Hot Off the Presses

I just completed and sent out the most recent version of the Clearing Up the Confusion E-zine. This one has a little more description of LinkedIn and how you can use it and I included a great article from Scott Ginsberg on maintaining your network using your email software's auto-complete feature.

You can read the issue online, or subscribe to receive it every two weeks in your inbox.

Quick Fun: DIY iGoogle Gadgets

Google recently changed the name of it's personalized homepage to iGoogle. I've written before about some of the fun things associated with the service, including the time and location sensitive themes and some of the neat gadgets which are available.

I was looking in on my homepage today and happened to notice a link at the bottom which pointed to a page where you could "Make your own gadget" with no programming required. As a programmer, I was immediately intrigued, of course, so I had to check it out.

The page presents you with 7 different types of gadget which you can create. Most are just fun stuff (the Google Gram, Countdown). Others provide windows into your life to share with those you know and love (Photo Album, Daily Me). In all cases, the idea is to share -- the penultimate step of the creation process is sending out invitations for others to include your new gadget in their iGoogle home page. Of course, your recipients can't actually view the gadget unless they, too, have an iGoogle home page.

Just to try it out, I created a quick list of the books on my "to read" list. Feel free to add it to your home page.

I don't know how useful or how much use these tools will see. They're pretty light-weight and there are a number of services out on the net which duplicate the general functionality if not the capability to be included in someone elses home page. Still, I'm always impressed by how Google keeps coming up with new cool things which keep us thinking about the possibilities.

So, would you use any of these do-it-yourself gadgets?

Back to School, Part 2: Public and Private

The Clonlara School

Continuing my two-part series on the Leadership Ann Arbor Education Day. You might want to read part 1 first.

After hearing about the state of the district, we divided up into three teams to hop on bright yellow-orange school buses and head out to visit several schools around the area. I had to cut my day short, unfortunately, so I had to follow along behind my group in my car. To their credit, none of them made faces at me through the back window.

Our first stop was at a small private school located not far from my own home. The Clonlara School (named after the town in Ireland from which the founder's ancestors came) reminded me of nothing so much as a modern interpretation of the one-room schoolhouse. They cater to students from K to 12, but only have about 50 students at the school (pop quiz: On average, how many students per grade level?) The school divides the students into three groups, youngers, middles, and olders, and teach subject matter based upon the specific needs of the individual students.

Standing in a central common room, surrounded by computers on one side and the trees and shrubs of a large terrarium on the other, you could really feel that this place was a little different. Unfortunately, our time was a bit limited, so we didn't really get to see any classes in action. I would have liked to have seen how the teachers dealt with a classroom with ages ranging from 5 to 10 with all sorts of specific needs. After having taught martial arts for a few years, I know that this can be quite a challenge.

After we left Clonlara, we headed up to the north end of town to the Logan Elementary School. There, the principal, Arlene Barnes, took us on a forty-five minute tour. We met several teachers and even got to watch one class in action. The teacher, Mr. Parks, was praising his class for coping well with a last-minute change in schedule that morning. In general, the teachers, students and Ms. Barnes all seemed pretty happy and excited about their work.

The only real example of any problems that we noticed was when Ms. Barnes referred to some difficulties getting an inclined walkway renovated. Apparently at one time, the walkway had been carpeted, but, over the years, that carpeting had become worn and tattered. It wasn't until Ms. Barnes described the situation as a "safety hazard" that she was able to get someone to come in, strip away the damaged carpeting and have the floor resurfaced.

In reflection, I think the scariest part of the fact that the schools are having to make due with less and less money, is that it means more than just the loss of good teachers or the elimination of arts, music, or sports. It means that, inch by inch, the students, teachers, and the members of the community accept a lower and lower level of performance -- performance dictated by funds available. Where once the goal was to be the leaders and best, now we're satisfied to be in the middle of the pack. How long before we accept just not being last?

And with that decline how long before our best and brightest move on to greener pastures?

So, is this a real problem or am I just blowing it way out of proportion?

Back to School

Dr. Todd Roberts, Superintendent of AAPS

Back in February, our Leadership Ann Arbor class had our Education Day. Lindsay McCarthy, our fearless leader, had scheduled us to visit a variety of local schools, both public and private, K-12 and post-secondary. Then we got a real taste of being in school.

We had a Snow Day!

Thankfully, Lindsay, and the associated educational leaders, were able to reschedule the portion of the day that we missed. So, yesterday, bright and early at 8am, we assembled at the Chamber of Commerce offices for our make-up exam, er, I mean, presentations.

We started out with an hour-long talk from Dr. Todd Roberts, the Superintendent of the Ann Arbor Public Schools.

This is not a happy guy.

Oh, sure. He has a lot to be proud of. AAPS has been #1 in receiving National Merit Scholarships for two years now. Various schools within his jurisdiction have received awards for their music and arts programs. Students in our schools tend to score much higher than the national average on standardized tests. Heck, AAPS is even the second largest employer in Ann Arbor (with over 3000 full and part time employees), behind only the University of Michigan.

So, what's his problem?

The problem is that, as with many public institutions in the great state of Michigan, his funding is getting cut.

And things don't look to be getting any better in the upcoming years.

At the beginning of this school year, the state government gave him a budget of $9619 per student. Now, close to the end of the year (with little to no time to make changes) he has to cut the district's expenses by $122 per student. This is the third time in five years that Lansing has cut his funding.

Fortunately, according to Dr. Roberts, AAPS is better off than 90% of the districts in Michigan. We have funds saved up for a rainy day that can go to help offset these difficulties. Unfortunately, the forecast is for a long string of stormy weather.

This is all just a bunch of numbers, though. What really brought the situation home was when one of the high school students in Leadership asked whether the music program was going to be cut. You could tell that this was important to her on a personal level.

Dr. Roberts didn't come right out and say that the music program would have to go (and art, drama, and anything else not directly related to state-mandated academic requirements). After all, no one wants to crush a young woman's dreams. He did, however, make it pretty clear that things are looking grim for anything not included in the "three R's".

I wish I could write about the light at the end of the tunnel. To be sure, the school district has many talented and dedicated individuals who are constantly looking for ways to make dwindling resources stretch a little farther. We do have funds put away to support the schools during tough economic times. We do have a vibrant, active community which values education on every level. We have a lot going for us.

Let's hope it's enough.

Tomorrow I'll write about a couple of the schools which we visited.

So, what are your fondest memories of your early school days?

Reflections on the Gray

After yesterday's post about the nature of my project preferences (and the revealed underlying forces which make up my character), I began to consider how those factors might affect my ability as an entrepreneur. Does my need for clear-cut black and white answers preclude any success as a business owner? Can I overcome or at least bend my skills to the task at hand? Can I learn to love the gray?

About a year ago, I read Michael Gerber's The E-myth Revisited. In it, he describes three different characters (not necessarily different people) necessary to make a strong business: the technician, the manager, and the entrepreneur. The danger, he wrote, is that many people who start businesses are excellent technicians -- they know how to do the job -- but are deficient in the areas of manager (the ability to create and stick to systems) and entrepreneur (the visionary, big-picture stuff).

This last role is the one where I need the most work. The visionary works in the gray areas and makes decisions on partial information. He worries, not so much about how to do things, but what new thing to try next. Being the consummate technician (and only slightly less so, the methodical manager), this stuff makes me distinctly uncomfortable.

So, how do I overcome this discomfort?

Well, if my Karate training has taught me nothing else, it's that sometimes you've just got to do it. And do it. And do it. The muscle doesn't grow stronger without lifting the weight which is almost too much for it to bear. Also, as with any other growth, there will (and should) be some discomfort.

Then, it occurs to me that maybe sometimes it is just a numbers thing.

Last year, inspired by my hero, Scott Ginsberg, I created a list of 101 goals for 2007. Was it easy? Not really. It took me a couple of weeks to get them all in place -- some better than others. The trick, though, was just to set aside a little time each day to write things down. Three here, two more there, the list just continued to grow. So, following my methodical nature. Is it possible, by simply working a little each day, to become a visionary?

Will that shed some light on the gray?

I'll have to let you know.

So, how do you deal with the gray?