Turning the tanker

At a recent project meeting, we had a presentation on what things looked like employment-wise in the high-tech sector. Yes, there were the usual sad statistics about how few young people were looking for jobs in technology and engineering, and how difficult it was to get kids interestend in math and science. That's nothing new. What was sort of new -- at least in a way -- was the presenter's plea for a broader-based education. It seems one of the most common complaints of employers is that their new-hires are seriously lacking in interpersonal skills. In other words, they know very little about anything other than what they know technically, and they have as good as no idea about how to get along, let alone work, with others. Isn't that surprising? I thought so.

OK, I'm not surprised like "yikes! where did that come from?" No, in light of the persistent pleas for employability somebody apparently overlooked the fact that understanding other people and communicating clearly and effectively are just as essential in the workplace as knowing what you are doing on the job. The question that popped into my mind, of course, was why were these skills no longer part of the curriculum.

When I went to school (granted quite some time ago), those were precisely the things our English (or fill-in-you-own-native-language) instruction. We read stories that were about how people did or didn't get along, about what made life worth living and we learned (or at least our teachers tried to teach us) how to form a coherent thought in a sentence and to take just a little bit of pride in being able to spell correctly.

The last thing I want to do is turn back the clock, but I do think it's time we re-thought some of the things we have decided aren't so important in the meantime. To many, art, literature, and music may have seemed like a waste of time, but they were anything but. We saw that there were multiple ways of expression, that words, pictures and tones could stir feelings ... right, feelings. Not just sensibilities that are too easily offended, but feelings that we had ourselves and that others had as well. We at least had the chance to learn that others weren't really all that different from us.

Even in that hard, cold world of work and business, it would seem that there is recognition that we really can't just make everything about money.