Saturday, March 22, 2014
Saturday 3/22
Haven't posted in a while. Sorry. Some observations and experiences this week.....
My business planning and entrepreneurship class for Russian undergraduates is growing larger with every class. We are having some good discussions, they have some great business ideas. They're actually doing homework---gasp---and many have really creative methods for discussing ideas. I always try to emphasize that in describing an idea, they should try to paint pictures with words---it demonstrates passion---and passion is what'll get your business open. We worked a lot on "mission statements" this last class and there were some superb versions of the "why are we here...?" question.
These young people desperately want to communicate with American students. They know that this will give them a competitive advantage in the flat, digital, international business world. Those that communicate with them will also gain tremendous advantages! Please, colleagues, students, anyone who is reading this---help me facilitate this kind of contact! Teachers---get me students. Students, contact me directly, participate! We are putting together a nice network, really!
Thursday, during coffee break, we sitting in the International Office and two sort of slickly dressed guys came in saying they needed to talk to someone who taught in the Presidential Program seminars.
I will qualify my next comments by saying that some young people in text sales that I know in Virginia are my friends; I do not disparage them. The companies they work for are despicable. Their business models are cutthroat. They need to vanish from the educational landscape. That being said, these guys somehow charmed their way past Institute security----YES, security keeps them out---in attempt to sell (maybe me) textbooks. The ladies of the office briskly gave them the cold shoulder and away they went. Nice---basically protecting their students from predators. We all need to work on ways to do the same. Our students at NOVA spend over $1000 per semester on textbooks, most companies change editions in some trivial way every year(in order to ruin the market for used books). I personally could teach any class I've ever taught with a 10 yr old text or none at all. Books cost $200-$300 EACH. In the 1980s, when I was in school, I would spend $100+ on books each semester. We all need to collaborate on a strategy to break this business model. OK, enough preaching.
Last night I again went to a Russian Pro basketball game--Saratov Avtador with my friend Dmitri and his daughter. As we were waiting outside before the game started, a shining black BMW sedan and a BMW SUV come tearing up the parking lot, pull up to a special entrance, and with great spectacle, enter the building. From what I was told, they were political big-shots from Saratov Oblast....about 6-7 guys, a couple women. They sat in a little, shabby cubicle above the all the other "littles" in the crowd.....the Avtador version of a luxury box. The team did not play well. Down by 25-30 points most of the game; lost by 10.
I live 10 miles from the center of Washington DC and am no stranger to the posturing and special treatment of traffic security details when pols move around town. I remember barking at Lynn Cheney's security detail in Old Town Alexandria when they parked her black official Lincoln SUV on the sidewalk(so she could go shopping) Anyway, they have self-important, we're better than you jackasses in Russia too. Perhaps they jinxed their own team huh?
My business planning and entrepreneurship class for Russian undergraduates is growing larger with every class. We are having some good discussions, they have some great business ideas. They're actually doing homework---gasp---and many have really creative methods for discussing ideas. I always try to emphasize that in describing an idea, they should try to paint pictures with words---it demonstrates passion---and passion is what'll get your business open. We worked a lot on "mission statements" this last class and there were some superb versions of the "why are we here...?" question.
These young people desperately want to communicate with American students. They know that this will give them a competitive advantage in the flat, digital, international business world. Those that communicate with them will also gain tremendous advantages! Please, colleagues, students, anyone who is reading this---help me facilitate this kind of contact! Teachers---get me students. Students, contact me directly, participate! We are putting together a nice network, really!
Thursday, during coffee break, we sitting in the International Office and two sort of slickly dressed guys came in saying they needed to talk to someone who taught in the Presidential Program seminars.
I will qualify my next comments by saying that some young people in text sales that I know in Virginia are my friends; I do not disparage them. The companies they work for are despicable. Their business models are cutthroat. They need to vanish from the educational landscape. That being said, these guys somehow charmed their way past Institute security----YES, security keeps them out---in attempt to sell (maybe me) textbooks. The ladies of the office briskly gave them the cold shoulder and away they went. Nice---basically protecting their students from predators. We all need to work on ways to do the same. Our students at NOVA spend over $1000 per semester on textbooks, most companies change editions in some trivial way every year(in order to ruin the market for used books). I personally could teach any class I've ever taught with a 10 yr old text or none at all. Books cost $200-$300 EACH. In the 1980s, when I was in school, I would spend $100+ on books each semester. We all need to collaborate on a strategy to break this business model. OK, enough preaching.
Last night I again went to a Russian Pro basketball game--Saratov Avtador with my friend Dmitri and his daughter. As we were waiting outside before the game started, a shining black BMW sedan and a BMW SUV come tearing up the parking lot, pull up to a special entrance, and with great spectacle, enter the building. From what I was told, they were political big-shots from Saratov Oblast....about 6-7 guys, a couple women. They sat in a little, shabby cubicle above the all the other "littles" in the crowd.....the Avtador version of a luxury box. The team did not play well. Down by 25-30 points most of the game; lost by 10.
I live 10 miles from the center of Washington DC and am no stranger to the posturing and special treatment of traffic security details when pols move around town. I remember barking at Lynn Cheney's security detail in Old Town Alexandria when they parked her black official Lincoln SUV on the sidewalk(so she could go shopping) Anyway, they have self-important, we're better than you jackasses in Russia too. Perhaps they jinxed their own team huh?
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