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Learning Our fourth element in our mission statement is "…promotes employee and company learning…" This is two separate subjects connected by "learning". Employee learning becomes company learning. I encourage each of you to take advantage of the company sponsored tuition reimbursement. Learning is a life long experience. You are either moving forward or falling behind. There is no middle ground. Just doing the same thing day after day without expanding your mind is falling behind. How many books have you read that contribute to your body of knowledge or are the books you read just another version of the mindless television of today? Reading can enhance your life. The books you chose can be fun: How to tie a fly; Cooking for life; or Travels with Charlie. The learning process is about keeping your mind open to new possibilities. Read often. The company subscribes to the Wall Street Journal and is available to everyone. We keep it in the Building 1 conference room. I was told that if you read the Wall Street Journal cover to cover every day for 6 months and take the time to understand the concepts presented, you will have the equivalent of a MBA degree. The WSJ prides itself on being more that business news. It explains the "why" of the articles written. You will also find in the conference room magazines that are informative and some that are just plain fun; Time, INC, Forbes, and… duh… Photography. Where do you think I learn photography? It was from reading magazines on the subject. Don't forget about the library of books located by the doc pacs and in my office. Borrow them and use them. We also have a book exchange rack in Building 2 downstairs. Bring a book; take a book. Learn in the process and above all have fun doing it. As a company we have just sent Teri Polette to Texas to become our Certified Trainer for IPC-610B. She will be conducting certifications so that every person who works with the soldering process will become IPC certified. That is learning for you and the company. She is about to return to Austin to become J-Std 001 Certified. That will be a new experience for all of us. She will return with new processes and improvements that will allow us to better attain our goals of the highest quality. Again that is learning for the individuals and the company. Our concept of the Silicon Forest University is about learning. I encourage any and all of you to attend the "open book" meeting every Monday at lunch. It is a brown bag session where we go though a chapter in a business process related subject each week with discussion about how it might be implemented at SFE. One of the participants volunteers to read the next chapter and presents its salient points for discussion. A new book is being chosen this week for the Chapter 1 lesson to begin next Monday. As part of the SFE University we also are sending individuals to the Dale Carnegie training. Dale Carnegie is about enhancing your life by building and improving relationships with others. We all benefit when one person goes to the Dale Carnegie training. Our relationship improves with that individual and it is contagious. It starts to rub off on all of us. It is my intent to send 10 to 12 people every year to the training until we all have been. I have started another class with the executive committee called "Leadership Mastery". The "curriculum" is being developed as we go along. When we get the ideas solidified each of us will hold our own "Leadership Mastery" class sessions and open that up to those that want to improve and grow your leadership skills. If you care to read about what we are developing as we go along, we are filing our notes under SFE General/ Leadership Mastery. Of course, with our open and communicative style of management, any can go there and read about what is going on. Read books, intelligent magazines, the Wall Street Journal, go to Clark College and take a class, join us at the SFE University; just do something. Just do it! Frank |
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