today, via gk12 project (NSF/CSU) we got to visit/tour avago.
excellent presentations...
nick, sandy, and_____ (no card man).
great potential in mashing up students with live engineers...
1) what they work on, cells, etc. is so close to kids hearts
2) they have incredible jobs.. that they love... and they're working with matrices, imaginary numbers and boxplots
after nick presented.. one of the guys in our group asked the 3 avago people why they thought their organization was such a stand out company.
answer #1 - because they let us innovate
so i asked... if they had anything specific in place to facilitate innovation.
they said - they are empowered with freedom.. and that their crazy ideas are valued and encouraged.
sandy said that she didn't become passionate about her field until her hs physics teacher let the kids each pick a chapter and teach it.
they made comments on each other like... did you see nick... obviously passionate about what he does..
they said they loved how specialized everything was - that they work next to incredible experts... and each are doing their own expertise.
they said part of their success is cyclic in nature, in that more incredible people want to come work with them because they are incredible.
they all said they didn't have an interest in what they're doing until they started doing something in it.. they said you need to play with it first to find out you like it.
___said to be on track - you really need to know what you want to be by middle school.
later nick said that finding his interest - one with a gifting back mentality - has lead to him loving what he does everyday... with the ability to go home after work and kick back.
great support/validation of what we are trying to do with the innovation lab.
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