Comments on: Globalization of Leadership

By: Luxembourgh BBG

Luxembourgh BBG — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 02:52:48 +0000

That was wonderful information. You have done great work communicating your message. Keep up the great job.

By: Ron

Ron — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:17:30 +0000

No Child Left Behind legislation, to my point, is meta legislation gone arwy because its (federal level) legislation that should not exist. More importantly it tries to solve by measurement an unwillingness to fundamentally restructure the school systems. For an interesting perspective on creativity in schools go to http://www.ted.com and look for the video of Ken Robinson’s presentation. Beautifully stated.

By: Fighting the Uphill Battle Against Foreign Energy Dependence | All the Best Bits

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:51:17 +0000

[...] week’s post on the Globalization of Leadership ended with a clarion-call for change. Given that the entire US economy is built upon a foundation [...]

By: Phillip Alvelda

Phillip Alvelda — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:50:26 +0000

Perhaps. I do believe that culture is a nebulous thing to pin down regarding its influence on productivity and the economy in general. But national leadership has a responsibility to make sure that policy doesn’t ultimately undermine national goals.

As an example, the No Child Left Behind legislation, while well meant, and targeted at a general lack of accountability in the public school system, ultimately has delivered two very important unintended consequences: 1.) the entire school system is now focused on improving standardized test prep performance in reading and in arithmetic, an arguably different end than fluency in innovation and creative use of subject matter and skills to solve real problems, and 2.) since there was no funding offered in support of the NCLB initiatives, the schools have had to strip all their other programs, most notably innovative science programs, in order to focus their strapped budgets on the math and reading tests critical to their school evaluations. A staggering number of innovative science programs have been progressively shut down nationwide just when everyone is starting to cry for more science, technology, and innovation support.

That is policy gone awry.

By: Ron

Ron — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:36:56 +0000

Might your expectation of seeking”national policy gone awry” itself be the core enabler of the problem? I’ve moved around the globe frequently on business matters. Do you want to know what I sense? I sense that we as American’s are (especially in comparison to Asians) not as hungry and determined to succeed. There’s something going on at the grass roots. I see it in the young people we hire in my organization. Its a tacit ambivalence regarding our American social economic system. Said differently, while all government and academic pursuits are somehow pure in motive there is uncertainty about the morality of private business and economics … especially among college grads. “Is making a profit really exploitation?” As such the energy for business and economics (and ingenuity) is shifting elsewhere (to law, social sciences, political science etc). Meanwhile there’s an increasing expectation that “ingenuity” is a national policy, that its government enabled, and not something personally expected of individuals seeking profit. That’s OK I suppose … but I’ll bet that all the global entrepreneurs out there will consistently outrun our national policies. So a national policy gone awry? I’ll give you two. First any government action that claims national policy drives ingenuity. Second, any national educational policy that teaches dependence on national policy.