February 24th, 2010
Recognizing Hydrogen Convergence as the Next Long Wave
Some readers and other educators have asked what they should tell young people about how hydrogen convergence will affect their careers. We at the ebTDesign Forum would advise them to view hydrogen convergence as the next long wave. A long wave is a series of industry-related game changing events. Also, inform them that it wasn’t just the dotcom bubble that characterized the last long wave.
The last long wave started in the early 1980’s with the introduction of personal computers. It continued through the 1990’s with the Internet portal wars and into the new millennium with skirmishes over cloud-computing. Those people who jumped on this wave at the beginning saw their earning potential grow with each generation of new technology. They also enjoyed increased respect and influence based on their longevity.
Long waves represent the only operational way of resetting the wage scale. Because of this, national governments often endeavor to impose their will on its trajectory. They pick “national champions” much like the Obama Administration has done with the nuclear power industry. Unfortunately, the post-Globalization marketplace is littered with carcasses of these ill-conceived attempts at financial engineering and business coercion. Such is the case when dinosaurs are overtaken by the next long wave.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: career, hydrogen, long wave, post-GlobalizationOctober 16th, 2008
Workforce Re-skilling Needed for Success in the P2P Economy
In the last couple of blog segments, we have talked about the importance of distributed ownership. This is a concept in which employees own their own skills and the means of production. Now it’s time to talk about some the consequences of this shift on P2P Economy transition planning process. The most challenging one is need to re-skill the workforce in America and other OECD countries.
For too long, workforce development has been left in the hands of multinationals with divided loyalties. Why would executives who are looking for opportunities to move industrial capacity around the world in search of cheaper labor care about ensuring the employability of workers in any local community? The days are gone when employees could wait for someone else to take care of their career development needs.
Architects must take into the account the fear and disillusionment that many workers feel about their current situation. We suggest that the P2P Economy transition planning process factor in the repercussions of continuous focus on antiquated economic structures. It’s hard to say how long this employee mourning process will take because their have been so many fissures left over from the last economic age.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: career, distributed-ownership, P2P Economy, transition-planningApril 8th, 2008
Follow-Through Part 2: Campus Entrepreneurship
We, at ebTDesign Forum, applaud the effort of those who are working on Global Entrepreneurship Week and on youth entrepreneurship in general. They have targeted a very important niche in America’s education system. However, there is a need for better follow-through when transitioning young entrepreneurs from high school to life on college campuses.
America’s capacity for innovation cannot be increased without the vigorous efforts of our higher education system. Except for a few outstanding universities like Stanford and MIT, traditional students don’t believe in university programs as a means of entrepreneurial growth. They are constantly shown images of successful entrepreneurs forgoing college and learning their life lessons on the “streets.”
Universities and private colleges provide a tremendous opportunity for young people to flex their entrepreneurial muscle. In many cases, higher education provides a second chance. Students can overcome socioeconomic impediments that can diminish their career options. They can rehabilitate lack luster high school performance and develop reputations for hard work.
Entrepreneurs succeed in large part due to the size of their strategic networks. Their knowledge, both tacit and explicit, is required to get the ball rolling on a new venture. But, it is the mentor and peer relationships which protect them from dissipating too much energy in the startup phase and positions them for sustainable success. Students involved in campus entrepreneurship programs have a decided competitive advantage in this regard.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: campus, career, entrepreneurship, follow-throughMarch 10th, 2008
Mr. Gates: The Answer is Las Vegas meets Eureka
The former CEO of Microsoft, Bill Gates, asked the following question of LinkedIn members, “How can we do more to encourage young people to pursue careers in science and technology?” After some discussions, we would suggest improving the context of science and technology in the media. Imagine NBC’s Las Vegas meets Sci-Fi’s Eureka.
Context is like the neighborhood that bright ideas are raised in. The mainstream media often portrays entrepreneurs as bores with no social skills. They also tend to tuck them away in less than inviting environments. Most of the time, they are stuck in basements or out in garages away from normal people.
Young people have aspirations. They like entrepreneurship. They don’t like uncertainty unless it’s cool. Mainstream media never shows how exciting it is to work at startups or for technology companies. If the technology incumbents did a better job of marketing to kids in America, then young people might take a chance on something as risky as science and technology careers.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: career, entrepreneurship, Eureka, Las-Vegas, Sci-Fi, technology-incumbentFebruary 19th, 2008
Global Entrepreneurship Week and Follow-Through
One of the things that entrepreneurship can teach is follow-through. Many promising careers fail because of lack of discipline or the inability to maintain sustained effort. Social scientists during the dotcom era trumpeted the wonders of multi-tasking and the ability to focus on several things at once. However, it was the simple act of steering a consistent course without fits of egotism which scuttled most apparently successful companies.
Making Global Entrepreneurship Week a winning experience will require a certain kind of follow-through. It will stretch the planning and execution capacity of many organizations beyond the limits they have accepted for themselves. It will require business people who are willing to share their time and their insights. Demand staff members are trained well enough to sustain all the good work that Global Entrepreneurship Week will inspire.
The goals that we set must be lofty because the value of our task is immeasurable. We challenge anyone to define a bigger treasure than the economic health of an entire generation of our young people. There are no better lessons learned than how to relate to others in the global marketplace and necessity of follow-through to make good on promises.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: capacity, career, entrepreneurship, execution, follow-through, planningFebruary 8th, 2008
Global Entrepreneurship Week Starts a LinkedIn Group
Yesterday, the planning effort for Global Entrepreneurship Week took a major step forward. It was announced that there will be a Global Entrepreneurship Week Group on LinkedIn.com. For people who are interested in inspiring young entrepreneurs in their community, this group will serve as a global locator. Supporters will find existing organizations that support youth entrepreneurship and new partners interested in illuminating entrepreneurship career options. Members of LinkedIn can join the community by clicking on the following Global Entrepreneurship Week Group link. If you are not a member of LinkedIn.com, this would be a very good reason to join.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: career, entrepreneurship, LinkedInJanuary 16th, 2008
Global Entrepreneurship Week is about Illuminating Options
A colleague of mine recently wrote, “If I have to explain why someone should be an entrepreneur then they shouldn’t.” Entrepreneurship is not a calling, it’s a career option. Becoming an entrepreneur is not like joining the priesthood or entering a convent.
If young people don’t belong to entrepreneurial families, they may not know the benefits of entrepreneurship. Often, well meaning people paint to negative a picture of entrepreneurship. The idea is not to get young adults to do something they don’t want to do. It’s to show them a lifestyle that may better fit their personalities. The goal is to expand their frame of reference which is what education process is suppose to do.
Entrepreneurship has become a much more viable option to young people everywhere because of the availability of innovation-infrastructure. Throughout their careers, today’s young adults will have to make decisions about how they will invest their time and energy. Increasingly, those decisions will require them to either go it alone or join their peers in starting new businesses.
There is an obvious link between entrepreneurship and innovation-infrastructure design. There are always more bright ideas than there are people who can implement them. America needs to increase its capacity for innovation to maintain its standing in the global marketplace. This is the reason why we support Global Entrepreneurship Week and we want to help young entrepreneurs.
P.S. Please don’t forget to add your insights to Why Help Young Entrepreneurs LinkedIn Answer.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: capacity, career, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, Innovation-Infrastructure