A widely accepted premise is that leaders should have a vision for their organization or group.  However, vision that is not based on reality is nothing but fantasy. Leaders’ vision, therefore, should be grounded on attainable ends, even if this grounding is speculative to some degree.  So, how can a leader have vision that is wedded to something firm in a rapidly advancing technological age?  A look back in history to a widely-acknowledged leader who [...]

Watching the local news or reading the most recent reports on the state of manufacturing, one would wrongly assume heroes of innovation, such as The Wright Brothers, Robert Goddard, Henry Ford, and Steve Jobs are just part of manufacturing history.  That somehow leaders and visionaries of manufacturing are things of the past. Yet clearing away the negative veil, there is an underlying beauty growing beneath.  Visionaries of today exist and are sharing their light through [...]

Dr. Daryl Watkins and I recently spent a few days in Mumbai, India with executives from the Indian Aviation community. Various airlines, airports and other related entities were represented in a seminar where we spent three days discussing the Indian aviation environment and ways of understanding the many environmental as well as internal forces these people are dealing with as the Indian aviation industry grows. One must understand that up until a few years ago, [...]

Dr. Robert Materna (2011) writes clearly about a national issue “With the U.S. government shutting down the shuttle program without a new vision for space – very little has been done to excite and educate the next generation about the opportunities in the industry and, as a result, there is little enthusiasm for entering the field. The good news is that there are some very good reasons to enter the field. The challenge is to help students shift [...]

Whether in sports or in business, serious competitors are constantly seeking an advantage. In business, this often leads to process improvements, innovative practices, and the application of new technologies. Finding new areas of competitive advantage takes time but can make all the difference in performance and outcome.

The more we practice, the more critical thinking becomes part of our natural thinking process. This is important, because we are normally wired to take shortcuts in an effort to conserve our energy, to survive, or just to move on. If our thought processes are normally intellectually lazy, can we expect to be able to turn on the critical and creative juices in a crunch?

To improve our Secondary Education dismal diploma graduation rates, we have to change the STEM paradigm. Why does science have to be physical science? Why can’t science be Economics, Finance, or Accounting? Why does technology have to be computer based? Why does engineering have to be design, why can’t engineering include Leadership, Purchasing, Managing Teams, Logistics, and Project Management?

Just about every study that has been conducted on aerospace employment over the next twenty years indicates the U.S. will have a shortage of qualified aerospace workers.

There has been much written and discussed about improving Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education from K-12 in the United States. There is no doubt that by most all indicators, students in the U.S. are lagging in the basic knowledge that is needed for future global competitiveness.