Will.i.am tells kids: Dream of being Steve Jobs, not me

Will.i.am is on a mission to inspire inner city youth to embrace science and technology.

The former front man for the Black Eyed Peas is hoping poor minority children will be inspired by his career makeover from musical artist to tech entrepreneur.

Will.i.am was a founding shareholder in Beats Electronics, the maker of Beats by Dre headphones. More recently he formed i.am+, a consumer-electronics company that is trying (and struggling so far) to create a hit wearable device. The Grammy-award winning artist says the company and his charitable foundation want to persuade inner city youth to pursue careers in science and technology, not the NBA and MTV. "There is no one they can look up to that resembles their lifestyle," will.i.am said at SkyBridge Capital's SALT Conference in Las Vegas earlier this month. "I love Michael Dell and I love Steve Jobs, but these kids still dream of being Michael Jordan. They still dream of being LeBron James." Many kids also still dream of becoming the Black Eyed Peas, he said. But will.i.am has a message to kids: "Our business isn't the business."
 
Inner city schools are flawed: Will.i.am, whose full name is William James Adams Jr., expressed frustration with the public education system in inner cities. He said it's "butt backwards wrong" that schools focus on physical education and team sports but not enough on science and technology. "My sister isn't going to be a freaking NBA superstar," will.i.am said. Before he started the Black Eyed Peas in the 1990s and hit it big in the early 2000s, will.i.am grew up in housing projects in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles. "I'm on a mission to change ghettos that resemble the ghetto I was brought up in," he said. While the 40-year-old entertainer went to school at a charter school in the Palisades, he realizes many inner city kids don't have that opportunity. "No money is being spent in these inner cities on education. America is in a really funky place if we aren't educating our cities. Inner cities in 20 years could turn into slums," will.i.am said.
 
Will kids follow will.i.am into STEM? I.am.angel Foundation, will.i.am's charitable organization, funds programs aimed at steering students into science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM.
Last month will.i.am announced plans to help fund a STEM program for high school students in Ferguson, Missouri. Will.i.am is hoping the tech entrepreneurs of tomorrow include more kids who grew up in inner cities like he did. At the SALT Conference in Las Vegas, the entertainer showed off the Puls, his company's latest attempt at a smart band. While the first version of the wearable device was slammed by the tech world, Gucci recently partnered with will.i.am on a new line of smart bands. It's not clear if the device will ultimately succeed, but will.i.am is determined to serve as a new kind of role model for inner city kids. "My mission is to build the Puls alongside the philanthropy to continue to sustain and scale our work and inspire these kids to dream down this STEM street," he said.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/14/investing/will-i-am-tech-education-stem/index.html?iid=HP_River

Business Management Final Exam

Here is the link to the final exam. Good luck!

http://goo.gl/forms/Q5OKlHw34x

Creating an Effective Resume

You have only a few seconds to make an impression with your resume. Your goal with your resume is to tell your story and your qualifications. Before writing a resume, think about what makes you special. What unique mix of experiences have made you the best qualified person for the job. Here is a link to a good basic resume but you'll want to make it your own. Make sure to include educational awards that directly relate to the job you're applying for.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zdESx7ASvlJbBLgOpu29GHAwdDhSSx-SbLjw6pS1KKY/edit?usp=sharing

Your assignment is to create a resume and share it . Remember, this is a tool that you'll be using to  make an impression. A resume can open up doors for you and set you apart as a qualified applicant. Take your time and make it good. Remember also that this is a working document. You'll want to update your resume from time to time. You'll also want to alter it to fit the job you're applying for.

A Math Riddle

Here's a riddle. If you can solve this, I'll award you 5 bonus points.

Three men walk into a cafe and have lunch. Needing to leave early, they each leave a $10 bill on the table, knowing that it will easily cover the bill. Shortly after getting outside, the waitress chaises them down saying that they paid too much. She gives them five $1 bills to distribute among themselves. Not knowing for sure how to divide it up, they each take a dollar bill, leaving two. Then they start thinking, "We originally paid $10 each making it $30. Now by each taking a dollar, 3 people x $9=$27. We have just $2 left from the $5 the waitress gave us. What happened to the other dollar?"

See if you can figure out what happened to the missing dollar.

Interview Questions

The interview process is a critical component of landing a good job. You should be able to demonstrate your ability to navigate life and show your ability to make good personal decisions.

Here are some sample questions to consider.

• Describe a situation in which you had to use your communication skills in presenting complex information. How did you determine whether your message was received?
• Share with me an example of an important personal goal that you set, and explain how you accomplished it.
• Lead me through a decision-making process on a major project you’ve completed.
• Have you ever had many different tasks given to you at the same time? How did you manage these?
• Give an example of a time you had to make a difficult decision.

Assignment: Write your answers to these questions in a Google Doc and submit it for your daily grade. Think about your answers. This will probably not be the last time you'll be asked these questions or ones which are very similar. Get prepared now. Good answers can be the difference between getting a good job or having your application tossed in the trash.

See the following web site for tips on how to answer these in an interview.
http://www.va.gov/PBI/Questions.asp 

Diversity

We live and work in a diverse country. List some of the things that make us different. Thse might include race, sex, household income. How many can you think of?

Now list some things that make us the same. What do we have in common?

Watch this clip from the movie Remember the Titans.

What does the coach say that the team must do in order to come together as a team? What is the foundation of teamwork? Why do you think he says this?

Try this. Take a quiz with two classmates.

https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/9d0697b0-a8e2-4698-80ae-b74f4bcc77d3

Try to work with classmates who are totally unlike yourself.


Discuss: How does diversity affect your team? What difficulties does diversity bring? Why should we want to have a diverse team of people to work with? Name an area where your teammate was strong and you were weak.

Leadership Lesson 4 - Creating a Productive Workplace

Goals:

• Understand why companies create work rules
• Describe how managers use extrinsic and intrinsic motivation
• Describe how workers' desire for autonomy, purpose and mastery create job satisfaction

 
Work Rules

Work rules are not created just for the sake of having rules. Companies create work rules to stop behavior that hinders an effective working environment. Rules often include when employees must be at work, what they must do, and how they must perform tasks. The goal of the rules is not to make life more difficult for the employees, but to foster a more productive working environment.

Rules are often created out of necessity. Watch this clip from the movie Cool Hand Luke. Make a list of the rules then write a rationale for why you think the rule was created.

Motivating Employees

Stopping bad behavior isn't enough. Employees need motivation. We typically think that employees are motivated by money. As a consequence, managers have a tendency to create financial incentives for workplace performance. Watch the following video by Daniel Pink.

Discuss the following questions:
What types of work are encouraged by financial incentives?
What types of work are hindered by financial incentives?
What is the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation?
How do autonomy, purpose and mastery fulfill workers' desires and managers needs?

Assignment: You are the new manager of a Footlocker in a mall in Memphis. Your job is to create a set of work rules and incentives to maximize sales and customer satisfaction in your store. To do this you'll need to complete the following tasks:

1. Write a set of work rules for your store. Keep the rules simple and understandable. Describe how these rules lead to a productive and successful store.

2. Describe how you will use extrinsic and intrinsic motivation to encourage employees to do their best work.

3. Describe how you will use autonomy, purpose and mastery to maximize employee productivity and job satisfaction.


Vocabulary - Study the following terms on Quizlet before the next class meeting:

• Work Rules
• Extrinsic Motivation
• Intrinsic Motivation
• Autonomy
• Purpose
• Mastery 

Standards: 
11.1 Analyze the needs of employees.
11.2 Discuss leadership skills integral to groups.
11.3 Evaluate strong leadership skills.