EARLIER this year, BBC Scotland televised two documentaries called A Child's Guide to Life, which tracked a group of young Glaswegians as they moved from primary school into the world of work.
The first programme was filmed in 1979 and subtitled Hope; the second was shot last year and its subtitle was Experience.
The most poignant moments came when some of these young people tried to come to terms with why their childhood dreams of a successful career had not been fulfilled, writes STUART PAUL.
For most people, a good job means one that is economically and psychologically satisfying, that makes a contribution to society and supports a healthy personal or family life. How can this be achieved?
A new book has tracked the careers of a group of resourceful men and women to discover what it takes to have an exciting and fulfilling career.
John Kotter has turned his attention to how to succeed in what has sometimes been called today's post-corporate world. Has he found the answers? Margaret Ford (right), managing director of the Eglinton Management Centre, finds out.
THIS is the European Year of Lifelong Learning. Appropriately enough, the new book* by Professor John Kotter of Harvard Business School underlines the need to embrace lifelong learning to achieve career success.
Since 1974 he has observed graduates of Harvard Business School as they have carved out their niches in American business life. Their progress, mapped out in the book, has led Kotter to challenge conventional wisdom about what makes for a successful business career. And he's dead right.
The fortunes of the Harvard graduates have been conditioned by the state of the US economy. Many have experienced redundancy; many have seen the path to the top blocked as their companies re-engineered and de-layered.
Most have had to face the challenge of intense competition as their homeland's pre-eminence in many of its manufacturing markets has been rapidly eroded.
Kotter's analysis of the effect of global competition on the US economy is intelligently and lucidly argued. His clear exposition of this alone makes the book valuable reading for anyone interested in why we have to change our approach to managing large organisations.
The class of '74, on the whole, has fared pretty well. One reason is that they have adapted from working in large, bureaucratic organisations to smaller, more flexible concerns. Often they have started their own companies as a result of redundancy, down-sizing or buy-out.
Many, particularly the women, have traded the corporate treadmill for a better balance between work and home, changing their concept of what success means, along the way. Almost all have ``continued to learn over an entire lifetime'' (Kotter's New Rule no 8).
Kotter has developed these rules for post-corporate life as he has analysed the graduates. And his challenge to Harvard and every other business school in the US is blunt - get relevant.
His main criticism of US business schools is that they remain wedded to the large company paradigm. Consequently, MBAs are not gaining the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in a faster, more flexible marketplace.
It is difficult to escape his conclusion that the entrepreneurial class of '74 have achieved success despite what they learned at Harvard, not because of it.
This has important resonances for us in Scotland. It would be interesting to test Kotter's analysis on the offerings of the Scottish business schools.
I think he might be rather surprised. Although I still see standard fare on offer, they also provide some exciting, innovative alternatives. Specifically, Glasgow Caledonian deserves particular praise for its work on entrepreneurial development.
As for readability, Kotter's treatment of his topic is dry; he never really brings the graduates of '74 to life, and the book suffers midway through in terms of maintaining interest. But he comes back strongly with an powerful analysis of the place of ethics in business.
A key strength of the book is the way in which he urges that a different view of higher education be taken. He argues that in a rapidly changing and competitive environment a university education is important but insufficient. ``Success at work demands huge growth after a terminal degree to learn new approaches, skills, techniques and more.''
A turbulent environment, he argues, offers opportunity for growth for those willing to take risks and reflect on their experiences. Finally, he urges the business schools to challenge their core ideas about education.
In this Year of Lifelong Learning, all of us interested in developing our people must surely say Amen to that.
* The New Rules: How to Succeed in Today's Post-Corporate World by John P Kotter published by The Free Press at #16.99.
Business Book of the Week is compiled and edited by Stuart Paul of the University of Paisley
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