James Drogan

I've been particularly taken by two of Tom Friedman's op-eds.

The first, How to Get a Job, from the 2013, May 28 edition of The New York Times, contains this rather pithy line.

It is best summed up by the mantra from the Harvard education expert Tony Wagner that the world doesn’t care anymore what you know; all it cares “is what you can do with what you know.”

The second, The Internship - Not the Movie, followed on June 8 with some advice as to how to acquire the ability to deliver value using what you know.

Internships are increasingly important today, they explained, because skills are increasingly important in the new economy and because colleges increasingly don’t teach the ones employers are looking for. Experience, rather than a degree, has become an important proxy for skill, they note, and internships give you that experience.

However high one's GPA, however long the set of intials after one's name, whether or not one is a "Bard-man," matters little if these attributes cannot be translated into value appreciated by the employer.

What knowledge, skills, experiences, and attitudes (yes, attitudes matter -- a lot) do you need to deliver value?

Think about it.