Video: The Big Pipe
One Session Only...
One Session Only...
The following commentary posted on systematicHR.com this morning.
Once again, from the Talent UnConference (TalUnCon) hosted by Electronic Arts on January 25, 2006. ((From the Talent UnConference, January 25, 2007. Ideas expressed in this post may be directly attributed to the TalUnCon or might have been triggered by a discussion there.)) The Big Pipe session discussed the current state of education in the United States and some of the deficiencies there. I’ve been talking a lot about innovation and creativity on systematicHR lately, and I was intrigued by this discussion and how it might apply to innovation. Specifically, what types of education works best for innovation, and where is the U.S. positioned in comparison to other countries?
My thought is that to train for innovation, you must train students to think in a cross-functional and multi-threaded approach. This is exactly the type of education you will find in some of the great MBA programs, where people learn to apply strategy to IT, finance, marketing and other classes, and then learn to apply them all against each other. This can also be found in many undergraduate schools – particularly the small liberal arts colleges. Here, students are not asked to learn a vocation like accounting or marketing. Instead, they are asked to delve into a topic and dissect it in an analytical way. The future of work includes 2 things: designing a product and producing a product. The designers of the world will be the major problem solvers using creativity and innovation to advance the consumer experience. These designers will come out of curricula that take thinking and analysis from multiple directions, and instill the ability to be creative in their students.
So that’s college and maybe the MBA as well. What about high schools? I don’t honestly know much about high school education, but being at Electronic Arts, I thought deeply about the role of video games. Often criticized (rightly so, but it’s more about parental control than the industry), video games can be a source of transformation in the way young people think. The right video games keep the player thinking and watching about multiple treads of though at any given time. These games have been one of the major transformers in the “millennial” generation – a generation who have shown the ability to multi-task and problem solve at a level prior generations have not come close to.
Thinking about other countries, I’d guess that rising economic powers such as India are performing well at developing infrastructure aimed at the technology market. That is that they are turning out engineers and programmers in masses previously unseen in the world. China has similar potential, but not the infrastructure to execute on their potential as of yet. What the current industrialized nations do well, and especially the U.S., Canada, western Europe and Japan, is training for creative and innovative thinking that rising nations like India do not. I’m not saying that there are not incredible thinkers coming out of India, but that the focus of the educational system is currently a product that emphasizes systematic type thinking. India’s advantage (and China to some degree) is that they send students to the far reaches of the world and the talent often goes back home. This is a huge advantage over the U.S. as most students are educated here and stay here. The potential to develop new ways of creative thinking based on cultural differences is not as widespread.
Most of the people who are coming in for the Big Pipe session can only stay the morning (and an exciting group of people it is, if I do say so). So there will be no Big Pipe session in the afternoon.
However, Dennis Hunter, the Big Pipe leader, will be sticking around most of the day, and there will be plenty of room for a side conversation, so if you want to keep talking about education there will be a lot of opportunity.
If you have registered for the Big Pipe in the afternoon please let Sean or myself know what your updated choice for the afternoon session will be.
(Written by Dennis Hunter, posted by JJ)
In the world that will be, the United States, and the businesses domiciled therein, will be severely challenged. Its supremacy will no longer be assured. In fact, it’s incredible success over the past half century will be one of the major obstacles to overcome. How it responds to, or better yet anticipates, the changed and ever-changing basis of competition will have substantial impact not just on the vitality of its economy, but on its social and political coherence. What should the U.S. do to maximize its chances of calling forth those capabilities that will result in a continuous, generative renewal? What role should the business community play in encouraging and nurturing the realization of the needed changes?
The “Big Pipe” track of the Unconference will focus on the educational component of this issue. It will start with the proposition that the role of education (a broader topic than the role of schools) is to maximize the development of human potential, the generation of capacity, as opposed to the current concept that its role is the delivery of specified capabilities (Ref., No Child Left Behind, and the success of centrally planned anything.) The second proposition will be that the maximization of the country’s success potential should start by recognizing, and building upon, its most fundamental existing strengths. The first of those being its diversity, and the capacities that foster tolerance and build mutual trust and respect, what some would call the creation of “Social Capital.” The second advantage is our relatively higher level of acceptance of failure. Both can be used to build on the country’s well-deserved reputation for creativity. And it’s competing on the basis of creativity that provides the best chance for sustainable economic leadership. But, unlike what has been true in the past, it’s a creativity that needs to be far more broadly distributed. We will no longer be living in a world where the contribution of the few can provide opportunity for the many.
We shall explore the validity and appropriateness of such propositions before moving on to investigating the dimensions of potential for contribution in these areas from the business community. Finally, we shall examine whether there is sufficient commonality of beliefs and interests among the participants to undertake an on-going commitment to collaboratively seek to bring into being at least a portion of the changes needed to prepare us to compete in the brave new world.
How is one to decide which sessions to attend when they all seem so critical to the future of our talent management? It's like asking which of your children do you want to save from the fire and which will you let perish. I mean, come on...
...really.
Posted by: Amitai Givertz
On my travels I came across these stats:
The data was compiled in 2005 but I can't imagine much has changed since.
Interesting, huh?
Posted by: Amitai Givertz
If you can think of anyone who would add value to the "Big Pipe" session please send them my way. This is a personal passion of mine. I was hoping that Martin Snyder would show up, since I know he has an interest, but I haven't heard from him a while, so I am guessing he won't be able to show.
If you are interested in the topic, you can read some background here. I hope to be putting up some more information in a little while, as well as getting all the attendees set up as authors on the blog soon.
Everything you always wanted to know about the Talent Unconference, and more! (Note: I will be updating this frequently, so if you are interested in attending, leading a track or just have a question please write me as soon as possible at jjhunter at ea dot com.)
It’s really happening and we hope that you can make it.
If you are not familiar with the Talent Unconference, what it is all about and what it takes to get in, read more here and here.
Date & Time
The Talent Unconference will take place on Thursday, January 25, 2007. It will start at 9:00 a.m. and end around 6 p.m. PST.
Location
209 Redwood Shores Parkway, Redwood City, CA / Electronic Arts Worldwide Headquarters (Google Map here ... Detailed instructions will be sent to those who sign-up)
Unconference Format / Activities
- Creating the framing opportunity (see below)
- Creating the framing problem (again, see below)
- Either facilitating the opportunity / problem session or getting someone from the team to do it (will be decided in advance)
- Either scribing or having someone else do it (can be decided at the start of each session)
- Making sure that they invite individuals who would add something substantial to the session and whose “Learning and Teaching” statement aligns with the tracks opportunity / problem frame.
Morning Session – “Future Opportunity” – Your track leaders will have a basic business proposition for you, i.e. “We think that in the future of Talent Planning & Strategy this opportunity is going to exist, and we want to go start a business to capitalize on that opportunity.” ** The opportunity becomes the framework through which the participants in the track will start a conversation about the future of talent in that track focus.
Afternoon Session – “Problem Focus” – Your track leaders will have a basic business problem in the area of talent that they want to discuss i.e. “We think that getting people to adopt bleeding-edge technology without a central sourcing organization can only happen through changing organizational structure.” ** The problem becomes the framework through which the participants in the track will start a conversation about innovative approaches to the realities of talent today.
** Both of these examples are made up. I am sure that the track leaders will come up with something far more interesting. And because this is an Unconference, where everyone teaches and everyone learns, the track leaders may decide to do something completely different than what I have planned here, or the session group may come together and just shoot the breeze about a topic du jour. It's all possible, but every session group has to report to the group at large.
Tracks / Leaders
Agenda
Logistics
Sofitel San Francisco Bay - $179 a night (nicest of the hotels listed and walking distance to unconference)
Crown Plaza Hotel - $129 a night
TownePlace Suites - $111 a night
Fairfield Inn & Suites San Carlos - $95 a night
Recruiting.com Poker Tournament
The Poker Tourney is on and turning out to be big. Check out Recruiting.com for updated information. It will start 1 hour after the unconference is completed and end sometime early that morning.
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