09.22.09
Shape your world, shape your career.
For those that regularly follow my Blog you know that I am a huge advocate of education for service professionals. In fact, my involvement and ongoing interest in service science ( SSME ) has been to increase research and education around the services industry. Let’s face it; people are not typically prepared for a service economy career coming out of universities.
For those in the services profession, continuing education is also a challenge. As service leaders we can get so involved in our day to day world that we forget that we need to recharge the batteries to get us energized. It is even more difficult to find service specific career education opportunities. There are trade associations who may teach and share best practices but where does a service leader go to get inspiration or hear about true innovation specific to the uniqueness of the services world? Industry associations tend to focus on their industry specific segments but there are many lessons in services to be learned from all of the different service sectors. Business services, consumer services and even government service organizations can share and learn from the experiences and innovation that each create.
So, where can all of this happen? I have an answer, Arizona State University- Center for Services Leadership. Specifically their annual “Competes Through Service Symposium” Nov-4-6 in Phoenix. This is the 20th year for this event and each year it grows and delivers more value. This is the one event that I recommend to all service leaders and to all of my clients. At this event you will hear stories from many types of service organizations. Business, consumer, government and public sector service thought leaders and innovators share their stories. From a leadership perspective you can count on gaining new perspectives on the world, on social issues and how you personally can make a difference. This is truly a unique opportunity and experience that should not be missed.
As someone who chose to start a new consulting business in the middle of the worst recession in history, I understand that times are tough and budgets are tight. You have to consider this an investment and remember the big picture. This is an investment in your career and it is an investment into your business. This is also an opportunity to open your mind to new possibilities, learn new things on a diverse range of subjects and network with some of the smartest people in the industry. Speaking of being smart, if you want to save a few dollars register before Oct 12th for the best price by going to: www.wpcarey.asu.edu/symposium .
I do not mean for this to sound like an advertisement but this is an event about which I can get personally excited. Last year I wrote a blog each day of the event to share with those who could not attend on some of what they missed. Again this year I will be blogging to bring you a few of the highlights from the speakers each day. You can read my blog entries from last year’s event by going to: http://serviceinnovation.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!3F0B8EF511D76F1D!139.entry
This year, you can view my daily blog at : http://blog.servtrans.com/ or www.thesrii.org under the blog tab.
If you do not know what ASU’s Center for Services Leadership can do for you or your business you are missing out on a major resource, in my opinion. This unique center has been known for its leadership in service education and research for over 25 years. Uniquely, they have been able to form ongoing partnerships with industry that have greatly advanced research and service innovation. These Industry / University relationships are critical success factors in many other disciplines and industries with proven success and innovation as the result. While technology and science schools more readily collaborate with the private sector to create new products and intellectual property, this is not the norm for business schools and ASU is truly unique. We need many more examples like ASU in the services industry and we need to see the service industry leverage more of these university resources to drive innovation across the academic disciplines.
So, in the theme of the symposium here is your chance to shape your world, to shape your career and to help shape the future of services.
That is my opinion, what is yours?
