor

• “Marion County has a State-wide reputation for having a skilled workforce. This reputation is earned. In less than six months, the skill, commitment, and learning curve of our workforce in Mullins has allowed us to go from installing our first machine to producing 10 million diapers monthly.”

Colin Brown, III, President, Supremes, LLC

The emphasis on people - workforce by the speakers gives me a chance to share one of the Metaphors for 21st Century (M21C). In the ISCORPIO diagram the southwest petal identifies people as one of the facets that are essential to a healthy paradigm. The various facets are identified at http://www.bcswonline.com/new/m21c_rotatingbanner_described/4C.htm. Note People align with the Northeast Spirit facet. People and Spirit combine to raise everything to its highest potential. These along with the concept of “Quality” as defined below are the intangibles that create a healthy paradigm.

“Quality comes from Ownership and Integrity with appropriate Resources in a healthy Paradigm – lhb”

The emphasis on great People aligns with the concept of Ownership and Integrity. Mr. Mount discussed the findings of Ford Motor Company research which found it was not the processes but the commitment of the people to execute the processes that set them apart from others. This research strengthens the concept of Quality above. He went on to point out that “winning team” is Dedicated, Resourceful and Effective.

I was impressed with the positive vibes from this Marion County Progress session and the new companies emphasizing the quality of the Marion County Workforce. Even though Marion County is the leader in un-employment in SC, there is a Quality Workforce available; potential companies take note!
I hope this blog confirms the importance of people and other concepts discussed in my blogs and website.

Industry Mentor Teams …

2010-06-19T16:37:00.000-07:00

In my previous blog Connecting Students to the Future Economy the idea of planting Pre-college Innovative Engines (PIE) in our schools was discussed. In this entry I present an approach which complements that and the Engineering Connections program that has been successfully conducted in Guilford County Schools (GCS).

The graphic A on the left is a chart defining Engineering Connections as partnerships of Guilford Education Alliance and IEEE Central NC Section.

Graphic B below shows the GCS Regions with colored dots showing schools where the Engineering Connections were conducted.

In this blog I propose that Industry Mentor Teams be formed to function in Regional Areas of GCS. What is an Industry Mentor Team? Thinking based on my blogs and the BCSW website would form the basis for Teams. As in the PIE Team, it would consist of experts from Industry, Community Colleges and Universities which have strong knowledge and experience in the following areas:

• Entrepreneurship (Business Hat)

• Marketplace (Customer Hat)

• Manufacturing/Service (Technologist Hat)

• Design/Development (Engineer Hat)

• Research (Scientist Hat)

• Logistics & Distribution (Logistics Hat)

• Financial (Resources Hat)

• Human Relations (People Hat)

These and other Hats are defined in bestChoices.

The idea is that these Hats would make up the Industry Mentor Team. A primary Mentor would reside on the GCS School Campus full time and draw upon the Mentor Resource Team Hats as defined above. The primary Mentor would partner with the GCS Career Technical Education (CTE) Coordinator Team and would be a Resource and means for “Connecting Students to the Future Economy”, by bringing “Real Life” understanding to the school campus. They also would be a means to plant and mentor PIE Teams discussed in previous blog Connecting Students to the Future Economy. They would also provide the coordination of Industry Resources for the Engineering Connections and Other Connections programs. In addition they would be an on campus Resource for Teachers. This Industry Mentor Team could be the vehicle for Teacher Exchange Programs and Student Job Shadowing and Intern Programs.

When I was working with the Bell System on Military Projects, there was an exchange program where the military personnel were integrated into the workforce of Western Electric. Military personnel were working alongside Western Electric employees; you didn’t see any difference in civilians and military since they were all working on the same systems. This became an excellent way to handover the operations of the systems that were being designed and developed by Western Electric for Military operations.

When I was teaching at NCA&T during the 1990s, I reflected on that and concluded there needs to be more Industry and Academic Exchange programs.

There are a number of excellent Learning Opportunities that various organizations have developed for giving students experience and in fields that are of interest to them and the organization. http://www.tryengineering.org/ has a section on Pre University Student Opportunities http://www.tryengineering.org/listings.php?&type=preuniversity&showall=1 which includes FIRST Robotics. Links to FIRST Robotics from http://www.tryengineering.org/ is available here.

Other programs which I have familiarity with that assist in getting students connected to the future economy are:

• Future City

o http://www.futurecity.org/

o http://www.srs.gov/general/outreach/edoutrch/handbook.pdf

• Construction Challenge

o http://www.constructionchallenge.org/

o http://greatsolutions.blogspot.com/2007/11/international-construction-challenge.html

o http://www.aem.org/Foundation/ConstructionChallenge/SponsorshipOpportunities/

• Destination Imagination

o http://idodi.org/

• Reality Store
o http://www.myfox8.com/news/whatsrightwithourschools/wghp-wrwos-reality-store-100107,0,2001958.story

o http://www.southeastguilford.org/misc/tempPDF/091222_RealityStoreBooklet.pdf

• OPEAT

o http://www.opeat.org/

RISE

http://www.risenetwork.org/home.aspx

The Industry Mentor Team could act as a focal point for selection of specific Learning Opportunities also.

At this juncture it appears that this would be an excellent way to Connect Students and Teachers to the Future Economy as well as connect Industry with the Education System. This close on campus integration would be a means to decrease the gap that exists between Education and the Real World.

I welcome dialog on this concept for contributing to Excellence in our Public Schools.

Connecting Students to the Future Economy …

2010-06-16T18:57:00.000-07:00

Action Greensboro, Guilford Education Alliance and Guilford County Schools convened the Excelling in Public Education Task Force Teams on June 10, 2010.
The Task Force Study group’s objective is to help identify specific program initiatives in coordination with Guilford County Schools and the larger community in five identified areas. These areas are:

• Literacy and School Readiness
• Connecting Students to the Future Economy
• Parent University
• School and Leadership Development
• Character and Education

The graphic above shows the Task Force Study Group members actively involved during the first meeting at Weaver Foundation in Greensboro, NC.

The Study Teams and Focus Chart identifies the various Study Groups and associated Team members and Focus.

This blog will address thoughts of the author for the “Connecting Students to the Future Economy” with emphasis on Pre-college Innovative Engines (PIE) in our Schools based on concepts presented in my various blogs www.bcswonline.com/blog.

For this discussion I will concentrate on the “six hat team” based on the diagram to the right. The five Innovative Engine hats are as follows:

• Business (Entrepreneur) Hat
• Customer (Marketplace) Hat
• Technology (Manufacturing/Service) Hat
• Engineer (Development) Hat
• Scientist (Research) Hat

These Innovative Engines are connected by the sixth Logistics (Supply Chain) Hat. This six hat team should be planted in our schools to start the thinking and product development that is needed to connect to the future economy. This would bring application to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) academic subjects by giving the student team challenges to think like a business enterprise in creating products and solutions to real life problems. Our future economy desperately needs this type of thinking and capability to build a workforce that is ready for “anything” for the 21st century.

When the IEEE Central NC Section conducted an “Engineers in the Class Room” session in one of the local fifth grade AIG classes, the concept of six hat teams was introduced to give the students a feel of how a product was created and marketed. It gave relevance to the product research, development, production, distribution and marketing process. These fifth graders really got it! The Entrepreneur Hats blog discusses this.

More information on this concept is discussed in various entries of my blog and at http://www.bcswonline.com/.

A very successful initative to bring real life Engineering understanding has been conducted in the Guilford County Schools Middle Colleges and some High Schools. The Lunch & Learn and Classroom Connections format have been well received. Although the content was primarily Engineering, some of the Middle Colleges are thinking about expanding it for other career topics.
This program is documented at:
     http://ec.guilfordeducationalliance.org/index.htm.
     http://ec.guilfordeducationalliance.org/schedules/ec2009-2010sessions.htm
     http://ec.guilfordeducationalliance.org/photogallery/2010Spring/index.htm

A number of resources are available at http://ec.guilfordeducationalliance.org/resources.htm. A couple related to the 20th century's greatest Achievements and the 21st century's greatest Challenges are applicable to thinking about connecting students to the future economy. A regional 2010 summit was held in Raleigh; more information is available at http://summit-grand-challenges.pratt.duke.edu/raleigh-summit.

Hopefully the above experience and thinking will be helpful to the Task Force Study Group "Connecting Students to Future Economy."

I welcome suggestions on ways we can implement ideas presented in this blog.

The “I” in “I-STEM” …

2010-06-04T07:46:00.000-07:00

Today, I attended the Piedmont Triad Partnership/WIRED Capstone Event in Greensboro, NC. During the “New Design Focus in Triad: Design Consortium and Architectural Design Hub” presentation I was struck by what is happening in this area and how it applied to the “I” in “I-STEM” concepts of a previous blog October 2009 blog I-STEM, which suggested we should expand the concept of STEM to I-STEM, to include Imagination/Innovation.

Margaret Collins, Director – Creative Enterprises and the Arts, Piedmont Triad Partnership has been leading an initiative that focuses on “Creative Enterprises and the Arts” under the Department of Labor Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Program. Today’s Capstone Event was a report of that work which has occurred over the past three years.

Emily Stover DeRocco, President, The Manufacturing Institute made a statement in the Opening Plenary Session that we should “Have a Workforce ready for almost everything.” My thoughts were this is just what I-STEM is all about. Having a Workforce that has competence in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) with the Imagination/Innovation good stuff as described in my November 2009 blog “CTE-I-STEM Cookie” will go a long way in satisfying that statement.

Triad Design Leadershop website documents the concept of Create – Change as conducted by five heavy hitters in the Creative Design area.

• David Rose – Designer of Tactile and Environmentally Aware Devices

• Bill Grant – Designer of Business and brand Experiences
"Design is more than Decorating"

• Claudia Kotchka – Change Agent and Design Evangelist

• Jason Manley – Interactive Media and Game Designer

• David Adjaye & Phil Freelon – Innovative Architects of Public Sector Spaces

It appears these illustrations speak quite well to the concept of “I” in my blogs on “I-STEM” and “CTE-I-STEM Cookie”.

I am of the opinion that you can have the STEM skill sets and not necessarily get a product, but if you have I-STEM skill sets; there is a higher probability of getting a product. Does this make sense?

Postscript 7/21/2011
I recently discovered this website http://steam-notstem.com/ which adds "Arts" to STEM. I feel it addresses somewhat the idea which I had written about in this blog. I now promote I-STEAM to include "Arts"; it emphasizes the importance of creativity which may not be oblivious in STEM.

CTE-I-STEM Cookie

2009-12-28T21:18:00.000-08:00

You don’t get a good cookie or sandwich without the two faces containing good stuff in the middle. Dagwood and his sandwiches are a prime example of imagination and innovation working on the ingredients of a sandwich.

The Education Week’s SPOTLIGHT on STEM article goes on to say,
“We must first recognize STEM as a unitary idea, not simply a grouping of the four disciplines in a convenient, pronounceable acronym.”

“The University of Maryland engineering professor Leigh R. Abts has used the term “metadiscipline” to describe STEM, meaning a realm of knowledge that speaks to the presentation of technical subjects as they exist in the natural world, part and parcel of each other. “

It goes on to say “This approach breaks down the boundaries of disciplines devised by and for academia, our historical taxonomy of learning reinforced by Charles W. Eliot and the National Education Association’s Committee of Ten in the late 1800s. Organizing knowledge into disciplines may be useful for research, for delving deeply into the secrets of any natural phenomenon, or for dividing up knowledge into teachable chunks. But it does not reflect the reality or convey the excitement of the world we live in. Neither does it help lead students toward inquiry’s counterpoint: solving problems by applying knowledge to design solutions. This is what students will be called on to do in the workplace and in life.”

In my humble opinion, the ideas of “Unitary” and “metadiscipline” can be applied to the concept of including CTE-I-STEM.

Recently while celebrating my youngest grandson’s birthday at the NASCAR Theme park at Concord Mills, I shared with him and his friend the concept of the Cookie Challenge. This would consist of a group with teams of 5-6 individuals working together based on M21C Innovative Engine Team. The cookie challenge teams would decide what their challenge would be and compete based on using M21C concepts in their approaches to the challenges.

Using a napkin to define STEM and CTE; and explain the M21C Innovative Engine Team; I then used Book light and Repen examples to demonstrate the various functions of Customer/Marketplace, Technologist /Production-Service, Engineer/Development, Scientist/Research and Business/Entrepreneur team. My July blog on Entrepreneur Hats describes this and includes the Logistics Hat.

When asked to use their imagination for another ride at the theme park they started drawing an airplane on a napkin.

The highlight of this session was when my grandson took the napkin and folded it and put it in his pocket, maybe it will be a seed that will sprout.

For several years, I have been plagued with the idea of PIE (Pre-college Innovative Engines) in our Schools. Maybe the approach of a Cookie Challenge would be a viable way to plant the seeds of PIE in our Schools.

If these 9 year old boys can grasp the concept of a Cookie Challenge then it would seem others could also.

Our local High School held “The Reality Store” for 10th graders. The format of stations (Bank, Taxes, Housing, Transportation, Utilities, etc) could be structured around the Innovative Engine Team with the objective of an Innovative product or service resulting from the exercise. Anyway it seems worth additional thought.

Postscript 7/21/2011
I recently discovered this website http://steam-notstem.com/ which adds "Arts" to STEM. I feel it addresses somewhat the idea which I had written about in this blog. I now promote I-STEAM to include "Arts"; it emphasizes the importance of creativity which may not be oblivious in STEM.

CTE-I-STEM Cookie

2009-12-28T21:05:00.001-08:00

In my October blog I-STEM, I suggested we should expand the concept of STEM to I-STEM, to include Imagination/Innovation.

Follow-on thinking has evolved this to the CTE-I-STEM Cookie concept as discussed below.

For this blog Acronym “CTE” refers to Career Technical Education ; Acronym “I” refers to Imagination/Innovation and Acronym “STEM” refers to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The North Carolina Standard Course of Study Guide provides detailed information about CTE course offerings in North Carolina.

The May 2009 Education Week’s SPOTLIGHT on STEM in Schools article starting on page 14 entitled “STEM as a Curriculum - An Experiential Approach” , By Jan Morrison & Raymond V. “Buzz” Bartlett have some interesting points which support some of the concepts discussed in this blog.

One of the points is:
” Effective teaching and learning in both STEM and Career and Technology Education are, practically speaking, the flip sides of the same coin.”

The concept of flip sides of the same coin trigged my thinking to what is addressed in this blog as two faces of a cookie or sandwich.

If we look at STEM as one face of a cookie or sandwich and CTE as the other face, then the good stuff in the middle is Imagination and Innovation; therefore it seems logical to think of all three in terms of a CTE-I-STEM cookie, or sandwich.

You don’t get a good cookie or sandwich without the two faces containing good stuff in the middle. Dagwood and his sandwiches are a prime example of imagination and innovation working on the ingredients of a sandwich.

The Education Week’s SPOTLIGHT on STEM article goes on to say,

“We must first recognize STEM as a unitary idea, not simply a grouping of the four disciplines in a convenient, pronounceable acronym.”

“The University of Maryland engineering professor Leigh R. Abts has used the term “metadiscipline” to describe STEM, meaning a realm of knowledge that speaks to the presentation of technical subjects as they exist in the natural world, part and parcel of each other. “

It goes on to say “This approach breaks down the boundaries of disciplines devised by and for academia, our historical taxonomy of learning reinforced by Charles W. Eliot and the National Education Association’s Committee of Ten in the late 1800s. Organizing knowledge into disciplines may be useful for research, for delving deeply into the secrets of any natural phenomenon, or for dividing up knowledge into teachable chunks. But it does not reflect the reality or convey the excitement of the world we live in. Neither does it help lead students toward inquiry’s counterpoint: solving problems by applying knowledge to design solutions. This is what students will be called on to do in the workplace and in life.”

In my humble opinion, the ideas of “Unitary” and “metadiscipline” can be applied to the concept of including CTE-I-STEM.

Recently while celebrating my youngest grandson’s birthday at the NASCAR Theme park at Concord Mills, I shared with him and his friend the concept of the Cookie Challenge. This would consist of a group with teams of 5-6 individuals working together based on M21C Innovative Engine Team. The cookie challenge teams would decide what their challenge would be and compete based on using M21C concepts in their approaches to the challenges.

Using a napkin to define STEM and CTE; and explain the M21C Innovative Engine Team; I then used Book light and Repen examples to demonstrate the various functions of Customer/Marketplace, Technologist /Production-Service, Engineer/Development, Scientist/Research and Business/Entrepreneur team. My blog on Entrepreneur Hats describes this and includes the Logistics Hat.

When asked to use their imagination for another ride at the theme park they started drawing an airplane on a napkin.

The highlight of this session was when my grandson took the napkin and folded it and put it in his pocket, maybe it will be a seed that will sprout.

For several years, I have been plagued with the idea of PIE (Pre-college Innovative Engines) in our Schools. Maybe the approach of a Cookie Challenge would be a viable way to plant the seeds of PIE in our Schools.

If these 9 year old boys can grasp the concept of a Cookie Challenge then it would seem others could also.

Yesterday, our local High School held “The Reality Store” for 10th graders. The format of stations (Bank, Taxes, Housing, Transportation, Utilities, etc) could be structured around the Innovative Engine Team with the objective of an Innovative product or service resulting from the exercise. Anyway it seems worth additional thought.

====================================

RESOURCE INFORMATION BELOW

The May 2009 Education Week’s SPOTLIGHT on STEM in Schools article starting on page 14 entitled “STEM as a Curriculum - An Experiential Approach” , By Jan Morrison & Raymond V. “Buzz” Bartlett have some interesting points which support some of the concepts discussed in this blog.

Editor’s Note: “STEM”—short for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math—is considered crucial subject matter for today’s students and critical to their future success in the global economy. This “Spotlight” takes a closer look at innovative approaches to STEM teaching and learning in American schools.

” Effective teaching and learning in both STEM and career and technology education are, practically speaking, the flip sides of the same coin.”

“We must first recognize STEM as a unitary idea, not simply a grouping of the four disciplines in a convenient, pronounceable acronym.”

“The University of Maryland engineering professor Leigh R. Abts has used the term “metadiscipline” to describe STEM, meaning a realm of knowledge that speaks to the presentation of technical subjects as they exist in the natural world, part and parcel of each other. “

“This approach breaks down the boundaries of disciplines devised by and for academia, our historical taxonomy of learning reinforced by Charles W. Eliot and the National Education Association’s Committee of Ten in the late 1800s. Organizing knowledge into disciplines may be useful for research, for delving deeply into the secrets of any natural phenomenon, or for dividing up knowledge into teachable chunks. But it does not reflect the reality or convey the excitement of the world we live in. Neither does it help lead students toward inquiry’s counterpoint: solving problems by applying knowledge to design solutions. This is what students will be called on to do in the workplace and in life.”

IEEE The Institute issue December 7, 2009 feature article

A Recipe for Innovation

BY KATHY KOWALENKO

IEEE Life Fellow Gerard H. “Gus” Gaynor, Fellow Gordon W.

Day, and Senior Member Mauro Togneri recently shared their views on innovation

with The Institute.

Gaynor is president of the IEEE Technology Management Council, which focuses on good practices for members involved with overseeing the management of engineering, technology, innovation, and strategy.

“Countries have two reasons for becoming more innovative. One is national, the other global,” Togneri says.

“Nationally, a country wants to raise its citizens’ standard of living, create well-paying jobs, and develop products to offer to the world market. From a global view, innovation in one country helps all countries, because it reduces poverty, creates more efficient ways of doing things, and opens up world markets for technology products.”

Gaynor finds innovation essential to leading countries out of a recession but points out that “it can’t be done at the national level. “It’s got to be done down at the individual level,” he says. “Innovation starts at the bottom, not at the top.”

“But,” he says, “they will use many of the same tools to stimulate innovation: building a solid infrastructure, creating good communication systems, putting into place financial structures that encourage entrepreneurship and innovation, and funding education to create a high-tech workforce.”

“The most important raw material for innovation is brainpower, and assuring there is an abundance of that is perhaps the most important thing IEEE can do,” Day says. “Engineers create jobs because they come up with ideas, invent new products, and build up the companies they work for as well as start new ones. That’s how an economy grows.”

CAREFUL NURTURING

Innovation needs to be cultivated, the experts say.

“Innovation requires an environment that fosters it, people who are willing to take risks, and companies that can be patient and tolerate failure,” Togneri says. “When you are creating or inventing something, you need to take chances, because you don’t know whether it will work.

“To be innovative, a company needs a longer horizon, where it isn’t just worrying about tomorrow’s financial results but looking at its long-term future,” he continues. The purpose of innovation is to provide something of economic value, Gaynor adds. It begins with an idea that is developed into a workable concept, and then, hopefully, into a product. “Innovation equals invention plus commercialization or implementation,” he says. “The process is not simple. Until someone takes research results and commercializes them, it’s not really innovation.

“In today’s world, people are expecting innovations to be churned out every 12 months, and that’s not going to happen.”

He points out that innovation also includes activities that refine or simplify an organization’s processes, such as doing something more efficiently or reducing waste.

You can learn more about innovation from Gaynor’s four e-books: Doing Innovation: Creating Economic Value; Developing a Workable Innovation Process; Fostering an Innovation Culture; and What It Takes to Be an

Innovator. The e-books are available to IEEE members for US $9.95 each and can be found under the IEEEUSA

e-books section of the IEEE Career site.

I-STEM ....

2009-10-08T12:09:00.000-07:00

Over the years emphasis has been given to "Science & Math", "Technology & Math", "Engineering & Technology" and more recently to "Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM)" skill sets. I would recommend that this be extended to I-STEM to include Imagination and Innovation.

Our IEEE Central NC Section Education Activities outreach in the local schools has used this concept in promoting Engineering and Technology Career Options. We have used the Transportation Area in the Greensboro Children's Museum as a vehicle to emphasize the importance of Imagination and STEM.

You can see a number of slides that demonstrate these in various Transportation Areas in the Museum for the following:
- Rail Transportation Infrastructure

- Air Transportation System
- Air Traffic Control Tower
- Marine Systems
- Fire Protection & Safety Systems
- Police Technology
- Transportation & Entertainment
- Energy System
The charts also emphasize the importance of Future Vehicle Control and getting involved in with the Future.

DestinationImagiNation promotes the importance of Imagination and has several challenges that give all ages experience in using their imagination. From the standpoint of Metaphors for the 21st Century (M21C), imagination and innovation comes into play when Entrepreneurship (Business Hat) is thinking about business models, products or ways to improve processes. Also, the STEM skill sets are important to the Scientist, Engineering and Technology Hats, in that they are essential to understand how new concepts and technologies can be applied to current and new products. The M21C Hats are discussed in other posts of this blog and on the BC Services & Wares web site.

Therefore, it seems to me that the M21C Hats may have the STEM skill sets but without Imagination and Innovation they will not realize their full potential. So I recommend you use our M21C metaphors and your I-STEM to aid in realizing full potential of your products, business models and Entrepreneurship.

Post Script:
After writing this blog, I ran across an interesting article "Engineering — The Silent "E" in K-12 Education" which indicates that too often STEM equates to STM. This relates to my opening comments about the different ways people relate to STEM. A new report, Engineering in K-12 Education: Understanding the Status and Improving the Prospects, released last month by the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council's Center for Education discusses this.

The report finds that science and technology education in the United States has so far mostly focused on science, technology and mathematics — commonly abbreviated as "STEM," even though the "E" in STEM stands for engineering.

"A major unintended finding of this report is that engineering is the 'silent E' in STEM," says Greg Pearson, Senior Program Officer at the National Academy of Engineering. "What the committee came to realize, after lots of research, digging and workshops, is that despite the increasing national attention to STEM education, nearly all of the major references almost always referring to science or mathematics or the two in combination, but almost never to T and E."

The report also found that, in practice the T — technology — often relates to computer technology, not technology education.

The report goes on to say, "But despite its silence, the E does exist, it just isn't talked about as much or as well understood by the public, or even by the education field. The report actually found that a growing number of K-12 students in the U.S. are experiencing the open-ended, problem-solving process of engineering design. More importantly, data compiled by the committee suggest that these design-oriented experiences can improve student interest and achievement in science and mathematics, increase awareness of engineering as a profession and the work of engineers, boost interest in pursuing engineering as a career, and increase general technological literacy."

Hopefully reading the above report and this blog the reader will have a better understanding of STEM and I-STEM.

Postscript 7/21/2011
I recently discovered this website http://steam-notstem.com/ which adds "Arts" to STEM. I feel it addresses somewhat the idea which I had written about in this blog. I now promote I-STEAM to include "Arts"; it emphasizes the importance of creativity which may not be oblivious in STEM.

Growing America Through Entrepreneurship (GATE) ...

2009-08-17T16:49:00.000-07:00

Growing America Through Entrepreneurship (GATE) is a new program initiated by the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Small Business Administration to help emerging entrepreneurs in rural and urban communities achieve the American dream of owning their own business. Economic freedom is the foundation for individual success and prosperity. Project GATE supports economic freedom through promoting individual entrepreneurship. Project GATE seeks to energize local small business creation and help diverse urban and rural populations create, support and expand small businesses.

In North Carolina there are limited areas where GATE is being implemented as shown on the map. The map above shows the GATE service area in red and blue. Click here to download a printable site map.

If you live in one of the red counties on the map above, you are in a GATE Site area and will be able to work with a local GATE counselor in person. You should visit your local JobLink Career Center to learn more about the GATE program. At the JobLink, you can attend an orientation session and the staff can help you apply for the GATE scholarship. The GATE Sites are housed at your local Community College Small Business Center. If you live in one of the blue counties on the map above, you are eligible to be served by the GATE Virtual Site and will be able to work with a remote GATE counselor over the telephone. You will still have access to local training and programs, but will be expected to communicate by phone and internet as well.

If you live in an urban area, shown in gray, you must meet two additional criteria to qualify for the GATE program:
1. You must have been laid off from a job in a rural county, and;
2. You must plan to start your business in a rural county.

A very nice video regarding the Randolph County program is available at Digtriad. I talked with Jim Judge who is one 9 GATE counselors managing the program accross North Carolina, he indicates it started in April 2009 and is going strong.

This program appears to focus on areas that have been a concern of the author for several years, that of how to plant and cultivate Innovative Engines that produce value added to the 21st century economy. Several of my blog entries discuss this in more detail; specifically Entrepreneur Hats ... addresses the idea of planting seeds for Innovative Engines in k-12 through making hats for the key functions of a successful venture: Scientist (Research), Engineer (Development), Technologist (Production/Service), Customer (Marketplace), Business (Entrepreneur) and Logistics (Global Supply Chain).

It is hoped this blog will help to trigger new ways of thinking inside and outside the box that will add value to the 21st century economy.

Make Schools Stronger ...

2009-08-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

This article was published in the Greensboro News & Record COUNTERPOINT on March 24, 2007

Ways we can make our schools stronger BY LONNIE H. BAXLEY JR.

Quality comes from ownership with integrity and appropriate resources in a healthy paradigm.

It was interesting to reflect upon this in light of the Teacher Working Conditions Community Forum held at GTCC Jamestown on March 18, 2007. Guilford Education Alliance (http://www.guilfordeducationalliance.org/) sponsored this forum, which included participation from teachers, parents, community members and the Guilford County school board. [Report published April 2009]

Two things bubbled up in my mind from the discussion that appear to be essential ingredients for improved quality in our schools. First is time for teacher planning; time is an important resource and lack of it results in reduced quality and teachers becoming frustrated and unable to be adequately prepared to teach the students.

Second, "school improvement teams," when appropriately implemented, can address improving the health of the paradigm. Where can the public help in improving teacher working conditions? Among the ideas suggested at the forum were volunteers in schools, relieving teachers from menial tasks such as copying, etc.

Also, school improvement teams that help identify and resolve issues in a cooperative spirit make for a healthier paradigm for teachers and, therefore, a healthier learning environment for students.

These factors would support improving the rigor, relevance and relationships that are cited by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as important to education.

The public can get involved by getting to know its schools and teachers, volunteering in a way that frees teachers to better plan, and understanding issues that affect the learning environment and holding those responsible accountable for improvement.

We are blessed to have Dr. Margaret Arbuckle and her staff as advocates for our schools in Guilford County. The best investment is in the next generation!

The writer lives in Greensboro.

Virtural Support Organization ....

2009-07-26T21:29:00.000-07:00

The Greensboro Chamber and the NC Biotechnology Center announced the formation of a new center that will accelerate market entry and economic development of International Bioscience Companies coming to the Piedmont Triad region and NC.

Peggy Low WS Chamber; John Merrill, Exec. Director Gateway University Research Park; Doug Edgeton, President of the Piedmont Triad Research Park and VP, WFUHS; Russ Read, Executive Director of the National Center for Biotechnology Workforce Training; Gwyn Riddick, Regional Director, North Carolina Biotechnology Center; Rob Clapper, President Greensboro Chamber of Commerce; Leroy Stokes, VP, Guilford Technical Community College; Davis Montgomery, Manager, Business Relations, Duke Energy signed a Memorandum of Support (MOS) July 27, 2009.

Instead of building a physical facility, the partners will use existing space within their own facilities to house international companies as they enter the market. The Greensboro Chamber will be managing partner for the Center.

The Center will ultimately provide assistance with business organization, intellectual property protection, regulatory counseling, market channel development, and connections to capital for international bioscience companies seeking to enter the Piedmont Triad. The center will be a turn-key location for doing business when visiting the region and will be a central point of contact to establish connections between companies and governments, research universities and parks, business incubators, and licensing venues.

This blog gives me an opportunity to discuss some additional facets of Metaphors for the 21st Century (M21C) introduced in previous blogs. In the March 29, 2008 blog, Innovation …. Customer I introduced the ISCORPIO Metaphor; at that time emphasis was on the Innovation and Customer Facets of the Metaphor.

Thinking about the Piedmont Triad International Bioscience Business Center (PTIBBC) in light of the ISCORPIO concept I would like to focus on the "Organization", "Resources" and "Outer CORE" petals. The concept of a virtual organization without "Brick and Mortar" resources is innovative and best utilizes the resources from various partners. I would say that this is an excellent example of "Thinking outside the Box". It will allow the clients that are exploring the Piedmont Triad Area to get first hand feels of the variety of resources available to them. One that I mention is the North Carolina "Wet Lab" Facilities. It is my understanding that the web lab located at the Piedmont Research Park has now graduated their first class.

The "Outer CORE" petal addresses the Common Operational Resource Environment (CORE). This relates to the environment within which a Business operates and includes government, education, economic development groups, language, financial, culture, communication and transportation infrastructure. The FedEx International Hub that is opening soon is a prime example of the Transportation Infrastructure.

North Carolina is doing good things by beefing up the Outer CORE with the NC Research Network discussed in NC Research Parks .... New Backbone blog and such things as the Piedmont Triad International Bioscience Business Center discussed in this blog and NC Biotechnology Network.

Entrepreneur Hats ...

2009-07-20T13:06:00.000-07:00

Critical functional areas of a successful business are depicted in the diagram. In the context of

Metaphors for the 21st Century (M21C) these are Marketplace, Production/Service, Development, Research and Business. This was introduced in the blog Seeing the Invisible.

Taking this chart and redrawing it to emphasize the critical hats for the Innovative Engine we have five critical team hats as shown in second diagram.

Five of these hats are defined at M21C Described.

The Innovation Engine is depicted here with the Team Hats focused as follows:

The Customer Hat is focused on the needs of the Marketplace.
The Technologist Hat is responsible for producing wares & services of highest quality, lowest cost, timely delivery and customer attractiveness.
The Engineer Hat designs and develops prototype wares & services that meet the next wave of marketplace needs.
The Scientist Hat explores and provides proof of principles, works out the physics and mathematics of devices that can provide options to Engineers in designing or enhancing the products for production and marketplace.
The Business Hat looks at the big picture and coordinates the system to make a profit. This hat is also the core Entrepreneur thrust of the team, other hats are expected to be Entrepreneurial in thinking.

These were introduced in the January 12, 2009 blog “NC Research Parks .... New Backbone”.
For several years, I have felt we need some way to introduce the concept of Pre-college Innovative Engine (PIE) to students of the next generation workforce. It seems to me if they started thinking in the context of M21C, some would get a head start on making use of thinking that will help to give our country a competitive edge in the 21st century economy.

Over the years, I have been looking at how the schools and various groups are approaching this important task. From my vantage point none of them effectively give the insights that are built into M21C thinking of the five team innovative engine hats.

In my volunteer work as the IEEE Central NC Section Education Activities Champion, I have attempted to plant the seeds of the importance of thinking of the various functions of the five team hat. Since we are promoting Engineering as a career option in the outreach into our K-12 schools, I have found using the diagrams shown above have been helpful in discussing the difference of Engineering and Engineering Technology Majors as described in http://www.tryengineering.org/become.php. In fact I have been using these diagrams since the early 1990s when I was teaching at NCA&T to help the students get an understanding of the different career options; it has been a robust model for discussing this with them.

In the April 18, 2008 blog http://bcswonline.blogspot.com/2008/04/global-value-streams-21st-century.html a diagram of creative work from “Tough Choices or Tough Times” report was introduced. I have found the Creative Work Diamond in diagram parallels the concepts of Research, Development/Design, Marketing and Sales of the M21C innovative team. The Global Supply Chain Management is not depicted in the above M21C diagrams but is discussed in “Focus on bestChoices Functions”.

The following diagram includes a Logistics hat to connect Innovative Engines and represent the Global Supply Chain. This effectively gives a way of thinking about the complete product flow from materials to end product.

The next visual is an attempt to introduce the

concepts discussed above with an activity for students that create hats representing the various team functions. The idea is to form teams of Innovative Engines and Logistics for simulating the Global Supply Chain and then provide challenges for the students to create their own business and industries.

Hopefully this will get students to thinking outside their normal boxes toward an innovative economy, which it seems we are in need. The diagrams introduced in this blog do not cover all important functional areas; these are expanded on in other metaphors in http://www.bcswonline.com/index.html.

Repurposing continued ...Earth Stone Products

2009-07-18T09:17:00.000-07:00

3/26/2011 Post script updated: http://www.digtriad.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=138603 has nice video on "Made In The Triad: Earth Stone Products"

In my February 11 Blog, I discussed Re-purposing Buildings, at the end I mentioned Earth Stone Products. I had an opportunity to visit their facility and get a first hand view of how they were taking waste land field materials and re-purposing them to elegant materials for use inside and outside.

This facility gives me an opportunity to discuss one of the M21C metaphors that views the 3 dimensional concept of producing products.

This cartoon illustrates the concept of a three dimensional product example. In the "Y" dimension there are several different components that can be modified or combined in the "X" dimension into various products for the "Z" dimension. For Earth Stone Products the "Y" is waste land field materials, specifically discarded granite counter tops. The "Z" is the products that are produced at their facility in Greensboro, NC. Within the Earth Stone facility there are equipment that process the discarded materials into a wide variety of pattern shapes as shown on their website.

The photo essay shows their facility and equipment which is performing the functions of "X" by using presses and dies that take the various shapes from discarded materials and producing various pattern shapes depending on the die used.

Looking at the photo essay the top row shows the entrance sign, shipping and receiving area and interior staging area. Row 2 shows the operator placing a material discard onto the press and the resulting stamped curved product. On the third row is the conveyer belt sending the cut products into a machine that uses steel shot to perform the abrasive processing, the last image shows the metal shot that the machine uses. From this photo essay you have a real live example of the "X" that was illustrated above in the cartoon.

It was interesting to also see how they were re-purposing liquid containers as containers for shipment of the processed products; the top of the container and structural members were removed to allow open access to the container. It is my understanding that this is a safer way to ship the heavy products instead of shrink wrap.

Another aspect of the "X" processing is the Intelligent Property where the process has world wide patent protection (pending).

Hopefully this will add insight into the concepts of Metaphors for 21st Century, new ways of thinking inside and outside the box.

Thanks to Rosemarie Williams, Owner Earth Stone Products and John Tesh for the excellent tour and agreement to use their company as an example of how M21C "X,Y,Z" metaphor applies.

Repurposing Buildings ….

2009-02-21T19:17:00.000-08:00

This week I had the opportunity to tour a repurposed building here in Greensboro; the Revolution Mill Studios. The developer, James Peeples, has a vision of a historic district with several abandoned cotton mill buildings reclaimed and refurbished into first class business and residential buildings.

At the west end of the building is an events center, which is visualized in the photo essay at right.

To give a comparison of what the building looked like before just look at the adjoining buildings which have not received any conversion.

The first contact I had with this venture was back in the late 1980’s when Gary Dent came into a GTCC class with a large thick notebook with a plan to convert one of the old Cone cotton mills into an entrepreneur center. The entrepreneur center at that time was in an old bank building in downtown Greensboro. My initial visit to that center was in the vault which had been converted into a conference room. At that time I had not been exposed to the term repurposed buildings, but that surely was an example of using something designed for one purpose now being used for another purpose; a vault designed for money now for being used as conference room.

If you visit the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship you find a building that was once abandoned but, now thriving with all types of businesses. There are now over 60 associates in the building with over 100 graduates (businesses that have moved to other locations). This highly successful incubator is a prime example of people that thought outside the box and started their own businesses.

Next to the Nussbaum Center in an adjacent part of the mill building is the Revolution Mill Studios that are being converted into new homes for businesses, some of which have moved from the Entrepreneur Center next door. On their website you can see how far they have come and the quality of the conversion. You can also find history of the facility at their website. A total of 250,000 of the 600,000 square feet of the mill has been renovated and is occupied by 97 businesses. Projections are that as many as 1,000 to 1,500 will work at Revolution Mill when the rehabilitation is complete.

Repurposing buildings is a good example of paradigm shift, moving from the old to the new. As David Murdock notes in his adage “To do the Impossible, you have to see the Invisible.” In a book on paradigm shifts, I recall the author pointing out ‘An Administrator gets everything he can out of the paradigm within which he is operating (looking inside the box); a Visionary sees something that is not in the paradigm (looking outside the box); but a Leader is one that can move from one paradigm to another paradigm. It seems to me the developer of repurposed buildings would be a Leader in this context. Of course for this to happen, there must be appropriate resources to accomplish the various tasks required to transition from an existing paradigm to the new paradigm.

Hopefully this brief blog on repurposing buildings will give you some more ideas on thinking inside and outside the box.

Post Script: This site http://www.earthstoneproducts.net/ takes waste landfield materials and repurposes them to elegant materials for use inside and outside.

NC Research Parks .... New Backbone

2009-01-12T08:37:00.000-08:00

North Carolina demonstrates a state that is thinking outside the box with the network of Research Parks developed starting in 1959 with the Research Triangle Park in the Raleigh-Durham area.

Information about North Carolina Research Parks are identified here. These will leverage the unique characteristics of the individual parks that have been established in the state and highlights the diverse strengths of the state’s knowledge resources.

The North Carolina Research Parks Network’s mission is "To enhance the state of North Carolina’s global competitive position through a network of science and technology parks focused on collaborative efforts and technology-based economic development.”

In my December 2, 2008 blog “Seeing the Invisible ….” I discuss the NC Research Campus at Kannapolis, NC and include links to speeches during the November 20, 2008 Dedication.

These various research parks have emerged over a fifty year span. Stretching from Charlotte to Raleigh, they form a backbone of advanced research and development vertebrae along the I85-I40 corridor.

Expanding scope of the chart of Business Engine discussed in the previous blog “Seeing the Invisible ….”; we see NC has now put in place a research and development structure that should mesh nicely with the next phases of Production/Service and Marketplace. By creating the network of parks it should bring focus to the Business part of the engine. Advanced Manufacturing Initiatives marry well with this network of parks and will be the channel through which research products can be effectively taken to the marketplace. Also, by FedEx placing their international logistics hub in the middle of the backbone, NC is poised to be an international powerhouse of the future, if implemented appropriately.

I am encouraged to see the developments being taken by NC are congruent with my Metaphors for 21st Century (M21C) thinking and validates the concepts discussed in this blog and my companion website http://www.bcswonline.com/. The Five Team Innovative Engine chart also applies nicely to this thinking.

The five hats of Scientist, Engineer, Technologist, Customer and Business are key skills of the workforce that is required for the 21st Century Economy. There are other important skills such as Global Supply Chain Management as depicted in the “Global Value Streams ….21st Century Skills” blog of April 18, 2008.

Here’s hoping that North Carolina will continue to think outside and inside the box by utilizing the best practices of an innovative engine; it appears to me these are compatible with of M21C concepts.

Seeing the Invisible ….

2008-12-02T16:27:00.000-08:00

During the NC Research Campus Dedication in Kannapolis, NC on November 20, 2008, David Murdock gave a speech where he referenced an adage “To do the Impossible you have to see the Invisible.” His remarks are an excellent example of out of the box thinking. He references the time when the textile mill was demolished and a vision emerged of a research campus rising in its place. At that time people thought the idea was crazy talk as described by Erskine Bowles in his speech. At the time of the dedication there were three magnificent buildings which had replaced the rubble of the previous mill. See images of these three buildings in NC Research Campus Dedication Power Point Presentation. The speeches can be accessed from slide 4 of the presentation. I highly recommend anyone reading this blog take time to listen to his speech and two others which have been posted on YouTube.

· David Murdock Owner and Chairman Dole Food Company and Castle & Cooke, Inc.
· Erskine B Bowles President University of North Carolina
· Dr. Victor J Dzau, MD Chancellor for Health Affairs, Duke University President & CEO, Duke University Health System

As emphasized in the NC Research Campus website:
“The Research Campus will be a thriving scientific community where the best minds will shape the way we understand nutrition and its relationship to disease.”—David H. Murdock—NC Research Campus Founder and Visionary.

I see this as an excellent example of non-applied Research. This is depicted in the Building Competitive Services & Wares diagram to the right where Business does not overlap in the Research block area. The NC Research Campus is unique in that there will be Scientists from 7 NC Universities. They will have access to state of the art equipment, types that would not be practical for an individual University to own but as partners with other Universities all benefit from a common research resource. Applied research is in the area where the Business Block overlaps the Research Block. Pepsi Cola announced at the dedication they will be a partner with the center and will focus on taking the research results into the marketplace. Other Business Partners are already on the campus with others expected to join. More information related to the diagram can be found at Focus on Business Engine.

Several years ago I heard somewhere that a Visionary sees what the future can be, an Administrator gets the most out of the paradigm where he is operating and a Leader is someone that can see the future (invisible) and move from the old paradigm to the new paradigm. David Murdock is a prime example of a Leader in this respect.

Hopefully this blog entry will give the reader a new set of eyes regarding “New ways of thinking inside and outside the Box.”

Inspiring Entrepreneur ......... Letter to Editor

2008-10-26T19:39:00.000-07:00

The following was printed in the Letters to the Editor in the Marion Star & Enterprise on October 15, 2008.

Dear Editor,
The Inspiring Entrepreneur in the Sept. 24 issue of the Marion Star & Mullins Enterprise impressed me; it was not the typical letter to the editor. I, too, feel, as Kimberly Genwright does, that there is a need for more wisdom and more opportunities to provide for improvement in the paradigm of Historical Underutilized Business (HUB) Zones of which Marion County is one.

Several years ago, I started some research by looking at two areas, The Piedmont Triad Area in central North Carolina, where I now live, and the North East Strategic Area, which includes Marion County, where I was born and lived until going away to college. By looking at the two areas it gave me a better understanding. ... It is insightful to compare them and examine how they are dealing with their challenges. I discovered some interesting things in the process.

One of those was that Marion had a REWARD program that uses Work Keys for enabling work force for employment. When I discovered REWARD, I visited Dan Breeding to better understand it. Here the Piedmont Triad Partnership has a grant from the Department of Labor for a WIRED program that also has Work Keys as a facet of its effort for enabling the workforce. I am a member of Marion County Progress to better understand how they are addressing the challenges.

Since I find gloom and doom as I visit Marion County, let me share what happened here in Greensboro. Several years ago the inner city was a dead zone; today it is alive and developing as a very attractive place to live. What woke up Greensboro was an economic report that was full of gloom and doom. Several people came together and formed Action Greensboro; which has been and still is a catalyst for development and improving Greensboro. It wasn't easy, but people with a passion turned Greensboro from a dead zone into a striving and attractive area to live and work.

One of the best-kept secrets here in Greensboro is the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship. It started in an old bank building, when I first visited it, the conference room was the bank vault. Some people with a vision put together a plan to turn an old textile building into a Business Incubator Center. Today it has over 100 graduates and over 100 associates with a wide variety of types of businesses. It seems to me that Marion needs to encourage entrepreneurs to start businesses, because they have so much potential for strengthening the economy.

During the past 20 years, I have been plagued with charts and diagrams of models that I now call Metaphors for the 21st Century. One of the metaphors is the Innovative Engine.
It is a team with five hats. The simplest way to think about it is to look at a room with four corners. In corner one is the marketplace where the Customer Hat resides, in corner two is production and service, where Technologist Hat resides, in corner three is where the Engineer Hat does development and in the fourth corner is the where the Scientist Hat does Research; in the middle of the room is the Business Hat that manages the process of the four other hats.

These five hats are the innovative engine of an entity, be it small or large enterprise or just an individual trying to solve a problem. The essential steps are to Research, Develop, Produce, Market and Manage the operation. This is a cycle where there is continuous improvement to the product or service that is being provided to the Customer. Marion County needs innovative engines for success in the future.

Thanks for letting me share these thoughts with your readers.
Best Regards.
Lonnie H. Baxley Jr.

Quality Education .....

2008-08-09T06:03:00.000-07:00

During the 1990s while I was teaching at NCA&T Quality of education became a focus of my thinking and has continued until today. The graphic here was created during the initial stages of this thinking. It depicts the quality of the education pipeline at various stages; the size of the "Q" is an indicator of the quality of education products flowing through the pipeline. Note the areas where there is low "q" on lower levels and where large "Q" are above. This shows that the education quality has been improved at a higher level when a low quality was flowing into the pipeline.

When I graduated from a small country school in South Carolina and entered the university; I had to take several non-credit courses to make up for courses not taught in the small country school where I received my High School Diploma. This demonstrates low quality due to lack of resources in the school to teach the necessary courses for university entry requirements.

Low quality can also occur from the dis-engagement of students in the learning process or poor quality teachers. I understand there is research that indicates that students start to dis-engage from the education process between the grades of third and sixth. From my experience with the IEEE Education Activities with local K-12 schools this appears to have some merit. Our Central NC Section IEEE Education Activities Team conducted a pilot session with a fifth AIG class in 2008 and from what I observed this class was still very much engaged. As you talk with students, you can get a sense if they are still engaged with school.

I read a recent article by the Herman Group, reporting on the percentage of employees that are dis-engaged with their work. There seems to be a universal problem of dis-engagement in our society. High dropout rates in schools, dis-interest in work, lack of spiritual development. "Quality comes from Ownership with Integrity and appropriate Resources in a healthy Paradigm - lhb" seems valid here. Some of the problems of dis-engagement may be due to the un-healthy paradigm in which people are found; be it schools, workplace or spiritual environments.

In education there has been a lot of emphasis on the "No Child Left Behind" for the lower bar achievers; but with less emphasis on the higher bar achievers. There needs to be a balance between the two. If we look at the chart on my April 18th blog we see there are various levels of skills that are required for a successful 21st century company. The lower level rountine skills are the ones that the lower bar achievers are going to find themselves in and the higher bar achievers are the ones that will be in the creative work diamond and will be making an impact on the 21st century economy. We need to encourage them all to find their place in the world where they can take ownership and make a difference!

Paradigm Shifts .... 21st Century Skills

2008-05-05T06:01:00.000-07:00

In my April 18th blog entry I introduced a chart from "Tough Choices or Tough Times" and discussed "Value Streams ...... 21st Century Skills". In today's News & Record May 5, 2008, there is an article by David Brooks which I think ties in with this discussion and addresses the paradigm shift of skills revolution we are experiencing.

He discusses how the globalization paradigm has turned out to be very convenient for politicians. "It allows them to blame foreigners for economic woes." .... ".. there's a problem with the way the globalization paradigm has evolved. It doesn't really explain most of what is happening in the world."

He goes on to say "The central process driving this is not globalization. It's the skills revolution. We're moving into a more demanding cognitive age. In order to thrive, people are compelled to become better at absorbing, processing and combining information. This is happening in localized and golbalized sectors, and it would be happening even if you tore up every free trade deal ever inked." "The globalization paradigm leads people to see economic development as a form of foreign policy, as a grand competition between nations and civilizations. These abstractions, called 'the Chinese' or 'the Indians,' are doing this or that. But the cognitive age paradigm emphasizes psychology, culture and pedagogy -- specific processes that foster learning. .... If you understand that you are living at the beginning of a cognitive age, your're focusing on the real source of prosperity and understand that that your anxiety is not being caused by a foreigner." "It's not globalization and the skills revolution are contradictory processes. But which paradigm you embrace determines which facts and remedies you emphasize." He further emphasizes that it's time to move beyond the globalization paradigm thinking.

What captured my attention in this article is the importance of the skills revolution which ties in with my previous blog on the importance of 21st century skills. In the global supply chain there are a triplett of materials, information and financial chains. The diamond in the chart shows creative work as high importance in a competitive marketplace and our educational supply chain must be developing the future workforce with these necessary 21st century skills.

In other parts of this blog and in our website we discuss Metaphors for the 21st Century (M21C) and the importance of the Innovative Engine in building competitive services & wares.

Global Value Streams ..... 21st Century Skills

2008-04-18T05:16:00.000-07:00

In the report "Tough Choices or Tough Times" there is a chart which is instructive when thinking about 21st Century Skills. It is a Triangle with a diamond at the top representing Creative Work which includes Research, Development, Design, Marketing & Sales and Global Supply Chain Management. In the lower part of the Triangle it shows how Routine Work is done by People and Machines; this gives a feel for how Routine Work is being displaced by machines. It also shows a horizontal line about midway which represents the work that has been outsourced overseas to developing countries. The horizontal line also intercepts the lower part of the diamond, indicating some of the creative work is now being done by non-US entities. Click here to get more information regarding the Tough Choices or Tough Times Report.

Metaphors for the 21st Century (M21C) focuses on the Supply Chain using the entity metaphors shown in the diagram. Sources, Businesses and Markets are indicated on the diagram.

In the center of each individual entity there is a metaphor which represents the Innovative Engine. This is discussed in our website.

In building competitive services and wares it is important to think of the supply chain not just as the materials flow but also include the information and the financial supply chains. Therefore for the flows shown in the diagram there is a triplet that must be considered when analyzing the competition. You can think of the materials as a forward flow and the financial as a backward flow; the information is both forward and backward flow.

There has been great progress in the past couple of decades in the information flow. In the not too distant past all information was in terms of physical paper flow, but with the new technologies of electronic data interchange the completion of pieces of paper by people have been transferred to automated computer and communications networks. This is an example where 21st Century Skills are becoming important in the creative work of developing and deploying systems that automate routine work.

A more recent technology that has enhanced the capability of supply chains is RFID. Bar coding has been used extensively to identify and improve flow of goods through the consumer chain. Retail scanners at checkout counters ring up the prices from a data base keyed to the bar codes. RFID takes the coding of bar codes one step further by including a serial number of the individual item. This becomes valuable when there are problems in the supply chain that have in the past resulted in massive recalls which could not identify the exact source of the problem. With RFID the item is tracked directly to the source. To benefit most from RFID, the infrastructure of the supply chain comes into play as an essential ingredient take advantage of this level of identification. For more insight into Supply Chain Management and RFID see RFID in the Context of 21st Century Skills (Workshop prepared by founder and presented at a local education institution.)

To be competitive use new ways of thinking inside and outside the box for 21st Century Skills in Tri-Supply Chain Management.

M21C .... HEIFER

2008-04-01T06:14:00.000-07:00

M21C promotes healthy paradigms by new ways of thinking inside and outside the box. Clashes of SIN paradigms result in war. Merging of ACTS paradigms can create Peace. Read a previous Blog for a discussion of SIN vs ACTS.

Reading a recent article on how Heifer International is creating peace through programs described in "Best Friends Instead of Enemies" emphasizes how new thinking inside and outside the box makes a difference. They have been innovative in the way the program is structured and implemented. I notice the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are impressed enough with their work to provide matching grants for donors.

Last Christmas my family and my Bible Study Class made a contribution to the Heifer International organization. It is the best way I can think of for enableing those in need throughout the world. The saying "Give a person a fish and they will eat for a day; teach them how to fish and they will eat for a lifetime; build a fishery and the community will eat for generations" speaks to how Heifer International is impacting people in over 50 countries.

Their programs stress the ownership and passing on the gift; also they incorporate an excellent training and sustainability mindset in the recepients of the gifts. Their training helps to build the "fishery" concept mentioned above. Having grown up on a farm in SC, I can relate to how interaction with farm animals gives you a sense of responsibilty and ownership.

I wonder what the world would be like if the resources that have been spent on wars had been used for programs like Heifer. I cannot say enough for this program; check it out there is a risk it may change your perspective on the world.

"Quality comes from Ownership and Integrity and appropriate Resources in a healthy Paradigm. - lhb"

Innovation …. Customer

2008-03-29T17:20:00.000-07:00

The ISCORPIO Metaphor in M21C describes eight petals related to various aspects of a Business; this topic addresses two of the petals, Innovation and Customer. Looking at the ISCORPIO diagram the left pointing (West) facet represents Innovation and the right pointing facet (East) represents the Customer. These are fundamental to a successful business that builds competitive services and wares. As discussed in other entries of this blog, the Customer is the most important since they are the ones that pay money for the solutions of businesses. To stay competitive, Innovation becomes the primary focus.

The diagram shows degrees of freedom of innovation begin wide outward looking, then progressing to critical and then inward as the solution options become narrowly defined. This metaphor of the “Fish – Hook – Fry” was early metaphor thinking that illustrates this narrowing of the degrees of freedom in the innovation development process. Although this is a simple way of looking at the process it illustrates how innovation was part of the thinking phase for anyone wanting to eat. The goal is to eat with several ways of obtaining food such as fishing, hunting and gathering. In today’s society we scout out the grocery stores and choose items we want to have for a meal, purchase and then prepare the meal. You can see the many examples in grocery stores of companies building competitive service and wares. Some of these focus on packaging options to make their products more attractive for the consumer, such as portion sizes or preprocessed to save time in preparation.

On the lower curve we see the Discover, Understand and Focus process that is sometimes used in discussing the creative problem solving process. At the bottom of the diagram are shown the Research, Development, Production and Marketplace domains and the Innovative Team Hats of Scientist, Engineer, Technologist and Customer with the Business Hat managing the process. Try your hand at thinking through product development process where the above concepts are used. I hope this gives you some new ways of thinking inside and outside the box to build competitive services and wares.

SIN vs ACTS

2008-03-21T08:41:00.000-07:00

Several years ago, I began thinking about SIN and what is the best way to understand it. After study and reflection, I wondered if there is a universal way of thinking about it in the Spiritual Paradigm as well as other paradigms such as Business, Nature and Personal Relations.

After much reflection and thought a metaphor evolved of two vectors. One pointing at a downward Southeast angle with SIN on it and another vector pointing at an upward Northeast angle with ACTS on it.

Where:
SIN = Selfish Insensitive Nature
ACTS = Acknowledge, Commit, Trust, Serve

Therefore as we look at the left side downward Southeast negative vector,
SIN excludes or ignores God, Nature, Customer or Others.

On right side we find an upward postive Northeast vector, ACTS which includes God, Nature, Customer or Others. The diagram shown dipicts the God case, but could be reflect Nature, Customer or Others.

First it is necessary to Acknowledge that there is a better way than SIN, once there is acknowledgement of a better way, then Commit and Trust to that way. At the point of the upward vector is Serve. Serving is the ultimate destination.

The behaviour of the SIN vector may be described as the author of Galations does:
"The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like…." Galations 5:19-21 NIV

The behaviour of the ACTS vector may be described as:
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…." Galations 5:22-23 NIV

It appears to me that as we think of the Business Paradigm there are behaviours which would describe SIN and ACTS. If we exclude or ignore the Customer, Nature or Others in our thinking it seems this is the Selfish Insensitive Nature dominating. However, if we include the Customer, Nature or Others in our thinking then Service will dominate.

As I described this metaphor a few years ago in a group session, someone pointed out that the point where the vectors switch direction is the "crisis of decision." I feel that this also applies in the all paradigms as they shift directions. How this is managed can be critical to the way change is made.

With these thoughts of new ways of thinking inside and ourside the box, I believe we can place priority on the Service area which should result in building competitive services & wares of utmost quality.

PET Factor ....

2008-03-18T11:38:00.000-07:00

Services & Wares with the PET Factor can give a competitive edge. What is the PET Factor?

It is a method of thinking about Customer Solutions that provide:
Performance Enableing Technology
Performance Enhancing Technology
Performance Enabling Tools
Performance Enhancing Tools
Performance Enhanced Techniques
Performance Enableing Techniques
Performance Enhanced Thinking
Personal Entertainment Technology
Personal Enjoyment Toys
ETC ........

Note use of any combination of words with PET that will aid in building competitive Services & Wares. You may create your own combination that fits your Customer solution. It is just a technique for thinking outside the box when it comes to building competitive solutions.

With established Technology, Enhancing the Technology may be the prime way to get a competitive edge. The continous improvement cycle fits this well. When new Technology is available that is robust enough to incorporate into your product, then it becomes Performance Enableing Technology. In the case of new Technology there may be a need to educate the Customer to its benefits.

Think in terms of your competitor's PET Factor and your PET Factor to your Customer's needs and best solutions.

May you have Performance Enhanced Thinking by using the PET Factor in building competitive solutions for your Customer.

Civility …. Gracious Professionalism …. Quality

2008-03-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

When I first ran across the term “Gracious Professionalism” in FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), it seemed a strange expression. Recently, I found Dr. Woodie Flowers, FIRST National Advisor indicating “Obviously it would not make sense to endorse ‘asinine professionalism’ or ‘gracious incompetence’…” In November 2007, Greensboro experienced the NC FIRST Lego League (FLL) competition at the Coliseum which promotes “Gracious Professionalism” in 9-14 age children. It promotes gracious attitudes and behaviors that are win-win. They learn and compete like crazy, but treat one another with respect and kindness in the process. FIRST stresses, “in the long run, gracious professionalism is part of pursuing a meaningful life.”

As I have thought about this it ties in nicely with “Quality comes from Ownership with Integrity and appropriate Resources in a healthy Paradigm”, a view which I feel is the essence of quality. Even if we have ownership with integrity and appropriate resources, we will fall short in quality if we are operating in an unhealthy paradigm. The Gracious Professionalism addresses the issue of promoting a healthy paradigm. Civility also plays an important part in promoting a healthy paradigm. We all have a responsibility for striving for a healthy paradigm.

If we had more dashes of “Civility, Gracious Professionalism and Quality” described above, maybe we wouldn’t be experiencing many of the problems we have in our community and world. Just a thought!

Post Script:
In the September 19, 2009 Greensboro News & Record, the article "Tone down the rudeness, Americans urged" caught my eye. Reading it made me think of this blog written over a year ago. I liked what I saw especially "Civility is about protecting all of us.... You don't have to be wrong to be right." This fits into what I discussed above regarding promoting a healthy paradigm. The Civility Project is a step toward this end. You can sign a pledge if that fits your desires.
Post Script:
While reading Sarah Osborne's article in December 2010 SELifeStyle, I discovered another website OperationRespect.org. Their Mission "To assure each child and youth a respectful, safe and compassionate climate of learning where their academic, social and emotional development can take place free of bullying, ridicule and violence." I add it to this since it promotes a Healthy Paradigm.

... Product of Process

2008-03-08T06:46:00.000-08:00

You are the Product of the Process!

While teaching at NCA&T, the issue of testing was always of high interest to students. What type test, what will you put on the test, why do you use essay questions?

I tried to get the students to thinking outside the box, by words similar to the following: "You are Customers, because you or someone is paying for this education, so I must think of you as Very Important Customers. You are also Partners in the learning Process, since you contribute to the learning process and environment. But most important is you are the Product of the Process and your investment is dependent on your Ownership of the Product. So if you concern yourself with the Product you shouldn't have to worry about the tests." Each class would get a variation of this.

No matter what process we find ourselves part of we are partners in the process and contribute to the Product of the process; this may be Services or Wares for a Customer Solution to his needs. By being a partner in the process we at the same time are developing our own product, ourselves. This is why it is so important to think on a higher plane and see development of the product by thinking inside and outside the box.

I would hope that this type of thinking will improve Services & Wares for the the Customer and in the process will enhance your product, yourself.

Building Competitive .....

2008-03-05T19:30:00.000-08:00

Building Competitive Services & Wares can be improved by using Metaphors for the 21st Century (M21). M21C is the umbrella term for including various metaphors into a global framework of new ways of thinking inside and outside the box.

Customers that will pay for Services or Wares from a Business is the basic premise of an economy. The Business must have Resources managed in way that provide Services or Wares that meet a desire or need of the Customer. This also requires Sources that provide materials or services for the Business to produce the the service or ware that Customer will pay money for. Another element that must always be considered is the Competition. The Customer makes the choice to use your services or wares or those of the Competition. Therefore it is essential to keep the Competition in mind for what they now provide as well as what they may provide in the future.

Important to having Competitive Services and Wares is having an Innovative Engine which can Research, Develop, Produce and Market solutions that meet the needs of Customers. You can find information and examples of metaphors that aid in new ways of thinking inside and outside the box at www.bcswonline.com. It is our premise that the tools of M21C will provide a competitive edge when used apporpriately.

Quality comes from ....

2008-03-05T11:48:00.000-08:00

"Quality comes from Ownership with Integrity and appropriate Resources in a healthy Paradigm - lhb"

An "O" and an "I" make a "Q". Ownership, Integrity and appropriate Resources are like a three legged stool, lack of any one will result in the stool toppling over. These three were my beginning thoughts on Quality; for a couple of years, they seemed to be the essence of Quality. However, it dawned on me in the 1990's that you could have all three, but still not achieve Quality. Whenever you have an unhealthy paradigm, where the various facets are at odds with one another, Quality suffers. It doesn't take a lot of smarts to recognize an unhealthy paradigm, where the various agents and resources are not in sync working toward the common objective. This insight revised my view to what it is now; where it has remained as a solid and robust metaphor over two decades.

In terms of math this can be represented as Q = Function(O,I,R,P)
where:
Q = Quality,
O = Ownership,
I = Integrity,
R = appropriate Resources
P = healthy Paradigm

I have shared this view of Quality with many people inside and outside the US over the past couple of decades; they have confirmed the above is the essential ingredients of Quality. It doesn't replace the many approaches to Quality, but it complements them and allows it to be thought of in the simplest terms.

It is interesting to observe how a high Quality paradigm is operating in a well oilled manner can almost suddenly become unheathly by the deteriation of Ownership, Integrity or appropriate Resources. To return it to a healthy Paradigm takes considerable effort and time. During the time my Dad spent several years in long term care facilities, I observed a very Quality operation deteriate into an unhealthy paradigm. Usually it was because of deficients in the Ownership, Integrity or appropriate Resources. To get it back on track took considerable efforts and time.