What kind of inspiration does this spark for you? Does it make you want to create your own "idea videos" for something you're passionate about? Does it make you want to find the same type of videos done by preschool teachers in, say, Russia for your children to watch? Let us know.

(NB: The author admits his answer is not for the ages. The growing potency of technology means that even the college sheepskin holders will be under attack fairly soon. But for now that sheepskin matters ... a lot.)

When you get back from gagging in the bathroom, or if you survive shooting yourself, dive into a Bloomberg companion piece, "How Test Companies Fail Your Kids: The $2.8 billion industry hires $10-an-hour graders for exams that control U.S. schools." I'm far too old to lightly use a word like "unbelievable." But this stuff is ... unbelievable. Try "layed off" janitors who majored in "Phylosophy/Humanity" grading essays that determine our kids' life success and our teachers' employment prospects. This article would be hilarious were it not of such surpassing importance. Again, I underscore that this comes from Bloomberg, not the PR arm of our national teachers union.

That's a big deal given that "intellectual capital" intensity is supposed to keep us afloat for the next few years/decades/"forever."

Talk about a positive spin for the tech revolution! Congrats to the creators of In-Cab University, the "freshman" drivers—and the companies that are ponying up.

"Today's business schools have strayed from that original mission of stewardship, according to [Harvard Business School's] Rakesh Khurana ... While trumpeting their production of leaders, they have failed to define leadership in the context of the public good and enshrined as their highest ideal the maximizing of shareholder value, he contended ... Misdeeds at companies like Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco can be traced in part to a 'de-professionalization' of managers who put the pursuit of profits over their commitment to the broader society."

And the expected response from U of Chicago's Steven Kaplan: "He's confused. It's hard to understand why he's saying there's a problem or a failure. By and large, the goal of maximizing shareholder value does the right thing for companies. And in the long run, it's good for the economies in which companies operate."

Is Khurana confused? Is there no problem? And is the commitment of business leadership to the public good less important than shareholder rights?

Brains & brawn. A non-starter? Think again. (FYI: Hats off to Williams for its 8th straight Div III Director's Cup victory.)

I don't care. I think it's important.

A local school had a fabulous increase in standardized math test scores. Very cool. In the local paper, the Principal said, "The significant jump is due to the hard work and dedication of our teachers and administrators—and is not the typical increase one would expect in a year."

Quiz: What's wrong with that quote?
Okay, it's a rhetorical question. I'll provide my "slightly" altered version: "The significant jump is due to the hard work and dedication of our students and teachers and administrators—and is not the typical increase one would expect in a year."

Am I a nitpicker? Or not? Your call.

(PS: Flu struck—hence my small contributions of late. Ha! Haven't missed a speech. Off at noon for Key Biscayne for Merrill Lynch.)

The latest. Remember, a couple of days ago, my "Sales90"? Now, it's "Sales111." It got me thinking: Why don't B.Schools (or, at least the so-called "elite") teach ... SALES ... anymore? We've got marketing up the gazoo—and marketing is indeed important—but by and large no bloody sales. Obviously sales are important. (Duh.) And we do "know some stuff."

'Nuff said.

(Whoops: and, remember, no Innovation to speak of, no Creativity, no Implementation (à la Bossidy's book/Execution), no Presenting & Listening/Interviewing ... the two most important practical Tools. 'Nuff said redux.)

So: Please explain the above. Anything Goes: "Sales is a given." "Sales can't be taught." "There's not one bloomin' prof who'd know his left foot from his right on the topic." Etc.

Shame that these young entrepreneurs will all too often be growing up in an education system that models the opposite: order, regulation, standardised curricula, hierarchy, etc., and then pass on to work where their bosses will talk a good game on innovation and entrepreneurship, but run regimes where "Compliance rules, OK!"

The big question is what is it going to take to disrupt this pattern and give our budding entrepreneurs a real chance to blossom? Much more than today's "creativity summit" in London, where Mr Brown and 200 specially invited business leaders will discuss how creativity and innovation can boost British business. Better they spend their time together talking about how they systematically suppress any sign of entrepreneurship! I wish.

Wow!

None the less ... I HAD A BOFFO TIME IN THE KINGDOM! Post 9/11, Americans have avoided the country like the plague, and thence a visitor was looked upon as an Excellent Aberration. Fact is, I met an extraordinary group of public & private & university execs yesterday who were exceptionally personable and who aim for nothing more than the improvement of their country and the lot of their fellow citizens. I considered myself an ambassador as much as a "speaker," and feel that I made several true friends, a couple of whom I invited to my Vermont farm.

To survive, we must learn (or re-learn) to be friends, while reserving the right to chide that of which we disapprove—e.g., the absence of women's rights (Saudi has allowed women to do the full bit in schooling, and apparently there are now more women than men with PhDs ... but the women still cannot work). I must also add that while I unflinchingly support our energetic efforts to deal with the War on Terror, I was appalled to hear the stories of our officials' harassment of senior Saudis on obviously innocent missions to the U.S. (I haven't confirmed this—Newsweek take note—but one Veeeery Senior Saudi Exec refused to visit the U.S. because he wanted to bring his wife, but on her Visa application she apparently had to certify that she was not a prostitute. If true ... )

The "back from" means, alas, not Spring-y Vermont but arrival into my "second home country" ... England. I'm taking R & R today and being cosseted by my Great Pals at the Four Seasons London as I prepare for my assault on Warsaw tomorrow.

NB: And re the above, as long as California Governator Arnie keeps driving his Hummer, we're gonna need the Saudis as pals! Q.E.D.

Whoops, there I go again! I don't "hate" MBAs. I just bloody well wonder what kinda person would want to be a "master" of "administration"—when, say, you might have become a Snowboard Instructor at Stratton! (Or at least if you are determined to be an "MBA," join me and become a Master Bullshit Artist! Or better yet, MBAWGTFTCPLLACCEOI—MasterBullshitArtistWhoGetsToFlyToCoolPlacesLikeLisbonAndCallCEOsIdiots.)

MMM1 (Master of Metaphysical Management)
MMM2 (Master of Metabolic Management)
MGLF (Master of Great Leaps Forward)
MTD (Master of Talent Development)
W/Mw"GTD"w/oC (Woman/Man who "Gets Things Done" without Certificate)
DE (Doctor of Enthusiasm)

(See a bit more on this in my "REI.500" "master" PP presentation.)

America's answer, in short, is fiery, out-in-the-open, no-holds-barred competitiveness. Competing for Alumni bucks. Competing for Profs. Competing for Students. Competing for Grants. Competing for Recognition. Competing for the right to use the word Excellence per se. The competitive ferocity is most clearly exemplified, the FT reports, by Harvard's relatively new president, Larry Summers. (Academic superstar, former Clinton Treasury Secretary, energetic and aggressive in ways that give new meaning to the words.)

The results of the drive evinced by Summers and his determined peers—competitors, from Cambridge (Massachusetts/MIT) to Palo Alto (Stanford)—can partly be measured by the fact that the U.S. bags three-quarters of all Nobel Prizes, and is home to 700 of the world's 1,200 top academics, as measured by scientific citations. Also, a research study conducted last year by Shanghai University (they're watching!) concluded that the four "best universities" in the world are American: Harvard (#1), Berkeley, Cal Tech, Stanford. The UK's Cambridge bagged the 5th slot. The new chief at Cambridge acknowledges the Americans'/our competitiveness, which she contrasted to the British cast of mind. "Americans," she said, "are not embarrassed by ambition."

Which could lead me to segue back to my first comment—our generic unabashed, "energetic" approach to life wins Nobels in medicine, and probably explains more than a little about gun violence, Hummer-love and warrior tendencies as well.

Ah! Another of my deep-seated biases confirmed!

I love that!

TEACHING = LISTENING.
LEARNING = TALKING.

Same for "bossing," I'd vow. Or how about: "Leading is Listening." Or: "BAD 'leaders' have all the answers. GOOD leaders have the best Questions."
Whatever.

If "engagement" is the heart of education or developing a Wow Team, then there is no doubt that top leader kudos go to the top listeners. Axiom: The best ... ONLY? ... way to truly engage someone is to listen to them. (Right??) And ... Part 2 ... engaged people are ... duh ... ENGAGED ... THAT IS, TALKING.

So, until further notice:

TEACHING = LISTENING.
LEARNING = TALKING.

What do you think? (TALK TO ME! I'M LISTENING!)