Learners Live

Launch of LearnersLive.com in 2025 – A Passion for Learning by Bill Attardi

Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
Learn as if you were to live forever.
Mahatma Gandhi

In every environment, in every company, in every department, in every office, in every classroom, on every team, there are inequities.  Men and women come in all sizes, all levels of acumen, all degrees of competency and talent. In management, many times, not of your choosing, you get a diversity of high achievers, good performers, weak contributors, and those that do not contribute a dime to the performance of the team.  I call them the deadbeats!

College students are there to learn, to prepare for a life of success in a leadership role with an organization of their instigation or rather, maybe one of their choosing, and that may happen a few times.  In my undergraduate classes, especially when they are mostly seniors, and certainly in my graduate classes at Monmouth University, I congratulate them for the progress they have made so far in their collegiate work and no matter the future, each and every one of them has earned the right to be called highly competent individual…..…as long as they nourish the learning process. But I explain, that’s only the start of a successful career, do they have the talent and dedication to learning, all the time, to move on…

Learners possess certain attributes that distinguish them from the Learned. They anticipate rather than react to change.  Some call that vision. They become essential facilitators of change within their altered environment. They can skillfully communicate the new and technically esoteric with a clarity that leads to understanding and advocacy. Organizations that don’t value learning and the change that springs from learning will struggle to stay relevant in this fast-paced ever-changing marketplace.

The world is changing rapidly.   

For the timid, change is frightening; for the comfortable, change is threatening;                            

for the confident, change is opportunity…….and confidence comes from competency.       

Nido Qubein, President of High Point University

 There’s that word competency again. That’s why most individuals even go to college, to develop their competency. Learners are just highly competent individuals that influence change in an organization and, in turn, as leaders, allow others to adapt to that change.  As an Educator, my ambition here is to express my view that education, the learning process, is not a one-time event but rather, something you do right all the time.  Sounds a lot like Vince Lombardi when he talked about doing things right, not once in a while but all the time……remember that? I believe learning is something you do all the time!

 Launch of LearnersLive.com in 2025

I have a passion for teaching, for learning……been doing it most of my life and for the past 20+ years at Monmouth University. Want to continue doing it as long as God allows.

Here’s the plan:

  • LearnersLive Objective: to learn something you do not know; to confirm what you already know!
  • To post something for you to learn, every single day…a continuing learning experience.
  • Focus will be on topics of learning…..I have a dozen courses we can add to the curriculum right away…..all virtual……from 5 minute to 30 minute sessions.
  • Marketing & management sessions I teach at Monmouth University….
  • Will invite other educators………already talked to Jim Benya, Deb Burnett, Mark Rea, Chris Brown, Bernie Erickson, others ………
  • Interviews with industry leaders…
  • Also access to industry training websites and videos
  • DISC assessments

 Will keep some of EnergyWatch……..2025 will be a celebration for your humble correspondent: 60 years in the lighting business.  Whoooooah! Will continue to post on LearnersLive.com:

  • The monthly blog on a variety of subjects
  • The monthly newsletter recap
  • Industry news and new product information but only if you learn something
  • Published articles that focus on teaching something, not just about lighting…
  • Industry research………including other training courses offered by the industry

 What do you think?  Need your help with any suggestions you may have to make this effort meaningful as an ongoing contributor to your personal learning activities.

What I’ve Learned Over Many Years Trying to Do the Right Thing by Bill Attardi

As a follow-up to my inquiry about creating LearnersLive.com, I offer the following

  

  1. I have to start with what some say is the first commandment of success: Get a good education / develop a skill in something you really love to do and work hard at it. It really is that simple.

 

  1. Never worry about your next job……work hard at the job you have and the promotions will come. A sports lesson: athletes understand that the best are playing in the playoff games. They just cannot worry about the next team they may play if they want to beat the team they are playing.

 

  1. If you have a manager title, your primary responsibility is to develop the people who report to you…….don’t just manage, teach.

 

  1. Critical: develop both your oral and written communications skills at the highest level of your capability. No matter your job or position, your ability to communicate effectively will determine your relationships and your success in those relationships.

 

  1. When you are asked to present / teach what you know and give to others. Be sure to entertain as well as inform. In today’s electronic information age, it’s the only way they will listen.

 

  1. If everyone agrees with you then you are doing all the thinking. Encourage others to debate the issues and make decisions based on divergent intelligent thoughts.  Education happens when you learn from others.

 

  1. Love your family and your friends and don’t hate your enemies. Hate gets in the way of doing a good job as a parent, as a loyal friend, as a successful person.

 

  1. Never stop learning. It should never be final.  I’m learning something new every day, learning more and more as we go through life.

 

  1. Make time to read for information and for pleasure too. It really helps to escape the pressures of everyday living.

 

  1. Go to church or your chosen house of worship and give just one hour a week to God to thank him for your blessings. It may not have to be more than that.  It can be that one hour when you can pray and meditate and feel a sense of calm that refreshes your thoughts and better prepares you for life’s struggles.

 

  1. Never retire! Why would you want to stop what you love to do and are good at it?

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Hire – While most of us have heard the term artificial intelligence, few could predict the explosion of GenAI technologies in the public sphere over the last two years. In the work setting alone, Microsoft and LinkedIn reported that “75% of knowledge workers use AI at work” and “66% of leaders say they wouldn’t hire someone without AI skills”.                 

So how did this all happen:

1956, August: At the Dartmouth Conference, researchers discuss creating machines capable of intelligent behavior and the term “Artificial Intelligence” is introduced.

2017, June: Google researchers introduce the Transformer architecture, the foundation for generative AI (GenAI) models. (GPT = Generative Pre-trained Transformer)

2022, November: OpenAI unveils ChatGPT, a conversational GenAI model, marking a tipping point in public access and accelerated adoption.

2024 NOW: Commercialization is accelerating. Globally, the GenAI solutions market is expected to exceed $50 billion by 2028 with over 60,000 GenAI companies already doing business (Horban, 2024).  The biggest tech/communications companies are all involved in a very big way to drive and influence our lives now and in the future with their GenAI models:

  • OpenAI’s ChatGPT
  • xAI’s Grok
  • Google’s Gemini
  • Microsoft’s Copilot
  • Anthropic’s Claude
  • Apple’s Apple Intelligence
  • Meta’s Llama
  • Coming: Orion by OpenAI 

Plan for your future, because that is where you are going to spend the rest of your life. Mark Twain