Experience Still the Best Teacher

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IN THIS ISSUE:

1. Experience Still the Best Teacher
2. Women, Minorities More Flexible About Work Schedules
3. Slaying the Dragons Within
4. New U.S. Rules Incite Court Skirmish Over Foreign Tech Workers
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1. Experience Still the Best Teacher

Though companies spend more than US $100 billion a year on formal training
courses for their employees, the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)
reports that only about 10 percent of the knowledge that people need in
order to become effective managers and executives is learned in the
classroom. A Business Week article notes that the lion's share comes from
experience in challenging job assignments where "the demands of the job pull
the person to develop new skills and not just rely on successful habits of
the past." Certain types of assignments induce this "demand-pull" more than
others. The article lists seven, including first-time international
assignments, which often require the person to learn a new language, adjust
to different cultural norms, and improve his or her interpersonal relations
skills.

2. Women, Minorities More Flexible About Work Schedules

Over the past decade, U.S. companies have expanded the range of benefits
they make available to employees, while the number who offer health and
wellness benefits has increased and the number who offer domestic partner
benefits has more than doubled. But a recent study of 1100 employers
commissioned by the Families and Work Institute reveals that the companies
most likely to offer flexible work arrangements for employees responsible
for children or aging parents are those headed by women or ethnic
minorities. The group's 1998 study found the same disparity. Its conclusion:
many firms' policies regarding work schedules reflect "a lingering [of]
societal standards that leave most family responsibilities to women, while
men are freed from that concern."

3. Slaying the Dragons Within

We all grow up hearing that life's victors are those who are willing to go
out and slay the dragons that sit between them and whatever the prize
happens to be. But according to a Registeredrep.com article, the deadliest
beasts lie within. The article describes seven dragons, or fatal behavioral
flaws, that can be career or relationship killers. Among these are
arrogance, impatience, and martyrdom. Each of the beasts are the negative
manifestation of some positive trait -- self-deprecation being the tendency
to take humility to the point where you trivialize your accomplishments or
offer apologies for your success. The good news is that each dragon can be
conquered.

4. New U.S. Rules Incite Court Skirmish Over Foreign Tech Workers

On 29 May, three worker advocacy agencies and 10 U.S. workers filed suit in
a U.S. federal court, asking that new regulations that extend the legal
non-immigrant status of foreign nationals educated in the United States to
nearly two and a half years beyond the completion of their degree
requirements be struck down. The new rule, introduced by the Department of
Homeland Security on 4 April, allows people with student visas who are
participating in a 12-month "Optional Practical Training" program under
which they are working for a U.S. employer in an area directly related to
their major area of study to apply for a 17-month extension. Supporters of
the rule say it will close the so-called "cap gap," during which prospective
H-1B visa holders see their student visas expire before their H-1B
authorizations take effect. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit charge that the
rule is simply an end run around the rules limiting the number of foreign
workers in technical specialties.
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