Winter of Discontent - Rotary Moment of Reflection

 

Rotary Moment of Reflection – February 9, 2021

Kim Brand, Indianapolis Rotary Club

Winter began December 20^th of last year. It added insult to the injury of COVID and a literal and figurative darkness to the election that held on like a bad flu.

It was like the Winter of our Discontent.

Hump day was February 3 – we’re better than halfway through it now. Never mind the single digit forecasts, the days are getting longer – a couple minutes or more every day – like bookends moving apart to soon make room for another volume of sun!

Saturday, March 20, 2021 will be the first day of Spring. Foreknowledge about the angle of the earth with respect to the sun and our orbit gives me hope in a sort of astronomer-geek way!

I think with this Spring will come hope that a vaccine will finally flatten the curve – crush it hopefully - of COVID and, whatever else happens in the political arena, the fever will pass.

Returning too, I hope, will be crowded face to face Rotary meetings, fairs and farmers markets. I can’t wait for dinners out and to play with my grandkids at the park. Birthday parties! Going maskless – having to shave every day again (with a mask on it just didn’t matter.)

And most of all: fewer Zoom calls!

I believe we’ve made it through the worst. We’ll need rebab – to our embattled health care system and our sense of trust in our political systems and each other. We’ll get there. Rotary can make a difference. Our relationships, the things we think, say and do, our mission, will be even more relevant when we put these twin pandemics behind us.

But most of all our hope – when we recite the pledge today pay the most attention to the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ONE NATION UNDER GOD and know that the sun has always returned to shine bright on our country and our people – even after the darkness of winter.

Pandemic Post

Timing is everything.

This is the Moment of Reflection I presented at the Indianapolis Rotary Club on March 31, 2020. The first on Zoom. It was a shadow of the networking event I know the Rotary Club produces. But these times are a shadow of the recent past.

The 'strike-throughs' are due to time constraints.

Indianapolis Rotary Club Moment of Reflection

March 31, 2020

Kim Brand

These are times that try men’s souls

On December 23, 1776, Thomas Paine said ‘These are the times that try men’s souls’ during the early days of the American revolution. He was giving a report on the Revolutionary War success of the Continental Army and at the time didn’t have a lot of good news. He was frustrated by delays in prosecuting the war, and setbacks what they may have meant to the prospects for success, but he was sure that Providence was on the side of the Americans, and that if needed, God would intervene.

He commented: “Tis surprising to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run through a country. All nations and ages have been subject to them. . . . Yet panics, in some cases, have their uses; they produce as much good as hurt. Their duration is always short; the mind soon grows through them, and acquires a firmer habit than before.”

Indeed, America is rapidly acquiring a firmer habit than before. This was predicted by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto after the attack on Pearl Harbor when he said: “I fear all we have done is to waken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”

Our great America’s thinkers and doers, everywhere, are rising to the Coronavirus challenge in ways we couldn’t possibly have imagined. Our hospitals, health care providers, industries, and a united government, are marshalling our great talents, resources and determination to bend the curve of innovation upward as fast as flattening the curve of the spreading virus. We will conquer this threat, as we have so many before. Not without loss, not without change and not without fear.

156 years later, at Roosevelt’s first inaugural, he said in response to fear: surrounding the continuing depression,

Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is...fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and of vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory.

Roosevelt’s oath was made with his hand on his family bible, opened to I Corinthians 13. At verse 12 it says: “For now we see through a glass darkly.” How appropriate for our times.

The future is rarely seen with clarity. But with a laser focus on success inspired by our resolve, we will emerge from this crisis more connected to each other, more prepared for the future and unafraid of whatever new challenges we may come to face.

https://www.ushistory.org/paine/crisis/c-01.htm

Rotary Moment of Reflection - 12-3-19

Rotary Moment of Reflection

You are more complicated than you know

Kim Brand

December 3, 2019

(redacted due to time constraints)

I’m reading a great book titled The End of Average. It’s made me think of all the ways we measure ourselves and other people by someone else’s yardstick. The book explains that some measures are possible, like height & weight for example. But most are impossible like heart and character.

We have become a number for the convenience of computers: Age, Credit Score, GPA, zip code. The problem is when we believe that those numbers tell the whole story – especially when we believe them about ourselves.

You may not know that the concept of average is a fairly recent invention. Lots of smart people with high IQs measured lots of physical and personality traits and then summarized their findings using new math – they invented averages. It’s called averagarianism.

Being average was once considered the pinnacle of evolution because nature surely intended for average to be the target. Being average was cool!

In 1943 a doctor sculpted a statue of the average woman, named Norma. They launched a contest to find any woman matching her dimensions. Nearly 4000 contestants applied, none was average.

Their research implied authority. But although you can calculate the average type nobody is really average!

Later, the distance from average – above and below – was studied. Depending on the scale, either could be more or less desirable. Consider a golf score vs IQ – I’d be happy to hit 100 on either one!

Within the last couple generations it was believed that if you were good at anything you’d probably be good at everything. That’s why high SAT scores and GPAs used to get you into any school. Microsoft and Google don’t care about SATs or GPAs anymore, they don’t even care so much if you graduated. Now they care about what you’ve done and what YOU care about.

Maybe you’ve been measured by the Myers Briggs personality test. ENTP or ISFJ or whatever. The End of Average claims this is psychological mumbo jumbo. Researchers found that context is critical. Were you measured in family situations, work settings or social environments? It matters a lot. People are just more complicated than the combination of four letters would predict. (That would be 16 types by the way – I got an above average score in combinations & permutations!)

The truth is that our personalities, potentials and physical and mental abilities – and those of everyone you know – are just too complicated for averages - or - to be able to judge a person by his or her type – otherwise known as prejudice.

I’m making this little book report today to encourage you to celebrate the end of averagarianism. Stop comparing yourself to anybody else. 

Russeau said “I may be no better but at least I am different!’ Be a little easier on yourself and more tolerant of everyone. There’s more to our human stories than you can measure.

And finally: You are not average . . . I can prove it!

Advice to a college student regarding career options

A friend's son asked me for advice about what to do after graduation. Here is what I said:

I envy your options!

Once I told a friend’s son he should get his merchant seaman’s license and travel the world. He went on to graduate from Yale and is now a nuclear sub engineer in the Navy. Not exactly the swashbuckling option I dreamed about – but for the few days a year they are in port he gets to see the world anyway!

There are many people who could give you much better advice than me. You probably have access to experts at your school. Talk to your friend and family – what a great conversation starter! Your choices may be constrained by student loans or a girlfriend  

The concept of constraints is really important – your life is as open now as the sea – everything that happens after this freezes a part of it.

Life is simultaneously long and short. Poets and playwrights have pondered the best use of it over and over. I like the advice of Seneca, Shakespeare and Emerson.

As for careers: they are temporal. I’d keep my options as open as possible. I understand people your age will have over a dozen . My advice is to make the next career more interesting than the last.

You’ve got to be comfortable with the mission, meaning, rewards, work:life balance and risk.  I just made that up – please don’t infer any metaphysical importance to that list 😊

That said, I believe being a lawyer is no longer the right career choice for most people. It’s expensive to get a law degree and many of my friends think the decline in income prospects combined with the debt service/opportunity cost has made it a bad investment.

You’ve got to be excited about whatever you want to do – even if it’s for a little while (1-2 yrs.) The major benefit may be experience. There may never be another time in your life when your tolerance for risk is as high as it is now. (No kids, mortgage, roots, etc.) So go for it!

Ask yourself: do I want to find adventure or vocation? What have you already done that interested you? What networks have you plugged into with the most interesting people? I’d look at the quality of the people you work with as a form of compensation. They will also help you create your professional network.

Do you have a calling? Some are motivated by their religion, an internal quest or desire to help solve a problem in a charitable way. Some only keep score by the money they make. At your 10^th or 40^th reunion what do you want to say to the friends that remain when they ask: What do you do?

At my age I think about epitaphs 😊  What 3-5 words will define you?

With your education and family you truly have unlimited potential. DO NOT LET YOUR DEGREES LIMIT YOU. Don’t be put in a box. Most of the smart people I know had no clue about a plan for life until it happened to them.

I’ve gone on too long and don’t think I’ve answered any of your questions.  Here are a few more places to look:

• Wear sunscreen 
• Steve Jobs commencement speech at Stanford
• Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making otherplans

Good luck!

Trump's Twitter Feed

A great article in the NYT appeared today: Trump's Twitter Feed. President Trump is the first to employ this social media platform to such advantage and it would be safe to say society is having a hard time dealing with the consequences.

There were many fine comments posted by readers of the Times. I felt compelled to post mine. These ideas have been rumbling around in my head for a couple years.

Two problems of social media: anonymity & free. These twins breed unrestrained hate like garbage rotting in the sun.  

Force every account to be verified and add a nominal cost to use the platforms. Traditional TV, Radio, magazines and newspapers employ writers and, if they deliver valuable information, attract subscribers and advertisers. They spend money to create and distribute their news/views which are curated by experts with standards. 

We stumbled into electronic media platforms and became drunk on free.

Anonymity has unleashed our id. The movie Forbidden Planet from 1956 foretells this story and its consequences. It doesn't end well.

Be the change you wish to see in the world

I got to do another 'Moment of Silence' sooner than normal because I couldn't do one on the regularly scheduled day.

Inspired by Ghandi . . .

Be the change you wish to see in the world.

August 20, 2019 - Indianapolis Rotary Club

You may have heard or seen this bumper sticker feel-good quote a million times. You may know that it is attributed to Mahatma Gandhi. A little research shows that he may have truly said:

“If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. ... We need not wait to see what others do.”

Not a contradiction, but no longer a bumper sticker. Perhaps the idea for the phrase came after his actions - almost like a surprise - he may have been summarizing his experience not inspiring change. The results of an experiment summarized to a conclusion; not advice really.

Here are the experiments I have conducted for the past few years in the spirit of Gandhi

• Tip fast food workers - don’t wait for minimum wage to help them
• Pick up some trash every day - not your trash - trash in the McDonald’s or Walmart parking lot (I find it more interesting!) - don’t wait for the trash collector
• Drive like you are a driver’s education coach - don’t reserve hand gestures for bad moves - say thank you and wave to drivers who exhibit courtesy and skill
• Smile at everybody. A smile truly is contagious - and while it may make them wonder what you are thinking, it may just may them believe for a second that the world is a more friendly and caring place.

The evidence that I am changing the world may be weak but I believe that I’ve undoubtedly improved a few very small corners of it. I always get a delightful smile of surprise when I hand a counter worker a tip, the parking lot has a few fewer pieces of trash for a moment, my drive to work is a little happier and I see a lot more smiles everywhere I go.

The results of my experiments are the same as Gandhi’s: We need not wait to see what others do before we act to make a better world.

Another Rotary 'Moment of Silence'

TIME - Two Versions

I was really shocked when the members applauded when I finished this.

Moment of Reflection – May 28, 2019

The subject of this moment of reflection is time. Which begs the question: how much time is spent in a moment? In this case less than 3 minutes – I timed it!

There are so many great quotes about how we all have the same 24 hrs in a day, how time flies and so on and so forth – so I won’t try to impress you with the wisdom of those quotes. Just Google it.

What got me thinking about this is my recent birthday. I was 24,107 days old on May 7th – 66 years. My 25,000th birthday will be October 17, 2021. I’m already 3 years older than my dad when he died. But I would need to celebrate my birthday in 2039 to live as long as my mom – who died at 86 last November.

My life expectancy is just over 32,000 days (88 years). If that’s right, I’ve got about a quarter tank left on life’s highway.

I’ve tried lots of tricks to manage time but failed at them all. I’ve read Getting Things Done twice, I use ToDoIst to keep a digital to-do list. I discover lost lists, plans, goals and journals all the time with obsolete records of where I wanted to be by when. As John Lennon sang: Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.

I gave a speech twenty years ago about my frustration. The title was: OK, I’M 45, WHERE’S THE FERRARI?

But I’m ready to try again! I came across a website a couple weeks ago that filled me with enthusiasm that I could reform my time management dysfunction: WaitButWhy.com. The author calculated that after subtracting time for sleep we each have about 1000 minutes left to spend per day, or about 100 ten-minute blocks. On the table you have a chart with 100 blocks to take home. He recommends keeping track of the blocks and the way you spend them. This seemed simple enough for even me to do. The result will be a picture of your priorities, interruptions, misdirections and the investments you make in the people you care about the most.

But wait – there’s a challenge: Imagine another page – one which is pre-filled with how you *want* to spend your time. Maybe we can’t live everyday trouble free and on-track. But the days lead to weeks and those to the years which comprise a life. If the way we spend most of our days doesn’t add up to the way we want to spend our life then maybe we should change course or something?

On the back of the page is a 90 year life represented in blocks of weeks – 4680 of them. The WaitButWhy.com website has lots of interesting charts of famous people, when they did what made them famous or simply when they died along the way. Fill it in for yourself. The span of your youth, education, or career, your wedding, kids’ birthdays or the passing of a loved one can be visualized on the canvas of your life.

It’s never too late to see the big picture.

The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot*.


https://waitbutwhy.com/2016/10/100-blocks-day.html

https://www.blueprintincome.com/tools/life-expectancy-calculator-how-long-will-i-live/

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/05/06/other-plans/

*https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1173800.Michael_Altshuler

From November 5, 2013

Ever since I was a boy I’ve been fascinated with time.

Back then, science could tell time to the millionth of a second.  Now, we keep it to better than a trillionth.  For comparison, light travels about one foot in one nanosecond – one billionth of a second.  GPS and the Internet can’t work if clocks are wrong by just a few of them.  We’ve gone from telling time by the change in the colors of the seasons to telling time by the change in the color of light that reaches us from the stars.

Most of us live minute to minute.  By comparison an impossibly vast amount of time – if you’re a computer.  It’s all relative.  Einstein, the expert of relativity, noted the time you spend with a pretty girl is relatively short when compared to the time you spend sitting on a hot stove – though both time periods may be the same.

Everyone wants to save time – but there is no hoarding it.  Time is the great equalizer.  Everyone has less than they need, but according to Chief Red Jacket, of the Six Nations of New York, everyone has all there is.  

Time and tide wait for no man.

I see time pass in the birthdays of my grandchildren.  I wonder if they realize those ‘endless days’ til Christmas, til Spring, til birthdays, til whatever will someday pass like ice melts in hot tea.  Look away and it’s gone.

How to make time slow?  I’ve found one way: live today.  The setting of appointments and anniversaries is particularly problematic.  Like the time between them is ‘fly over country.’  Lacking an excuse to pay attention, time filled with work, we compress away those spaces like ‘filler,’ and lose the time to anticipation. 

Oliver Wendell Homes, the astute early 20^th century Supreme Court Justice said: ‘I do despise making the most of one’s time.  Half of the pleasure of life consists of the opportunities one has neglected.’  ‘Life is What Happens To You While You’re Busy Making Other Plans,’ wrote a more contemporary artist of our language, John Lennon.

Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity. 

Dr. Seuss said: “How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is here before it's June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” 

College admission scandal

I read Frank Bruni, opinion columnist at the New York Times, frequently.

Today's column: The Moral Wages of the College Admissions Mania was particularly good. Most  colleges are walking dead in my view.

But many remain and will for a long time.

This quote quote reminded me of an article from Scientific America a long time ago. Something about the object of an education is not hammer - it's carpentry.

He wrote:

Barry Schwartz, who taught psychology at Swarthmore from 1971 to 2016, said in an interview just before he retired that his current students “want to be given a clear and unambiguous path to success.”
“They want a recipe,” he told me. “And that’s the wrong thing to be wanting. Recipes create cooks. They don’t produce chefs.”

I thought that was tragic.

 

Children are born powerless

In the journey from infant to adult the brain of a child is transformed by experiences. Some are accidental, some intentional. Parents are the original teachers; siblings and environment too. But schools play a critical role. 

The interplay of formal curriculum and the development of a child’s sense of self is the subject of research at Harvard’s Agency by Design Project. Agency is a measure of how ‘in control’ of their lives youth feel. I believe it is related to hope (what will happen in the future) and power (what can I do about it now.)

I’ve thought a lot about what motivates human behavior and concluded that one of the principal motivators is power. The accumulation and exercise of power, whether by children, adults, leaders or countries, is unarguably a factor in personal and social evolution.

Children are born powerless. From birth they set upon a course to accumulate it. How do they do that? I believe evolution has bestowed on some the advantages of strength, intelligence, beauty and health. Their families confer others like sustenance, safety, love and legacy. And the aim of society is to distribute power through education. The degree to which society succeeds or fails at this aim is the subject of great debate.

One measure of power is agency, otherwise known as self-efficacy. Unfortunately, I see lots of kids that lack this fundamental capacity. It exhibits as low self-esteem, incuriousness, low persistence and hopelessness.

Think about the consequences of powerlessness: kids who don’t think they are good enough, that tomorrow won't be better than today, that the world is a scary place and they are vulnerable. Or worse: acting out, dropping out, drugging out.

I think schools that focus on the attainment of a standard (and more easily measurable) set of skills (too often clinging to those that were relevant a hundred years ago) fail to develop the uniquely human skills of curiosity, creativity and a love of learning. We need our education metrics to prioritize ‘robot proof’ talents like these. 

The ‘Carnegie units’ employed in the dispensation of learning is a perpetuation of an industrial model of school responding to the needs of an industrial revolution. It is no longer effective – or equitable – for a future where 65% of today’s students will be employed in jobs that don’t exist yet.

Today, we sort kids by their capacity to acquire knowledge based more on the rate of absorption than the rate of digestion. We measure their attainment by their memory skills more than what they understand. The system rewards ‘quickness’ and moves classes along like herds of cattle driven on a trail headed to market. Learners who can’t keep up or who would rather indulge their curiosity are branded as slow. (The analogy is apt.)

The pace of coverage and selection of subjects are rarely the choice of students. Current brain science shows that it is literally neurologically impossible to learn deeply about something you don’t care about. Ask kids if they care about what they are learning – not just what they learned about it. (Ask teachers if they are exhibiting enthusiasm for the curriculum in today’s test-focused classroom. Enthusiasm may be more important than competence in a subject to get kids to learn deeply.)

Which leads me to kids and power. Schools insist that learning will be rewarded in life after school. Will it? Calvin Coolidge famously said:

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

Kids know this. They are stuck in school, being taught crap they don’t care about, at great effort and expense, for little or no perceived benefit. They are powerless. They see the smart kids earn extrinsic rewards for memorizing while their curiosity is being ignored. They conclude they are not-smart, disengage from the process and simply wait for it to end.

What if the goal of school was to indulge a student’s curiosity? What if the pace of learning was tuned to their interest? What if the rewards were intrinsic? That is what making things does effectively.

Making = Persistence + Problem Solving + Pride = Power

Making = Power

Power, and its proxy: Agency, are not given like school grades are given. They are the result of investment of effort over time, struggle, coping with frustration and failure, concluded finally with the experience of success. It is an intrinsic reward for proving something to oneself. Failure is simply feedback in this process. The desire for power overcomes the fear of failure and other hurdles which need to be overcome.

I believe that making something is almost always engaging and meaningful. It rarely happens on the timeline or under the conditions set by someone else. Along the way a teacher can facilitate learning, but the learning is a byproduct of making something not the objective. Adults may learn for some abstract benefit, but kids just focus on the thing they are making and learn despite the fun they are having. All learning should be fun.

We need to reintroduce making into the curriculum for all children. (Children were almost always exposed to making outside school when the economy was more closely tied to manufacturing and farming.) Making can mean a physical product or creating a system as it oftentimes does in project based learning. Students should be able to connect what they are learning in the classroom to relevance outside the classroom.

Making something yields authentic/intrinsic/personal rewards that give kids power over their lives. Kids need more of that, and for the sake of our society, we need more powerful kids.

My Last Rotary Invocation of the Year

Today at our Indianapolis Rotary Club weekly luncheon we had an election wrap-up. Republican and Democrat political consultants presented their opinions about what happened and why.

My invocation brought attention to the divisive climate of the election and challenged future candidates to observe the Rotary 4 Way Test.

United We Stand 

In the recent election, Americans demonstrated, in undeniable terms, just how polarized we have become as a society. We seem to be getting the best elections money can buy – at least from the perspective of advertisers.

Benjamin Franklin said: “We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”  He was worried about the threat of retaliation from the British for the acts of Independence of the Colonies. I am worried about the driver who sees a Trump or Bernie sticker and sees red on the highway.  I’m worried about my neighbor not helping me blow my leaves or shovel my snow because I put a Punam Gill sign in my yard.

Where will this end?

Ben Sasse, Republican Senator of Nebraska, wrote a book called ‘Them’ which attempts to explain how we got here and how to heal. He was attacked by members of his own party! The press have been called Enemies of the People! Where we get our news and what we believe depends more on party affiliation now than the facts. Opinions have been weaponized.

And for that matter – how do you explain fact and fake to a fifth grader?

I was talking with a friend about this over the Thanksgiving holiday – at least most of us can still share dinner. (But it’s probably a good idea to avoid talking about anything in the news.)  He blames it on Facebook. I blame it on cable news. Maybe it’s Citizens United or the Russians? What seems obvious to me is that we have retreated from the public square. Today you can gorge yourself on a 24/7 diet of news curated to flame the fears of your prior beliefs and biases – fine tuned to your zip code.

And like with food, lacking variety in consumption leads to malnourishment.

That’s what makes what we are doing here today so important. Rotary is an abundant source of community in America. Something as simple as turning off the outside to share lunch with people we respect, as we share our views and try to understand those of others. Where we agree that Service above Self is a motto we can all agree on regardless of our politics.

These ladies will give us their expert opinion on what happened in the past election. But we need to tell the politicians enough is enough! We want them talk about each other like we do here are Rotary – govern their campaigns by the Four Way Test and, maybe this is asking too much – talk to us about their vision for Indiana and America, not just about the character flaws of their opponent.

Is that too much to ask?

We need more entrepreneurs

I've been reading: The Coming Jobs War by Gallup CEO Jim Clifton. It describes a dystopian future where America can't match the job creation success which brought power and prosperity to our nation.

The answer according to Clifton is 'make more entrepreneurs!' Only entrepreneurs employ people and small businesses are where they make more of them than anywhere else.

So I looked a little deeper into Clifton's solution and found out about Gallup's Builder Initiative and their Builder Profile, an assessment which can identify those youth or adults that have what it takes to be a builder - an entrepreneur. I suggested to economic development leaders that we should give this assessment to every high school senior! What a difference it would make if we could find/develop and support more entrepreneurs in Indiana who can create businesses and hire Hoosiers!



Here is a series of videos describing the 10 Builder Traits. And here are the talents.

• Confidence: People with Confidence accurately know themselves and understand others.
• Delegator: Delegators recognize that they cannot do everything and are willing to contemplate a shift in style and control.
• Determination: People with Determination persevere through difficult and seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
• Disruptor: Disruptors exhibit creativity in taking an existing idea or product and turning it into something better.
• Independence: People with Independence do whatever needs to be done to build a successful venture.
• Knowledge: People with Knowledge constantly search for information that is relevant to growing their business.
• Profitability: People with Profitability make decisions based on observed or anticipated effect on profit.
• Relationship: People with Relationship possess high social awareness and an ability to build relationships that are beneficial to their organization's survival and growth.
• Risk: People with Risk instinctively know how to manage high-risk situations and make decisions easily in complex scenarios.
• Selling: People with Selling are the best spokesperson for their business.

We need to do more to harvest the talent we have to win the coming jobs war for America!

Motivation

My first start-up out of college was as a franchisee for Success Motivation Institute, founded by Paul Myers. To this day I believe that attitude is more important than aptitude.

I wasn't a very good salesman and I wasn't successful in that business, but I've always been a student of motivation. My grandfather, Herb Schafer (whom I called Pob,) inspired me - despite his suffering from agoraphobia.

Here is a wonderfully motivational speech from the 2014 commencement of the graduating class of the University of Texas by Navy Seal Admiral William H. McRaven. I recommend that you watch it every day . . . 

Failure is essential for learning

School gives the wrong idea about the role of failure in learning. It's easy to understand why. An end of unit or course assessment results in a grade. That grade is a measure of 'success' and for most kids result in a number less than 100%. Indeed, sometimes the deck is stacked to skew the scores to produce a curve where students' performance is forced into buckets to validate the teacher's assumption that a distribution of talent exists. (Sal Kahn had a great video on TED: Let's teach for mastery - not test scores.)

My favorite video about the importance failure to learning was recorded by Jeri Ellsworth: Secret to Learning Electronics - Fail and Fail Often. It's not just about learning electronics, it's about learning.

I try to convince kids that failure is just feedback. Education experts from Dewey to Harvard conclude the same thing.

But if you ask a student (or about anyone) if they feel good about failing the answer would certainly be no.

We need to change the messaging about how learning happens - especially in school.

Another Rotary Invocation - 6/19/18

Frank Egan had a schedule conflict and asked me to present the Rotary invocation a few days before the meeting on 6/19/18.

I really didn't have as much time as I usually do to prepare. The Mayor of Indianapolis: Joe Hogsett, was going to give his annual 'State of the City' address so I knew the audience would be above average.

On the morning it was due I sat staring at a blank screen and wondered what to say. Then I remembered the 'Moment of Reflection' I gave on Primary Day on 2016 and the emphasis I placed on 'shared hope.' Not much has changed in that regard - it may be worse with our current president's new tax policy driving a bigger wedge between the prosperity of rich and poor Americans.

Here is what I said:

Shared Hope for Indianapolis

About two years ago I gave the invocation on Primary Day. Elections should be hope-filled events I asserted.

The Gallup Organization polls more than just political fortunes. Every year they survey over 700,000 American students to measure their level of hope. You won’t be surprised that the results of their 2017 poll aren’t good.

As with the past three years, Gallup reported that fewer than half of students are hopeful about their future. How do hopeless children embrace the challenges of a new economy? They don’t.
Hopeful students are nearly three times as likely to say they get good grades. That means the rest are stuck with average or poor grades – and worse low self esteem. What impact will that have on our employment pipeline for jobs that increasingly demand lifelong learning? Not good.

Two years ago I spoke from this podium:

More than losing our status in the world, more than ‘losing,’ more than the other party winning the White House, we should fear the loss of shared hope.  Shared hope is the binding that once tied our country together, forged a powerful nation and was the source of our prosperity.

What gives kids hope? What turns a student into a stakeholder?

SKILLS!

Everyone is this room has assets that tens of thousands of youth in our community lack: the skills to add value to a company, a cause or a community. It is a bargain that society makes with the next generation: bring us your skills and we will reward you with a seat at the table, a piece of the action, the right to expect to make a decent living for yourself and your family.

Mayor Hogsett is helping bend the curve of low expectations for thousands of these ‘Opportunity’ youth in Indianapolis. As Rotarians, our Service Above Self motto demands that we help him.

If you run a company plug into Project Indy and share job experiences. If you have skills, share them with Job Ready Indy, the new badging program developed by EmployIndy and the Indy Chamber. Or you can support Indy Achieves which aims to help kids into and through college or start a career with a high value credential.

In 2016 I asked you to be an actor not an audience member. Hope is a source of strength that is multiplied when shared.

Help fulfill one tenant of the Rotary International mission: the alleviation of poverty, by sharing your hope in the future of Indianapolis and the prosperity of its citizens.

IEDA Workforce Pipeline Workshop

I was asked by the Indiana Economic Development Association to present to their group on May 17 at their Workforce Pipeline and Talent Recruitment Workshop. The Keynote speaker will be Blair Milo, Indiana's Secretary of Career Connections and Talent. As usual, the organizer asked me to summarize what I would talk about.  Sometimes these summaries cause me to think hard (again) about what we are doing and why it's important. It's a good exercise I should undertake more frequently :) Here is what I wrote:

Today’s students rarely make anything tangible. As a result, tens of thousands of high wage manufacturing jobs go unfilled and our economy suffers. The state’s K12 curriculum emphasizes standards that many kids find irrelevant – and so do employers. Employers are looking for kids with creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration and problem solving skills; schools are graduating test takers. A makerspace is for every kid, every age, every ability, every ambition and every background. The most important outcome of a makerspace is not what kids make – it’s the self esteem and pride kids feel when they discover what they can make with their own two hands.

Ikigai - The intersection of career motivations

Received this from Angela Carr-Kitzsch, CEO of EmployIndy, in a nice bar, over beers. It's no wonder that the founding documents of America were probably deliberated above a tavern. Talking with Angie is like drinking from a firehose!

I'll let the graphic speak for itself. We spent some time discussing the importance of this Ikigai supra venn diagram. Very though provoking.

What drives human behavior?

This is from an email I sent to a friend last week. It encapsulates an idea I've been thinking about for a long time . . .

As I believe I have mentioned before to Bruce, in a bar in Portland, in 2014, on a Leadership Exchange trip hosted by the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, and having just returned from China and still a bit jet-lagged, I found myself with three smart people: David Forsell, CEO of Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Bill Taft, Leader of LISC Indianapolis and Sherry Siewart, CEO of Downtown Indy.

Somehow we got on the subject of what motivates human behavior. I blurted our Sex, Power and Tribe. For me it was like Einstein's Magic Year, except I'm not that smart and it didn't take a year - it took about 5 minutes.

It has become the lens through which I see all human drama that surrounds me.  It's like I'm living in an experiment and events are results producing data I collect and analyze. I have yet to observe contra-indicating samples. In fact, the sexual harassment eruptions and the partisan politics of the past few weeks have allowed me to infer, with increasing certitude, that there is a hierarchy of those motivations. And it is:

1. Tribe
2. Power
3. Sex

I'd love to talk with you guys about this at some time. What convinced me that the order was as shown is that power differentials are used to instigate sex. Thus, sex is subject to the influence of power.

The tribal behavior of politicians, abandoning one tribal affinity: patriotism, for another more important one: party, (but which could also be religion) shows me that these guys would rather get elected than get laid or saved. But there are lots of examples where devotion to country (membership in a tribe) accounts for the seemingly irrational choice to make the ultimate sacrifice. Too bad that military service is optional in America (unlike Israel) and the experience of battle or at least the kind of bonding that even occurs in peacetime deployment, isn't a cultural foundation that every citizen (even women) understand.

All for now.  Your comment about how the GOP is rotting got me thinking. How could a political party rot? If you subscribe to this human motivation taxonomy you can understand why so much dysfunction can be the consequence of blind allegiance to tribe. It doesn't make sense because it doesn't need to.

Further the affiant sayeth not :)

Interview with MCCOY on #GivingTuesday

Thanks to @MCCOYOUTH for giving me the chance to write down some thoughts on the subject of Entrepreneurship and Youth empowerment. The hour passed in a minute. Pardon the typos and awkward phrases.

Question asked by Jacie
What inspired you to start 1st MakerSpace?
Answered  8:58 AM
We made hundreds of 3D printers and placed many of them in schools...watching the kids go nuts with creativity and enthusiasm for learning was the trigger. I thought: we have got to do this for every kid in every school.

Question asked by J
I know youth who are interested in going into teaching/education. How can I support them?
Answered  8:59 AM
There are lots of avenues. We work with University of Indianapolis and Marian College. I just googled Teach for America. Visit a school and ask a teacher. Most of the teachers I've met are passionate about teaching and can help you take the next step.

Question asked by Anonymous
I saw the word "thinkering" on your website. What does that mean?
Answered  9:01 AM
It started as a malapropism during a speech I was making at Marian. I liked it and made a note. I've since learned it's a 'thing' - there's a book by the same title I bought. What I think it means is to tinker while you're thinking. That interaction with your hands and brain is critical. It's what kids want to do and it inspire creative solutions to problems.

Question asked by John
What is the most exciting thing about encouraging youth to be “Makers”?
Answered  9:03 AM
EVERY KID HAS POTENTIAL. Watching kids make stuff, solve problems is cool. But the best part is watching them gain confidence that they can. In education they call it agency. If you have it you believe you can learn anything! Isn't that what we want EVERY HOOSIER KID TO HAVE?

Question asked by Jace
What is a makerspace?
Answered  9:05 AM
The first makerspace is between your ears...it's the power you have to believe you can solve any problem by tinkering, adjusting, designing, building, breaking or just simply undertstanding the world. It's the place where we put tables and tools and supplies and a community of makers who share what they know to make stuff that is relevant to their lives. Sometimes it's art, sometimes machine, sometimes for sale, but it's always something they can be proud of. That pride leads to all sorts of positive outcomes for students.

Question asked by Doug Miltenberger
What can Indianapolis and Indiana do to grow it's tech community?
Answered  9:07 AM
WOW - that's a big question. Here's a simple answer: help more kids believe they can be a part of it. Make it OK to fail - failure is feedback. Change 'education' into 'learning.' There's never been a better time in the history of our planet where enthusiasm for learning is more important yet seldom enjoyed.

Question asked by Anonymous
Would you say this community is a good place for kids academically? I want to make sure my kids are challenged academically and creatively.
Answered  9:10 AM
Engaged parents are the key. Follow your kids' interests with encouragement. Create networks of mentors, experiences and resources. Make sure the teachers want your child to learn as bad as you do. Teaching is hard and it is changing fast. Let your kids explore. And help them understand that learning is a lifelong pursuit and grades are only a single dimension of attainment. My two questions on the final exam are: do you like yourself and do you love to learn. That's all that's really important.

Question asked by Jace
Are there other makerspaces in our community?
Answered  9:17 AM
We operate spaces at Arsenal Tech and Shortridge for IPS students. I know of several being built in township schools at Decatur, Pike, Lawrence, North Central. We visited a space at Cathedral and I know Gary Pritts at Chatard has one in his Physics lab. One of the best is in Beech Grove - they focus on Agri-Engineering. Avon is building a new one. You can join Club Cyberia on the east side for $35/mo and have access to all their tools and training. Herron School of Art has the Think it Make It Lab. We've proposed makerspaces for Fishers IoT Lab and the Hamilton E Library. We're building a makerspace at Mt Vernon Community Schools now in Hancock County and Ninestar - the Hancock County Utility wants to transform their tech center into a makerspace! And we're helping the new Newfields Museum (at the IMA) build one soon.

Question asked by Anonymous
Does 1st Maker Space have any summer or afterschool programs? What are they like? What age group do you usually work with?
Answered  9:19 AM
We turned over the job of producing summer programs to the Maker Youth Foundation last Spring so we could focus on designing/building and sustaining makerspaces in schools and libraries. Check with MakerYouth.org after the holidays to see what their schedule is. Bethany Thomas , their Exec Dir is a genius at programming STEM activities. She's served over 1000 kids since she's worked there and I have no doubt she'll be helping kids have a passion for learning next summer too.

Question asked by Anonymous
What is the worst business advice/guidance you ever received?
Answered  9:23 AM
OH WOW! I've probably moved on (suppressed the memory) :) I can only think of my own bad decisions (too many to count) and missed opportunities. I'm sitting hear scratching my head... Let me think about it...email me: kim@kimbrand.com if you want a follow up.

Question asked by John Brandon
What suggestions would you give to a budding entrepreneur about what to expect?
Answered  9:27 AM
OH WOW! As John Wechsler (@Wechsler) would say: STRAP ON! Entrepreneurship is not for sissies. If you are married, make sure your spouse is on board. It's not easy and they are along for the ride whether they want to be or not. Get a group of other entrepreneur friends you trust and meet with them regularly. Remember your business is not your child. Fail fast. Read. Keep whatever you are writing or saying very short. I update wiki.kimbrand.com from time to time with lots of info...

Question asked by Anonymous
How young were you when you decided to be an entrepreneur? I am not sure the kids I'm around know what that is, or that it's an option for them later in life!
Answered  9:32 AM
I started my first business right after I started working for my first employer after graduating from college. It was a motivation education franchise. I never did very well. Then I invented an electronic backgammon game that beat the world champion - but never made any money. Entrepreneurship is a big word. Just keep it simple: starting a business from scratch and making money and/or a difference. It's not for everybody. You need to be able to deal with rapid change, unpredictability, stress and problems you didn't know existed. You need to inspire a team and you are always SELLING.

Question asked by TMH
On the other hand, What is the best business advice/guidance you ever received?
Answered  9:35 AM
Too much good advice - and much of it I didn't follow. Keep a savings account - or marry someone who will. Pay attention to accounting - or pay someone who will. Cut all your income forecasts in half and stretch all your timelines by 3x. Here's one I can remember well: Cost of Sales will be much higher than you think...that was from Mark Hill of Baker Hill - an legendary Indianapolis entrepreneur.

Question asked by A
In case I missed it...What is 1st Maker Space, and how does it help students in the classroom?
Answered  9:39 AM
Kids want to make stuff. It's as much a part of their DNA as creativity. Neither of which are 'measured' by our current education system so it doesn't get taught. We want to change that. We think a makerspace belongs in every school. Like shop class 30 years ago but with modern tools like 3D printers and laser cutters . . . but just as importantly as hot glue guns, cardboard, straws and tape.) Once you see the engagement, focus, problem solving, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, inventing that kids are capable of you'd be amazed that more schools don't add making to their education toolbox (sorry for the pun :)

Question asked by Brandon
How do you "turn your brain off" so you are not always thinking about new and/or better ways to do things---or do you??
Answered  9:42 AM
I'm afraid that's not possible. I can try to redirect it - like figuring out why Christmas lights don't work :) But the maker mindset is a habit of thinking. You just look at the world through the lens of fixing/changing/adjusting/adapting. It comes from having that self-confidence that you CAN - SO YOU DO!

Question asked by John
What advice would you give to somebody who wants to be an entrepreneur and launch their idea?
Answered  9:45 AM
START NOW. Start small. Sell something (anything) to anyone. Listen to what they have to say about it. Take that feedback and improve what you are doing. Imaging growing that business. What will it take. How will it work. Who should be involved. How can you describe it better. Where are more customers. Ask them: WHY DID YOU BUY IT . . . or better yet: WHAT DID YOU BUY? Someone who buys insurance is buying peace of mind. A lady who buys eyelashes (I learned) is buying self confidence. Hang out with entrepreneurs. Expand your network. If you don't move or die you'll be growing your network every day. Do it on purpose. It will be the most valuable asset you have.

Question asked by Anonymous
If you could change one thing about the way we prepare youth for the world of work, what would it be?
Answered  9:48 AM
Breed self confidence into their education. If you have it you believe you can do anything. Without it you are worried you can't do anything. Lots of bad things happen when kids grow up hopeless and helpless. If kids graduate school thinking they are a C student - that 20%-30% of the other kids are smarter than they are that's the WRONG RESULT! We should put signs on schools that announce: WE'LL FIND OUT WHAT YOUR GOOD AT - not by testing you to death, but by helping you discovery what makes you happy. THEN - we can match them up with a career that meets their emotional needs as much as their financial ones.

Question asked by Jacie
Thanks for chatting with us today! Is there anything you'd like to add before the end of your chat?
Answered  9:51 AM
WOW! I feel like I've worked a whole day thinking so hard! If anyone wants to reach out after this I'd be happy to carry on off-line. This was like hanging out in the commons at a university and talking with friends (which I never did but thought would be cool! :) kim@kimbrand.com Thanks for helping McCoy do what they do! Money for them is an investment that pays better dividends than most of the businesses I've ever started! A SURE BET!

Success in the New Economy

I was invited to a community brainstorming session focused on MSD of Decatur Township's plans to build an Innovation Hub.  This session was centered on Computer Science.  Decatur Township has been one of our most energetic partners in our efforts to bring maker centered learning to schools everywhere.

During the presentation, Dr. Chris Duzenbery screened this video titled Success in the New Economy. It's about how colleges have been oversold and the opportunity for schools to ‘re-frame’ education for careers is overdue.

In a rare moment of insight I suggested that rather than inviting business owners and employees of companies that offer job opportunities and examples of careers to students - schools should 'flip' career days and invite parents to learn about the changing landscape of college and careers.  The group seemed to agree with me.  This video explains it well.  The 'freshness' date of college for everyone has expired.

America's First Female Millionaire

America's first female millionaire was a African-American, lived in Indianapolis, and should be better known than she is.

The good news is that she is getting some overdue credit for her accomplishments.  A 2014 story in TIME Magazine was recently mentioned on Reddit (which is where I found it mentioned.)

The difficulties she faced: sexism and racism among them, make the trivial setbacks and challenges I have faced in my entrepreneurial journey seem insignificant. 

Madame C. J. Walker was born on December 23, 1867 to parents who were former slaves.  She made her fortune in the hair care products business. The building where she operated in Indianapolis is still there as a testament to her success.  I've visited it often as a volunteer with Business Ownership Initiative to help other entrepreneurs succeed.

She developed a sales agent program, leveraged the power of black media (in 1890!) and developed a multi-level marketing system BEFORE AMWAY!

A black mom, widowed at 20, she was making $1.50/day as a washerwoman when she came up with the idea for a hair tonic that helped her stop losing her hair.

Her brilliant marketing strategy was founded on sharing her success with her sales agents. Not only generous, but motivating. She created a source of philanthropy that has lasted for over 125 years!