Plus: U.S. Lags in Engineering Education, an Outsourcing Defense, When Good Ideas Go Bad, Helping Workers Reach Their Dreams and Overcoming Creativity Hurdles.
Sometimes the Internet seems like it’s gotten too big. To help navigate this sea of information, Industry Market Trends’ weekly Worth a Look feature spotlights some of the more interesting, informative and amusing resources that might have slipped under your radar — all in bite-sized chunks.
- U.S. “Lagging Frightfully” in Engineering Graduates | Mark Reuss, the president of General Motors North America, says the United States is “lagging frightfully behind” other countries in producing engineering graduates, which is putting automotive innovation at risk. Reuss argues that America needs to drastically improve its K-12 education and get more children interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields, otherwise “we’ll have a skills shortage that will undermine our resurgence in smart manufacturing.”
- Colorado Organization Defends Manufacturing Outsourcing | Although the manufacturing sector is seeing a strong reshoring trend, with an estimated 2.5 million to 5 million manufacturing jobs expected to return to the U.S. in the next decade, many companies will continue to outsource overseas to maximize profits. The Colorado Association of Commerce & Industry defends outsourcing, explaining that U.S. firms with operations abroad employ 22 million people, including more than half of all manufacturing workers, in the U.S.
- 10 Reasons Good Ideas Can Fail | In an entrepreneurial culture, people are always looking for the next great innovative product, service or process. But even smart concepts can end up falling flat because there are many reasons smart thinking can fail, including: bad timing that misses customer demand or infrastructure, poor execution that precludes an idea from being implemented effectively, too much risk that keeps stakeholders from following through on an idea and shifting cultural norms that make some notions unpopular.
- Why Employers Should Help Workers Pursue Their Dreams | The best employees don’t necessarily work hard because they care about their boss or their company, but because they are hoping to advance their personal goals, according to Fast Company. To make workers feel motivated and inspired, and to have them be more productive, companies should try to support their personal aspirations. In other words, “find out what they want and see if you can work together to make it happen. Before long, they’ll do the same for you.”
- 11 Ways to Beat Creative Blocks | Creativity is fragile, and even the most innovative thinkers can come across a problem that they just can’t seem to crack. Luckily, Co.Design provides numerous strategies for overcoming creative blocks, including: think about a genius or a role model who inspires you, talk about the issue out loud, do something that clears your mind (or, oddly enough, overload yourself with activity to get your mind racing about other subjects) and ask as many questions as you can until you have the necessary constraints to guide you toward an answer.
- Inside National Boss Day | October 16 marked National Boss Day, an occasion for us to celebrate the managers and supervisors who have inspired us and helped with our professional development. A new infographic shows some of the interesting facts underlying the manager-employee relationship. For example, more people are bosses than we realize, as one in five full-time workers possesses some managerial responsibilities.