Summary: [social align=”center”]<br> Internships and Reverse Mentoring<br> Summer is long over and now we are getting into the fall. This time of year always makes me look back on the summer internships. I’m a big believer in “internships” as a way for people to “learn”. Each summer, we bring in interns across a wide range of disciplines: technical, legal, marketing and this year social media.<br> This years interns were impressive.<br> Over the years – I use interns to be my pulse on what is happening in the education system. In my previous role, I would select two and have them stay at my house. For their internship, they would report to someone else. At night – it was the barrage of constant questions. Why must we do something a certain way? Why aren’t we doing this?<br> Most people think I’m nuts for even doing this. I learn so much. It’s a process I call “reverse mentoring”<br> And what did I learn??<br> While there have always been over-achievers, the “mass” of the students are not being prepared for what I call the innovation or creative economy.<br> The world is shifting from the information/knowledge economy to the innovation/creative economy. Its about have a workforce that can “invent” solutions to the worlds problems then having the other people “manufacture” what they invent.<br> To be successful in the innovation economy, students must have:<br> <br> * Critical thinking skills<br> * Problem solving experiences<br> * Entreprenurship / Instrapraneurship skills<br> * Have confidence …<br> * Understand the process to create and idea and then take it forward through execution<br> <br> So how do we give future generations that experiences they need?<br> In my mind, we need to raise the visibility and prestige for our top academic students to the same level we give athletes. One person is doing that is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Kamen" target="_blank">Dean Kamen</a>, Founder of <a href="http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc" target="_blank">FirstRobotics</a> whose missions is:<br> .. to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.<br> Dean and I have a met a few times at different events and I can tell you he is passionate about giving every kid the experience and opportunity to discover their passion.<br> Guests: Peter Lierni and Mark Varricchione are co-founders from STEMlete<br> Peter Lierni and Mark Varricchione are co-founders from STEMlete (a play on the word “athlete”) who saw that there were a number of online communities for the self-promotion of student athletes seeking to: exhibit their athletic excellence; share their knowledge; improve their performance; get recognized; establish a following; and be recruited and succeed; however, there was nothing analogous for those individuals who have a passion and brilliance in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).<br> They are a on a mission to change the focus; build a new kind of community; identify the world’s most promising STEM talent; and enable innovation by providing an online platform with an unprecedented collection of free capabilities to enable “STEMletes” to globally connect; communicate; collaborate; and create. In particular, they hope to give academia, industry, and others globally the opportunity to get an early line-of-sight into the world’s most promising STEM talent.<br> You can connect with them at <a href="http://STEMlete.org" target="_blank">STEMlete.org</a><br> Brain Hack/Killer Question<br> How will you identify and locate customers in five years?<br> Every hot trend reaches a point I like to call the “Uncle Larry moment.” When one of your older relatives announces he’s taken up something that had seem...
