Today, Norm Goldman Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com is pleased to have as our guest Jim Leatherwood author of Facing The Future Together: Forming Successful School-Business Partnerships. 

Good day Jim and thanks for participating in our interview.

Norm:

On you website you mention that: “A symbiotic relationship exists between education, business and industry but often goes unrecognized until these different sectors collaborate.”  Please explain.

Jim:

Thanks Norm.  It’s a pleasure to be here.  Your question brings to mind a metaphorical brick wall and the barrier it creates.  One way to insure isolation is to build a brick wall.  You and your neighbor may share in the labor of laying bricks.  Indeed, such a joint effort may result in a strong, well- constructed wall.  However, you have also constructed a barrier to future communication with your neighbor.  Educators and their neighbors in the business community have constructed just such a wall.  Yes, periodically a few bricks are removed but not enough to have much of an impact.   

The barrier between business and education is the result of ignorance.  Neither sector understands the challenges faced by their neighbor.  But the fact remains that they are mutually dependent upon one another.  Let me briefly describe this mutual dependence or what I refer to as a “symbiotic relationship.”

Schools need the support of business and industry.  I am not referring to money.  Mentors, tutors, and planners are far more important.  In the book I refer to this type of support as “people-to-people relationships.” On the other hand, business and industry are dependent on education to produce students with marketable skills.

We seldom recognize the walls we have erected.  When educators and business people are critical of one-another another brick is added.  But when education, business and industry come together in a structured, on-going collaboration (partnership) this barrier is dismantled.

Norm

Will you share a little with us of your book Facing The Future Together: Forming Successful School-Business Partnerships.

Jim:

I wrote this book to provide education, business and representatives from other agencies with a “how-to” resource and process for building  productive, sustainable partnerships.  Hopefully it will help to tear down existing barriers, promote the identification of common goals and enhance communication.

The new model of partnership described in the book applies to every grade-level of K-12 and higher education.  I recently received a call from a professor from a well-known university in Ohio seeking support, through partnership, for the arts department at the university.   The principal of a middle school in Savannah, Georgia expressed her long-time dream of building support for her students by forming  partnerships with local businesses.  The book provided a “roadmap” to successful partnership for both the university and the middle school.

The reader will learn to identify an appropriate business partner, prepare a winning sales-pitch and secure a long-term partnership.  The book is also aimed at the businessperson who will learn how to recruit better-trained employees through partnership.  The Twelve Commandments for forming successful partnerships are clearly identified in one of the early chapters in the book.  The commandments provide a quick-reference guideline for both educators and business representatives. 

Norm:

Why do you feel that this was an important book for you to write and for all of us to read at this time?

Jim:

The time is right for this book and its focus on partnerships for schools.  America is beginning to fall behind other countries including India and China in several categories.  Perhaps the most important is education which has a ripple effect on so many other areas like technology, economics, and competition in the global marketplace.

The dropout rate in America is now over 25% and rising.  Even among the students who graduate, few are prepared for the demands of new and ever-changing technology in the workplace.  Building early partnerships between education and the agencies that will later employ and continue to educate our youth is an intervention whose time has come.

In the book I discuss some of the problems we will experience unless we intervene now and face the future together as partners.  These include fewer graduates being prepared for the 21^st Century workplace; finding and retaining good teachers; and more uneducated, unskilled workers condemned to lives of poverty.   This prediction is dismal but true.  It’s time to knock-down any barriers that exist and intervene as partners.

Norm:

What kind of research did you do to write your book?

Jim:

Research for the book was extensive but somewhat unique because very little has been written on this subject.  I found that there was almost no material that addressed both educators and business people becoming partners.  My research consisted of traveling to visit exemplary partnership programs in Florida, Pennsylvania, New York and California and I interviewed key personnel from these programs and others.   The Internet was, of course, an invaluable resource.

I know that I merely scratched the surface and that there are some exceptional programs I didn’t cover.  I would love to hear from anyone who may have a successful school-business partnership program.  Who knows, this may lead to a 2^nd edition of my book.

My greatest source of information was myself.  During my career I formed over 50 partnership programs.  I drew from personal files and memories to document my successes and failures in forming partnerships.  I think this information will  provide the reader with a relatively simple roadmap to successful partnership.  

Norm:

Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?

Jim: 

Writing this book was definitely a learning experience.  This is my first book and I learned to appreciate the tenacity and patience it takes to complete such a project.  But relating to my subject matter, I discovered during the process of researching information that education and business have more similarities than differences.  Educators and businesspersons have much more in common than I expected.  Both groups expressed a common concern for student futures.  I heard similar questions asked and concerns expressed by both camps during my interviews:

·       Are we preparing students for lifelong learning and gainful employment?

·       How can we keep students from dropping out?

·       Educators (business people) don’t understand the challenges I face in my business (classroom) on a daily basis! 

Each group often expressed different solutions to the same concerns.   This is the result of developing opinions without the benefit of contact and collaboration.   Experience reinforced my belief in the importance of collaboration through structured school-business partnerships.

Norm:

Do you feel that most business owners don’t use their imagination when it comes to developing their business?

Jim:

Norm, I don’t pretend to be an expert in business but I do think that many business leaders fail to think out-of-the-box when it comes to dealing with schools.  Section-Two of my book is titled For Business Only!  I introduce this section by saying that there is nothing to stop a business- person from approaching a school or school district with the idea of forming a partnership.  There are immediate and long-term benefits for a business to partner with a school.  However, few business owners take the initiative and the first move is almost always by the educator.

Norm:

How do you overcome the feeling that many business people have towards educators that they often live in a much different world than their own- one that is very often impractical. When I was attending law school over 40 years ago law professors were reluctant to climb down from their ivory towers and become more practical in the subjects they were teaching.

Jim:

As I previously stated, educators have more in common with business people than they realize.  But, as you describe, there are some educators who don’t feel that way and isolate themselves from the “practical” world.  An “ivory tower” is a symbol of isolationism and must be dismantled for the benefit of students who should be the priority focus of every teacher.  I know this is easier said than done but it can happen.

How do you tear down an ivory tower?  It’s not easy but I have a method I have used quite successfully for several years.   The idea is to take educators out of their theoretical (ivory covered) comfort zone and place them in the practical world of business.  This placement is for a given period of time and is structured to give the educator a well-rounded experience as a business employee, manager or CEO.  The program I describe in the book is called “CEO for a Day.”  If the experience is well-structured it can have a major impact on the educator.  Some companies may even offer a short-term paid internship for educators.

One of the first actions of a partnership is to identify commonality and ways of blending the theoretical concerns of educators with the practical ideas of business.  The student becomes the beneficiary.  I should add that as part of this “blending” process, educators and business people must learn to speak a common language.  Idioms, acronyms and other forms of verbal expression can lead to confusion.   Developing a glossary of terms for each partner will help the communication process.

Norm:

What are the essential elements of a successful business-education partnership?

Jim:

For a business-education partnership to be successful it must be sustainable.  Over the long-term it will evolve and become stronger.  Sustainability is a result of the following 4 essential elements:

1) Choosing the right partner

2) Identifying common concerns and setting common goals

3) Establishing on-going communication

4) Evaluating the program on a regularly scheduled basis   

Norm:

Have you had experience with mentoring and if so, how beneficial has it been for you and the students you mentored?

Jim:

I have been a mentor and found it to be a rewarding and mutually beneficial experience.  I am currently an active participant in the Big-Brother, Big- Sister program in my area.  My little brother is an 11- year old young man with no father, poor reading skills, a behavior problem in school, and unrealistic career goals.  I tutor him in reading, we talk about his behavior in school and how this can impact his career choice.  Upon his mother’s request, I have even met with his teacher.  My involvement has made a difference and my little brother is improving in all categories.  Mentoring is an important component of school-business partnerships.  Many business managers and CEOs who have entered into partnership report an increase in the morale of employees who become mentors in this program.   It is one of those “mutually beneficial” experiences I have described.  I have found this to be true on a personal level.

Norm:

I noticed that your first job as educator was in Sierra Leone, West Africa as a Peace Corps teacher. What was it like to teach in Sierra Leone?

Jim:

I have often referred to the Peace Corps experience as a “watershed’ or turning point in my life.  My assignment in Sierra Leone, West Africa was my first teaching experience and led to a 35-year career as an educator.  This country is a prior British colony and the education system is modeled after the British system.  I have often said that I received much more than I gave in this experience.  I taught government, geography and coached soccer.  Actually, I was teaching a class the day it was announced that Robert Kennedy had been assassinated.  My students were as devastated as me and we cried together.  The love and affection the people of Sierra Leone had for America was extraordinary and I’ll never forget this experience.

Norm:

How can readers find out more about you and your endeavors?

Jim:

Readers can find out more about me and my book and how to receive my services as a speaker and/or consultant by visiting my website:  www.jimleatherwood.com.  I also have a blog on this website and I encourage everyone to interact with me there. 

Norm:

Is there anything else you wish to add that we have not dealt with?

Jim:

My book Facing the Future Together can be ordered from my website or by contacting me directly for a signed copy at thebrookepress@aol.com.

I will close by quoting Fred Rogers, famous host of the Mr. Rogers television show.  Mr. Rogers had the right idea when he asked, “Won’t you be my neighbor?” – to which we could add, “and partner?”   It’s been a pleasure visiting with you today.

Thanks once again and good luck with all of your future endeavors.