Rothacker Reviews

How Children Succeed

How Children Succeed by Paul Tough. 

Paul Tough's book How Children Succeed is one that fits in well at all three of my blogs and the Standing Out Facebook page. I intend to write the review at Cultivating Awe, but for now I'd like to talk about two things. First, if you have children or are acquainted with parents or grandparents of children, Paul's book is a must read. Second, Paul's book is steeped in academic research and science. While this might give intellectuals a warm and fuzzy feeling, it's just not that important to me when it comes to understanding how this philosophy helps kids succeed*.

Why read? How Children Succeed guides us through how characteristics like perseverance, curiosity, self-control, grit, optimism and conscientiousness make a difference in young people's lives. That's why.

In regards to the research and science...if you were born on Mars and had just moved to Earth, the research would be of value. Or perhaps if you were just starting out in your first career it would be of value. Or if you are one of those old adults who after years of going through life on cruise control, just decided to tune in, it would be of value. I suppose if you are an academic contrarian it would be of value as well.

I've read thousands of books. Most are non-fiction and most deal either directly or indirectly with people's success. You'd be hard pressed to find even one of those books that didn't talk about a successful individual having perseverance. Same for self-control, optimism and grit, although grit would mostly fall under perseverance. I simply do not need the results of scientific investigation to tell me the how and why of Steve Job's success. Or if you've gone through life paying even the slightest bit of attention to, well, life, Paul's work here translates to not-so-common, common sense. I just don't have to dive into reams of scientific research to know how important the characteristic of curiosity is to the young adult bent on succeeding in business and life.

I love the tone that Paul Tough sets in this book. It's natural and humanistic which for me, duct tapes the content to my conscious...think Heath Bros.

*I  very much appreciate Paul's diligence in including the research and actually find some of it most fascinating.

How Children Succeed

make things HAPPEN: The Key to Networking for Teens

Smoked-n-Signed this book at Standing Out in a Sea of Sameness.

The New American Dream: The Perfect Elixir

In her book The New American Dream, Penelope Trunk says to choose interestingness over the pursuit of happiness. Penelope:

"...my career is useless if it doesn't allow me to have the personal life I want. A career is what gives you the ability to try out what works in your life and figure out who you are and what you want."

Ms. Trunk has performed extensive research on the work/life/career relationships of Gen-Y, Gen-X, and the Baby Boomers. (She's also dialing into Gen-Z and what it will require of the workforce once it becomes of age). Penelope observes that people are no longer putting off life until retirement age. They are living a life of interestingness now and some have found companies that support this pursuit. In The New American Dream, she tells us what attributes to look for in these companies, what training will be of value to us and what characteristics define the modern day star worker.

Are you an owner and or manager? Are you concerned with the blazing rate of change in the business world around you? Do you find dealing with young people difficult? Do you agonize over finding good workers? Do you stay up late at night trying to figure out how to keep these irreplaceable people? Do you wonder how to separate and distance your company from the competition? 

You could hire a pack of consultants. You could spend a couple of years pouring over help available online. You could spend a couple more years reading all the books and magazines on the subject of hiring and keeping people. Or you could read The New American Dream.

While Penelope Trunk lays out a blueprint for the individual to follow and achieve success, this same rendering, albeit from a different perspective, is a perfect, perfect prescription and cure for the owner-manager's case of find-n-keep-great-employee-itis!

Simply take Penelope's direction and invert it. For instance:

"Look for a company with people who love to learn." Build a love of learning culture in your company.

"Teamwork should be highly valued." Make sure teamwork is part of your culture.

Penelope recommends people to look for self-awareness and communication coaching in perspective companies. Provide it. 

Ms. Trunk says to look for mentor, flex-time and entrepreneurial opportunities. As an owner-manager, what do you think you should do?

This isn't rocket science folks. These cultures, behaviours and programs are already working successfully. The problem for prospective employees is that beyond some of the Fortune One-Hundred best companies to work for, too few companies are emulating them. To me, this is a huge neon sign that screams opportunity! If I were an owner / manager I would embrace this mindset, differentiate my company and let those with little vision wallow in the mire of their own stagnation. 

 Here's another reason why The New American Dream is so appealing: At fifty-three pages, it's brief. It's the perfect elixir in just the right dose. If you can get better with one pill, why take ten?

The New American Dream

The New American Dream by Penelope Trunk

The New American Dream is about the pursuit of interestingness instead of happiness. Penelope says, "you shouldn’t focus on happiness, but rather, on making your life interesting."

The New American Dream is fifty-three pages long and does not include case studies and in depth analysis. This bothers some people. Most of what is in the book can be found on her blog. This bothers some people. Penelope's work here is not revolutionary. You guessed it, this bothers some people. I'm really not interested in these complaints. While this criticism might be relevant to academicians steeped in the theoretics and or all of the following: sociology, social anthropology, ethnography, it most certainly is not relevant to people who are beating their brains out trying to work, live, achieve fulfillment and enjoy life. 

To begin with, Penelope has been writing on her blog since 2001. I might pay someone fifteen bucks just to spend a couple of weeks wading through her material to find this stuff. Here's the thing, even if you were to find every blog post that points in this book's direction, you'll not be able to synthesize it and produce content similar to what's in her book. And therein lies Ms. Trunk's value.

Penelope Trunk has been writing and offering career advice since the late 1990's. Her expertise is in career advice and making sense out of workplace / career relevant trends in the Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers, Gen-Yers and Gen-Zers (though most of the latter is yet to come). She truly has a God-given talent when it comes to pouring over the masses of data and coming up with observations and advice of value. Actually, Penelope didn't invent her interestingness theory/reality. It's already there. She merely culled the relevant behavior and experiences of each generation, but mostly Gen-Y, and wrote about her observations. 

Along with establishing her interestingness basis in the book's intro, Penelope sets the stage by saying that a career allows one the ability to "...try out what works in your life and figure out who you are and what you want."

Chapter II - Redefine Your Relationship to Work

Old work ways are out. Saving and putting life off until retirement is out. Waiting until latter years to do good is out. This direction is similar to my own philosophy of, Oz is the Yellow Brick Road. Life is about what you do on the road, not at a destination. 

Chapter III - Find the Right Job for You

Penelope lists attributes of desireable companies to work for and offers tips to optimize your job.

Chapter IV - Financial Freedom is a False Promise

Job promotions and fractional pay raises are out. Look for training and other opportunities that will make you of value to others. 

Chapter V - Authenticity Will Get You What You Want

Includes more career advice and describes traits of today's irreplaceable worker.

Chapter VI - The Trick to Being a Life Long Learner

Penelope talks about unschooling, Gen-Z and life long learning. 

Conclusion - Penelope discusses career uncertainity, its value and how to embrace it.

I highly recommend reading this book, especially if you're an explorer. 

While Penelope's book is of value to those of us who are beating our brains out trying to work, live, achieve fulfillment and enjoy life, there is another segment in society that will find greater value in it. I'll tell you about them in my next post. 

Hint: I reviewed Penelope's book Brazen Careerist five years ago. The spirit of my next post on The New American Dream is similar.

Pinterest and Getting Real

This post is about helping teens prepare for post-secondary education and their careers.

I caught Pinterest fever about six weeks ago and I have yet to find a cure. Pinterest allows one to post pictures found on the Internet and those from their computer. Pictures, along with brief descriptions, are posted in categories. Follwers can repin the image and or comment on yours. I created a category which I named Books Worth Reading. Yesterday I posted an image of Kenneth Gray's book, Getting Real: Helping Teens Find Their Future. In the description I wrote one of the dumbest statements I've ever written online: "This book is a tad expensive, but still worth it."

Write much more than a few sentences in a Pinterest description and you'll lose the reader. The staggering amount of images being uploaded now just about guarantees you'll get no longer than a two second look. I am going to leave my comment anyway, and elaborate here for those interested in their kids' future.

The book Getting Real is a spotlight on a mind boggling economic problem in the U.S. But even more important than that, it illuminates a pathway for parents and those intested in helping teens, toward post-secondary and career success. Here's a quick look at the economic problem:

For every 100 students who enter 9th grade, 70 graduate from high school. Of those 70, 21 go directly to work. The other 49 go to college. Of those 49, approximately 25 drop out. Of the 24 who graduate from college, 12 find commensurate employment. And most of this information is based on facts prior to 2008!

Aside from the obvious, I'm not concerned about numbers here. I'm concerned about Danny. Danny goes to public high school. He struggles and has below average grades. His parents are divorced and his dad is not a part of his life. His mom, who works 50 hours per week and has little time for him, his guidance counselor and all of his relatives think he should go to college. As Danny enters 12th grade, he has absolutely no idea what he wants to do in life. He knows that he can carry a C average this year and graduate. He figures he'll go to community college and figure it all out.

What do you suppose Danny's chances are of making one of those 12 kids who graduates from college and finds work commensurate with his education?

Here's the thing. With early preparation and career direction, Danny could eliminate wheel-spinning, confusion, the needless waste of time and money, and settle in an occupation that's both in demand and one that will support himself and or family. The key is preparation. And armed with Kenneth's book here, it will not cost much more than time. Kenneth's pathway is doable. It makes so much sense that I can't understand why his book isn't more popular.

Getting Real is about fifteen bucks more than your average paperback book. A tad expensive? There is no relationship to fifteen extra bucks and your child's future. Even if you half-heartedly applied the information here, you and or your kids will still be thousands and thousands of dollars ahead.

Books worth reading on my Pinterest board.

A Smokin' Hot Piece of Brain Candy

Egads!  If this doesn't elicit a hot smokin' visual, I'm not sure anything else could.

Although this artwork is breathtaking, I'm talkin' bout the artwork of Scott Ginsberg.  Go here for that artwork.  I'm thinking if Dale Carnegie were still around today, this is the kind of stuff that he would be writing about.

For an explanation of my post's title, please go to point 6 on Scott, the Name Tag Guy's post.

Do you know what at times, I am uncontrollably guilty of?  Picture Number Five, the robot from Short Circuit:

 

Need input.  Need input.  Need input.

I blast around to every little corner of the Universe looking for more.  More information, more knowledge, more wisdom.

I have some advice for you David.  Take a deep breath, and then exhale.  Relax.  Scott Ginsberg has just what you need...well, except for that mountain retreat with that huge window that overlooks the valley where you could take a journal and quietly address this bright and articulate young man's thirty points.  Seriously David, this isn't rocket science.  Scott tells you what you need to do. 

Listen man, I have an idea for you.  This will require discretion, courage and valor.  Perhaps you could work for folks like Scott and Dan Schwabel?  We both know how much you admire this generation! Perhaps you could infiltrate organizations over run with old coots like youself and teach them about folks like Scott and Dan?

Brain Candy photo from ruk777 on Flickr

Number Five from ygnacioduran on Flickr

Tampa: Basketball Training

"Dad!  I kept my eyes on her feet just like Scott told me to do.  It worked, I stole the ball.  I couldn't believe it!"

"You know mom, I'm really starting to think about college!"

Scott Savor is responsible for initiating both of the above remarks.

Scott is a Human Performance Specialist, who works out of Sport's + Field's, Athletic Performance Center.  We are sending Carla to work with Scott to improve her basketball skills.  We think we're getting more.

Victoria, our older daughter started playing basketball in 1991.  Rosemary and I have been around girl's basketball coaches ever since, including the prestigious Trinity High School teams of the mid-nineties. With the exception of crossing paths with Pat Summitt, at Trinity while she was recruiting for the University of Tennessee, we have never met anyone who knows basketball like Scott Savor.

One of Scott's main performance enhancing philosophies is that over ninety percent of an athlete's potential for improvement can be found above the neck. If you are a parent, you don't even have to wonder how refreshing this point of view is, you instinctively feel it.

Although Scott trains professionals, he is still taking on high school and college athletes. If you or your sons/daughters are interested in one, free complimentary workout with Scott, please contact me by e-mail and I'll hook you up.  david(dot)rothacker(at)gmail(dot)com.  Please contact me if you'd like to help your student athlete improve more than their vertical jump, say like their desire to go to college!!

Scott's credentials.

Update 8/3/2009 - In a mind blowing twist of fate, Scott left Tampa, Florida, last week to work with Pat Summitt and other coaches in a strength and conditioning role at UT.  I am sure that UT put in careful diligence in selecting Scott.  They are well aware of the wisdom that he brings above and beyond the science required of his position.  They are well aware of his coaching philosophies and his passion to help develop young people's minds.  I know they know, but they don't quite know how much they really are getting with Scott.  Please allow me to paint a more clear picture:

New York Met's Scout in 1965: That Nolan Ryan is a talented young man with a blazing fast ball.  Let's draft him.