Minnesota WorkForce Centers

issue 16 - November 2007	kathy.sweeney@state.mn.us

Conference Summary (continued)

Jolly says everyone can make a difference by helping a student

Even if all of our students chose math and science as major fields of study, the U.S. still wouldn’t produce as many trained mathematicians and scientists as China because of its much larger population. He said that mathematics study in high school is the best predictor of success in college for students in any discipline.

“Math teaches students how to break down a problem into components and solve the problem,” he said.

Problem-solving is a key skill for success in any profession, and Jolly encourages extensive teaching of math in high school. Jolly challenged each attendee to do just one thing to help a student succeed, be it mentoring, coaching, or providing encouragement. back to story

Polar explorer says when you don't succeed, there's often a silver lining

Challenges included stormy weather, extreme cold, icy terrain, storms that produce mounds of snow and ice as tall as a house, and lack of wind (preventing the possibility of wind sailing instead of skiing).

“I didn’t succeed the first time I tried, but there was a silver lining to it. I never would have met my future exploration partner, Liv Arnesen, who later returned with me to make a successful crossing.”

Together, they became the first all-female team to achieve this feat.

“After listening to her story, I feel like anything is possible,” said one attendee. back to story

St. Paul Saints owner says failure is OK: What counts is one's reaction to it

“My wife said I needed a business plan. So one night I stayed up and sat at my typewriter, and after hours of staring at a blank page it finally came to me: I typed: Fun is good … And I was totally exhausted.”

He says there are nine things in the workplace that should matter to employers:

• Have passion. Surround yourself with people who have passion.
• Have fun at work and work with people who are fun.
• Put into place a value-oriented system. Know what your mission and vision is.
• Build an organization that you are proud of.
• Embrace change. People fear change because they are afraid to fail. It’s OK to take risks and it’s OK to fail. It’s how we react to failure that determines whether we ultimately succeed.
• Be creative. Schedule a one hour meeting. State the objectives and give all the attendees five minutes to share their ideas. Record them on a flip chart, review them and pick the best idea.
• Use the media. But never talk off the record. Tell the media that you don’t know the answer to a question if that’s the case.
• Provide quality customer service. People want the human touch. So answer your own phone, read and respond to your e-mails and remember that service differentiates your organization from others.
• Give back to the community. At Veeck’s company each employee receives one week off per year to give service to a charity. Employers (or managers) should give their top employee two days off to show appreciation for outstanding work and boost morale.

Visit the conference web site (http://positivelyminnesota.com/events/devconfpresentations.htm) to view postings of presentations.

Back to story and photos

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