Kodaktown and the Two Bobs

Kodak Brownie Camera

Our vacation home in Canandaigua, NY is near Rochester, once nicknamed Kodaktown after the erstwhile great company that was its largest employer in a bygone era.  The company, founded by George Eastman, filed for bankruptcy protection since we last visited.  Eastman’s legacy is preserved in his estate on East Avenue, now a museum.  He is credited with democratizing photography with the invention of roll film and the Brownie camera.  The production and sale of small inexpensive cameras supported Kodak’s cash cow – film – for decades.  The company also invented digital photography but ignored its potential.  You know the rest of the story. 

Eastman wasn’t unique among 19^th Century entrepreneurs but he was, perhaps, unique in Rochester.  It is estimated that his philanthropic donations exceeded $100 Million.  He founded the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester and was also the prime mover and contributor to the establishment of the dental school there.  The Rochester Institute of Technology has a building named after him in recognition of his donations to that institution as well. 

His legacy is evident in Rochester although most residents take it for granted.  It’s always been a white collar town.  Its well educated workforce gave rise to other companies famous for their intellectual capital, Xerox and Bausch & Lomb. 

Eastman created a paternalistic corporate culture that emphasized the security of its employees.  For nearly a century, Kodak was the employer of choice for the locals.

My brother in law went to work for Kodak right out of school.  He was a lifer.  He took an early retirement package about 20 years ago.  For most of his career, he worked on a Top Secret program that he couldn't talk about.  When the program was declassified last year, we learned that his division made lenses and other apparatuses for the U-2 spy plane.  He is rightfully proud of his work at Kodak and truly bummed out by its bankruptcy filing.

I asked the Two Bobs about the impact of Kodak’s bankruptcy.  They both gave me the same answer:  no impact.  Rochester’s economy has been adjusting to the loss of Big Yellow’s job growth engine for 20 years.  By the time the company went into bankruptcy, it was expected – overdue even. 

Eastman School of Music

Who are the Two Bobs?  Well, one is my niece’s husband.  He is an electrical contractor who grew up here.  Over the last few years, any discussion of the economy started with his head shaking from side to side.  His work was coming from school construction.  Once it ran out, he didn’t know where the work would come from. Now, he knows.  He has moved on to commercial construction.  Xerox and Paychex are among Rochester’s other big companies that are expanding their facilities. 

Bob reiterated his comment of last year.  He doesn’t think that the economy is humming but he believes it’s not as bad as the pundits make it out to be.  In other words, it would be better if everyone wouldn’t talk it down so much. 

The other Bob is my old school chum, Bob Cannan.  His company, Eagle Productivity, is booming.  Once a regional company, he has now gone global.  He specializes in innovative training solutions.  Are you implementing a new business process?  Rolling out globally?  Expecting your Salesforce to embrace some new technology?  Eagle guarantees – that’s right – guarantees 90% adoption of the new program.  Eighteen of the twenty largest pharmaceutical companies are his clients.  His global expansion is driven by their global presence.  He now has over 130 employees and an office in Germany to support rollout in the EU and Russia. 

The economy be damned.  The Eagle is soaring. 

Bob and his team at Eagle have developed expertise in “human factors”.   This is a sometimes overused term when describing the interaction between people and technology.  In the 80’s, we called it “user friendliness”; in the 90’s, it was “usability engineering”.  But, the study of human factors is a much broader field that encompasses psychology, engineering and industrial design.  Human factors describe the cognitive abilities of people interacting with their environment. 

Human factors and its use in training is not a patentable process like Eastman’s invention of roll film in the 1880’s.  So, the key to Eagle’s growth is the passion with which the concept is applied to their process and the excellence of their implementation with their customers. 

Bob and I were in the Navy before it was co-ed.  So, I got a big chuckle when he told me that 70% of his staff is female.  “How’s that going for you?” I wondered aloud.  “Great” came the reply.  Women are very concerned about their community at work, says Bob.  What is the culture?  How do they relate to their co-workers?  Their clients? 

I know it’s a bit sexist to generalize in these matters; however, his experience squares with mine from the days when I was managing big call centers largely populated by women.  So, the management culture and the client engagement are as much driven by human factors as are the products, services and implementation projects. 

I am delighted at my good friend’s success.  I am also pleased to see the positive evolution of Rochester’s community and economy.  While George Eastman fostered a paternalistic culture that was well suited to the industrial revolution and became THE place to work through most of the 20^th Century, Bob Cannan and hundreds of other entrepreneurs have created a new economy culture well suited to the 21^st. 

I usually close by asking, “WHO WILL LEAD?”  In this case, the question answers itself. 

Is the Education We Want, the Education We Need?

German apprentice steelmaker

My Dad never went to college. He was about four months into a six month hitch in the Army on December 7, 1941 -- that day of infamy. When he returned from the war four years later, one thing led to another and… well, he never went to college.


Perhaps for that reason, I was programmed to go to college from an age earlier than I can remember. It was a matter of faith. I never questioned it -- never felt the need to. So, it seems odd to me that some people are questioning the value of a college degree.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal published an article (Education Slowdown Threatens U.S. ) summarizing the studies of two Harvard economists. Professors Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz have calculated the average years of schooling for native born Americans since 1876. Today, the average 30 year old has only 8 months more education than their parents. This contrasts to 1980 when the gap was about 2 years. The Journal posits that this factoid does not bode well for our nation. After all, college grads have fared pretty well during this extended down turn with an unemployment rate of 4.2%, about half of the rate for those with only a High School diploma.

From the Wall Street Journal

The article included a graphic comparing the percentage of the US population that has attained a college degree to other countries. The US was 14th on a list that was led by S. Korea, Canada and Japan. What struck me, however, was that Germany – that’s right, Germany – was 25th on the list.

We all know about Germany, right? It is the economic engine of Europe. It is highly industrialized, produces great manufactured products and runs a trade surplus of about 15 Billion Euros per year. So, if a college degree is so important, how does Germany do it?

Perhaps part of the answer lies in Germany’s apprenticeship program. The tradition of apprenticeship in Europe goes back to the Middle Ages. It is embedded in German society, driven by industry demand and put to good use by high tech manufacturers. The “dual education” system combines on the job training with classroom vocational instruction. Young Germans can choose among 356 occupations including medical assistant, industrial management or optician. It is also a government program.

In this country, ‘A’ students go to Harvard, MIT or Stanford if they can afford it. If not, they may have the opportunity to attend great public universities like the University of Michigan, Indiana University or the University of California at Berkeley.

But, what about the ‘B’ students and ‘C’ students? Many are getting business degrees at lesser schools. Is there value to that approach?

Early in my career, I worked at Citicorp and Goldman Sachs. We hired the best and brightest from the top business schools including those mentioned above. They were management trainees and were paid very well. Smaller businesses couldn’t compete with those compensation packages.

In a small company, you need people with experience, not trainees. So, who will hire the ‘B’ and ‘C’ students? What value is there in a business school degree from No Name University?

Here in Florida, the Dean of the business school at Nova Southeastern University, Dr. Michael Fields, created an innovative program – a Sales Institute -- requiring every business school student to attend at least four courses in sales and sales management. Dr. Fields met resistance from his most important constituents – the faculty and the students.

However, there was one group that loved the program – business owners. The idea that they might be able to hire people who were ready to produce revenue was very appealing. Faculty and students don’t see the value in the less intellectual skill base of the sales profession. Employers see dollar signs.

But you don’t go for an MBA to end up as an apprentice. And, that was the perception of Nova’s program.

But, what’s wrong with apprenticeships? What if we had an education system that provided the real world skills that industry demands?

In Albany, NY, the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering was started with $1B provided by the state of NY and an additional $13B from industry. The college is educating Americans in nanotechnology used in the manufacture of computer chips and other miniaturized electronic devices. The college has created over 13,000 jobs in that rust belt city and promises to produce graduates with world class skills.

The US Department of Labor has created a program to support structured apprenticeships through the office of Education and Training. Reflecting the political reality of this country, the DOL uses funds that have been reallocated from other projects to support industry led efforts to create apprenticeships.

One example is the National Information Technology Apprenticeship System created by the Computer Technology Industry Association (CompTIA). NITAS took two years to develop and has a goal of training at least 7 million workers in the IT trades. The structure is noteworthy. The government sponsors the program but does not fully fund it, regulate it or make it mandatory. The industry set standards and participates voluntarily because it sees benefit in hiring workers who are more productive on Day One of employment.

The net is this. A better trained, more productive workforce will make it more attractive for free enterprise corporations to invest and create jobs in this country. These jobs will have higher wages than low skill service jobs. Higher wages increase demand for goods and services and grow the economy.

There has been much written about our broken public education system. And, indeed I agree with most of the criticisms. But, if you could fix the problem tomorrow for, say, all the third graders in America, we would still be 20 years away from feeling the economic impact. Apprenticeships can have an almost immediate impact and don’t require tax dollars to develop.

The ultimate question is whether initiatives that take us in this direction will encounter the same resistance that Dr. Fields encountered. Are Americans ready to have their children become apprentices rather than college grads?

Or, to put it another way, would my Dad have approved? Or, your Dad?