Adaptiveness

Monday, January 11, 2010 by Nate Bullock
The May 2006 issue of Human Resources magazine featured an article by Sommer Kehrli and Truy Sopp in which the authors attempted to share tips with older generations on how to manage Generation Y, a group roughly 80 million strong born after 1978 that began entering the workforce five years ago. Often the onus for change is on older generations. After all, we 'Millennials' are coming into the workforce whether current generations like it or not. Why should the 'new' be the ones to change our habits or learn new ones from the 'old'? 

An an entrepreneurial fellowship, we constantly strive to place distinguished college graduates into high growth start-ups. But at the same time, we also communicate the need for constant improvement and learning from industry leaders. Nobody is a subject matter expert anymore and while entry-level jobs in start-ups will help you become more knowledgeable about a specific area, it won't guarantee career-long success. To quote Dr. Thomas Mason, Professor of Economics at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, "to be successful at [an older] age, you need to keep learning." 

Need real world examples? 

Did you major in Public Relations or Marketing in college? Are you pretty confident writing press releases? Cool. BUT, looks like Presslift is a step ahead and that skill set will become mainstream in the near future.

Did you major in Web Design or UX in college? Are you pretty confident designing emails for your company's marketing team? Great!. BUT, Toddle is making email newsletter design and marketing a breeze.

Major in Finance? ChubbyBrain is democratizing your skill set.

Going to Law School? Legal Zoom has the basics covered.

Are you a scrapbooking professional? Yup...the semantic web has taken over this too.

EVERYTHING  is changing. High-growth start-ups and technology jobs in Indianapolis will KEEP changing. Being an expert today doesn't ensure anything for tomorrow. As Gen-Y'ers, we want to be mentored, use new technology, and be given the space to try new things. But we can be too confident, and in the process, atrophy our innate strengths of learning and development.

Your job won't be around forever, and if you don't keep learning, neither will you. The first step is accepting that a college degree doesn't make you an expert. The second is opening yourself up to learn skills, habits, and lessons from Generations past.

Oh...and sign-up to have your tree lugged through TREE LUGGERS or follow our tweets @treeluggers.
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Thinking Like an Entrepreneur

Monday, January 11, 2010 by Bryan Povlinski
In our recent business leader meeting with Thomas Mason, and Economics and Engineering Management professor at Rose Hulman, he made the point that any employee should always be trying to "Think like an Entrepreneur."  Now that doesn't mean that every employee should aspire to be an entrepreneur, or that employees should be thinking about starting new businesses while they're working for their current company.  What it means is that, as an employee, you should constantly be thinking of better ways to do things in your current company, and thinking of new business opportunities for your employer.  These new ideas don't have to be world-changing, million dollar ideas, but rather small innovations that get things moving the right way. 

I'd venture to guess that most employees at entry-level jobs in Indiana do not have this mindset.  But when you're working with high growth start-ups "thinking like an entrepreneur" is practically required.  A lot of the companies that are part of the Orr Fellowship are small, entrepreneurial companies in Indianapolis.  They don't all have a full marketing or finance department.  These companies need Orr Fellows to come up with unique ideas to help build their business.

How can you be "thinking like an entrepreneur?" 

Are there certain things that are done at your company every week just because "that's the way they're always been done?" If they no longer make sense maybe it's time to make a change.

Do you have a perspective from a previous internship or organization that no one in your current company has?

Maybe there peripheral activities that are outside the responsibility of your everyday job that you can address.  Starting a recycling program or fitness routine could make a bigger impact than you think.

There are countless ideas just waiting to be taken.  Are you thinking like an entrepreneur?

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Remember, the Cream Always Rises to the Top

Monday, November 16, 2009 by Blaine Cooper-Surma

While many of you out there are suffering from a case of the Mondays, I, on the other hand, am coming off a weekend buzz that will surely last me for the rest of the year.  What happened that was so great, you ask?  Well, on Saturday the Little Giants of Wabash College defeated, smashed, and slaughtered (I think you get the idea) the little Tigers of DePauw University in the annual Monon Bell football game.  The prize - the infamous Monon Bell that has been passed from victor to victor for the past 116 years.

As Natalie Ciambrone, a fellow Fellow of mine, so eloquently noted in her post regarding the Monon Bell game last week, this unique tradition does bring people together from both sides of the rivalry.  In fact, many of the Orr Fellows were able to meet up this year for some friendly trash-talking before the game.  You can see what went down from the picture below (that's Katie Veatch and myself, in case you were wondering).  With both schools well-represented in the Orr Fellowship, this little rivalry will certainly remain a topic of conversation for many years to come.

Ok, ok, so it's about that time in the post that I have to say something enlightening and at least half-related to the Orr Fellowship.  Well, here's my valiant attempt at doing so.  Historically, many Wabash College and DePauw University students have been successful in securing their place in the Orr Fellowship.  But how are these liberal arts students even remotely prepared to take jobs in these fast growing Indianapolis companies that inherently require experienced employees with a great deal of business-related knowledge?  The answer is simple, really.  These two universities do a tremendous job at teaching their students how to think and learn effectively.  In a sense, working in a start-up company is extremely similar to getting a liberal arts education.  While at Wabash, I remember taking classes in Theater, Art, Music, Economics, Math, English, and Religion (just to name a few).  In a way, it was extremely difficult to develop a way of thinking that was sharpened to be single-discipline minded.  It is this flexibilty and broad way of thinking that permeates within a entrepreneurial business which often requires its employees to wear many different hats while performing day-to-day operations.

So why do I think that liberal arts students make great Orr Fellows?  They make great fellows because of their ability to think critically while still keeping all interests of the business in mind.  This, I propose, is an invaluable skill that every business, whether small or large, needs to look for when it comes to hiring.  So, no matter what your background is in school, or what discipline you ended up studying, just remember - the Orr Fellowship is looking for students that can fill a variety of roles within a company, while working hard and learning to thrive, no matter what they end up doing.

On a lighter note - ding, dong, ding, dong, ding, dong...

Sorry Dannies, that's the Monon Bell that will be ringing in Crawfordsville for at least the next 363 days...  Better luck next year!

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My Path to the Orr Fellowship

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 by Blaine Cooper-Surma
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, and Christmas around the block, it's difficult to believe that I've been working in the real world for just over four months now.  I can remember like it was yesterday what it was like to look for a job while still in college.  I remember how confused I was as an Economics major who knew I wanted to be in business someday, but you and I both know how vague of a career path business really is.  So what did I look for and how did I get to be where I am today?

Luckily for me, as a senior in college I knew that the economy was beginning to look grim and that the market was probably going to get rough.  To prepare myself for the tough situation, I did my due-diligence and began looking for a quality job opportunity to kick off my new career.  I realized that I lacked specific skills that most large companies would be looking for, and also that I would be looking for an entry level job just like the rest of my graduating class.  However, I knew that I wanted to live and work in Indianapolis as it has emerged a growing hub for small, technology start-ups.  One of my other interests throughout college was entrepreneurship, so I then began looking for entrepreneurial fellowships in the Indianapolis area.  What I soon stumbled upon was the Governor Bob Orr Indiana Entrepreneurial Fellowship.  To learn more about this graduate fellowship, I connected with current Orr fellows to learn more about what the program has to offer. 


So why did I choose to pursue the Orr Fellowship?  There were several reasons, but here are a few:
  • the presence of a network of young professionals like myself to share ideas, concerns, successes, etc.
  • the pipeline of Indiana business leaders that fellows are given the opportunity to interact and build relationships with
  • the position and ability to join a small, start-up company and, through hard work, be able to make an impact within the organization
  • knowing that I'm making a good investment in my career by being in an environment that forces me to learn as much as possible about running a small business
So has my first few months in the working world provided me with the opportunities and experiences that were promised to me by the Orr Fellowship?  The answer to this question is a confident "YES!" 
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