Category Archives: Education

January 30, 2014 · 11:48 pm

TOUGH LOVE

Techbash – Part 5

John Jonelis

This is a story about raw love. Tough. Rugged. Unashamed.

I’m at i.c.stars—the premier social incubator in Chicago—and I find myself a bit overwhelmed by it all. I stop in to thank Sandee Kastrul, their President and Co-founder and she pours me some hot coffee.

“I think,” She says, “that at the end of the day, there are three things that you should know about us:

We’re positioned as an opportunity, not a charity.
Rather than exploit our interns, we exploit our CIOs.
We’re funded by the technology industry—not the government.

Those seem to me rather interesting assertions for a social venture. But she goes on to explain: Continue reading →

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Tagged as brand, changing a culture, committment, dedication, firing, hidden talent, highly sought after talent, lifting a culture, perfect attendance, Pride, reputation, self sustaining social venture, strength from adversity, strength of character, Tough love

January 20, 2014 · 8:53 pm

HIGH TECH HIGH TEA

TechBash – Part 4

John Jonelis

I‘m at Chicago’s premier social incubator – i.c.stars. Fresh faces of their current crop of interns rim this boardroom-sized table. All neat. All professional. As the tea makes its rounds, I hear well-crafted introductions. Mannerly. In-depth. Heartfelt. Spoken by people who have known each other during months of intense struggle. It’s more like introducing family than business associates. Continue reading →

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Tagged as accelerated learning, committment, developers, hard work, high tea, high tech, honor, learn by doing, learning fast, personal relationships, Pride, programming, real jobs, real life, Second chance, seize the day, seize the opportunity, seizing the opportunity, trust

January 11, 2014 · 12:58 am

THE APPRENTICE MEETS DIGITAL BOOT CAMP

Techbash – Part 3

VERBATIM – John Jonelis

This is a story of high expectations, high reality, and high energy. I may as well give it to you straight, because Loop Lonogan would want it that way. He’s in the lockup. Too much hard partying on Twelfth Night. His guests spilled into the street and all kinds of trouble erupted—part of it involving a policeman he knocked cold. So I’m here at i.c.stars headquarters. Here to finish Lonagan’s series of articles. I’m talking to the president and co-founder, Sandee Kastrul. Continue reading →

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Tagged as adversity, bad neighborhoods, civics, Crime, Digital Boot Camp, fertile ground, gangs, giving back, hidden talent, hottest recruiting ground., IT training, job training, leadership training, learn fast, learn on the job, learn while doing, learning a skill, learning technology, learning to program, no hope, overcomers, overcoming, perseverance, reciprocity, resiliency, rich soil, rough neigborhoods, school of hard knocks, self taught, social entrepreneur, social incuabator, Social venture, teaching a skill, teaching technology, technology education, technology training, The Apprentice, vocation, vocational training

December 29, 2013 · 3:04 am

GIVING BACK

TechBash – Part 2

by Loop Lonagan

as told to John Jonelis –

Seems to me Christmas is all about givin’ to other people and I say we keep it that way. I love Christmas. Ever’ year I start my celebration on Thanksgiving and don’t take the tree down till January the Fifth. That’s Twelfth Night fer youse guys that don’t know. That night I throw a big party, hire cooks, a piano player, ‘n’ ever’body burns a branch from the tree before they leave.

There’s an outfit right here in Chicago that keeps the spirit o’ giving alive all the yearlong. They find people with talent, creativity, intelligence, hard knocks ‘n’ plenty o’ moxey. Then they pay ‘em to train fer big-time jobs. That’s one o’ the nicest gifts you can give a person with them kinda attributes—a chance to use what they got inside themselves. Think about it—all that potential just waitin’ to burst out so bad a guy could explode. Continue reading →

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Filed under Characters, Education, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Faith, Giving, High Tech, Poverty, Startup Companies, Startups

Tagged as big corporations, computer programming, doing well by doing good, giving back, IT professionals, IT training, job training, Jobs, professionals, Social Enterprise, social entrepreneur

December 19, 2013 · 2:46 am

TALENT HIDES

TechBash – Part 1

By Loop Lonagan,

as told to John Jonelis –

I feel the bite of Christmas in the air. It’s the season o’ giving. I’m here at TechBash coverin’ fer Da May Report but I never seen an event like this before. Right away, I get hit with pounding music, flashing lights and maybe a couple thousand er more people. Place is fulla bigshots. So many C-level execs at one party—mosta them CIOs o’ big corporations. And the food and open flowing bar. I mean, this is a HUGE party that puts Dennis Koslowski and Tyco to shame—but this one’s legit. Lemme tell you about it: Continue reading →

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Filed under Characters, Education, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Giving, High Tech, Poverty, Relationships, Startup Companies, Startups

Tagged as community leaders, finding talent, giving back, helping people, high tech, Inner city, IT jobs, job training, Jobs, nurturing leaders, nurturing talent, self-sustaining social enterprise, slums, Social Enterprise

November 30, 2013 · 1:46 pm

FOUNDER’S PROCLAMATION

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and—Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, Continue reading →

FEAR OF FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION

by Tom Lemanski

From the SMART Leadership Archives

With the aid of the film, Apollo 13, let’s briefly consider the concept of failure and its role in innovation, problem solving and decision-making.

The Apollo 13 movie documents the heroic efforts of the NASA flight team in successfully returning their crew of three astronauts to earth in their ill-fated, aborted, mission to land on the moon. There’s a compelling scene where the flight engineers discuss the crippled space craft’s desperate power situation that concludes with Flight Director Gene Kranz’s (portrayed by Ed Harris as pictured at left) determined declaration:

“Failure is not an option.”

Continue reading →

THE SECRET WORLD OF 3D PRINTING

John Jonelis

What happens when, instead of manufacturing a product with cheap labor overseas, you can select a design from the internet and download it the same way you purchase music and then create the product at the point of sale? Good-bye supply chain. Hello customization. Continue reading →

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Tagged as 3d, 3D PRINTERS, 3d printing, additive manufacturing, additive printing, additive process, cad cam, Jay Leno, new industrial revolution, new manufacturing, new technology, old technology, portable design and manufacture, prototype, prototyping, supply chain

October 11, 2013 · 9:01 pm

THE LEAN STARTUP

Michael Pollack of Rocket Fuel Labs

Verbatim, Part 4 – John Jonelis

“If it doesn’t work, get a bigger hammer.” – Butch Fischer, Local #1 Boilermaker Foreman.

Entrepreneurs need a wide array of management and technology talent to build truly extraordinary companies. How do you fill those gaps while remaining lean? Continue reading →

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Tagged as codint, discovery, execution, infrastructure, lean canvas, lean startup, listening to customers, OODA loop, pivot, programming, prototype, ptorotyping, vision

October 4, 2013 · 2:09 am

WHAT MAKES IT GOOD

Techweek Part 4 –

by storied business consultant, Joe Perogi,

as told to John Jonelis –

Been hearin’ complaints ‘n’ controversy about Techweek this year. People gripe so you figure there’s gotta be a good reason, right? Yeah, I hear you. Yer sayin’, where there’s smoke there’s fire. But all them critics completely miss THE HIDDEN ROOM that you and me stumple upon—the hidden room that makes this thing truly amazing. Now the dust is settled, lemme take you on a tour o’ what I seen. Continue reading →

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Filed under Characters, Education, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, High Tech, Low Tech, Politics, Startup Companies, Startups

Tagged as angel, Chicago, competition, enthusiasm, entrepreneurs, innovation, invention, Investors, Joe Perogi, new ideas, noise, passion, Risk, startup city, startups, techweek, TriNet, vc, venture, winners

August 26, 2013 · 4:00 am

HEART OF GOLD

John Jonelis – I knew something outstanding was going on, but when a friend raved about it, I had to stop procrastinating and find out more. Continue reading →