Sunday, October 25, 2009

student teaching

My friends know of my penchant for quoting music lyrics and this blog’s readers have seen a few already. Lately, I’ve heard a lot of the new John Mayer song and in it is a line that has been top of mind in the last day or so. Tadd and I had the chance to visit the University of Colorado this week to talk about virtual work and interact with a large group of students; and ever since I keep replaying the line “it’s been a long time since 22” in my head. While I am by no means over the hill, spending time with really bright college students reminds me how long it has been since I was one. As we met and talked with them this week, it was refreshing to hear their perspective on what we’re doing. After answering their questions about what we do, there was a visible “ah ha!” moment as the discussion then switched to the many ways virtualization is changing the world. Hearing them talk about online learning, e-lectures, real time testing over secure web connections, cloud computing, and other ways the virtual world affects them gave us something in common. It only reinforced our conviction that virtual work goes well beyond call centers or telecommuting managers, but reaches across age and situational boundaries. Most of these students we met are looking for their first full time job. It is clear, however, that as these students prepare to enter the workforce, they’re more comfortable with the new work world than their nervousness or inexperience suggest.

Reflecting on the CU visit, I am also struck by the dichotomy between their generation and the majority of those working virtually. The average age of remote workers is 40+ – like me – and their average years of work experience is above 2 decades – about the total age of those brilliant CU students. Yet this week’s conversation revealed a greater juxtaposition than chasm between the two groups; and that’s a metaphor for virtual work in general. Today’s virtual workforce is thinking and acting a couple of decades younger than they are, and are certainly acting and thinking more creatively than those still stuck in a premise based mindset. Those Leeds school students are thinking passionately about virtual work less for their first job, than for their future ones. Bringing disparate people, talent, skills, knowledge and perspectives together is only a part of what virtual work does. The realization that those “older” workers align so well with those “younger” students shaped my thinking in new ways this week. The more we succeed at changing the way work gets done, the more gaps we bridge. The future workforce and the current virtual one complement each other more than we think. And as I exchanged ideas and “what ifs” with business students, intellectually at least it’s not so long since 22.

– Jim