|
April
2006world bytes
 You are a Hero to Someone
by Terrance Malkinson
A Thought to Chew On
A hero can be defined in many ways,
and heroic individuals exist in all cultures and fields
of endeavor. An individual who is idealized or held in esteem by
someone for superior qualities or good deeds of any kind is
often considered heroic.
Recently, I attended our annual
collegiate hockey championship game. A father and his
six-year-old son were sitting in the first row, and the boy was
jumping up and down with excitement characteristic of any
six-year-old as the 18- to 22-year-old college players emerged
and skated onto the ice. His enthusiasm continued unabated
throughout the duration of the game, never missing a moment to
cheer on his favorite team. From a conversation with the boy's
father, I learned that they attend every game, because these
college athletes are his son's heroes. I related the story to
the coach the next day; he shared it with the athletes; and he
later told me that many of those same tough 18- to 22-year-olds
broke into tears when they learned what kind of an impact that
they had on this young child.
As adults, we must all remember that we
influence others through our actions, particularly impressionable
young people. Before we know it, today's youngsters will be
finishing school, voting to select our political leaders, starting
families, entering the workforce, and making important business
decisions. Be remembered by someone as a hero, just as you had an individual who had a heroic and important,
positive impact on your life.
To grow and know what one is growing toward —
That is the source of all strength and confidence in life.
— James Baillie
Other Bytes
Here are some of the things going
on in and around the engineering community:
- Mentoring is an important relationship for employees to
establish in an organization. In "Virtual Mentoring" (HR
Magazine; 51(3), 105-107, 2006,
www.shrm.org/hrmagazine),
Donna Owens discusses how an online mentoring system might offer
employees the opportunity for better mentor matches from a wider
pool of candidates within the organization. A good mentor is
critical to success in many organizations. Mentoring is all
about learning from a sponsor the unwritten rules that can
advance your career. The author discusses how an organizations'
internal mentoring website can be used to improve the success of
locating a good mentor for an employee. Links are provided to
sources of further information on mentoring programs in the
workplace. The article concludes with a discussion on MentorNet,
a non-profit e-mentoring network that assists women and
minorities in engineering, science, mathematics, and technology.
- "Twelve Habits of Successful IT Professionals" is the title
of an article that outlines twelve skills that are keys to
career success and should be turned into habits early in your
career (Educause Review; 41(6), 57-66, 2006,
www.educause.edu/pub/er).
The skills discussed by Brian Hawkins are not just for IT
professionals in academia but are suitable for all. Brian
Hawkins concludes "we all need to work hard at growing
constantly, no matter what age we are or what career stage we
are at."
- Academic libraries have traditionally been the primary
providers of recorded trustworthy, authoritative knowledge. In
"Changing a Cultural Icon: the Academic Library as a Virtual
Designation" (Educause Review; 41(6), 16-30, 2006,
www.educause.edu/pub/er),
Jerry Campbell discusses how the academic library may relinquish
this role, a result of digital technology and the emergence of
new information providers. Digital technology impacts on how we
store and transmit recorded knowledge and also on how we search
for and gain access to information. This article discusses
digitization of information and the necessity for academic
libraries to examine their role as the primary providers of
recorded knowledge.
- Contracts from government agencies provide many business
opportunities, not just for large contractors, but now
increasingly for small business. In "For the People" (Entrepreneur,
34(2), 68-71, 2006,
www.entrepreneur.com), Joshua Kurlantzick discusses the
business of contracting with government and provides strategies
successfully used by entrepreneurs to land government contracts.
A link is provided to the reader for further information on
government sub-contracting.
- 25 tips for simplifying and streamlining your business are
provided by Chris Penttila in "Keep It Simple" (Entrepreneur;
34(2), 60-63, 2006,
www.entrepreneur.com). These valuable ideas that can be
quickly read and easily applied will help ensure that you will
have the time to focus on the most important tasks.
- Krysten Crawford and Matthew Maier provide a year-in-review
of "bold moves, big bets and brilliant innovations" of 2005 is
provided by in "The Smart List" (Business 2.0, 7(1),
89-94, 2006,
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2). The year's big
winners and the moves that were pivotal to their success are
discussed chronologically as each success story emerged during
the year.
- In contrast to the above, in a companion article, Adam
Horowitz et al provide the "101 Dumbest Moments in Business" in
2005 is provided by (Business 2.0, 7(1), 98-110, 2006,
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2). The authors have
even provided their assessment of winners of dumbest moments in
certain business areas and a grand prize dumbest moment 2005
winner. Read their article and learn of this business moment.
- Promotion practices in today's competitive environment
require that the new leader be effective from day one. In "The
Perfect Storm or Just a Shower" (Training and Development,
60(3): 51-55, 2006,
www.astd.org/astd/publications/td_magazine), Jim Concelman
and Janice Burns discuss how corporations must use best
practices to jump-start new leaders, shortening the productivity
(time-to-competence) learning curve. Challenges facing new
leaders and executing a well-designed on boarding program are
discussed.
Terrance Malkinson is a proposal
manager/documentation specialist; an elected Senator of the
University of Calgary; a Governor of the Engineering Management
Society; international correspondent for IEEE-USA Today's
Engineer Online; editor-in-chief of IEEE-USA Today's Engineer
Digest; and editor of IEEE Engineering Management. The
author is grateful to the Haskayne School of Business Library at the
University of Calgary. He can be reached at
todaysengineer@ieee.org.
|
E-mail
this page