We develop two types of skills: Technical and Professional. Technical skills are those required to do a job. They’re how a person turns raw input into the output that their customer wants. Journalists turn events into stories. Engineers turn requirements into specifications. Poets turn words […]
Category: Launch Your Career
Midterm Rehab Secret 5: You Can’t Afford to Wait to Make a Plan
I want to help students live their lives on purpose, by getting control of their time, money, and careers. I want to help them live good stories. Why? Because I faced crises in each of these areas and found no one who could help. There’s […]
Just Keep Swimming
Nothing works the way we hoped it would. Nothing. Why? Because we can never enter a new situation with perfect knowledge or expectations. We go through a couple stages when things go “differently.” At the first sign that something is awry, we cling to our […]
Ohhhh, We’re Halfway There…
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned came from my wife: if you’re at work, work; if you’re on break, break! Even relaxing takes focus. We’ve been on Spring Break, which is why things were quiet. I haven’t checked my email in 10 days. […]
I Mean It: College Doesn’t Have to be Stressful!
We’re getting dangerously close to the midpoint of the semester. Now is the time that exams start stacking up, homework seems to never end, and professors start assigning projects. Your student groups are in full swing. You’re supposed to be finding an internship/job for the […]
Start with Why
The title of this post is borrowed from Simon Sinek. If you haven’t see the TED talk of the same name, it’s worth the 17 minutes. In any case, my point today is simple: The harder things get, the more you need to focus on […]
What Does This Make Possible?
There are few guarantees in life, but this is one of them: sometimes things won’t go the way you want them to. Maybe you’ll have trouble finding a job, or a disagreement with your boss, or get laid off, or… things go “wrong.” But is […]
College’s Best Kept Secret
We’re in Week 5, already finished with one third of the semester! We’ve passed through the “honeymoon” phase of newness and excitement over the unknown. We’re done with the first big grind of homework and quizzes. Midterms loom. How are you doing? Think back to […]
What You Don’t Know You Don’t Know
We learn incrementally. I often use the image of an onion: Learning looks like peeling back layers, not “aha moments” that bring instant clarity. Yet, when dealing with others we often expect them to make instantaneous leaps. We toss out a well-crafted zinger and think […]
Students: Employees? Volunteers? Gym Customers.
One of my obsessions is Student Motivation. Wonderfully complex, and often unpredictable, students don’t seem to fit into any of the typical leadership boxes. How do we motivate students to put in the hard work and focus that deep learning requires? The spectrum of leadership […]
