Archive for mighty casey media
It’s the education, stupid …
Posted by: | CommentsThe headline on this post is inspired by both the 1992 Clinton campaign meme, and by my personal belief – shared by many – that education in the U.S. is in trouble, and will sink us if we don’t act decisively and quickly to change a broken system.
(c) OnlineEducation.net
The infographic tells the story. You can click it to open up the source in a new tab, and get the full weight of the problem broken down pretty darn well.
Some high(low?)lights:
- only 30% of U.S. students in K-12 are grade-proficient in math and reading
- 70% (that’s SEVENTY PERCENT, my friends) of 8th graders can’t read at grade level
- Every 26 seconds, an American kid drops out of school (can you say “brain drain”?)
- There are only 50 million skilled workers in the U.S. – there are 123 million skilled job openings (still wonder why jobs get outsourced?)
- In Finland, South Korea, and Singapore, teachers are drawn from the top 1/3 of college graduates. In the U.S. they’re typically from the bottom 1/3 of college graduates. Looks like the old cliché “those that can’t, teach” might be true?
- Newly-minted lawyers in the U.S. make, on average, $115,000 per year more than a newly-minted teacher here. Newly-minted engineers and lawyers earn less than teachers in South Korea and Singapore. Is that math you can understand?
- The U.S. comes in at 30th in math, 23rd in science, and 17th in reading when stacked up against global competition.
Is the picture starting to become clear to you? We’re in trouble, not just right now, but our future’s looking pretty dim, too.
If we can’t educate our children at a level that makes them – and our society – competitive globally, we’re looking like Rome after the lead poisoning set in: bleedin’ dim, and getting dimmer.
Dim and dimmer, that’s us!
The fix should be to put more muscle – in time, in talent, in treasure – behind education. But you and I both know that our fiscal cupboard is bare, and there’s little will in Congress – or money floating around on K Street – for teachers when defense spending is so much more … fun. I mean, education money doesn’t buy sexy new fighter jets, or aircraft carriers to keep those Somali pirates in line. Boo yah!
Uh, guess what? We’ll run out of money to build fighter jets and aircraft carriers if we don’t educate our kids to figure out better ways to build them.
That’s just one industry: defense.
What about healthcare, the hottest topic of the last decade? Rising costs there are bankrupting families, and could bankrupt the country, if we don’t have the smarts to solve the problem
Our middle-tier rankings in science and math education spell doom there, too.
If government isn’t going to take up the challenge, due to budget constraints and broke-ass-ness, who will? Is it time to evaluate a non-public option, and invite American enterprise to invest in charter schools across the U.S. to help us get back to the top of the Best & Brightest List?
Weigh in now. It’s almost too late, kids.
That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it …
Got succession planning?
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’re over 55, you’ve been getting junk mail for at least a few years advising you to think ahead about what will happen when you’re gone.
Plain-speaking version: after you’re dead.
That’s a topic that every business owner, and business leader, needs to examine closely, too. What will happen when you’re gone? When you retire, when you cash out, when you deploy whatever your exit strategy turns out to be?
A key part of that exit strategy is making sure your exit doesn’t flatten all the tires on the bus of the business. Or worse, knock the wheels right off that bus.
If you’re running a successful business, you have to think of it as part of your legacy. However, you can’t just write a will saying “everything goes to [insert heir here]” without helping that heir understand all the ins and outs of the enterprise.
Who will take care of your clients? Who will keep production running? How will business development continue?
What’s the plan, Stan?
I’m prompted to think about this topic after losing a friend too young recently. Well, he wasn’t years-young, but he was dreams-young, and that made me think that everyone – doesn’t matter if you’re 25, 35, or 75 – who is responsible for the continuing health of an organization must make a fully-fleshed succession plan to guarantee the organization doesn’t die when s/he does.
Who can you groom to take the reins? Have you drawn up the “what if?” map of how your team will move forward if you’re not there to lead them? Have you consulted with an expert who can draw you the full map of a succession plan?
Talk to other CEOs that you trust. Ask them how they built their legacy plan. If they look at you like you’re speaking Martian, talk to the law firm that represents your company. Or simply Google “succession planning” and your city, state, or ZIP code.
If you’re in the US mid-Atlantic region, you can just start here: Assura Consulting. (Full disclosure: not a client. Just folks whose expertise I trust.)
Otherwise, the terrific enterprise tree you grew from a seedling might wind up ground to pulp.
That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it …
Mighty Mouth 5-Point Manifesto for 2012
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(c) 2010 AllThingsSD.com
OK, I’ll admit that it’s highly hackneyed of me to publish a manifesto on New Year’s Eve. I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions – who even keeps the things into February? – and this is not a set of resolutions.
My inspiration(s) for this post are vast and varied. Some are between my ears, and will remain there. External inspiration includes
- Danielle LaPorte’s White Hot Truth (all of it)
- Marc and Angel Hack Life‘s post 30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself (which should be read every day by everyone)
- My new friend and wordsmith-crush Erika Napoletano, a/k/a Redhead Writing (my sister in knowing exactly how to deploy the f-word. Repeatedly. And well.) who is smarter than any other fucker in the room. Even if I’m in it.
This list is a line in the sand. A statement, in public, of what I will and will not allow to exist in my self, in my work, or in my proximity. Some of these have taken decades to learn. Some are very recent epiphanies. I’m not going to indicate which are which … you figure it out for yourself, on your own behalf.
#1: Be yourself. Everyone else is taken.
One of the greatest skills anyone can learn is adaptability. I learned this at my mother’s knee as a 2nd-generation Navy daughter who was the New Kid almost every year K-12. I learned how to manage rampaging nuns determined to punish children because of their own sexual frustrations, how to handle playground bullies, how to show up even when the very idea of doing so scares the shit out of you.
Adaptability is a terrific tool. Taken to excess, though, it turns into approval-seeking. Since I’ve moved from one of the biggest cities on Earth to a small city that I’ve taken to calling Jimbobwe from time to time, I’ve been guilty of hiding my ferocity somewhat. Not all the time, but often enough that I don’t think I’ve served myself, or my purpose.
I will not hide my fierce. Neither will I use it as a weapon. If someone finds me too fierce, they’re not in my crew. We’ll part amicably. Nuff said.
#2: Get paid for your expertise (I call this one “move from town slut to town whore”)
Yes, the economy sucks. Yes, Wall Street has much to answer for, as does Capitol Hill. That does not mean that you should resort to either whiny-bitchery or yessuh-massah-ry. Grow a pair and GET PAID. This is particularly true if you’re a small business owner, but it’s also true if you’re working on someone’s payroll.
If you’ve got skills, exchange them for a fair price. If you’re not getting a living dollar for your work, ask yourself why not. Are you selling the wrong thing? Is your skill-set outdated? Are you simply rolling over in order not to be seen as demanding? Make this an ongoing strategy-fest for yourself. What’s your best sell, who’s your best customer base, is it sustainable. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Grrlz, this one is particularly important for you. If you’re not willing to embrace and empower your inner bitch, you’ll be eating leftovers for the rest of your life. I’m not advising you to go all Cruella DeVille on ever’body’s ass. Just don’t turn into the people-pleasing Good Girl who always serves herself last. Therein lies fiscal starvation. Take it from one who knows.
#3: Fail forward daily
Don’t let a day go by without shaking something up, even if it’s only the space between your own ears. Don’t sit passively when something you can fix presents itself. And most definitely don’t sit there clutching something that’s broken, or that needs to be kicked to the curb.
Anchors are great if you’re a ship. If you hang one around your neck, though, there’s always the risk that it, and you, will wind up falling overboard. The anchor won’t drown. It’s a damn anchor. You, however, will be most uncomfortable. Followed quickly by the aforementioned drowning. Anchoring yourself to anything but a solid set of ethical principles is crazy.
Decide. Do. If that leads to #fail, decide to move on and live to do another day. Do NOT stick with something just because it’s safe/yours/your friend’s/the-thing-you-sunk-3-years-in. Question and assess everything, every day. If it doesn’t serve you, serve it with an eviction notice.
And speaking of eviction notices …
#4: Give fear an eviction notice
I learned this in a very direct way this year, which I will forever refer to as the Year of Living Eviction-ously.
I started the year by getting an eviction notice in late January. I freaked out, and hyperventilated my way toward finding a solution. This kept up in February, and March, and April … you’re getting the drift, aren’t you? Every month turned into Panic City. Who does their best thinking in Panic City? Certainly not me.
One plus of getting monthly eviction notices is this: you get inured (look it up) to them. I did, and stopped panicking around May. It didn’t mean I wasn’t under pressure – I most certainly was – but it did mean that I stopped freaking out and started strategizing on solutions. The net-net is that I ended the Year of Living Eviction-ously without a perfect record. No eviction notice for Christmas, and it doesn’t look like there will be one in January. See #2 if you have any questions about a working strategy here.
#5: Trust but verify. Even when it’s yourself.
You’ve spent [however long] getting yourself to where you are today. You did not do it alone, though, did you? You had help.
There are people you’ve trusted along the way to provide you with insight and advice, to help keep you on the path, to point you in the right direction if you found yourself in the weeds.
You now know it all, right? (If you answered “yes” please stop reading. You’ve just failed the Stupid Test.)
If you think you know everything, you know nothing. You’re doomed without a kitchen cabinet of people you can trust to bitch slap you, with a 5 iron if necessary, to keep you from making a bad choice. Whether it’s a client or a mate.
Trust yourself enough to assemble that kitchen cabinet, and then vet your options with them whenever you need guidance.
That’s my Manifesto for 2012. What’s yours?
Don’t wind up on the least-wanted list
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Yes, kids, it’s that time of year again.
ChristmaHanaKwanzaKah is once again in the hearts and on the minds of everyone from sea to shining sea – and beyond – so it’s time for a remedial lesson on How to Succeed in Business Without Really Lying.
Here are the Mighty Casey Media rules for surviving the holidays with your sanity – and your client list – intact:
- Don’t be a grinch. If you’re not a big fan of the holidays, don’t trash those who are. You don’t have to go overboard and wear a pair of reindeer antlers all month, yet neither do you have to tell the office Christmas Elf that s/he is crazy for loving the holidays.
- Be a gracious guest. If you’re invited to a holiday celebration by a client or a colleague, accept with thanks. Attend with intent to find the cheer. Bring a friend along who could be a good prospect for the business. Holiday gifts can come in the form of customers. Take it from one who knows.
- Be a thoughtful host. If you host a holiday gathering, make sure to keep the conversation and connection flowing. Configure your party so there’s plenty of opportunity to interact, and make the rounds continually to ensure that everyone is enjoying themselves. And have a defined end-time for the party, which saves having to shovel folks out the door.
- If you can’t deal, deal yourself out. If the holidays drive you nuts, that seems like a great excuse to take off on a vacation, a retreat, or a sabbatical. Deal yourself out of the holiday merry-go-round, and return to the game refreshed after Santa’s blown town.
Merry ChristmaHanaKwanzaKah to all, and to all a way to make the end-of-year insanity work for you!
New Golden Rule: See something? SAY SOMETHING.
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Recent events have led me to believe that the world is populated by blind people. Or at least people who are easily sold on crazy.
One of those recent developments is the unfolding drama at Penn State, where icons of college sports – both the college and the coach – have been revealed to have been, if not active perpetrators, at least willing-to-look-the-other-way co-conspirators in child sexual abuse.
I use the image on the right because (a) it’s one of my favorite ad posters ever and (b) what happened at Penn State happened in a washroom.
If you see something, SAY SOMETHING. Even if you don’t/can’t/won’t DO something, at least speak up. And don’t take “it’s just [insert utterly unacceptable excuse here], don’t worry, I’ll take care of it” as an adequate response.
SAY something to someone who can/will DO something. Not the bishop that the pedophile priest works for. Not the coach who’s the supervisor of the guy who’s raping a child in the shower.
SAY SOMETHING to the cops.
“If you see something, say something” is the tag-line for a current Dept. of Homeland Security awareness campaign, aimed at stopping terrorist activity before it becomes an actual attack.
If rape isn’t terrorism, I don’t know what is. All crimes against persons – assault, rape, mugging, et al – is terrorism on a small scale, leaving marks as deep as surviving a bus bombing. In some ways, these very personal attacks leave deeper marks, because an entire community doesn’t share the victim’s experience. The person is left to deal with the aftermath alone. Just as the Penn State victim – he’s been dealing with the aftermath since 2002, essentially alone. And now the whole world is watching.
If you see something – someone hitting a child, slapping their spouse, raping a child in a freakin’ locker room – SAY SOMETHING. If you see it in your house. If you see it on your street. If you see it in the office. If you see it at your school.
See bullying? Say something. See domestic violence? Say something. See a theft, or an assault? Say something.
Find someone with a badge and a gun – and not just a university/school cop, either – and report what you saw. Keep talking until they listen.
If you see someone with a badge or a gun perpetrating a crime, call the FBI. Use your cellphone camera, and take it to the media.
See something? SAY SOMETHING.
All that it takes for the triumph of evil is for good men (and women) to do nothing. That’s always true, and never more true than in the situation where both the Catholic church and Penn State find themselves. An institution that’s trusted with the care and education of children has no excuse: if you see something, say something. Otherwise you’re approving the act.
It’s that simple.
That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it …
Forget Wall Street. Occupy K Street.
Posted by: Mighty Casey | Comments (0)(c) 2011 Walt Handelsman | Newsday
Heaving scrums from coast to coast are occupying public squares to protest what seems to be the greatest concentration of personal wealth since the Gilded Age at the end of the 19th century. Their ire is directed at Wall Street, which does bear some of the blame for the epic meltdown of the US – and global – economy over the last four years.
The biggest share of the blame, however, really belongs on another street entirely: K Street. The street of lobbying dreams, chock full of high-dollar law and PR firms that work Capitol Hill relentlessly on behalf of everything from AARP to zoologists.
Individual taxpayers have no access to K Steet influence, unless they’re members of an interest group – like the aforementioned AARP – that has enough chedda to hire a lobbying firm.
Congress, both the House and the Senate, depend on special interest money to mount successful election campaigns.
The electorate – the taxpayers, we individual voters who head to the polls to hold our noses and do the best we can with the choices offered – are offered those choices for national office based on who can raise the most money, and spend it to get our attention.
And now that corporations are people – thank you, Citizens United – they are under no restraint whatsoever when it comes to political donations.
Have you completed the calculation yet? Here’s what it boils down to:
Corporate $ + K Street (Congress) = We’re Screwed
That may seem simplistic, but it captures the essence.
Do not mistake me – I am a capitalist. I believe that every citizen – including corporate ones – has the right to appeal on behalf of his or her interests to elected officials. Where we find ourselves today, though, is at a very broken place.
Most Americans see their financial futures as, if not stormy, at least cloudy with a chance of bankruptcy. They see their children’s future prospects sinking, since the college degree required for an entry level corporate gig will now saddle those kids with a level of debt that will keep them living on ramen noodles well into their 30s.
How does the American Dream work in that scenario? How does hard work – to get a degree, to start a career, to start a business – actually work to advance your cause if most of the marketplace is on the ragged edge of broke?
A commitment to re-tooling our educational system to a 21st century model (instead of the 19th century “train factory workers” model currently in place) and a simultaneous commitment to bringing our national infrastructure up to date would be a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, the occupants of Capitol Hill are more interested in bleating about the lack of jobs than actually creating jobs by taking those actions.
We have a broken bureaucratic biosphere, and we’re choking on sewage. The gridlock on Capitol Hill has reached Nero-with-a-fiddle proportions, with no progress in sight on any issue. Congress isn’t actively doing anything other than saying why it can’t (won’t?) do anything, and we’re at a stasis point until the 2012 election … ?
What’s missing here is balance. There has to be a balance struck between totally unrestrained free markets – can you say Enron? – and government redistribution of wealth via the tax system. There has to be a balance struck between “do for yourself” and a safety net for the most helpless among us.
The only path that I see to that balance is term limits … for Congress. They were real good at setting term limits on the occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: two terms, yer out. Winning a House or a Senate seat, however, can mean lifetime employment as long as you can keep getting re-elected.
Even if you can’t keep getting re-elected ad infinitum, you can take advantage of the revolving door connecting the US Capitol to K Street.
The real problem? The folks who have to draft and pass term limits legislation are … Congress. Yeah, they’d have to stamp themselves with expiration dates. Which they are demonstrably loath to do.
And their re-election ad campaigns – financed largely by their buddies on K Street and their pals in state capitals across the land – will work hard to scare us into the horrors that will befall us should we fail to vote them back in to “finish the job.” Which “job” is likely to be more gridlock, followed by another round of “re-elect me to finish the job.”
A quote attributed to Winston Churchill says that “America will always do the right thing, but only after exhausting all other options.”
I hope we are about to exhaust the last of our options before demanding that Congress actually conduct the business of the people. Let’s occupy K Street to help drive that message home.
That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it …