I feel rather fortunate to have been able to grow up in a community that for the most part held education as a high value point in the development of it’s young people. The arts, music, math, english, foreign language, history and sciences all had an important place in the curriculum and created, I feel, a well rounded education that sent into the world citizens that were truly poised to lead and participate in the public discussion.

Recently I find myself frustrated with the seeming lack of value placed on education.  Even growing up trying to get basic infrastructure referendums passed was a challenge.  The taxpayers would scream that their already high property taxes were going to go up and low and behold we’d go yet another year learning in classrooms that were highly outdated, completely inadequate for the number of students in a class and in the worst of circumstances literally crumbling.  When a bonding measure was approved it was often so stripped down that the resulting construction and upgrades only brought the situation up-to-date for a few brief years and then the cycle started again.

The second great disservice could be the ever increasing lack of importance placed on learning at home with parents. In my few short years working with interns at various companies, I am amazed at how little they actually grasp and understand.  You pose a question about the conflicts in the middle east and the historical context of what is happening completely passes this new generation.  And probably far more frightening is the realization that even basic understanding of our own governmental system and how it fits into the global geo-political chasm is something in which recent graduates have no clue.

So why is this occuring?  Could be teachers that are forced to do more for less in conditions that are far below standards in some of the highest ranked countries when it comes to education. But even before that I think it comes to the value we put on education at home. How many parents today take the notion that it’s just easier to let the 15 year old make the choice to play with friends, rather than get caught up with homework. Or even worse, take the view that school ended when they walked out the door of the classroom. I learned a great lesson from an educator growing up in regards to the importance of the parental role. For its the basic questions around the dinner table that can be the catalyst for time managing a child’s education. As simple as “How was your day?” and “What did you learn today?”.  Its amazing what parental interaction can do for keeping a child accountable for their studies and their own learning experience.

Here is what I’d propose and encourage my readers to get involved in their communities to get in place:

• Ask for a thorough review of your school districts infrastructure, this should be a list of what the schools and educators feel they need to adequately educate the children in the community.  Also, this should obviously include the basics of what’s needed to fix structural problems.
• Open the dialogue with the community.  What better way to get the whole community involved in educational infrastructure?  Make it a community priority and a place for the community to gather as well. Bricks and mortar don’t just need to be for students, the entire community should be able to enjoy and utilize the spaces.
• Parents, its time to get involved. Its not enough to just provide food and shelter, you need to know what your kids are doing and where they are. What grades they are getting in school and establish a dialogue with their teacher so you know right away when problems as well as successes occur.
• Invest in educators and work to establish a competitive atmosphere where the best and the brightest accelerate and are rewarded.  Not just with the knowledge that they are passionate about teaching, but that they can be financially rewarded for the greatest contribution a person can give to society.

It might seem to some as asking  a lot, and to some as to simple a solution.  However, the truth is, if we do not start today, our education system will continue to fail far too many students and the legacy that we will leave will be a generation of students that for the first time will move through life less well off then the generation before.

Invest in education.

Two good friends of mine from back in Fargo, ND embarked to tell the story of some of the most amazing women in the state of North Dakota. The results have been a book, red carpet celebration in Fargo and now a documentary. This isn’t all about the outer beauty we obsess about – its about what’s really important in life. What’s inside.

Check out the preview for the documentary and visit their website for more information. http://beautifulwomenofamerica.com/

Congrats Chris and Billy! You two are truly beautiful!

There are two shows that I’ve had the opportunity to experience so far since I’ve moved to Minneapolis and I just have to say this.  You have GOT to catch these!

Macbeth @ the Guthrie

As a big fan of Shakespeare, I’ll admit I have not read, nor seen this play. The Guthrie takes their typical liberties in giving the show their own spin by setting it in World War II error fatigues and absolutely stunning visuals and set display. The entire cast delivered a superb performance proving yet again the timeless nature of this great british playwright. I would not recommend this as a family affair, with mature content and the shear fact that the play is performed in its entirety without intermission.  Macbeth at the Gurthrie runs until April 4th so move fast to catch this show.

Footloose @ Chanhassen

For my first show since moving to Minneapolis, I was able to catch some good friends performing on stage for the first time since college and high school. Shown at the historic Chanhassen Dinner Theatre, this is definitely a must see for the entire family. With songs your sure to recognize and a cast that delivers an exuberant punch at every turn. My personal cast favorite was Merriann Gleason’s protrayal of Vi Moore, wife of the Rev. Moore. Her delivery on more than one occasion stirred an emotional connection to the part. This show runs through July 31.

At the age of 26 I was finding myself leaving corporate America and venturing into business on my own. I had a fair inclination as to what we were going to do and lots of ideas on how to do them. We had originally started as a small entity with the best of intentions to produce independent film projects, with my leave from my corporate adventures we started a consulting division to house the new contracted services from Microsoft. We had bold ideas to launch a magazine which eventually lead to a modeling and talent agency, record label, retail division and other business interests for what would be come FrostFire Media Corporation.

Early on in this adventure I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to drive this bold ship without some much valued advice. As a young company it wasn’t practical to have a board of directors right away, and we also did not have the resources to have a full finance department, human resource department and other departments commonly found in larger companies.

You see, at the time all of my background, education and experience had been in the marketing communications field. Because of the roles that I played at DaimlerChrysler and Microsoft however I had a great deal of exposure to the other parts of business and what was needed to conduct the day to day operations. Even so, I wouldn’t call myself an expert in any of them at the time.

A friend of mine asked me over lunch a few weeks back. “How do you manage to know so much about business and what courses of action to take?” He’s a fairly young entrepreneur himself and finding himself growing much faster than he’d ever expected. My answer was simple – when I started out I didn’t know everything, I still don’t know everything. But the key to being an effective leader, I think, is surrounding yourself with talents and individuals that have strong knowledge and backgrounds in places that you don’t. Furthermore, I personally like being surrounded by people that are not afraid to challenge my ideas and debate ways of doing things. This often times produces an end result that is far more effective and works more congruently across work styles and various business needs.

I shared with this friend about our concept of the Board of Advisors. This board consisted of close friends and colleagues with expertise in various parts of business. This board proved invaluable as we experienced rapid growth, an economic downturn, a natural disaster and eventual restructure. The fourteen member board consisted of two human resource professionals, six business owners, three non-profit and community advocates, one communications professional and a few with general community interests.

The board of advisors was structured fairly loosely, we had full board meetings but also engaged the members individually on several occasions as needs arose. This team was a large reason why we were able to accomplish what we did.

Much like a board of directors, these advisors can help funnel their collective experience into your business and drive greater success, aid in crisis and ultimately help produce larger returns. They also serve as ambassadors for your message and can bring in key contacts to drive more opportunity.

But your answer doesn’t need to be a full out formalized board, it can just be an identified list of friends and colleagues that you feel comfortable going to for help. You’d be amazed at how willing people are to help make your dream come true. And how much more secure you’ll feel knowing that each business decision you make is backed with the collective knowledge of people from all sorts of professional backgrounds and experiences.

I’ve been writing entries on this blog for several weeks now and I’d love to hear questions from you the reader. Have a business question? Maybe just need a suggestion for something for dinner. Send me an email and I’ll respond on the blog. Looking forward to hearing from you!  email christophermohs@gmail.com.

Before I start I should mention that this current post has nothing to do with former ties to Microsoft, nor is it meant as a promo for Microsoft Office products. With that said, it’s been twenty years since the advent of this software onto the business scene and its transformed the way in which we correspond, analyze data and drive decisions. However, I’m finding more and more as I work with various companies that there are still vast amounts of people that haven’t completely harnessed the basic power that this suite of software can hold.

I’m not just talking about generations past who remember typewriters in the office place and a day in age when the mimeograph machine was how you distributed the corporate newsletter. Surprisingly this is an observation of recent high school and college graduates who have only a very basic knowledge of Microsoft Office and even that is limited.

I won’t question the educational institutions because I know far too well that the courses are offered and undoubtedly highly under utilized. Students and veteran workers alike need to own the decision to become familiar and learn these tools. There are countless community education classes on the subject and more than enough ways to dive in and become exposed to these tools.

Bottom line, it’s difficult to get ahead without the tools to get you there. You want to make an impression and affect the momentum of your organization? Get into everything MS Office and similar solutions have to offer. Know how to format impressive business correspondence. Learn how to manipulate data with formulas that will cut your work time in half or more by automating many of the calculations you may be doing by hand now. Land that new big client with a sales presentation that shows without a doubt that you’re the top show in town.

With time saving functions across all of these solutions you’ll discover you have more time for enjoying life out of the office while being far more productive in the office.

Here are some basic tips to get you started:

Outlook for email

1. Treat your inbox as your to-do list. If you have a message that has an action that’s already been completed? File it away.
2. Use flags to color code and prioritize your work.  You can also view these flagged items sorted by color in your “Follow Up” folder.
3. Sort email into folders. Create folders for the various types of tasks you work on each day or perhaps by business divisions and departments.  This makes finding that vital email proof you need in a bind MUCH easier.
4. Set up “rules” to help manage the flow of email. This is especially helpful when you have your flagging system down. Do you have a similar email that comes in that perhaps is just a reference? Or maybe you need to make sure to flag it as a high priority? By right clicking your email – you can select numerous parameters to automatically flag, file and even respond to your incoming mail.

Word

1. Track Changes is an excellent review tool when passing strategies and other documents around for comment and input.  This feature illustrates what edits were made by whom along with showing comments. The ability for the final reviewer to accept or decline changes as needed.
2. The Forms tool is an excellent way to format standard letters and correspondence that need a consistent look and feel without altering the boilerplate text.
3. Mail Merge for your larger mailings. This feature ties in with a list created in Excel and can be used to produce labels for office supplies as well as the standard mailing.

Excel

1. Auto Filter can help you short through your data quickly and get to exactly what you need fast.
2. Formulas, Formulas, Formulas…with this one notion in mind you can save time and make more effective decisions. The nice thing about Excel is that by clicking on the formula button the wizards will walk you step by step through how to use the function.

PowerPoint

1. Keep your presentation on track by using your notes slide.  This is a great place to put speaker notes and your outline for what you plan to talk about.
2. Keep your slides simple. Don’t fall into the typical habit of reading your slides – your audience will feel like they are back in elementary school reading the text book aloud. Slides are a visual support to your speech and presentation.

Time to get back to work – I hope these basics help simplify your workday and save you time.

We all know how important it is to give back to those in need. Now the opportunities to do so for a career are growing.

Charities Offering More Jobs, Better Pay in 2010

By: Dan Macsai, FastCompany
Published March 11, 2010

Apart from good karma–especially given the recent tragedies in Haiti and Chile–working for a charity will also offer good career prospects in 2010. According recent findings from Professionals for Nonprofits, most plan to hire new employees this year, and the overwhelming majority will raise staff salaries (or hold them steady).

Fittingly, fundraisers and financiers are the most in-demand. The data, which came from more than 1,200 organizations in New York, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C., reveals that pay for fundraising jobs rose by 10% last year, while pay for senior-level finance jobs rose 7%. (Both numbers are expected to increase.) At charities with more than $50 million in yearly donations, the latter positions pay anywhere from $160,000 to $200,000.

Read the rest of this article:  http://www.fastcompany.com/1579261/charities-offering-more-jobs-better-pay-in-2010

With budget cuts continuing to be the norm in business and the reality of smaller bonuses, it becomes ever more challenging to engage employees and motivate them to produce at a higher level. Today we are challenged to come up with new and innovative ways to bring our work teams together and the best way to do this on a tight budget?  Make work fun again!

I know, for all of those traditionalists out there reading this you are probably panicking at the notion that work could become a place where laughter, loud cheering and an occasional HOORAY! might disrupt the normal calm of the cube farm. Rest assured its time to change that tone.

More and more, companies are adopting the practice of introducing “play time” into the work day. This comes as a result of an ever increasing level of stress and new demands on the work-to-life ratio. This play time not only offers employees a way to relax and break from the normal day, but it also in a sense builds the team mentality throughout the office. Much like high-school where we used sports, music, theatre and clubs to build team and strengthen relationships, companies are now adopting many of these practices to do much the same thing in their corporate environment.

It is important to develop games and activities that can both bolster morale and offer a sense of belonging. Softball leagues were the first foray into this realm many years ago, but now you can see knitting groups, book clubs and even social involvement and charity groups forming to tackle causes on behalf of the company. Managers are incorporating traditional games into their off-site meetings and even introducing incentives to drive prizes and awards.

By incorporating these practices and supporting their formation, companies can achieve a greater sense of employee satisfaction without risking the bottom line in a tough economy. Of course as the bottom line improves, feel free to up the ante on prizes and awards.

An investment in your team is the best investment you can make. These are your front line warriors out there everyday representing you and your brand. Empower them to have fun, get involved and make a difference. They’ll be proud they work for you, share their goodwill. What will you get in return for introducing utter chaos into your workplace? You can count on getting a reputation as the company who has employees that give back, get involved and love their work. Chances are your human resources department may start singing your praises as their recruiting task becomes ever easier as word spreads that your company is the one to work for.

So let your creatives in the workplace go wild and create some fun adventures for your team. After all, spring is here and what better time to reenergize your most valuable asset, your team.

Tomorrow is one of those days each year that push me to ponder a multitude of happenings in my life. Much like hitting my 30th birthday last year, this year holds some new milestones, reasons to celebrate and challenges all of their own.

You see, not only is it my 31st birthday tomorrow, but it also marks 8 weeks since my move to Minneapolis from the place I called home for the last 11 years. As I begin the celebrations tomorrow I also give pause for the many friends back in Fargo that are beginning what is quickly becoming a yearly fight to hold back flood waters. I’m wishing you all a great deal of strength, patience and courage as you face this yearly foe. Remember the waters will rise, the community will come together and as it does every year, the Red will calm and grace the region with its multitudes of blessings.  Here’s also hoping that the political powers that be can move swiftly towards a solution that will eliminate this problem permanently.

A thank you to the community of Fargo, North Dakota. It was there in one of the most unusual of places that this individual’s wildest dreams came to fruition and the foundation of a life yet fully realized created. You provided me with a phenomenal college education at Concordia. Your commitment and fortitude to education excellence has brought forth some of the most capable graduates in the region. Partnered with tremendous collaborations with business and government these graduates will change the world in ways they cannot even imagine yet.

To big companies with a strong Fargo presence, thank you for the opportunity to learn, grow and be challenged preparing me to become the marketing communications and business professional I am today.

Furthermore, thank you for the opportunity to drive a successful corporate career into one of private enterprise, where a community rallied around a small group of mid twenty-somethings to create a media company that would forever change the way Fargo/Moorhead viewed itself.

Finally, to friends and supporters – your faith and ability to see the grander vision is always and will be forever appreciated. The journey and path, although not always easy, produced results that we can all be proud of. A wake still flows both with celebration and challenge and only time will tell how the full story will end. I know deep down that the ties and memories that bind us together will show its grace as the future progresses.

A new home emerges now with challenges, friends and opportunities uniquely its own. The last 8 weeks have been remarkable and memorable. As many can attest, the process of moving to a new city and laying a new level to the house of life can be daunting. However it is the memories and experience I have gained to date that I know will propel me further on this road. I know I have the tools, knowledge and support to go out and accomplish whatever it is I set my sights on.  What will that be? Only time will tell.

Starting anew can be one of the greatest adventures life brings to us. A chance to reinvent, grow and learn. Today I focus on two things, giving back to the community that brought me this far, and investing in the community that I now choose to call home. I’m becoming connected and involved, feeling as though I’m once again home.

The big question for those that know me well I’m sure is what will I be doing next. Honestly its a question that even I don’t know the answer to yet. Since coming to Minneapolis I continue my consulting work, my work with the American Diabetes Association and have started work with a few other non-profits helping to formulate strategies to attract greater giving and organizational efficiency. I do continue to keep my eyes peeled for new opportunities that seem to emerge every day. I desire a return to life in the corporate sector, however also look forward to dabbling in new ventures that can further transform the world around us.

So as tomorrow rolls around, I mark a few more milestones in life and celebrate the potential that only the future fully knows.

Life is about choice. At every turn we have decisions to make that could have a profound impact on how the rest of our lives take shape.  The key is to not be afraid. I learned a long time ago that ultimately you will go one direction or the other. The reality is that no matter which direction you choose, the end result has the potential to be fabulous.

I find that many people have a sense of real fear and anxiety that comes along with taking on the challenge of choice.  It’s the questions that hang us up and stop us from really taking advantage of the opportunity.

There are all the “what if’s” in life that scare us.  What if this happens? What if that happens? For those that know me well, I have a theory here. Whatever the choice in life may be, always eliminate the “What if’s.” I remember saying to myself back in middle school, “no matter what I experienced in life, I would hope that I would never look back on anything and say ‘What if?’” This is when you really start missing out and begin to develop regret.

These “What If” questions pop up in ways big and small. Could I really be a homeowner? Do I really have what ti takes to do this job? Can I really make it through college? Should I plant corn in the garden? The truth is, you’ll never know until you choose to eliminate the “What If”. When you do this you’ll find yourself completely empowered. Now I’m not saying over extend yourself, we all must learn to live within our means and our limits. But its perfectly well to push the envelope.

Another aspect in life where choice is important is when it comes to relationships. We can all relate to the varying complexities that revolve around our interactions with other people. There are the co-workers you just sort of deal with, the ones you enjoy happy hour with after work and those that eventually make their way into your personal life. Likewise with friends there are those that you must maintain on a regular basis in order to properly and effectively keep the relationship going. Then there are those friends that no matter how long the distance, every time you meet you can talk and converse as though no time ever passed.

We have choices when dealing with those around us – we choose the types of relationships that we are comfortable with and we also find ourselves choosing who we are most compatible with. Its not a sense of right or wrong, its a sense of spirit and energy. We each affect people in different ways and like a jigsaw puzzle some pieces fit perfectly while others have a better fit in another part of the life puzzle.

It’s when we need to find that “better fit” that choice becomes the most difficult. A very dear friend of mine is currently going through a divorce. We’ve all heard the horror stories of the fights, the legal battles, the terrible toll on the children involved. What I admire about this friend is that she is grasping the power of choice in the ordeal and choosing to love, honor and celebrate a life once shared while being positively open to a new chapter in her life about to unfold. This openness is allowing her to maintain grace, dignity and most importantly a positive energy as she moves forward. A friendship is spared, children are left feeling loved and two people are able to start anew with hope and revived spirits.

Through the entire journey we call life, choice is a driving force that takes us from where we began our journey to where we are today while shaping what will become of us in the future. The key is to recognize that choice is the most valuable tool we have and we must use it wisely, discreetly and without hesitation.

So tomorrow when you wake up, I challenge this. Choose to see the world in a different way than you did today. Choose to love and be loved. Choose to make an impact. And as a wise teacher once told me, always choose to be happy.

Make good choices!

Christopher