13 hours makes for a long flight, especially when you're afraid to take a sleeping pill because you had wine with dinner (laugh at me at you will, but I get nervous about the whole "stop breathing" thing while flying over the North Pole). And 13 hours was just the first leg of this trip, with a 3-hour layover followed by another 6-hour flight. So there was plenty of time for reflection last week even before touching down in Asia.
We in the U.S. often see ourselves as the creative center of the universe -- everyone watches our movies and listens to our music -- but there are plenty of lessons to be learned from Asia. The evolving creativity emerging from this part of the world is spurred in part by culture, in part by government policies, and in part by the recognition that if the U.S. can do it, so can others. Creative leaders in the U.S. should look at what's happening here and take the lessons from the region that seem useful. One area where this would be helpful is in education.
Employers’ attitudes toward education in Singapore are a little different from Americans’. In the U.S. we see a strong bias in favor of a bachelor’s degree, which reduces the pool of potential employees. Singapore’s system of polytechnics -- essentially, 2-year colleges with a vocational emphasis -- produces Creatives who have broken out of the traditional educational model and who see great opportunities ahead of them even without a 4-year degree.
The poly system, which is a relatively new phenomenon here, is useful for students who have some idea what they want to do for a career but who need to develop their skills in a structured environment. Not only do they gain skills, they are also surrounded by like minded students, providing an environment that offers great motivation. Students at Temasek Polytechnic, which has a strong art and design focus, report an intense entrepreneurial spirit among students who talk about the businesses they’re starting after graduation. Start them they do, as the family structure there provides a support network for young people who want to strike out on their own.
The system isn't perfect. Some students enter a program only to learn that what they thought they wanted to do isn't really what they wanted to do. While a 4-year university program allows for more exploration, a poly education tends to lock a student into something specific early on,and since students start that 2-3 year program at age 16, you can see a lot of people making choices early on without a lot of good information. That situation could be a bit different in the U.S., where students would typically start such programs at age 18 or so.
What can you take away from this? Well, consider expanding your recruiting efforts beyond university students, if that's where your focus currently lies. Community colleges in the U.S. have long been viewed as a home for less capable students, but if the job for which you’re hiring doesn’t really require a bachelor’s degree, why not look for someone who’s spent a couple years in school developing the very skills you need? Depending on the needs of your particular field, you might be better served by someone with an associate’s degree or relevant certifications.
Bachelor's degrees are great for helping people learn how to learn, and as a former university professor, I'll be the first to say that a bachelor's program offers a great education. But I'd be the last to say it offers a great education for everyone. Some people will benefit most from a more structured ,specific program, and if they are excelling in that, then they may excel in their work for you as well.
Take a lesson from overseas, and open your eyes to more sources for employees.
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