Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/62215
From Editors the Raising the Bar In September, I attended AACSB International's Continuous Improvement Seminar in St. Louis, Missouri. At one session, I heard plenary speaker Douglas Eder, a professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, draw an intriguing analogy between establishing a learning assessment program and, of all things, training killer whales. To teach a whale to jump over a bar, said Eder, the trainer first submerges the bar under water and waits for the whale to swim over it. Then, he gives the whale a fish and raises the bar a bit higher. The process is repeated until the whale associates the task with receiving a fish. Eventually, the trainer raises the bar out of the water and the whale jumps over it with ease. The same strategy works for other mammals. Whether it's teaching business students or motivating faculty, you'll need three things, Eder suggested: "First, there's got to be a bar. Second, that bar must be held steady. And third—there's got to be a fish." For a business school, pursuing learning assessment without rewards is like training whales without fish. There would be no point to jumping any higher or getting any better. For whales, the rewards are simple; but for people, they're not so But it's not enough to pass over it successfully. One must succeed on levels that are meaningful. That depends on setting appropriate goals and pursuing them with fervor. Whether it's a school defining its aspirations, an educator assessing a course, or a student planning a career path, the act will be only as successful as it is well-conceived. Therefore, seek your fish wisely and set the bar high. Then, z of course, go ahead and jump. ■applies to a business, school, or individual. How do we choose fea- tures that identify our culture and seek rewards that motivate us to improve? Branding guru Al Ries, whom we interview for this issue with his daughter and business partner, Laura, notes that students too often confuse hefty paychecks with success, and hard work with self- improvement. Ries would "rather see people focus on what they like to do rather than on what they think they should do to get ahead." Their paychecks might not be as fat, but the payoffs would be huge. There's no question that the bar of competition has been raised for everyone. cut-and-dried. While some might argue that improvement is its own reward, most people expect a more tangible payoff. A good grade. A fat paycheck. A big promotion. In many cases, however, the rewards we pursue are misconceived. In this issue, for instance, we explore the idea of branding, as it 6 BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2003 JAN KOPEC/GETTY IMAGES BILL BASCOM