Published in the Independence Daily Reporter, December 28, 2016

People who know me know that I don’t use the word “awesome” very often.  While so many others have made it a tired cliché, I use it very rarely to describe only exceptional situations.  The other day, a message came up on my phone that said “The New Year is going to be awesome.  Look at these movies that are coming out.”  This was followed by a list of the mostly forgettable movie titles scheduled to come out early in the New Year.  Not only was that a perfect example of the over-use of the word “awesome”, but the idea that a hand-full of movies could make a New Year awesome made me laugh.

Every one of us has total control over whether the New Year will be awesome or not.  The quality of the New Year, indeed, the quality of our lives is determined by the choices we make, the relationships we develop and the people we help along the way.  There are examples all throughout history of people in every kind of situation who choose to triumph over adversity.  From minor inconveniences to major tragedies, it’s our choices of how we respond, not our circumstances that control the outcome of our lives.

In the Entrepreneurial Mindset class, featuring the Ice House Entrepreneurship program, we learn that one of the traits common to successful entrepreneurs is this realization that we can choose to control our personal destiny through the choices we make.  We talk about taking time to respond to situations rather than acting immediately in a knee-jerk reaction.  Through all kinds of adversity, these entrepreneurs, not only the ones we study in the video interview content, but also the area entrepreneurs we bring in as guests, have chosen to control their outcomes through what we call an internal locus of control.

One of the choices we need to make is to think positively, expecting good things and not bad things to happen.  I know many people who have actually told me they expect the worst things in life.  They get what they expect.  Our society teaches us to expect the worst, once you pay attention to the messages.  The pharmaceutical companies bombard us with messages telling us how sick we are and that we need to go to the doctor to prescribe their medicine for us.  The news media quotes so-called “experts” telling us there’s a good chance we’ll suffer one kind of calamity or another.

Thinking positively doesn’t mean we won’t ever have a flat tire, but we can choose how we react to the flat tires of life and make decisions to minimize the number of flat tires we’ll have.

It will be an awesome New Year if we believe it will be and we make the choices and decisions to make it so.

Jim Correll is the director at Fab Lab ICC at Independence Community College. He can be reached at (620) 252-5349 or by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu.

Published in the Independence Daily Reporter, December 21, 2016

Recently I saw a Tulsa news story about an upcoming shortage of construction workers.  Companies there have all kinds of construction jobs to be filled and not enough job applicants to fill them.  There was an interview with a teacher at one of the local technical colleges. He said something to the effect of “Young people today don’t want to work hard and they don’t want to work with their hands.  All they want to do is work with computers and play video games.”  Nothing could be further from the truth and had I one of the bricks shown in the news story; I would have thrown it at the TV.

We see, every day at Fab Lab ICC, that young people DO want to make things with their hands and they will work hard if they are doing something they find fulfilling.

Here’s the disconnect.  The construction companies want to keep doing business as they have in the past so they tell the technical schools “Turn out more construction workers, we need them.”  The schools then develop programs to churn out construction workers, but the young people don’t enroll.

The problem is not that young people don’t want to work hard.  BTW, there have been plenty of people in every generation who have not wanted to work hard.  The reason, for all generations is this; people want fulfilling work.  At the end of the day they want to feel like they’ve accomplished something good.  In the past, people were willing to accept jobs they hated.  Today’s youth are putting up their hands and saying “Whoa, I’m not buying this obsolete economic model where I am expected to go to work for others and keep working at a job I hate because I have too much debt for a house that’s too big and too many new cars.”  (OK, they don’t really say it like that but that’s what they mean.)

Instead of urging young students to enter the aforementioned teacher’s program to “learn to be a carpenter so you can go work for someone else your whole life” we should be teaching them how to be entrepreneurial in the way they choose to solve problems for others.  Once presented the choice, some will become employees and many will become independent business owners.  Many will even enter the carpentry programs of the world to learn how to make things.  No one works harder than an entrepreneur working to control his/her own destiny.

Those construction companies in Tulsa with all the open “jobs” will end up hiring independent contractors to get the work done.  We should be teaching students that they should strive to solve the problems of others as their life’s work whether working for others or having their own businesses.  Our education system should be showing them how to choose their best path.

Jim Correll is the director at Fab Lab ICC at Independence Community College. He can be reached at (620) 252-5349 or by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu.

Published in the Independence Daily Reporter, December 14, 2016

When I was growing up, let’s just say it was several years ago, battery operated toys were just coming into existence.  In those days, batteries (technically, energy cells) were expensive enough that most electric toys were sold without them.  Hence, the phrase we still sometimes hear today “Batteries not included.”  It was kind of a sign that you were up-to-date with technology if you got something for Christmas that required batteries.  Parents wanted to give their kids the latest so why give those boring, non-electric gifts like Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs or the erector sets when the kids wanted the electric toys that had lights and the ability to move around on their own through simple electric motors?

One of my favorites from the era was a “robot” similar to those appearing in movies and shows like “Lost in Space”.  Also, at that time, the “Jetson’s” animated cartoon show sported “Rosie” the robot maid.  Although hokey by today’s standards, we didn’t know of anything else so the robot that would merely light up and move around the floor was as exciting to us as the cool robotic pets of today.  The robot didn’t teach me much, except how to insert the batteries in the right direction but it was a cool toy.  Fortunately for me, I kept on playing with the Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs and the erector set.

The trend to electric and now electronic toys has continued over the last 50 years–admittedly, with some really cool technology always emerging—has kept parents wanting to make sure the kids have the latest electronic gadgets.  Unfortunately, this trend has contributed to two or three generations of folks who, by and large, don’t know how to make anything with their hands.

We see this all the time at Fab Lab ICC with people of all ages that are not very adept at using their hands.  The first year we were open (2014), one of our ICC students was a wizard at creating complex 3d drawings in “Inventor”, one of the leading software packages in industry, but he couldn’t make anything with his hands.  He moved on before we could give him much experience at using hand tools and making things and will be at a disadvantage in his professional and personal life.

Over the last year or so, when we bring kids to Fab Lab ICC to make things, we make sure there’s a healthy amount of working with hand tools mixed in with the digital work of creating files that run the cool fabrication machines.  Here’s the thing.  The kids love making things with their hands as much as making digital files on the computer.

I’m not really advocating a battery-free Christmas, however, I am advocating that the toys we give, and the activities we provide for our kids (of all ages) be a combination of the cool technology along with some hand work with manual hand tools.  The learning and increase in self-confidence that happens with this combination is phenomenal and very satisfying to observe.

Jim Correll 620-252-5349

Published in the Independence Daily Reporter, December 7, 2016

First, I’ll share the time-sensitive information. Fab Lab ICC is co-sponsoring an idea contest. We have our own pool of prize money; $500, 1^st place; $300, 2^nd place and $200, 3^rd place. The premise is simple. Individuals or teams come up with a problem-solving idea; submit it to a web site, let people within the Fab Lab ICC network provide feedback and encouragement for five days, submit the final iteration of the idea and await the announcement of the winners. The web site says contestants should be students of ICC, but we have arranged for anyone associated with Fab Lab ICC in any way to be eligible to enter. We also need people in our network to register as advisors. Anyone willing to look at and comment on new ideas can be an advisor.

Here’s the kicker. The contest begins on Friday, December 9 so contestants and advisors have to register by midnight tomorrow, December 8 by going to www.StartupGenius.org/InnovationChallenge. Over the following five days, the site will queue the contestants to submit and tweak the ideas while receiving feedback from the advisors. By 10 p.m. on Tuesday, December 13, final versions of the ideas will be submitted for judging with winners announced on Wednesday, December 14.

Whether you want to submit a problem-solving idea as a contestant, or participate in reviewing a bunch of great ideas, register before midnight tomorrow.

Why the hurry-up lack of time to prepare and the short time to iterate and submit the final idea? Because that’s reflective of the global marketplace and entrepreneurial economy in which we now live.

StartupGenius.org is part of Start Up Genius, Inc.; a startup itself in the San Francisco Bay area. The business model and site are being developed by CEO and founder, Dan Benveniste as a means to create and entrepreneurial eco-system where entrepreneurs and inventors can submit their ideas and have members of their own network review and comment on those ideas. The concept fits in perfectly with our Fab Lab ICC growth accelerator plans.

The site is currently in the beta testing phase and three entities were chosen by Start Up Genius to participate in this contest; Pittsburg State University, Block 22 (an innovation project in the Frontenac-Pittsburg area) and Fab Lab ICC at Independence Community College. Pitsco Education in Pittsburg is also one of the sponsors.

We are honored to have been chosen to participate in this exciting beta testing effort. It is a great opportunity for our entrepreneurs and our network to get started collaborating together in a virtual tool specifically designed for collaboration of this type. The greatest opportunities don’t usually present themselves with plenty of time to plan and implement. We tell our entrepreneurs they have to be flexible and agile, always ready for the next opportunity. As a Fab Lab, we have to be flexible and agile too. Register now at www.StartupGenius.org/InnovationChallenge.

Jim Correll, jcorrell@indycc.edu, 620-252-5349.