Unique Niche Writer
Taboo health and medical topics with underlying humor are the specialty of author Mary Roach. When asked for advice for aspiring writers during a recent three-hour call-in appearance on C-SPAN, she replied in part, “I would tell them be your own quirky unique self…”
Fascinating interview, but not for the queasy.
References
Mary Roach
In Depth
http://www.booktv.org/Program/14714/In+Depth+Mary+Roach.aspx
Mary Roach Website
http://www.maryroach.net/books.html
Q: Why is it that many people still don’t know about aptitude testing?
A. A simple answer would be to point out that organizations that specialize in the field, such as Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation, Inc., or Career Vision.org are nonprofit entities and they don’t advertise. Word of mouth is a primary method used to create public awareness and articles in the Wall Street Journal or the Atlantic Monthly or mention in a book help to educate the public.
But if you look at the history of aptitude testing, the answer is more complex.
In the 1920s, General Electric hired Johnson O’Connor, then a Harvard philosophy graduate with a background in mathematical research, as a factory worker because he wanted to learn engineering. He later headed their engineering department.
Discovering Aptitude Testing
O’Connor and a supervisor decided they could increase worker efficiency by assigning workers to the jobs that they seemed naturally compatible with and wanted to do. At the time, the primary method of personality evaluation was intelligence test scores, but after long study, it was decided that a new way to evaluate people was needed because the current assessment tools were often open to faulty interpretation.
Since physics and chemistry had played an historic major role in influencing industrial progress, O’Connor believed that using research techniques from physics and chemistry to measure many people in various occupations would document the characteristics of the most successful people, writes Margaret Broadley in Your Natural Gifts.
Almost 3000 workers participated in the first work trials. Tests were known as work samples and didn’t involve oral or written tests, but scored how a worker performed while actually performing specific tasks.
This method of testing was new and reversed traditional thinking: instead of putting the requirement of each job first, the individual and his or her natural ability to do a specific job was the primary consideration.
Popular with employees, who began asking that their children be tested, and other business firms and colleges asked for the tests. Accurate and nondiscriminatory, O’Conner’s new approach had filled a need in the marketplace.
By World War II, mass-market methods of testing job applicants were developed and favored by the infrastructure. Cheap to administer,the standardized tests provided a quick way to categorize people on a mass level. That they’re often not an efficient or reliable evaluation tool for everyone is beside the point. Today, the public often mistakes scientific aptitude tests with IQ and standardized testing.
Using two highly regarded search tools, I entered the word aptitude in the search box and got zero results. When I keyed in the word skill, I received a list of math and science notations. So it’s no small wonder that many continue to remain in the dark on the topic.
References
Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation Inc.
www.jjocrf.org
Career Vision.org
http://www.careervision.org/About/History.htm
Your Natural Gifts
http://tinyurl.com/lf8fno6
The Industry That Disappeared Overnight
During a recent appearance on Book TV, author Ben Mezerich promoted his latest book Straight Flush. It’s a story about a home-based venture started by poor college students who made a fortune, then crashed and burned when a political power play put not only put them out of business but running from the law.
Mezerich has carved out a niche with books that examines what happens when the fast life and questionable values collide in the entrepreneurial world.
He asked viewers a number of questions.
References
Ben Mezrich Book TV
YouTube Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8wnhCXI66c
Ben Mezrichc.com
http://www.benmezrich.com/
Music Boycott
In light of the verdict in the Trayvon Martin case, music icon Stevie Wonder has put his values and principles on the line against Stand Your Ground laws around the country. Wonder has vowed not to perform in any state where the law is recognized.
The circumstances that moved the Grammy award winner to announce illustrate how creative and business decisions are influenced by many seemingly unrelated but essential elements, such as values, ethics, culture, socioeconomic status, and government policies.
References
Slate.com
Stevie Wonder’s Florida Boycott
http://tinyurl.com/nxwb4xa
Trayvon Martin Foundation
http://trayvonmartinfoundation.org/
Washington Post.com
Everything You Need to
Know about Stand Your Ground Laws
http://tinyurl.com/os4usn7
Two American Families Profiled on Frontline
This is not a program about entrepreneurship but an illustration of many of the financial realities in today’s world and why some Americans turn to self-employment
Charlie Rose interviewed Bill Moyers about his upcoming Frontline program, which airs tonight at 10 P.M., discusses the lives of two families of different ethic backgrounds and their financial struggle over a twenty year. A struggle that many others have experienced. At one point, Moyers points out how the son in one family starts up a family business mowing lawns.
References
Charlie Rose
http://www.charlierose.com/history.html
Frontline PBS
Two American Families
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/two-american-families/