Start the Weekend Right Link Series – Volume #5, Edition #2

Solitude and Leadership, The American Scholar
This article was posted way back in March 2010, but the elements that it inspires about leadership are timeless. The core of the message, I think, is: “What we don’t have, in other words, are thinkers. People who can think for themselves. People who can formulate a new direction: for the country, for a corporation or a college, for the Army—a new way of doing things, a new way of looking at things. People, in other words, with vision.” I actually used those lines as the basis for a leadership presentation that I gave a few years ago – it is a great message.

Millennials No Slackers When It Comes to Volunteering, Poll Finds, The Chronicle of Philanthropy
Unfortunately, this link will only take you to a brief review of a study that I cannot seem to find a good link to here in 2020. Of course, this review was first published in December 2014, so it is understandable that the study results that it links to are no longer available. The reason why I kept a copy of this link is because I like what the data shows; namely, that the Millennial generation – those born between 1981 and 1996 – are more likely to consider volunteering than other generations. I have seen this in my own work in the nonprofit sector over the last decade and a half, so I was glad to see that there is a study validating those experiences.

Wanted: Blue-Collar Workers, City Journal
This one comes to us from the Autumn 2011 issue of the City Journal. What is great about this one is that it signaled what many folks in higher education having been talking about for a few years now. That is, there needs to be more people going into the physical labor force than we are currently producing as a nation. From the article: “For decades, Americans have been told that the future lies in high-end services, such as law, and ‘creative’ professions, such as software-writing and systems design. This has led many pundits to think that the only real way to improve opportunities for the country’s middle class is to increase its access to higher education.” The article goes on to say that the mid-career salaries for some of these “high-end” careers is in the mid-$60,000s. Certainly not something on which to build the Great American Dream.

Why I Stopped Giving to Duke, James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal
One of my favorite blogs to read from time to time is the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. They take a very proactive approach to redefining and breathing new life into higher education. In this article from December 2011, the writer talks about how he stopped donating to his alma mater because they moved in a more politically correct direction. Specifically, he writes about an English professor who commented that there is no such thing as free speech. That is… kind of… concerning. Especially when considering that colleges should be bastions of free speech.

Stealth savings: Sneaky ways to fatten your account, Get Rich Slowly
And for some financial reading for everyone, this time from back in January 2012 and updated this past October 2019. This article suggests aiming for a 20% savings rate and gives recommendations on how you might be able to achieve that rate. Some suggestions that they offer are to drop a hobby and save those funds, become symbolical (want to retire by a certain age? Then deposit that numerical value in the bank every week, month, or whatever), use a bank that does not have a branch in your neighborhood so it is a frustration to take money out of the account, and to use laddered CDs (a strategy that I use) from an online bank.